//------------------------------// // Cutting the Cards // Story: Beyond Horizon's Edge // by Broseph_Stalin //------------------------------// Chapter XVIII. – Cutting the Cards Sleep’s embrace was ripped out of Ento as the heavy door to the frigid cell was, in turn, ripped open with a deft hoof. The prisoner’s bloodshot eyes scanned his surroundings, painfully adjusting to the miniscule light. A gruff, familiar voice called from high over him. “Up. Time for your trial, colt,” the guard rasped through his ornate helmet. Weakly, Ento arose, and almost buckled under the weight of just two hours of sleep after an incredibly stressful day. Having Twilight with him through the afternoon had helped, but necessity had called her back to her chambers an hour or so ago. He frowned briefly at the hoof-fulls of hay he had pushed outside the cell for her. She had insisted that the cold floor didn’t bother her any, but he had seen the way she grimaced when she lay down, and made sure that she had plenty of the fresh hay to recline in. The little pony had been touched by the act, and had even squeezed her head through the bars and placed a kiss sheepishly on his cheek, much to Ento’s delighted embarrassment. Now, though, he hoped the guard didn’t notice the very obvious presence of another creature sleeping just outside the cage. The guard advanced on Ento, kicking the hay aside with a heavy, armored hoof, and looked down at it with a quick glance of surprise. “Makin a mess, eh? Swear to gods,” he growled, “there won’t be a minute you’re here where you don’t fuggin’ drive me off the deep end. C’mon, let’s go. You’re expected.” Entering the cell, he bumped into onto Ento bodily, and attached a familiar pair of ebony cuffs around the prisoner’s front and back ankles. Pushing at him from behind, Ento and the guard made their way down the long, ill-lit corridor to the Great Hall to meet the colt’s untimely fate. Or at least, what Ento would make of it. A crescent of a smirk split across his face at the thought. . . . . The golden gates creaked open for him and his guard. The Ekina colt keenly noted that several other armored guards had joined the pair; some ten heavily-armored soldiers marched in standard formation around him in perfect assembly. It was, of course, all just a show, an elaborate opera to please the masses. Ento felt his mouth fall open, however, as he spotted what seemed to be every Ekina in the entire kingdom of Ek’Rael itself packed into the grand hall. Like a massive colony of insects, they swarmed and oscillated in a wave of anxious energy. It was a buzzing ocean of greys, greens, browns, chestnut and the occasional pale ochre. The Lord and Lady had completely outdone themselves: dressed garishly in flowing robes of emerald and gold, respectively, they looked like painted statues seated upon their high steel thrones. The daises had been polished especially for the affair, and seemed to grab light in an arcane and mysterious way, flowing like mercury. Ento was enraptured at everything that lay before him. All this preparation for his trial… The irony weighed heavily on his mind as he enjoyed a single, private sensation of worth. A smirk painted his features at the odd thought. He spotted, as well, three hooded figures tucked into a private alcove, right-adjacent to the royal platform, and betrayed a small smile in the direction of the smallest figure. The small alicorn merely jerked her head, ever so slightly, and Ento snapped back to attention. He had forgotten, already, that no one was to suspect a thing. No outward signs. No gestures. Alik’Kr grant me the wisdom… he thought to himself loathingly. A creeping fear invaded his mind: maybe this was a bad idea, after all. But he had run out of time to change his mind, now, as he stopped, and looked up. Before him, the grandly-adorned forms of his rulers looked down on him derisively. All seven chairs of the Elders were filled with the wizened forms of the under-rulers. Each was shrouded in flowing purple robes, the color of repentance. They all shared a similar look of pity at the helpless prisoner who stood before them, ceremoniously manacled and callously dirty. With a start, Ento heard something that made his heart sink into the very acid bath of his soul: a shout resounded behind him. He turned, eyes wide, at the sound; he recognized it instantly as his mother’s voice. “Ento! My little filly, why? Why did you have to throw your life away like this? Why? Why, my little foal?” she sobbed thickly, throwing herself at her son’s feet. Her greying ochre mane spilled about her face wildly, which was streaked with thick tears as she sobbed heavily into a silken scarf. “M-Mum?” Ento stuttered, in utter shock. He looked on the crumpled form of his mother, and followed up to meet his father’s smoldering eyes. His father, as large, powerful an Ekina as he was, made Ento’s heart sink even lower as he spotted two single lines flowing down his father’s face. He had never seen him cry. The images burned into his mind, made him want to scream out loud. “So, son, this is what