Chapter 8
If there was ever any benefit to living in a world overpopulated with monsters that unanimously wished for one’s demise, it was that one rarely felt any guilt about venting their own frustrations in return upon the beasts. Such a blessing was particularly paradoxical when one factored in the annoyance that the bonfires which continually returned one to a crude mockery of life, were they to be slain, simultaneously did the same for most of those who had perished in battle alongside them. In Lordran, one could easily grow stressed over the course of their journey from constantly being a hairsbreadth away from another death, and it helped that there was always another abomination offering itself up as a means of letting off steam.
The Chosen Undead had particular cause to contemplate the above as she drove her chaos blade into another of the offending bug like creatures that crawled through the hallway she traveled down. Though the first five she’d killed had all shown no signs that they were even capable of hurting her, let alone if they intended to, she had no regrets about having skewered them like meat on a kebab sticker. Her body was feeling unbecomingly light from the amount of precious humanity she’d had to part with in order to finally get any information out of that damned spider wretch, and honestly she wasn’t so sure the added payoff that had been granted to her in return was worth it. Yeah she had two more pyromancy spells to now make use of, and this passage was supposed to take her safely around the hazards that lay between the Demon Ruins and the Lost City of Izalith, but still, the going to get here hadn’t exactly been easy, and the greatest challenge still lay further ahead.
Squishing the impaled bug under her boot for good measure, the undead warrior spotted another one with strange red eyes and duly chased after it. Some would call this unfair abuse of lower life forms. She just saw it as making sure she kept herself away from the brink of insanity.
The sixth bug, realizing it had become the target of a greater fury, turned and hopped for the light that lay at the far end of the passage. Its movements were hesitant, as if it feared what the orange and red aura ahead held, but it also realized that the clanking sound behind it promised an even worse fate if it did not push onward. Sadly the creature’s reluctance proved to be its undoing, for though it was able to out distance its pursuer, its halting as it neared the far end gave the undead warrior the time needed to charge up one of her new abilities. ‘Chaos Storm’ it was called, a spell that could summon forth searing tides of lava to form a defensive perimeter around the caster, as well as turn anything standing in close proximity to them into an ashen heap. The red eyed bug gave a feeble screech as a geyser of flame suddenly shot out of the ground in front of it, then collapsed into a puddle of glowing magma which set it alight. If there was any mercy in Lordran to be found, it was that the poor beast was incinerated too quickly to have felt much pain.
Blowing softly on her gauntlet to put out the flames, the Chosen Undead approached her latest kill, cocking her head as the lava receded and a strange light burst from the insect’s charred corpse. Carefully she brushed aside the ashes with her sword, and found herself looking at another creature, one covered in twisted, spiny protrusions and emanating a brilliant golden sphere that floated a few inches above its body. Now even more curious, the Chosen Undead gently prodded it with the flat of her weapon and watched as its body inflated from taking a breath of the dusty air. So it was still alive then, no doubt having been protected from the flames and the lava by the larger insect’s body. Had it been hiding inside? Like some sort of parasite?
Putting her sword away, the husk knelt and gingerly touched the creature. It remained defiantly immobile so she threw caution to the wind and picked it up. This made it glow all the brighter, almost exactly like the skull lantern she’d obtained from one of the necromancers that attacked her back in the catacombs. Could it perhaps serve the same purpose as a light source? It certainly was doing a fine job of making the passageway much less dark. Turning it over in her hands, the Chosen Undead noticed its underbelly lacked the spines and had a deep concave shape. Indeed if she didn’t know better, it almost looked like it could fit over her head….
The warrior pondered for a moment, then stored the creature in her pack. Whatever it was, it could prove useful if she encountered any other areas where light was not abundant. One could not ignore potentially useful equipment after all when there was precious little else to work with.
Seeing there were no other pests for her to slaughter, the Chosen Undead turned her attention back to the end of the passageway, to where the ruins of Izalith were said to be, and within them the next Lord Soul….
***
“Tell me, Princess, is it the wind I feel cutting into my skin? It’s sharpness intensified by a momentary chill of the season? Or art thine kindred so unused to sights such as I that they cannot help but bore into me with the daggers of their eyes?” Seath grumbled with an annoyed smack of his wings against the ceiling of the shop. Before him Ponyville’s resident goldsmith, a unicorn by the name of Glittering Aurum, worked steadfastly to finish the various parts of the ornate staffs that would be used by Seath and Twilight as their new tools of the trade. Behind the white drake, however, it felt like the entire rest of the town’s populace was taking turns to stop and stare at him with every negative reaction they could think of.
“The latter, but not in the way you’re thinking of. Dragons don’t tend to hang around populated areas such as here…and even if they did, you’re still far removed from what everyone would recognize as one of the aforementioned. It’s unfortunately just in the nature of ponies to stare at new things.”
