Warped Paths

by Morikain

Rude!

Author's Note:

Through an absolute lack of motivation and inspiration this chapter took waaaaaaaaaay too long to finish. I apologize to anyone still keeping an eye on this story for how long it took me to get out. Forcing myself to write this probably won't help the quality but I HAVE to get something out to get ideas flowing again. Because this chapter took so long to write, I am putting it up with only half my normal minimum because it's ridiculous how long this chapter was taking me.

Waking up was as unpleasant as you would expect after being killed by a claw that nearly ripped you in half. Thankfully the fact that I was waking up in an extreme amount of pain was more of a comfort than a cause for concern this time and with a groan I sit up, only to be blind sided with a large mass after an explosion that sent me tumbling across the floor. Groaning in pain, I look in the direction the object rolled to find that it was Lutano that had slammed into me and was currently upside down and balanced on his shoulders against a pillar with a somewhat dazed expression. Pushing myself to my feet with a grunt, I walk over to Lutano and push him over with an annoyed sigh. "Can't you wait five seconds after my revival to go careening through me?"

Lutano gives a slight chuckle with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, the princesses didn't believe the feather would revive you. They gave it all of two minutes to work before trying to arrest me for.... mental instability I think they called it. So I've been running around the last 8 minutes fighting off the guard ponies and princesses. Which, you took your sweet ass time on."

I snort in amusement and push myself to my feet, giving Lutano a hand up as well. "Not my fault it took so long, maybe it takes longer because the magic here is different. You have to remember that while the forests here still hold druidic mana, no one here uses it so it may not be as easy to put to use without a mind to directly control it."

Hearing hoof steps behind me, I turn to find the room behind me had filled with guards and the princesses were standing in front of them with wide eyes, staring at me like I was a ghost.... which from what I had been told, may be exactly what they are thinking. Lifting a hand in a half wave, I smirk at the princesses. "I hear you didn't give my magic time to work. You should really trust our word a bit more when it comes to stuff we deal with daily back home."

Both princesses glanced between us for a couple of seconds before Celestia took a step forward. "We assumed the feather had failed to revive you after several minutes of waiting, and witnessing your friend stab a crystalline feather in to your corpse while screaming was not something we found to be normal... How long does it usually take for the revival to take effect, so we can avoid a misunderstanding in the future."

I shrug slightly and sigh. "I honestly don't know at this point. The feather obviously took effect immediately or I wouldn't be alive right now since according to Lutano you all were running laps around the castle for longer than the allowed time for a resurrection. The only thing I can assume is that the mana required to power the spell is harder to gather here since you seem to lack druids to use it. For now, I am going to say the time is about 12 minutes, to give a bit of room for error. Anyways, what has happened since I was killed?"

Both princesses turned to look at Lutano who gained a sheepish expression as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well.... I kinda blew up the demon's head and covered the Hall in hatred made manifest as slime...."

For a second I stare at Lutano, thinking that what he said was a joke but when he keeps his guilty expression, I sigh. "So you somehow got inside the head of the demon and created a large enough explosion to blow apart the skull and brain?.. Why am I not surprised by this?" Shaking my head, I start to turn to Celestia when I hear a faint whispering in the back of my mind. Freezing in place, my eyes narrow slightly. When I stop, the whispering fades and I start to brush it off but it returns again as I turn towards Celestia again. For a second I start to ignore it despite the oddity since I had run in to similar situations before while wandering forests but that was when it hit me, I was in a city so I shouldn't be hearing the voices of animals.

Turning quickly to Lutano, I gather my magic for a shape shift. "I have to leave, if I stay any longer in Canterlot my magic is going to turn on me." Not waiting for a reply I open a glowing green portal in front of me and step through, stepping in to a clearing on the Apple family orchard. In the few seconds I had been moving, the voices I had been hearing were now a thunderous roar in my ear that gradually faded as I sank to the ground against one of the trees. Groaning, I grip the sides of my head in a vain attempt to dull the pain. "Karana curse your voices to the Void." Once the voices went silent and the splitting headache eased, I lean my head back against the tree. "I guess I can't stay away from nature..." I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped my mouth. "This will lead to an interesting discussion with the princesses."

Letting myself relax against the tree, I let my eyes close so I could think back over what had happened at the gala. I had entered the void several times on raids with my guild but I had never seen one of them that size. The largest should have only gotten to roughly ten to twelve feet tall, so what was the cause of a void demon reaching that size?

Shaking my head, I push myself to my feet and head for the Everfree.