you wanted to do on your adventure, eh?” “Pap, look, it’s not—” Ento was cut off both by the manacles that bound him and by his father, as he lifted a huge hoof and allowed his lip to quiver violently before speaking. “I can’t argue with your choice, son, and I’m sure you have changed because of it, for better or worse. It was your own to make… I just wish you had thought of those you loved before you made a decision so selfishly.” With that, his father reached down to pick up his mother, and without another word, the two hobbled away. Tuni’Ro grant me serenity… He willed the thought into his agonized psyche. He turned his head back around, and met his ruby eyes level to the royal pair’s with a heavy, staggered breath. The Lord simply raised a hoof, and the entire audience hall fell deathly silent, save for the gentle sobs of his mother. Standing up, a heavy stillness spawned in the cool air at the patriarch’s arising. “Ladies and gentlecolts, esteemed Ekina, family, and friends,” boomed the Lord’s voice, seeming to make the very foundations of the castle shake in the earth it had been carved from. “We are gathered here to voice the fate of a single Ekina.” He pointed a hoof grandly to Ento, and beheld the prisoner before him. The cold look he held upon Ento betrayed a tired look that seethed in the embers of his eyes. “Ento’Ba, son of Krya’Ba, grandson of Alseoir’Ba, and familial son of the esteemed blacksmith family, it is, today, that we have found you outside of the boundaries of the land of Ek’Rael, and have been returned by those that have discovered you in their land. Under the direction of the Law of Origins, you are to be put to death for your transgressions. Do you understand the terms that have been put upon you?” Ento merely nodded, and said a quick “Aye.” The utterance seemed to carry heavily in the silence, bouncing from one high wall to another. Quickly, he added, “And under what directive of the Law of Origins am I to be found guilty of?” The Lord scoffed, alighting an eagle eye down upon his helpless prey’s head. He nodded to his court wizard, who stepped forth and recited a carefully-adorned scroll of the ancient laws. “The Law of Origins, as stated by the Rule of Excarbatum: ‘Any Ekina found past the boundary of the north wall are to be punished consequently for their transgression. Any and all returning force is required to be present during the procession.’ Signed and documented 356 EC, standing rulers Atah’Qa and Sahi’Qa,” Beseus finished, and, with a curt nod, folded the scroll back up and stepped behind the metal thrones. Ento merely raised an eyebrow in a single act of defiance. “And where is my returning party? I don’t see them,” he said, almost choking on his terse words as he looking around the hall in mock confusion. What he was saying was about as idiotic as anything he could have asked of the Lord. The patriarch, true to his zealous character, merely shook his head in barely suppressed anger. “You know they are here, colt. I have no need to produce them here for your entertainment. We are here to focus on your punishment, not attend to your simple questions.” The Lord’s ire was burning now, set at just a simmer under full boil. The Lady cut in with a gentle wave of her robed and gilded hoof to quell the firestorm that was burning away inside her husband. “Ento’Ba, you have been found in contempt of ancient law. As such, your life is decreed as forfeit to the kingdom.” She looked down on the elders, who nodded back to her. She looked back upon her prisoner with a careful eye, and said “After considerable time and decision, we have determined you shall be buried alive within the catacombs, alongside your family. Such is only fitting to the profane actions you have committed against your very own kingdom, a clear defiance to the rules you have known since you were a filly.” The Lady’s shrill voice weighed heavily with the burden of bringing such uneventful news. “I am sorry,” she added thickly, “it is the ruling of the court. Take comfort in knowing that your life will transcend amongst your family members. May the grace and wisdom of the gods guide you on through the next life.” And that was it. The entirety of the vast hall was utterly silent, captured in numb shock. Ento merely stood in place, dumbstruck at what he had heard. Fear was returning, a bitter vengeance that threatened to crack his soul in half right where he stood. “Take him away.” Finally, time crashed into the hall. Everything sped up, and Ento saw through wide eyes the shapes of armored guards approaching his form. Coming up to him, they grabbed him bodily by his neck and legs and began to drag him away. This wasn’t part of the plan, this wasn’t supposed to happen…What is Twilight doing!? he thought, mind reeling in frightened unsurity. “Twilight!” he screamed out hoarsely to the figure that seemed just beyond his reach. “Twilight! It’s not supposed to go like this. This isn’t supposed to happen! Twi—umphg!” His last call was muffled as a guard placed a gloved hoof over his mouth. He struggled against the harsh grip, and