Seath grimaced and irritably thumped his tentacles against the ground. He felt unbearably awkward and exposed standing out here in the open for all to see. Not that any of the loathsome commoners who surrounded him looked like they could present a viable threat, but still, the air, the cool temperature, the cacophony of voices…for one who’s other senses were so sharply honed from eons of having to make up for his failing eyes, it was too much information being forced upon him all at once! Not to mention whoever built Glittering’s shop clearly had not accounted for the comfort of any soul bigger than the common ponies passing by, forcing him to have to almost fold his body in half in order to fit inside.
“Wouldst it not be more…agreeable were I to return to the castle? I desire to be neither the cause nor the victim of the populace’s upset!”
Both Twilight and Spike sighed at the drake’s disrespect.
“First off, they’re not upset, they’re just curious. You may be an odd sight but you’re far from the first that’s set hoof in Ponyville. Trust me, nobody here means you any harm.” Twilight frowned as Glittering presented the golden components for approval. “And second off, you’re here because I don’t know the first thing about how your ‘catalysts’ are supposed to work. If you want me to become proficient with one, I need you to make sure these are up to your standards.”
“Not to mention the last thing I need is both of you reverting back to your shut in ways. Was hard enough getting Twilight to leave the library at all when we first moved here.” Spike spoke up. For the umpteenth time, Seath looked down at the tiny drake and thought about how many easy and/or stress relieving ways he could end Spike’s life, and for the umpteenth time he had to tell himself such was not an option to be considered. No matter how much of an entertaining test subject, torture victim or snack the little dragon would make, he unfortunately did have a valid point. Loathe as Seath was to admit it, but spending millennia locked away in the Duke Archives like a self-made prisoner hadn’t really done him any favors. Heck even that had eventually ceased to be enough for his mad want of isolation, he’d had to go and construct the Crystal Cavern after being repeatedly annoyed by the sunlight always creeping in through the windows of his study. Who knows how different things might have turned out if he’d actually braved the elements and gotten some fresh air once in a while?
Turning his muzzle to the door, Seath drew in a deep breath of Ponyville’s quiet and clean atmosphere. It was nothing short of astounding how much better he was feeling after only a few days in these new lands. Even if his work was at a halt and the common rabble were irritating him to no end that still seemed a small price to pay for his reinvigorated spirit, and the return of his strength.
“Alright, that’s the last of the mountings prepared. Is there anything you want changed before I set the stones?” Glittering queried. Seath turned his gaze back to the minute unicorn, and the two catalyst staffs that he’d set on the counter. One was about two and a half feet in length, perfect for an average sized pony to wield, the other was roughly nine times the size, more suitable for the white dragon’s exaggerated scale. Both were beautifully adorned with gold plating mounted on top of the enchanted wood taken from Twilight’s broken study tools. All that remained were the holes where Seath had indicated that crystals were to be set.
“While the design is new, and its edge unsharpened by use, it will suffice. I pray thee, make haste in the completion of thine work so that I may remedy the latter!” He ordered. Glittering swallowed nervously as the giant drake stared down at him with a most chilling frown on his pure white visage. Rolling her eyes, Twillight waved a hoof to get the goldsmith’s attention and smiled that she had the situation under control.
“Right…uhhh…then I just have one question: you specifically ordered all these settings, yet you only gave me two crystals. Would you like me to pick out a few others to fill out the rest?”
Seath shook his head.
“I shalt provide the remainder.” He said, watching impatiently as the unicorn added a crystal to the top of each catalyst and fastened them in place. Satisfied the tools were as complete as they could be without him, Seath reached out and picked both up from the counter.
“A final enchantment to focus the power of the soul, and the sorcerer’s hand is thus complete!” He blew his white breath upon both catalysts, filling the remaining settings with jagged formations of clear, diamond crystals. For the mounted gems, he coated them in a complete covering of glowing spikes, giving the catalysts the appearance of having a living star on top of their construction. Twilight noted they bore a striking resemblance to her cutie mark, save for the difference in color.
“Consider this an extension of thine own life and thine own mind. Keep it near at all times, and thou shalt unlock more knowledge than all the Dragon Scholars of Vinheim!” Seath intoned as he handed the shorter catalyst to Twilight. The lavender pony caught it in her magic, and then stumbled backwards as she felt a sudden surge of raw power shoot through her. It was akin to when she’d briefly held the Alicorn Amulet after getting it off of Trixie, only not quite as wild a sensation. Shaking her head, Twilight concentrated and regained control over her magic.
“Wow! That is quite a rush!” She exclaimed while turning the catalyst over with her levitation. It felt heavy from the gold in its construction, but the sheer power it emanated gave her the strength to manage. With all the spikes decorating its surface she wagered it’d make for a pretty decent hand-to-hand weapon too, a masterful balance of lethality, practicality and beauty all in one. “Might take me a while to get used to this.”
“As tis to be expected. Come, thine training begins.” Seath turned and slowly extracted himself from the cramped shop. Behind him, Twilight sighed and levitated a sack of bits onto the counter.
“Here, thank you for doing this on such short notice! We’ll get out of your mane now.” She said.
Glittering mopped well-earned sweat from his brow and stared contemplatively at the alicorn’s catalyst.
