Dark Harmony

by Smiles

Ch. 2: Forest of Silent Discords

Dark Harmony

By Smiles

---

-Forest of Silent Discords-

Your feet slides atop small pebbles of sand. Every step forward brings a lonely sound of solace, as you steadily walk through a forgotten forest without music. The path of your road is clear and marbled, a clean-cut stone pavement with a few cracks here and there. Not a single blade of grass awaits your sight, an inch of dirt to dirty your soles, nor a flower to bring you hope of life.

Trees that once stood proudly tall now stand broken and lifeless. Their organic bark stripped and decayed to the core, transformed from the inside out into mineral and rock. Branches without leaves litter your view of the grey sky, like a great fog covering the land.

You look left and right, searching for any form of life. Ponies or birds. Maybe a squirrel or a cow. Even a manticore or a cocktrice. But no such luck. Only you walk down this path, alone like a wolf.

You grip the handle of your walking stick tighter, unnerved by the oddity and the strangeness of this place. Whispers of silence tickle your ears, as you turn your head back and forth looking for any form of life. Something like eyes invade your senses, a sensation like something is watching you. Turning round and round brings nothing but confusion, a scream of panic nor a gasp of terror brings neither change or contact.

You quicken your pace, unsure if this prison of a forest will ever be free.

The trees begin to clear. Progress.

Your journey brings you out of the forest and into a new land.

Far ahead you can see a settlement of sorts. A town, with vibrant colorful houses and buildings like crystals and candy. Beyond, mountains stand vigilant and tall, piercing the sky with their broad smooth forms. A regal white city can be seen, hanging off the side of a mountain like out of a dream. Details of its feature escape your eyes, and yet you feel a presence from there calling you. Your goal perhaps?

You look down. Deep Dive.

A grand chasm separates you from civilized land by at least a quarter of a mile, extending as far as the eye can see. A closer glance shows a slight curve in the chasm, as it circles into and around the mountains far ahead. You cannot see into the bottom of the black abyss. A black miasmic smoke flows through the deep canyon like a river. You kick a rock down below. No echo can be heard.

In your inventory is a knife, a staff, a sheet of paper, and a dark gem with a colorful core. You are not a ninja, and you have no super powers. Your legs can only take you so far. Jumping is probably not a good ideal.

You turn back into a forest of silent discords. You sigh in annoyance, having walked all the way here for nothing. Oh well. Maybe you might find something deeper within inside..

---

Chaos.

Amazing is the vast diversity of this forest. At first glance, the forest seems to be a normal and flat, a forest just like any other. But hidden within its chaotic decayed woods is an entire new world.

You find yourself upon an elevation overlooking the rest of the forest. The tumbleweed of grey branches covers the top of every tree, unchanging the monochrome grey atmosphere. You can feel no wind up here despite your current height.

Off into the horizon you can see another castle, almost hidden by the stone timbers. Your new goal. Someone must have settled there.

The cliff side is steep and rough, but you manage to bring yourself down to the rest of the forest. A couple close calls here where you lost your grip, and a couple scratches there where you got clumsy, but you’re for the most part intact. You vaguely wish that you had someone to catch you however. Wings would have helped a lot too.

A small cave awaits you at the bottom of your descent. Your curiosity peaks, and you walk inside. Skeletons of lions with wings are littered here and fro. Carcasses without flesh reach out from the cave, digging their claws into the earth as their jaws open in a non-existent scream. You cannot see further into the cave, and you have no torch.

A glint catches your eye, and you look to your left. A remnant of kindness, a sword impaled through the chest of a beast. You pick the sword up and gaze at it’s rough chipped edge. An old european-like sword. The pommel underneath its wooden grip is spherical and round, its straight crossguard shines a dull light. The dull grey blade is thick and rusted, diamond shaped if looked down from it’s broken-off point. No sheath or shield in sight. Better than just a knife, you suppose.

Grave robber.

Onwards south. You remind yourself you have no compass. Fun to imagine though.

A dried up river, perhaps? A large empty ditch awaits you, from the east into the west. Stones of rock litter the waterless-bed. Fish bones without their delicious meat wasted in between crevices. You half expect a serpent to come and grant you passage across its back. No such luck. You continue on foot. The rocks hurt your feet.

A passage of scary looking trees with scary faces. You can almost hear them laughing at you. You grumble in annoyance.

Another chasm, odd that you didn’t see it before, although it is much smaller. The miasma is closer to you than the one before, but so is the castle. You cross the rickety rope-bound bridge as you cross to the other side of the chasm. You stare down into the clouded abyss. Is that light you can see down there? Best not to get too curious.

You finally reach the Castle, and gaze upon it’s ruined dark blue exterior. Holes litter its fallen brick walls. The large doors are broken open, and you can clearly peer inside into its great halls. A seal of two horses with wings and horns adorn a crest above the entrance, with a sun and a misshapen moon side by side.

You step inside. Time to go exploring.

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading!

C'mon Smiles, think of something more interesting to say.

Next chapter is going to have a boss fight and stuff. Or maybe the one after that.

Comments

[Good Christian Ethesto]

Boss battle: level 3 rat

[Smiles]

4373118

I was planning on having a shitty costumed human but maybe.

[Good Christian Ethesto]

4373119
Literally anything could be a boss battle for le scrub hueman with an iron sword. New Challenger Approaching: Average-sized Wolf Spider

[The Rogue Wolf]

So I've retraced the steps the Mane Six took to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. I wonder what's waiting inside....

[Deadinlight]

4373119

shitty costumed human

Mindless shitty costumed human

[BronyDad]

This is fantastic! Your world building is beyond words, and the story flows effortlessly. I'm pulled in and my immersion wasn't broken until I finished. Seriously, I sat down with some food and forgot about it until just now!

But I wanted to point out 2 things.

Maybe you might find something deeper within inside..

within and inside are the same...so you don't need both words.

Also,

The pommel underneath its wooden grip is spherical and round

just saying spherical is enough.

Awesome job with this chapter, can't wait for the next one!

[Makolic]

4373119 You know the way you describe it, almost makes it sound like the wilderness in Runescape. Would be interesting if like something was draining the magic of this world. So in a sense, the world is dying since unlike humans all of it's life forms need that magic. Since they were born with it. So, now creatures that are powerful enough to have a little magic left. Would be the only ones wondering around... You could have scavenger creatures to demonic beings that have been weakened. But they fight each other to replenish the lost magic.

So, a level 3 rat sounds about right. For a Runescape kind of adventure. While the White castle is were the last of the life is. While being placed in stasis, hoping to survive the apocalypse of their world... Just maybe, and it will be a fun solitude/adventure.

Remember, the scariest part of an adventure. Is when it's most silent.

Edit: Oh, and you can add Terria into it as well. Like whatever is devouring the worlds magic would be near the end of the story. Were our little adventure has to fight it. Even though he doesn't want to, but the creature hates him for being an oddity. So he will either win or lose. But still end up saving this magical world in-advertently. Though it won't recover all at once... Wow I have issues.

[Zephyr]

Hm. I can see how this chapter was inspired and built on the second episode of the first season.
Interesting. I'm waiting for the first actual encounter.
Well, go on.

-Zeph

[catfire13]

moar?

[Eyes Over Heaven]

Hope you haven't abandoned Discorded Souls.