shot a single glance towards the alcove as the Lord screamed at him to be silent: Twilight was standing now, and held fast as the tall figure shrouded in white laid a hoof across her path. The figure in black next to the figure in white, however, seemed far removed from what was going on. Ento’s head was forced forward by a guard, and he felt a grisly sensation of pain shoot down his spine as the brute did so. Grimacing, tears sprung up in his eyes as the violated muscle spasmed painfully in outrage. He struggled against the sentries’ grip, but the strength of one frightened, adrenaline-driven colt was no match for ten well-trained, well-armed and merciless royal guards. Hope seemed to be sucked out of the very fiber of his being, absorbed into the air around him as he sapped his strength against the impenetrable wall of glistening armor. A sharp crack rang out in the twilight council, and Ento heard a voice that made his heart leap with strangled joy. “Stop!” Twilight commanded forcefully to the guards that were hoisting Ento away. The ten Centuriori fell immediately still as the hooded alicorn appeared in a brilliant blast of light and a ghostly crackling, not a mere ten feet away from them. Contented that she had their attention, she turned to address the Lord and Lady. The matriarch’s eyes burned now with a cold fire, white-hot and barely suppressed. Her teeth were grinding audibly in the silent hall. The Lord merely sat, gasping slightly at what had just happened before them. “It seems that some deep, deluded author wrote me chapters in my life. That I should be thrown into a chance meeting with some creature I’ve never even heard of, but a creature I have fallen into some spell with, nonetheless. And it is for that reason that I cannot allow you to harm him. The laws you’ve placed here, on your people, you should be ashamed.” She turned similarly to the two princesses, shaking her head slowly. “I am ashamed of the way my own… My fellow rulers have handled this situation! This trial is merely a powder keg that was bound to blow up at any second. It just so happens,” she continued, looking away from Celestia’s shocked face, and back to the great metal daises with a look of intense upset, “that fate has chosen this colt to break an ancient law that was only put in place out of fear and resentment.” “So it is with a heavy heart that I demand you release him,” she said plainly. Words were only a hindrance here. They felt like stones laced on a long, unending necklace, and the longer they were threaded on, the heavier it got. Action had to show in place of words before everyone was plunged below black waters. The Lady merely jumped up, outraged at the pony's astute defiance. Her body was shaking violently at the strain of fury and she looked around, as if unsure what to do. Finally, she turned, whirling around, to address the hooded figures down at the foot of the grand pedestal. “Celestia? What is this!?” she shrieked, eyes smoldering in barely suppressed ferocity. She indicated Twilight harshly with a jeweled hoof, both begging and demanding an answer from her unwelcome alicorn guest. Celestia gasped at the threat, mumbling incoherently at what had just happened, right before her. This wasn’t part of the plan, this wasn’t supposed to happen…What is Twilight doing!? She merely looked up to the Lady, her face a blank slate. “I- I, I’m sorry, my Lady Bresel, I don’t know what she’s… I mean, I certainly didn’t—” She stumbled over her words, trying to come back from the shock and return to a cool and collected stately grace. She looked onto Luna for assistance. The princess of the night merely sat still, mouth moving ever-so-gently to the ancient words she knew by heart. But she was no help. Her duties as ruler of the night were currently taking up all her conscious thought as she raised the silver moon in the dark sky. Twilight, however, threw off her hood with a grand sparkle of magic. A resounding gasp spread throughout the crowd as they looked for the first time in over a millennium upon a weird and foreign creature. Twilight hazarded a single glance around behind her at the disturbance, and continued to march determinedly to her lover. “You, you think you know our history?” the Lord boomed, finally catching his breath at the shock of what had just happened. “You think that… that you can tell our very ancestors what was right to do all those many years ago?” he spat, waving a hoof around, very obviously flustered. Twilight noted with a private smile that they were both incredibly disheveled. A millennium and a half of lies and forgetting had just been erased in one fell swoop. It was far less than humbling, to say the least. Twilight turned defiantly back to face the patriarch, hips turned in a self-assured gesture. “I have heard it from both sides, my Lord Skeren. I have heard the admittances of Princess Celestia and Luna, who were there at the time of all the fear. I have heard a thorough rendition from Ento, as well. Don’t insult my intelligence, please,” she added, almost haughtily. “I think that you merely