“Oh it was an honor, your highness! Not to mention the design schematics your…um…friend there gave me were exceptionally well laid out. While his size may be overwhelming, I can’t deny he’s got a solid understanding of how to use precious materials.” The unicorn smiled. Twilight winced slightly at being shown the proper respect, but then smiled as well.
“It’s still ‘Twilight’ to you as it is to everyone else in town. I’ll not have you treating me differently now just because I’ve got a pair of wings and a few extra inches of height.” She gently insisted, much to the unicorn’s amusement.
“Right, got it. Thank you for stopping by again, Twilight!”
Clutching her new treasure, Twilight stepped out to join Seath who was studying the craftsmanship of his catalyst for any imperfections.
“Alright! So what do we do now?” She asked excitedly.
“Now cometh the part where thou shalt learn how to link thine soul with thine hand. The means by which thou shalt find the true answer to thine query of how sorcery doth differ from magic.”
Seath lightly tapped Twilight’s horn with the spiked tip of his staff. “With this, thou is already experienced. Thine goal thus will be to use it not, but instead focus thine energy through this.” He gently tapped the catalyst in Twilight’s mouth.
“And how do I do that?” She queried in a slightly mangled voice. Seath pondered for a moment.
“The mind is the center of intelligence, but it is the soul that is the center of one’s emotions. As thou is already an exceptional intellect, thou shalt require balancing that with feelings.” Looking around the Ponyville Square, Seath spied the orange pony that had joined Twilight at her castle for his introduction, manning a stall laden with various types of apples. Gesturing for his student to follow he headed over, using his tentacles to brush past all the ponies that still couldn’t help pausing to stare at him in fear.
“Well, howdy there, Twilight! And…Seath…” Applejack swallowed slightly as the giant white dragon loomed before her, casting a long shadow over her and her stall. “How’s that whole sorcery thing comin’ along?”
“If I may but make use of thine wares, thou shalt be privy to thine answer.” Seath reached out and plucked one of the rainbow colored apples from in front of Applejack. She wisely decided to just let him.
“Behold, by channeling one’s feelings through thine soul, thou draws the power of it out into the catalyst. With the sharpness of the mind, thou then directs it to wherever thou intends!”
Seath tossed the apple into the air with one hand and raised his staff with the other. An intense bolt of blue light suddenly flared from his fist, shooting out into a beam shaped like a giant arrow. It vaporized the fruit and the ground was duly splattered with the sauced remains. The square went silent as everyone now stood in utter shock at what they had just witnessed.
“Okay…I gotta be honest, that was awesome!” Spike said. Seath nodded in satisfaction
“Soul Arrow, a basic but powerfully effective offensive sorcery. The fierceness of one’s living essence honed to the perfect deadly edge.” The white dragon said by way of explanation. Twilight looked as awed as she did terrified, much like everyone else. Hesitantly she looked down at her own catalyst and swallowed.
“Uhh…do you want me to try doing that now?” She asked, feeling relief shoot through her when Seath shook his head.
“Nay, pony. First thou must find thine balance before thou can hope to focus thine soul as such.” He said.
“Good, then maybe we could move somewhere less busy if you’re going to start casting spells like that?” The alicorn intoned, using her magic to levitate the catalyst so she didn’t have to talk through it. “I mean don’t get me wrong, that was damn impressive, but I’d rather not risk accidentally hitting somepony in the process.”
Seath looked at the ponies that were now all backing away from him and shrugged.
“T’is an acceptable suggestion.” He intoned, gesturing for Twilight to now take the lead. Smiling that all was well, the alicorn glanced to her friend and gave a very embarrassed nod of apology for the cost of her produce.
"Here uh, sorry about that." She said while sliding another bit over to Applejack.
“Well...eh...no harm done. Hey if he's open to saucing some more apples, feel free to stop by Sweet Apple Acres sometime…jest, ehhh let me get the buckets out first…” Applejack replied by way of indicating it was fine, even if she looked as shaken up as her friend.
Twilight dashed out of the center of town with Seath close behind. The dragon relished how everyone now scrambled to get out of his way now that they’d seen what he could do, though he also sensed his student’s disdain for his actions.
“Might I presume such displays of might are frowned upon in thine quaint society?”
Twilight grimaced as they came to an open stretch of grassland dotted with trees and a large lake by the road leading out from Ponyville.
“Well on one hoof that was unbelievably careless of you, yet on the other, from what you’ve told me of your home, I’m guessing life doesn’t quite hold the same value?” She glumly asked. Seath looked at the terrain around them, at the greenery sitting so lush and colorful under the sapphire sky. Clouds drifted here and there with the sun burning bright as ever over all. He shivered as his senses helplessly gorged themselves on everything.
“Not recently. After the spread of the Dark Sign, the only beings to dwell within Lordran were undead and hollow. Death dost not hold them as it dost those whom fortune favors, thus no remorse is held if harm is to come upon them. Indeed they are seen as little more than pestilence, fit only to be segregated, or used for…less pleasant purposes.” The dragon replied. Spike cocked his head.
“But wait, Seath, didn’t you say you’re an undead as well?” The baby dragon asked in puzzlement.
