Eureka: The Last Pyromancer

by Sir Hat

The Day of a Soldier

I ran through the town, the blue lights in the distance had taken shape. A single spectral horse was swimming amongst the clouds, the wind could be seen carrying drifting ice against the western walls of every home. The ponies that lived near the coast were fleeing enmasse, running and ducking away from the cold.

My heart beat like a drum as the windigo, bright and long enough to trail pure magic across the sky, slowly came near. My legs shook as I tried to move, pleading to turn and run. I stepped forward, one after another I stepped towards the shore. The cold was horrid, taking away any semblance of warmth with the wind.

I felt ponies bump past me, running towards the eastern road. I was alone, I would be alone, facing a windigo, a demon of ice and frost. But I could not move, I could not run, I could only walk forward towards my death. The screams and cries of ponies and foals echoed around me as the windigo made landfall near the sandy shore. The seawater froze under the sky bound beast, trailing up and over a fishing hut.

It dove, blasting a frozen ring into the earth and freezing a small herd instantly. The specter arose from the ground and another group was frozen instantly, left as statues and memories to what they once were. Ponies left frozen, eyes caught with terror as the monster brought frost in its wake.

I lowered my head, the sound of a half frozen pony watching as their limbs were lost to the cold, then the creep up to their heart. Screams of agony, screams for help, screams for our princess, for magic, for anything. I kept walking down the road to the shore, terrified ponies rushing past me as I marched alone.

The smell of clean air flew past as the windigo swiped a group to my right, the snap freeze causing the water in the air to crystallize and fall against the ground as ponies were turned to horrid statues. I marched on, watching the ground freeze around me, encircle me. The windigo overhead was toying with me, cutting ponies off from the road and leaving me stuck before it. The swirling beast overhead stopped before the shore, staring down at me with hollow glowing eyes, devoid of comfort, devoid of happiness, only searching for the eternal cold that would give it rest.

"And they sent a mare to deal with this! Cowards they may be, or perhaps I'm a hero!" I screamed up at the equine monster. "So tell me, monster, why!?"

The sky high monster snorted, a plume of fog falling down upon me, chilling me to the bone. "Answer me, beast! What purpose do you serve!?" I felt my horn rattle with static like energy. "The frost you bring only kills, only destroys!" I fired off a bolt of magic up at the beast, watching as the bright red bounced off and shot into the sky.

"Not content to sit on the coast!" I fired again, the next bolt growing hotter. "Not content to siphon away the lives of ponies who deserve better!" My heart beat hard, sending my blood boiling through my veins. "Not content to kill! You come and you destroy all you touch!" I shot again, red sparks shooting off before my face. The windigo continued to stare at me, barely phased by the shots. "If this is how I die, let them know I died fighting!"

The massive creature simply stared, a lone monster, the kind that took our home from us all those years ago. Magical beasts born of deception, hatred, and malice. "Come then!" I screamed, stomping my hoof and shooting at the beast again, the clouds parting away from the snake like creature. "Kill me if you can!" I shot again, the air dripping soft patches of rain as my magic cracked the air like lightning.

The windigo's tail straightened out towards the west. I shot again, my lightningesque shot tearing through the windigo's head and causing it to split. A bone chilling cry flooded the ground, causing the earth to shake under my hooves as the creature reformed. "That's right! Not fear nor weakness will stop me from killing you!" I fired again, grazing the windigo. "I am Eureka! Learn my name! Remember me in your oblivion!" I shot again, my head starting to burn from the exertion. "I say fight!"

The windigo stared me dead on, tail whipping around behind it as it charged. Dead on, streams of clouds and frosted air rang its approach. I fired, and fired, and fired again. My heart slowed as the charging monster remained. "Come then! I stand before you fearless and ready--"

I was flung away, sent flying towards the south. The sky was grey, scattered with red lightning and the blue glow of the windigo's trail. My hooves fell out from under me as I tumbled through the air. I went limp as I flew, unable to do better. I watched as the windigo dove through the ground, a single pony standing with his head raised, hoof lifted from the ground, stood frozen eternal.

"Pint," I whimpered, landing away from the ring of ice that had enclosed me. I could hear my ribs break as I landed, a soft snap coming from the meat of my side. "Pint!?" I screamed, laying on my side and left in horror as the windigo crested from the earth. "Pint?" I called again, unable to trust my eyes.

The greying stallion was locked forever in the pose of war heroes, body upraised after throwing me away from harm. I hobbled upright, my horn burning white hot as the windigo looked back to me. "Pint, why?" I felt my eyes burn as the stallion stood alone and strong. "Pint?! Answer me!"

I turned to the windigo as it flew towards me. "How dare you!" I screamed, my voice growing hoarse. I fired a shot, the air sending off an ear shattering bang as I did. "My friend! My family!" I fired again, the sparks from my horn curling around the air into puffs of smoke. "Die!" I fired again, the tip of my horn numb from the heat. "Die!" I fired again, the magic shooting from my horn burning the air and tearing into the windigo. "Burn! Burn you monster!" I watched in awe as my horn spit fire into the air, stopping the windigo's charge and causing a sudden storm to clash between us, showering the frozen ground in fresh rain. "Burn!"

Each new shot sent torrents of fire into the air, enveloping the evil beast, causing cinders to join the rain. "I said burn! For Pint! For Rye! For everypony!" I felt tears turn to steam upon my cheek. "Manta-rott-viss!" I screamed in an old unicorn tongue. "Die!" I watched the fire spilling from my horn block out the sky, a plume of fire surrounded me, encapsulated me, and burn away the frost in the air. "Die I say! Burn for your crimes!"

The windigo was tiny, darting through the red. The blue glow of the creature faded as a red flare shot through the sky. The two clashed, and the blue was no more. Now, trapped in a bubble of fire charring nearby homes and bodies to cinders, there was I, and an orange flare. The creature darted out of the sky, towards me, burning and bright.

A phoenix chick slammed into the ground before me, turning to ash in moments. The fire overhead slowly faded, give the bright blue sky back to me and the village. Houses were burning, ponies were reduced to charcoal, the nearby woods were ablaze, and all around me the smell of damp ash drifted through the rainy air.

I turned to my right. "Pint?" I walked over to the cracked circle in the ground where the windigo had trapped me. "Pint?" I whispered, looking towards a body laid against the ground, turned black and burnt. "Pint...I'm sorry." I dropped onto my stomach before the once proud pony. "Pint?!" I touched him with my hoof, causing the body to fall apart into soft ash.

I jumped upright, my skin crawling as I looked around. "All around me the world looked as it would in summer, but the wood and flesh that had been fleeing or was unlucky enough to be stationary was burned and charred. A few ponies trapped by the ice had been turned to coal, and the statuized ponies were nothing more than ash now.

I had not done this. I had not intended to do this.

Comments

[JustAnotherTimeLord]

Hmm . . . this is awfully dramatic. Then again, it feels as if this is quite long ago in the past. But it's unfortunate that a good thing turned into a bad thing.