have the pieces put in the wrong order. And I’m afraid it has come down to this. This is my final stand, and if you won’t listen, then I’m afraid I will have to do something quite drastic.” Another private smile. Enigma abound, eh Twilight? she thought to herself, reveling in a slight sensation of giddiness. The Lord’s eyes were merely set ablaze behind his bearded face. Though, they seemed to have cooled somewhat as logic took over. With a slight groan, the bearded Ekina glanced to his wife, and then spoke deeply, addressing the bold creature before him. . . . . Luna broke herself off from the incantation to raise the moon. As she finished setting it upon its usual spot in the sky, she glanced around at what was going on before her. Darkness filed out of her vision and she blinked away gentle tears from the effort. Her mouth fell open, however, as she saw the scene before her: Far to her left, the Ekina colt was surrounded by ten gold-plated guards, who were all looking to the center of the assembly hall. Her eyes went right, soaring past the bleachers filled with the shocked and stunned faces of various citizens of Ek’Rael, and stopped at the high metal daises to see that both the Lord and Lady were looking in a similar spot, standing and fidgeting horribly. Her sister had stepped slightly in front of her out of the alcove, but Luna could not make out her face from behind her hood. The Sister of the Night looked on past Celestia, and felt her mouth fall wider open as she saw Twilight, unhooded, wings spread wide, facing the monarchs with a solidly defiant stance. “Oh, my,” is all she could breathe at what she saw before her. Her notions had been right all along about the pair’s feelings for each other; though even she, the princess of shadows and night, had sorely misjudged how passionately the little pony and Ekina colt felt for each other. A cool rush of aural delight filled her senses as she recovered from her trance further. The alicorn pricked up her ears at a grand voice. “Very well, you have my attention for a brief time. Enlighten me, Miss…?” the Lord inquired of the unicorn before him. “T- Princess Twilight Sparkle,” came her reply. The patriarch nodded in affirmation. “Princess Twilight Sparkle. Speak. You are lucky I have not lost my temper at your blatant disregard for our rules. I have limited patience for distractions such as this, so please, do not tarry in what you have to say.” “I am Princess Celestia’s equal, was her absolutely faithful student. I am very close to Princess Luna as well, and both confide in me quite often. I have grown up beside the Sun Princess, and have seen every little action, decision, and judgment she has made first-hoof since I was a filly.” “So what is your point? Get on with it,” the lady cut in sharply. Twilight merely held back a spike of upset, and pushed on. “My point, my lady Bresel, is that the reaction that your previous rulers had acted upon was done out of fear and loathing. I know my princesses, and they would have forgiven you for the lies you had made- in a time of war and suffering, no less! No single pony, or Ekina, could have been expected to make a clear-headed decision in an instance like that!” Twilight’s determined voice bounced off the walls of the gigantic hall. Murmurs from the audience behind her told her that her logic was breaking through to someone, anyone here. The Lord merely rubbed his beard in contemplation as the Lady’s eyes ticked slightly in annoyance as she realized what Twilight was saying had truth in it. Luna smiled grandly. Good job, Twilight Sparkle! she applauded the unicorn privately. I knew that we could count on you to do something right, she thought to herself. Now, all this assembly needed was a little nudge in the right direction. Looking around, she spotted a gigantic candelabrum on the edge of the alcove, above several Elders. Wax poured down from a hoof-full of tall, opalescent candles as cherry red flames burnt away vehemently. Perfect. Concentrating slightly, she wrapped the entire being of the candelabra firmly in magic’s grip, and felt it give as it lifted slowly into the air. Ever-so-carefully, she began to nudge it forward into space… And gasped aloud as a hideous metallic crack rang out through the entire hall. A hundred thousand eyes turned towards the gigantic metal doors of the castle, and fell upon five alien creatures, who stood next to one another in varying degrees of exuberant energy. As Luna’s concentration was shattered, she fumbled as the grand candelabra broke out of magic’s grip, and fell straight down in a terrifying moment of stillness. The silence was broken at once by the uproar of five thousand cries, screams, moans and shouts. . . . . A giant smile had cracked across Twilight’s face as she watched her friends march straight into the hall. Their faces were set, determined to do anything it took to help their friends out of the mess they had been stuck in. The looks quickly dropped to stunned confusion as they watched a huge metal chandelier come crashing down with a hideous scream right on top