Seath nodded. “As with many things, I am considered an exception. As a true undead, for once, mine status benefited me, much to the chagrin of others.”
Twilight idly stared at the grass in contemplation, letting the cool spring weather comfort her as she thought about troubling things.
“Your world seems to have so many contrasts. You speak of it as if it were worse than the Badlands as a place to live, but it’s also where you crafted such magnificent works of magic, and built a library bigger than any ever seen…” She mused.
Seath’s eyes fell upon the ground as well, specifically at a lone flower with red petals that was fluttering in the breeze. Curious, he reached down and picked it from the grass, bringing it up to gaze upon its simple beauty as though he were one who had never known such before. The thought that such could easily be the case made Twilight shudder.
“Lordan hath seen the passing of more than a thousand year, and the beauty of life can last but only for a short passage. When it fades, dost the world care? Dost it mourn for the loss, or simply carry on?”
As if to demonstrate, Seath crushed the flower in his powerful grip, letting the liquefied remains dribble down through his fingers to stain his skin and the ground beneath him like blood.
“Nay, the only cry to be heard is if one wisheth to hold onto that beauty for longer than the world intends, then it seeks to lay its vengeance upon thee for thine trespasses as was proven time and time again…”
Twilight frowned as Seath spotted another flower, this one colored purple, and picked it as well. “What do you mean?”
Seath stared at the flower in his palm, tracing a claw across its delicate petals. Such a tiny, fragile thing it was, so easily destroyed by the greater force of chaos.
“T’was the age before I became undead. I ruled over a land known as 'Verdite', as its White Dragon God. Mine name was worshiped, and my form was favorably more….mmm…bipedal.”
Seath twitched his tentacles in aggravation.
“Though I was cursed to eternally war with a fellow dragon god, mine rule was as fair as could be and Verdite was beautiful. Crystals greener than any forest did flow from its mines. Priests, kings, nobles and warriors from all regions came to receive mine blessing. Then time decided to end it and Verdite fell into darkness. I did all that which I could to save that which I had been charged to protect, and for my merits, generation after generation of noble warriors sought to bring about my death so that I would interfere no more!”
Twilight cringed at how pained Seath looked at this.
“For centuries was I cursed to rot in limbo, till finally I was returned to life, and to a world unformed, and shrouded in fog. T’was a land of grey crags, arch trees, and the Everlasting Dragons that ruled over all….and I…was as you see now. To my fetid brethren such a vista was beauty, so time again decided it must end. They resisted and so unto the land was brought Fire, and with it Disparity. By a rare good fortune was I chosen to join the ranks of the new gods that would shape the land into what became Lordran, and thus was born the Age of Fire!”
Twilight briefly thought to summon a scroll, but decided she could remember everything her teacher was saying easily enough. It seemed what he needed now was just someone to listen to him. To just let him vent.
“T'was this time that I did create many beautiful works, perhaps more so than in Verdite. A true golden era it was for all. The land was lush, its rulers flourished, and under my watch the people grew wise and powerful, gorging themselves on the knowledge I bequeathed. But it was a paradise, and thus time has now decided it doth again endure for too long. Gwyn hath done all he can to hold back its tide, as hath I. And in return, we gained naught but death, and desolation.”
Sighing with deep regret, Seath let the flower fall from his hand. It fluttered gently onto the ground, landing in front of Twilight. She stared at it in deep thought.
“That is indeed tragic to hear. But it seems that with change comes new beauty does it not? I mean, if I may use an example of my own, I used to live in a library that I loved for being a simple, yet comforting place for me to reside in. It was my rock, my sanctuary, the place I chose to call home even after I became a princess. But then…” Twilight’s face tightened as if pained. “Then came along a monster known as Lord Tirek who sought to absorb the magic of all ponies and wreck terrible havoc with it. During his conquest my library, my possessions, and everything I held dear were destroyed. But after I managed to defeat him…”
Seath looked questioningly at his student.
“Hey she did!” Spike spoke up. “She may not like to boast about it, but Twilight and her friends make quite a powerful group whenever danger ever comes to Equestria!”
Seath nodded. “So thine lore states.”
“Anyway, after he was defeated, I was gifted with that castle. Yes it’s not the same as the library, and yes I still regret I had to lose everything…but what I got in return was even greater in every way.”
“Roomier too. Still can’t believe how much more space I have for comic books and memorabilia now!” Spike commented. Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled.
“Still, the point stands, beauty may be lost with change, but that’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes what comes after is even greater!”
Seath sighed as he looked out onto the lake, noting how much it reminded him of a similar setting back in Lordran; a serene basin in the middle of a living forest forever shrouded in night, where he had conjured up some of his most brilliant and terrifying works. Aye, such nostalgia it did bring!
“Thine optimism is admirable, yet thine argument bodes too lightly for one such as I, who hath seen far more ages pass and far more great things be tarnished and lost to time.” He said dismissively. Twilight frowned.
“I’m just trying to entertain both sides of the argument here. Don’t get me wrong, I fully empathize with your hardships, I merely wish to present a counterpoint.” She protested. Again Seath just snorted at her naivety. If only she knew how easy she had it here. Ah well, fate would no doubt soon show her how quickly everything could go wrong. It always did.
