The Brazen Skull

by Shadowdance

The beginning of a new life

I awoke slowly, the light almost blinding me as I opened my eyes; I closed them, wondering how I was alive, the creature that had gotten ahold of me, that demon. It had ripped me to pieces, the way back, I couldn't remember much after that. Something about a journey back, talking... then nothing. I couldn't remember.

"So you’re awake." The voice roused me a little, but I didn't try looking again. "Your eyes are going to be highly sensitive to light, do not open them." The accent that he had was disconcerting, either German or something else, and he didn't sound normal. He spoke almost as if to a child. I definitely didn't like that, but what could I do? I didn't even know where I was. "You are in the upper city, near the place I found you. And before you ask, you don't need your mask on. So do not worry." That at least was nice of him, to find a place without magic.

"It took quite a bit of work for me to get you to the point you resembled a pony again, let alone get everything done that was required to heal you. What remained of your body was hard to put together." How badly had I been injured? "You can try walking after you can open your eyes. You can try as soon as you’re willing." I very, very slowly opened one of my eyes, which didn't hurt as bad as it had, but the light kept me from seeing much. "Oh, right. The light." Whoever the pony was removed the light source from pointing at me. "Sorry, I was using it to see the damage." I could see, of course, but I didn't believe my eyes. A bronze colored unicorn stood before me, looking at me curiously and seemingly unfazed by whatever was going on around him.

I coughed as I attempted to speak, "H-how bad was it?" It was barely above a whisper, but he seemed to hear me, for he nodded, and then came closer.

"You looked to have been ripped to shreds, and you had a bullet inside your skull, which went straight through your brain and killed you, which-" I screamed, and blacked out.

/-/-/-/-/-/

After some time, I finally woke up and stared at him again, my eyes opening without any ill effects, probably because of the fact night had fallen now. But the surprising thing was that he was asleep. I could see a few things that I hadn't noticed before, like the blood red mane, and the socks of black. He was handsome, I suppose. What really surprised me though, were his wings.

They were batlike in their looks, alot like the Night Gaurd of princess luna from what the old stories said. His horn was the same color as his coat. But that pointed out one blaringly obvious fact that just blew me away; He was an Alicorn. That was when I noticed something that scared me more then anything else, more then I knew I could be scared.

His cutie mark was burned off. Just like those wierd cultist freaks. I couldn't recall emotion... I couldn't recall anything.

He groaned, and then started blinking, which scared me. 'Don't wake up! Don't wake...'

He woke up, of course, and then stared at me. "I..." I stared at where his cutie mark was supposed to be, he obviously noticed.

"I tried to find more power." His voice was still blank of emotion, and no wonder. All of those cultists lost their emotion. "I found it, but the cost was not something I was proud of giving up. And it might have ruined my mind." He smiled, still blank, but it was there at least. "But then I found somepony willing to help me, then more of them. I, I am strong now. But I am also devoid of many things that I want and wish for. Don't be afraid though, the wyrm has lost it's hold upon my mind."

He stood up, and looked down at me with a leer that chilled my bones, "I hope that you are going to wake up this time for real. And not scream when I tell you you died. I also hope you’re going to give me something for all the trouble I have gone through to get you here." Oh celestia, what was he-

He started laughing, extremely hard, though it sounded hollow. As if it wasn't real laughter, "I am joking! I would have done it for anyone. Well, maybe not that bad of a case, but anyone else would have had my help without pause. I need to ask though, what do you plan on for your first journey?"

"My first journey?" My voice sounded hoarse and well cracked. I probably didn't look very good still.

"I believe most call it their 'first step' I call them journeys. A journey is much more appropriate anyways. It makes more sense in my mind. May I suggest… standing up?” My eyes widened unintentionally, a shiver passing through me. “Unless of course you are not going to take that one quite yet, I am sure you will on your own time. Meanwhile, I have some business out on the town that needs taken care of. I will be back, but you do not want to stick your head out of the windows. It would hurt a lot if you fell.” He started packing up, grabbing quite a lot of different things as he prepared. “Before you ask, I do not use my weapons as often as needed, and yet still not as much as I would like. We can speak of that when I return. My name is Draigos, if you need me…” He gestured to a small radio that sat out in the middle of the room, a little away from me. “Call me.”

He took off, leaving me to ponder my now strangely edited fate, which had taken much of a turn for the worst. It was at this time that I attempted the stupidest thing I had ever attempted. I tried to stand.

To say that failed would be an understatement. The searing pain that eviscerated my skull utterly destroyed what little confidence I still had that I might be able to stand at all. He had said that I could stand however, so I tried again.

Thirteen attempts later, I managed to stand on my hooves for the first journey of my… something? I don’t know what to call it though. I might have been called many things, but right now, I wanted to rest again. So I did the only logical thing that I could think of.