of a pair of robed Ekina. The Lord leapt up, roaring in a lion-like effect. “What in the good graces of all that is holy is going on here!?” he screeched, livid at what had happened in front of him. Two guards had broken away from Ento to rescue the ensnared Elders. One was screaming in an ear-splitting shriek as her robes caught instantly ablaze, and the other merely lay still, obviously unconscious, or worse, as blood stained his long, grey mane. The first guard managed to drag the unconscious Elder from out of the twisted metal, and the other attempted to hold down the female Elder as she ran and cursed and spit and shrieked. He called over more guards, and three other sentries joined their comrade as they tried to get her smoldering robes off. Twilight spotted the Lady as her gaze shredded a path of unimaginable animosity straight onto the obstinate alicorn. “You… You think you can just come in here and… and ruin everything!” she screamed through the uproar of the crowd to the loathed pony, eyes almost popping out as her fury grew unimaginably large. Finally, she snapped. “No, no, no,” she mocked, tsking harshly. Her eyes turned to slits of unimaginable animal malice. “Kill her! I want a crumpled body to replace her in my sight,” she commanded coldly to the guards that were surrounding Ento. The five remaining Centuriori dropped the chained colt straight to the floor, and, drawing their weapons in a chorus of cold metal, advanced on Twilight. She merely backed up smartly, and then charged straight at them with a piercing cry. The well-trained Centuriori never even broke rank, however, and merely raised their long, curved swords in preparation to bring them down heavily upon the foolish animal’s neck. Just a split second before their swords made contact, however, a blazing crackle stunned the five as swords came down to scathe empty air. The two guards that stood along the outside of the rank-and-file felt their weapons being ripped out of their grips, and struggled hopelessly against some invisible force. As the curved blades sped towards her, Twilight brandished a sword in magic’s grip, and sliced through the ebony chains that held Ento prisoner like a hot knife through butter. Handing him a sword, she winked at him. “We’ve got the sword. Now, to cut the head off the serpent!” she whispered to her beloved. Ento felt an unstoppable smile creep over his face as he matched the grip of the heavy sword in his hooves. It felt right, it felt natural. He nodded to the little mare. “Let’s get out of here, Twilight.” With this, he ran after Twilight towards the great doorway, and her friends. No, his friends. Their friends. As he advanced on the wall of guards, he felt the familiar sensation of invincibility overtake him as love’s cool embrace tugged at his heart. With Twilight by his side, he couldn’t possible fail! His mind clicked back, remembering his training with a sword that he had received from his uncles when he had reached colthood. Block! A clang of metal sent sparks showering on both Ento and the Centuriori guard that he had come to face with. Shift weight, now parry! He did just that, and swung the guard’s sword off onto an odd angle that threw him into a momentary disbelief. Capitalizing on this, Ento lanced his curved sword forward in a thick, sweeping arc. Now slice, all the weak points are in the neck! Ento remembered this with brilliant clarity. He and his father had, after all, spent a large amount of time making this armor themselves. After seven years of working tirelessly on each plate, he knew every crack, every chink, and every foible it held. Cutting a broad swath along the long, exposed neck, he saw blood bead on his blade as the guard grunted in pain. Ento pushed him away, and continued to run towards the ponies that circled around the entrance of the keep, holding it safe for their friend’s return. Felling another guard along the way, he laughed manically at the rush of adrenaline, and fell into the familiar embrace of smiling faces. Smiling back to the ponies around him, all he wanted was to get Twilight and get out of here forever. Upon a cursory glance, however, he did not see her. Turning around, he felt his stomach flip as his mind was strangled in fear. He spotted her: outnumbered, she slashed desperately at a pair of guards. Her sword fell uselessly against the broad metal plates as she tried to get away. How can I be so fucking stupid!? Ento screamed at himself. He hadn’t told her about the guards’ weakness! He had left her out there, alone! His stomach churned violently, and he watched in stricken horror as one of the Centuriori that she had taken his sword from advanced on her with a wickedly-sharp dagger, threatening her violently. Ento saw her eyes go wide as the guard bowled into her delicate form with a loud bellow. Time itself seemed to halt in the very hall. Ento witnessed before him as the hideous dagger impaled itself straight into Twilight’s chest. Her eyes shot wide once more, and her horn broke its magical hold on the curved sword. A clatter indicated its quick descent