“Regardless, such thinking will still serve thee well for this first exercise. In thine mind, I ask that thee conjure an image which stoketh the fire of thine soul. A manifestation that bringeth out thine strongest feelings.” The white dragon ordered.
Nodding, Twilight pondered for a moment. “Okay…I think I have something.”
Seath lightly took her hoof and placed it on her catalyst.
“Focus on it as the only thought in thine head, use it to stretch out with the feelings it summons, rather than the magic thou is used to.”
Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated hard on the image she’d conjured. It took a bit of practice since her mind constantly wanted to side step onto other topics, but she’d done some meditation exercises with Celestia before so she knew how to gently coax herself back from distraction.
Celestia…
Even if she was thrilled to have such new ventures to study, thanks to Seath, Twilight couldn’t help feeling a pang of guilt at how she’d practically begged her previous teacher to just relinquish her position and step aside. Granted, Celestia had already decreed she had taught Twilight as much as she could and thus her job was done, but it was hard to not still think of the sun princess as her mentor…as well as her friend…and at times her surrogate mother...
And maybe even…well, that might be going too far, but what if she and Celestia were something more…
“Hey…Hey! I think she’s doing it!”
Twilight’s eyes snapped open at hearing Spike’s voice. Briefly a soft magenta glow caught her attention and she looked down to see both her hoof and the catalyst staff were enveloped in an aura of the aforementioned. It faded almost instantly, due to her concentration being broken, but from Seath’s intrigued snort, it seemed that was still enough.
“Indeed she is. Surprising.” The white dragon hmmed. “Impart to me, Twilight, how didst thou feel just now?”
The lavender mare lifted her hoof to her face, then gingerly touched her horn.
“Well…at first I didn’t feel anything…but then..for a moment, it was like when I usually cast my magic, except it wasn’t like normal…as in, it wasn’t coming from up here…” She rubbed her horn again. “But from below…like…right here…” She lowered her hoof to rest upon her chest, just above where her heart was. Seath’s head tendrils rose along with his wings.
“And with that, dear student, thou hast taken thine first step into the greater world of sorcery.” He quietly intoned, perhaps with just a tinge of pride in his voice. “Now, I order thee, try it again.”
Taking a deep breath, Twilight placed her hoof back on the catalyst. Closing her eyes she created an image of Celestia in her head, trying to focus on what had sparked that odd sensation. She concentrated on her feelings for her fellow princess, her memories of their time together, and the bond that had formed between them over the years. Slowly she began to sense it again: that building of energy in her chest, and the tingling in her hoof. Daring to open an eye just a tad she beheld the aura had reappeared, swirling around the ornate staff as naturally as when she used her magic for any other purposes. Fighting to hold onto the image in her head, Twilight glanced upward, and gasped upon seeing her horn was not following suit…well, not initially. As soon as her focus broke, the aura around the catalyst vanished and her horn lit up with a full strength magical charge. Twilight meeped as she was forced to send the blast across the lake, carving a trail of vaporized steam before it impacted against the bank on the opposite side.
Gasping again in shock, she looked up at Seath who was ponderously stroking his chin.
“Thou shalt need to learn control with all haste, but again the fire of sorcery seems to come naturally to thee.” The white dragon commented with the faintest hint of a smile.
Clasping a hoof to her heart, Twilight stared at her catalyst with renewed awe.
“That…that felt so weird…yet, it seemed so easy.”
“A strong soul and a sharp mind maketh the perfect pair for such practice.” Seath replied. “I do ponder though, what didst thine mind conjure when thine link to the catalyst was formed?”
Twilight gave a sharp swallow and cleared her head.
“I was thinking of Celestia, of when we were together, and when I was her student…how good a friend she’s been to me, and how much she’s done to help me become the fine mare I am now…”
Seath’s wings stiffened. “Thou wast close to her?”
Twilight blushed. “More so than my own family sometimes. Almost as close as I am to my other friends…well…maybe more than that…but I don’t mean…uhhh…oh ponyfeathers, I’m sorry I’m starting to ramble now.”
She giggled while looking up at Seath, only to find the dragon now looked extremely disturbed.
The student doth adore her teacher…and pray where hath thou heard such before?
Seath’s eyes glazed over as his wings and tentacles both began to frantically twitch.
This…this cannot be…t'is an appalling mockery of fate that woulds’t curse thee twice with such wretched fortune!
“Uh…Seath?” Twilight asked, her bashful cheer quickly dissolving as the dragon began to shiver uncontrollably.
No…NO!...this bodes most ill…thou can proceed no further in this venture! To do so invites another failure, another sin…
….And yet, if thou screws thine courage to the sticking point, in this land where none know of thine past deeds…what is there to make thee fail again?
“Seath? Why are you making all those strange faces?” Twilight meeped. “Are you okay?”
The alicorn’s words fell on deaf ears, blotted out by the dragon’s own swirling inner turmoil.