I took a nap.

After a while, my mind was roused from sleep to find that Draigos was back, and looked rather bloody, in fact, he was covered in blood. “What in the name of Luna happened?” He laughed a little, and gestured to the creature hanging half in and half out of the window.

My stomach twisted as I saw what remained of a demon, which had apparently been shot to literal pieces. The creature was barely recognizable.

He offered some sort of bread to me, and while hesitant, I took it and tried a bite, it wasn’t bad. “What did you do to it? Throw it on spikes a few dozen times?”

“Yes, how did you guess?” He looked mildly surprised.

“Wait, that’s what actually happened? That’s sick! How did you even manage to make it get onto the spikes the first time?”

“Don’t ask. Not unless you want a demonstration.” I shuddered, not wanting to know what a demonstration could be.

“Then give me a demonstration.” Why the buck did I just say that?

“As you wish.” He concentrated on the demon, his horn glowing a pale green. The freaking thing started to move, and then it dusted itself up and stood. “See? I can make things move.” The creature came inside of the room and spread its bat like wings, I shivered at being so close to the obviously dangerous and highly deadly creature that stood there, a blank look on its face.

“Please stop messing with it.” He shrugged and let it go, it dropped in a heap. I shivered again, wondering what to do now.

“Now, I think I deserve something.” I shrunk back a little. “What is your name?” I sighed in relief, then nodded a little and thought for a few seconds, trying to remember it.

“Aurora.”

"Aurora." He nodded, "That is a good name, the lights of the north. The old aura's that many once spoke of. I can agree to the name you have. I must ask though Aurora, why were you out there in the first place? What had happened?"

I paused, then shivered a little bit, "Another stalker by the name of Alter and I were going on out to see if we could find anything out in the wastes worth trading or working with. We found nothing but a nest of demons, which he intentionally shot at. He made those things attack us. Then, after we had fought them off, and I was badly hurt, he..." I shuddered, not sure if I could finish.

"What has happened has happened. Life goes on." He watched me for a few seconds, before turning to continue his work. "Your journey with him is over, and the journey with me has just begun."

I frowned a little, "I want to find him."

He turned his head slightly, I only now noticing the odd tufts of hair upon his ears. Maybe he was one of Luna's old gaurds. "Why do you wish to find this pony? What could be gained from finding him? Most importantly, what will you do when you find him?"

I considered the questions after he had spoken, numerous reasons for each and every one of them. But the one that I needed to answer was simple. "I want to know why he did it. Why he shot me. That's why I want to find him. I don't know what could be gained, maybe closure?" I frowned heavily as I considered the last question, which seemed just out of my reach. "I have no idea. I don't know what I could do. There was is so much I could do, but finding him would take presidence over anything else that I could imagine. At least for the time being."

"Do not seek revenge if you can help it." I didn't know what to say, it was the only thing I wanted at the moment. "Any kind of revenge on another pony only belittles yourself. Makes you weaker and less of what you once were. Now, I have a question for you. One that may challenge you more then anything." I stared, I could tell he was serious about what he said. "Do you wish to join the Brazen Skulls?"

"What do they have to do with anything?" The Brazen were one of the most renowned pegasi groups in the metro, known only by Brazen, for Brazen. They were supposedly unstoppable and unkillable. But he was just asking if I wanted to join them? What kind of trick question was this?

"This is no trick, and the reason why I ask is because I wish to know if you wish to join my order."

"What pegasus wouldn't? I would in a heartbeat!" He stared at me, and I blushed, embarrassed that I did that. "I mean, um... sure?"

"Not very modest, but at least your worthy of the title. Now, the first thing you should know is this; The Brazen are extremely hard to join for more then one reason. The main one being the challenges of joining. The many things you must do before you can join." He chuckled, "The same things I make suure to use every single time I recruit. Are you sure you wish to continue?"

"Yes."

He nodded, then gestured for me to collect my gear, putting his own on in the process. "Then be prepared for the most difficult challenges in your life. And... one more thing." He turned and stared straight into my eyes, I only now realized the overwhelming truth and evidence finally met. His Draconic silver eyes met my own sky grey ones, and I could tell immediately; He was a soldier.

"Don't try to run from the demons."

Author's Note:

Editor and pre-reader, please? I would really appreciate it.
And alot of editing on this chapter, almost constant infac!t as I come up with new ideas and more detail! Bear with me. If you see something I changed and don't like it, make sure to let me know! Otherwise, I think we should be good. Good hunting!

Comments

[thesilentpony]

hehe i'm sorry your description was kind of funny, input later, hahah that's good
i suggest you find a group and join it, you'll be able to get help if you want it, looks like a good start to me

[Shadowdance]

2808048

Thank you, for both the advice and for making me smile. Placeholders sometimes are funnier then non-placeholders for sure.