back to earth. Ento pushed away at the friend's embrace violently, but was held back by the five as they tried to pull the Ekina to safety. Bucking madly, he heard a snap, followed closely by a pair of strangled screams. Ento didn't care, though; his mind was forced into a single, desperate mission now. Breaking free, he jumped after the alicorn’s falling form, screaming all along the way. “Twilight! Twilight!” he cried as he crashed through a wall of armor. The golden barrier seemed to split at his very presence and stepped back from its felled victim. Ento was floating, effervescent, to the unicorn’s broken form. A brilliant pool of blood was blossoming around her heart, staining the brilliant cloak she wore; her very life force was flowing fast out of her delicate body. She lay upon the ground, prostrate, and placed a hoof gingerly on her chest, as if trying to wipe off a speck of dust. Throwing down his sword with a loud clatter, he grabbed her body in his forearms, cradling her head as she pushed out heavy, ragged gasps. In a split moment of perverse clarity, he mused morbidly how the embroidered stars of Twilight’s cloak had gone from snow white now to a sickening crimson. “E-Ento… Please, it hurts,” she garbled up to him, glassy eyes searching desperately for help. Shock had taken over. Ento doubted she knew anything that was going on now as her brain dumped every little piece of data it could to save her mind in this horribly fragile state. “Oh, no… Twilight,” he mumbled. His mind, too, was stuck in a crazed furor, though it was instead burning at a fever pitch. He placed a hoof numbly on the bleeding wound on her chest: a feeble attempt to stop what he knew was inevitable. The stunned colt could literally see her life being dragged out of her body, and it was scaring him more than he thought possible. “No, no, my love, hear me out, before I lose my mind. Give me a smile, please, and make it shine. I just, I—” His mind came up suddenly blank and his face fell to stone. He felt her body shudder one last, desperate breath, and slacken in his arms. Her eyes became blank windows, though there was no consciousness to be held behind the brilliant veil. “I’m so sorry, Twilight,” he sobbed into her neck, allowing the salt to finally flow free. Great, racking sobs that seemed like they would never end, couldn’t ever possibly end, streamed down his face. Go to the edge, round the eyes that eternal sleep has rendered blind, whispered an estranged voice. He looked up to her with burning eyes, praying against everything that she had said that. As a single thread of crimson blood flowed out of the corner of her mouth, though, Ento was hit with a sudden horrifying, gut-wrenching, and will-destroying revelation: Twilight was dead. A spectre from the next life breathed his fog on the panes, and her eyes clouded over, pearlescent, into a place far removed from the long stone hall. She was gone. She would never be again. A cruel whisper sounded in his head from echoic memory: You've done this to yourself! Now ride! Red anger was blinding him now, threatening to cut off everything he could ever have known. Looking up, he saw the faceless forms of ancient statues standing around him. In the crimson light, the armor was cracked, the swords dredged in the hot blood of innocent life. Masks became twisted and cruel reminders of the love that had been ripped from his heart. Something snapped. Instinct took over, and Ento didn’t feel like Ento anymore: he was a creature who demanded only revenge, the taste of blood, the satisfaction of pain. Leaping to his feet, he jumped towards the guard, the one who had done this to her, and sunk his fangs into the soft flesh of his unguarded neck. The guard let out a howl of frightened rage, and keeled over, bowling into his comrades with a clang of armor. Ento didn’t release his grip until he felt the blood seep, and the screaming stop. Finished, he looked up, eyes ablaze, mouth dripping crimson. The entire hall was in a terrified uproar, and Ento could pick out the outraged bellowing of the Lord. As conscious clarity washed in over him, Ento wasn’t sure if the infuriated patriarch was yelling at him, or to his guards. He didn’t care, either way. He knew using his teeth to harm another was guaranteed to seal his fate, but what they had done to Twilight… It had been more than justified. He merely stood stock still, ready for what he would receive for his heinous crime. The guards regrouped, and dropped their spears level: a horizontal bow in both damnation and pure respect for the creature that had felled one of their own. An impromptu charge was called. On three, Ento merely felt his body shudder as the cruel spikes of malice pierced his body. He hit the floor, hard, though he never even realized it. A horn cracked, his skull rung out with a hollow thud. The last thing he saw as the hot blood flowed out of him was Twilight’s crumpled form. Before all went to strangling darkness, he mused, ever so delicately, that her violet eyes still held the mirror of passion that he had found so enrapturing.