There is naught to stop thee here! Thou hath been gifted the perfect subject to reclaim what is rightfully thine!
Yet thou art stepped in blood so far that thou can wade no more. To continue now would be proof enough that thine naysayers spoke truth!
“Should I…uh..go get a doctor?” Spike asked.
Pay no mind to thine similarities. Think only of thine success!
Think of thine failure before! Think of how thus could come again! She is no mere shadow of thine past…
In their frantic darting about, Seath’s eyes fell on Twilight. Be it a trick of the light, or his glasses slipping off his face, for the briefest of moments he saw a different princess…one so much like the alicorn, yet so different….
….she is a monument to all thou ruined and tarnished in thine own selfish pursuits! A shining idol manifesting thine greatest and most treacherous sin!
“SEATH!” Twilight cried as the dragon hurled himself onto the grass, throwing his glasses aside and bellowing crystal breath everywhere while tearing up huge chunks of the terrain in his insane fury.
“BEGONE AND QUIT MY SIGHT! UNREAL MOCKERY CEASE!” The dragon roared. Needle sharp spikes penetrated his hands as he pounded against the ground, causing light to finally pierce through the haze of his rage and reveal to him again where he lay. He blinked as he became aware of silence around him, a bright but indecipherable haze of color bleeding through his foggy vision. Tentatively, the dragon lifted his hands from where he’d been clawing wildly at the dirt. His face cringed upon sensing both were bleeding freely from numerous puncture wounds.
“Spike…grab ahold of me. I’m going to teleport us all to the Ponyville General Hospital right now!” Twilight ordered. The tiny dragon leapt onto her back and she began to charge up the spell to get Seath the urgent medical care he clearly needed. Unfortunately it seemed Seath disagreed as he promptly reached over and grabbed the alicorn by her throat.
“Halt thine acts! T’is nothing more than a momentary fit! I am myself again!” He growled. Though she now feared for her life, Twilight shook her head.
“Seath, you’re bleeding, and you just had what looked like a terrible seizure. You are most certainly NOT alright!” She protested. Seath menacingly bared his teeth, but as he felt the rocky texture of crystals forming along the alicorn’s neck from his blood, he promptly let go of her and turned away.
“I swear to thee, I fare well. This ailment of mine…an unfortunate result of my previous isolation. T'is not something that can be remedied so easily.” He assured. The words sounded hollow, but Twilight couldn’t help empathizing a little.
“But, your hands…” She said. Seath examined them, finding his palms were now pockmarked with rocky formations as the wounds scabbed over. Had he still been empowered by the primordial crystal, such minor injuries would’ve healed instantly. Now though…to think of how feeble he was without the aforementioned….GRRRRRR…he had to fix that somehow!
“Let us retire to thine castle. Some estus will heal this fast enough.” He said. “And…forgive me this outburst. T’would seem I have languished without fair company for too long. To again mentor a kindred soul, to speak as freely as the common folk do…t’would seem I was not prepared.”
Twilight nodded in understanding and gently patted the dragon’s tentacle with her hoof as she retrieved his glasses.
“Well you aren’t alone anymore. Not while you’re here, and not while you have me.” She soothed. Seath shuddered as he derived such words could have more than one meaning, but as his mind calmed itself again he found new light coming to his thoughts.
Peace…it is not thee she cares for. The solar diarch may be all to her, but thou is merely her teacher, no more. Peace…she will not hold thee back from what thou seeks to gain…though perhaps thou wilt do well to stay by her side. Thou cannot hope to endure here if thou dost not shed the burdens of solitude.
Accepting his specs, Seath slipped them on and looked down at the tenderly beaming mare, feeling himself be comforted by the way she smiled out of compassion, not affection. Yes, despite all the similarities this would not be a repeat of before. He stood to break no hearts nor betray any trust this time, only to mold this tiny but powerful pony into his perfect student…then use her to regain his immortality.
“Thou is kind to say such. Kinder still to show such concern…”
Twilight shrugged. “Well as you said, you didn’t come from the friendliest of environments, and so long as we’re working together I should do my best to lend a sympathetic ear.” She cleared her throat and picked up her catalyst with her magic. “Just, we need to work a bit on your social interaction, do something so you aren’t scaring away everypony you come across.”
Seath rolled his eyes but nodded his agreement.
“Again, thine suggestion is acceptable. Retire we to the castle. When I am mended, we will continue with your teaching.”
Twilight smiled and headed off back to Ponyville. On her back, Spike looked behind as Seath picked up his own catalyst and stared grimly at his crystallized hands.
“Twilight, I know you want to learn everything you can from this guy, and that he’s really powerful and also not used to how things work around here…but even so, doesn’t he strike you as a bit screwed in the head?” The little dragon subtly asked. Twilight followed his gaze, and her mouth became a tight line.
“If he is, then so am I. I mean, not that I wish to bring up bad memories, but there were occasions when I went a bit crazy too after a prolonged shut in with my books. Can you imagine how I’d act if I’d just come from a situation like his?” She finally replied. Spike pondered this, and hmmmed in agreement as he saw the sense in his friends’ words.
