The Lich of the Ancient World

by Verathuum

The Digsite

The blanket of clouds blotted out the crescent moon’s light, shrouding the land below in darkness, particularly a trail along a mountainside. Just up the mountain was an archeological dig site, where one young sorceress had set her sights on a few valuables she wanted to get a head start on digging for, before the others would come after dawn. The path was empty, as she expected it to be. No one would want to come up here at this abhorrent hour in the night, but she wore a black cloak to blend into the darkness, just in case. She quickly cast a simple spell on herself to improve her night vision that she’d learned from the archeologists who were used to delving into dark tombs. With the snow on the ground reflecting even the faintest light from the crescent moon, it was just enough to make the spell work at its best.

Having been ostracized from most Equestrian towns and cities because of her failure with the ursa minor, and the Alicorn Amulet fiasco, Trixie was forced to go into hiding in an obscure and isolated archipelago where no one knew her name. Twilight Sparkle might have forgiven her, but that was just one person. The rest of Equestria was a little harder to win back after enslaving an entire town.

When she reached the site dug into the cliff, she pulled the hood off of her head, and she pushed her blue-ish silver hair to one side. Trixie smiled as she looked over the empty camp. By now the clouds were breaking, and in the thin moonlight she could see a few tents with desks for eggheads, and several holes were already dug into the stone where the diggers worked. Trixie was simply a hired muscle in this case, keeping the workers safe from any undead creatures they might happen to find.

She strode onto the dig site silently and kept an eye out for anyone else who might’ve decided to hang around. With Hearth's Warming coming up, even these archaeologists might get desperate for some quick coin for their families. Most of the tools still lied about since the important archaeologists had only arrived on the island yesterday and haven’t had time to get to work.

A few months ago, a local herding sheep happened across a runestone inscribed with Ogham, the ancient language of the thaumaturge tribe. Outside of historians, scholars, and professors, few could still read it. Whenever it was found in the wilderness, some university-funded expedition was quick to dig up whatever ruins lay hidden.

Trixie gazed at the small obelisk that started it all. With her nightvision spell, she could clearly see the carved words, but she couldn’t read them. She knelt down to get a better look since it was her first time seeing anything authentic like this. Across the islands were faux slabs written in modern Equestrian with Ogham symbols, but they were nothing like the authentic stones from thousands of years ago. She gently touched the runes and then stood up. There’s no point in staring at words I can’t read, she thought.

Trixie looked around again. Many tools hung about still neatly in their bags, and some posts and a makeshift fence have been set up already, and there was a big hole in the ground with a wooden ladder in it, but there was nothing else. She looked at the fresh layer of snow blanketing the ground. Maybe I shouldn’t go down that ladder. It could be covered in ice. She removed her right glove, and created a small flame in her hand. Then again, if I’m careful, I should be able to melt the ice without burning the ladder. Plus if it hasn’t rained, then it’s unlikely there will be any ice.

Trixie hesitated for a moment. Maybe I should wait until tomorrow night, she thought, At least then the other diggers will have made a mess, and I won’t be digging around in fresh snow. The flame in her hand ceased and she slipped her glove back on. Maybe tomorrow they’ll dig into a cavern or something nice that I can pull something out of? She closed her eyes and smiled at the wealth she could find down there. She’d buy herself a new cart, or maybe even an actual house that she could live in; people would stop calling her a gypsy and she’d finally be able to make a family.

Trixie opened her eyes when a cold breeze touched her skin. She glanced up at the waning moon nearly overhead, meaning it would be dawn in a few hours. By now the clouds had almost completely broken, as the weather here seemed to do regularly. She turned her gaze back to the path down the mountain.

Suddenly, something glowing on the ground caught her eye. She glanced down at the stone, and found the Ogham runes were glowing slightly. She strode over to the stone and knelt down in front of it. She touched the runes and focused as she tried to feel any magical energy coming off of them. What she felt surprised her. From there runes came no tangible magic, but below the snow deep in the hole was a very powerful warding magic radiating into the air.

Only in stories of the most evil creatures had Trixie ever heard of this kind of ward. The Crystal Empire and King Sombra in particular came to mind. The Princesses trapped King Sombra away, and kept him at bay with a warding spell. After a thousand years or so, whether the ward ran out or King Sombra figured out how to break it wasn’t known, however. There’s no telling what this ward could be holding, and I don’t want to be the idiot who breaks it. Trixie quickly turned her back on the ruins and fled down the mountain towards the town.

The candle-lit inn sat quietly in the fog blanketing the small town. Suddenly a young sorceress draped in a long black cloak bursted through the door. Her eyes looked like they’d seen a ghost, and her breathing was so heavy she seemed on the verge of dying. The sweat clinging to her face could have frozen in the frigid air at any moment. If there was anyone still awake to see her, they’d have certainly thought she was running from an invading army.

Trixie closed the door behind her and sighed as she took in the warmth of the inn. She closed her eyes and sat down on the floor for a moment. Hopefully I didn’t accidentally wake anything, she thought, But I didn’t tamper with much, so I probably don’t have much to worry about, she told herself to feel better. She opened her eyes and stood up. No one was awake at this hour, surprisingly not even the innkeeper, whom Trixie expected to be up through the night. I guess in a quiet town like this, an innkeeper would know he’s not going to get any travelers at this hour in this town.

She strode up the stairs towards her room for the night. I’ll have to talk to my new boss tomorrow about quitting this dig.

Comments

[thefluffyone]

A Lich?

Color me intrigued.

Edit:

Alright, just read it.
It's a wee bit bland, mostly just putting the setting and background in place, with some dialogue thrown in.

Will watch and see how it progresses.

[Luna1337]

You use semicolons and commas far too much and occasionally incorrectly. If a comma or completely new sentence will work, avoid using semicolons.

A bit heavy on the exposition at the beginning. That can really discourage new readers who may associate info dumps with incredibly long and complicated stories.

One idea per paragraph, by the way.