“Touché, Twilight. Touché. ”
***
Something was wrong, well more so than normal. Sure the journey through the lava flooded ruins of Izalith had been as perilous as expected…but if the Chosen Undead had learned anything from her journey thus far it was there was a distinct difference between perilous and flat out unfair…and up until this point her trials had bordered distinctly more on the latter than the former.
Pulling her blade free from where it had been lodged in the quivering body of a chaos eater, the husk acknowledged that she shouldn’t be one to complain. She had enough problems already what with trying to ford across the molten hot magma, dodging the lumbering half-bodied beasts that apparently had claimed the glowing fields of liquid rock as their home, and then dealing with even more of the damned fire spewing statues that seemed to be everywhere down in this hell hole…yet still, it seemed just a bit too easy. There’d only been a few of the giant monster legs to greet her in the ruins, not the hordes that legend told were down here, and the two chaos eaters she’d run into seemed like a paltry guard for the area slated to house the source that had spawned all the demons terrorizing Lordran. Something struck her as being off about this place…but given she stood at what was basically the epicenter of chaos, she’d be damned if she could guess what. This whole place was a mess of death, decay, perversions of nature, and evil intents. What did she have as a reference for what should have been waiting down here vs. what was?
Sheathing her blade, the Chosen Undead balled up a fist and watched it ignite with fire. At the very least she’d managed to find a little bonus during her search: another pyromancy called the ‘Chaos Fire Whip’, no doubt a relic used by the Daughters of Chaos before their mother had conducted her little experiment to make a new First Flame and…well…caused all of this to happen. A parched sigh escaped the undead’s dry lips as she approached the fog gate and steeled herself for battle. Killing what lay on the other side wasn’t going to fix anything, the damage to the world was far too severe to be remedied. It would just ensure that she could prevent things from getting any worse than they already were. At least, that was the hope she clung to, her primary motivation to keep braving such hostile environments.
Stepping through the fog gate, the warrior felt her feet slide downward onto a smooth decline. A ramp? They installed stairs on one side of the entrance but a ramp on the other? Well…really what else did she expect by this point? There was little about the architecture of Lordran that made sense in the first place!
Crouching so she didn’t lose her balance, the Chosen Undead leaned into her accelerating descent, ducking under branches and sliding around roots as they zipped past. Finally the ramp came to an abrupt end and she felt herself tumble over into space. Curling up into a ball, the warrior quickly hit solid ground again and rolled onto her feet. With seasoned reflexes her sword and shield were back in her hands and she stood ready for battle.
A true pity it was then, when the scene before her showed the battle had ended long ago.
Cocking her head in puzzlement, the husk carefully scanned the chamber she was in. There were gaping holes in the floor around her, smashed in from the force of some tremendous brawl. Branches shaped like long, demonic claws lay lifeless around a twisted mess of wood and flesh, and where there should have been the orange glow of fire there was only darkness.
The Bed of Chaos had been destroyed.
The Chosen Undead’s mind ground to a halt. How…could anyone have done this? Who could have possibly gotten here ahead of her?
If the Bed had been defeated then did that mean the Lord Soul inside of it had…?
Now feeling both fear and anger consume her, the Chosen Undead quickly picked out a means of traversing the broken floor to reach the great lifeless mass on the far side. She ran and jumped over one of the gaping chasms, then proceeded to hack her way through the twisting branches to reach the center of the dead beast.
Her spirits promptly sank back into the void she’d just crossed when she found nothing but an empty hollow where the heart of the Bed should’ve been. Yes, someone had indeed beaten her to the prize, and now not only did she not have the Witch of Izalith’s Lord Soul, she also had no clue as to who could’ve been here previously to obtain it.
Overcome with the frustration that her entire journey had been for naught, the husk slammed her blade into the mess of branches on either side. Wooden chips and splinters littered the floor as she hacked and stabbed and slashed away at the lifeless corpse, till finally she felt her anger abate and her cooler mind prevail. Slumping against the wall, she let her chaos blade fall from her hand as she tried to think of what to do next. Whoever had beaten her here had made faster work of crossing the ruins, and they had managed to do so without any of the extra equipment she’d picked up to help her along. That alone did not bode well, but what was worse was they clearly had known exactly where to head, and had been so fixated on their prize that they’d ignored all threats and additional treasures that were not directly in their path. That indicated they were not adventurers but someone who was hell bent on gaining the Lord Soul before the one who was meant to recover it got there, that one being her.
But who had told them where to look? Had that spider bitch given someone else the same information about the shortcut? No, that was impossible. The passage showed no signs of having been disturbed before she entered it.
Had Frampt sent another undead in case she failed? Not likely. She was the only one to have been brought from the Undead Asylum. So then…how did this come about?
Cradling her helmeted head in her hands, the Chosen Undead groaned. This was getting her nowhere. She had to start over, see if there was anything else off about this situation.
Raising her visor, the female husk checked the interior of the Bed of Chaos again, and her spirits rose just a little upon noticing something else was indeed missing:
There was no bonfire! If past experience was any indication, one of those always materialized to mark the spot where a bearer of the Lord Souls fell. So if there wasn’t one here, that meant whoever had destroyed the Bed of Chaos hadn’t finished the job! They’d just ripped out its heart and left the rest to its doom.
She still might have a chance to get the Lord Soul of Izalith after all!
Emboldened by this, the Chosen Undead collected her weapons and exited the Bed, she needed to find another bonfire and then retrace her steps, look for bloodstains or a sign that might indicate what had happened here. Whoever was carting around the demonic heart of a legendary beast would find themselves considerably hindered, and that gave her the perfect opportunity to catch up to them.
An opportunity that fate, sadly, would decree she not be permitted to take advantage of.
As she stepped back out into the chamber she froze as there came a most peculiar humming sound from all around her, a ghostly sort of murmur that indicated only one thing. One terrible, terrible thing:
She was about to be invaded. A black phantom was emerging into her world for the intended purpose of ending her life again!
Backing away from the chasm, the Chosen Undead swept her blade out as the humming continued, her rotted skin bristling as she realized it was going on for far longer than normal. She raised her Grasscrest shield and lowered her stance. Whatever came at her, she was not about to let anything stop her now!
There it was! A shadow surrounded by a red aura materializing under the spot where she’d entered the chamber. She recognized it as one she’d encountered before: the knight clad in spiked armor, bearing the barbed sword and the shield of thorns. Not exactly someone she was eager to see again, but at least she knew she could beat him!
The knight, Kirk as she recalled his name was, raised his blade and stood ready for battle. She made ready to charge…but then stopped as the humming continued. To her shock a second black phantom appeared on her left, this one a paladin robed in a golden aura and hefting a very big and very deadly looking club. As the Chosen Undead reeled from this, the humming returned, and to her horror a third phantom appeared on her right! This one could best be described a female from the most feral region of the world: dressed only in a skimpy covering of animal skins with a burlap sack covering her head, and a giant meat cleaver in her hands.
The Chosen Undead backed herself up against the Bed of Chaos’ remains, her head and her sword swinging about to keep tabs on all three of the encroaching invaders…until she heard the infernal humming again and looked up to see a fourth phantom appear on the ledge leading into the chamber. This one’s attire managed to skirt the boundaries between exceptionally fancy and ridiculously anachronistic, consisting of a long coat, belted pants, a frilly lace cravat, and some manner of top hat which was pulled down low over its sinisterly grinning face.
“Ah how fancy! We hoped you’d still be alive!” The fourth phantom cheered as the Chosen Undead retreated the other way. Unfortunately she quickly realized the folly of this action when her boot slipped over the edge of a hole, and she turned again to see every avenue of escape was cut off.
“Deepest apologies for this little manner of treachery, but you see, you’ve put something of a thorn in the side of one who currently has me trapped in their little pocket of time. Naturally I’ve been trying to negotiate a way out and finally it seems we came to an agreement: I take you down, as often as needs be, they let me leave, and we all go home happy. Now how could anyone say no to a deal like that, I ask you?”
The extravagantly attired phantom aimed an equally elegantly fashioned crossbow as the other three all raised their weapons.
“Hope you don’t mind my inviting a few friends along. I was told you’re something of a tough nut to crack so I figured it’d be best to not come alone. Mwah hah hah hah!”
The Chosen Undead frantically leaped out of the way as a hail of arrows buried themselves in the remains of the Bed of Chaos. She brought her shield up to deflect the fall of a club, parried the swipe from a machete and narrowly avoided being run through the gut by a thorny blade. A deathly chill rocked her creaking bones as she came to a grim realization:
She’d come expecting to face a great challenge, and for whatever sins she may have committed, the gods had sure as hell given her one!
***
Back in Equestria, a familiar dark void split the sky of an otherwise quiet night. Slowly the great hand emerged from it, its quivering, badly scorched fingers tightly clutching the twitching insect creature it had taken from the Bed of Chaos. Sensing there was no one about to interrupt it, the hand tossed it into the foliage of a nearby tree and quickly pulled itself back into the portal, narrowly missing the head that then poked itself out of said tree with an annoyed grumble.
“What the..Hey! Do you mind? Some of us are trying to come up with means to cause mischief here!” Discord rubbed his head and brought up the creature, which had landed in a bowl of banana pudding sprinkled with chocolate chips and words cut from the dictionary. “Look at this! A perfect new concoction with which to seed the clouds next time it rains, and someone has to come along and ruin it. Am I not allowed to have my fun anymore?”
The dracoequus sighed and picked out the bizarre entity that had literally been dropped right into his lap.
“Hmmm…well…that said, what is this most unusual fancy that’s been delivered unto me?”
He snapped his tail and a magnifying glass poofed into his lion paw. He placed it over the pitifully thrashing bug and cocked a curious eyebrow.
“How fascinating, at first glance you appear to be something even the Everfree Forest would be ashamed to have living within its domain, yet I can feel heat coming from you, life…power…”
The insect glowed softly as he examined it further. On a whim Discord snapped his tail and a bright flash surrounded the demonic creature, only when it faded he saw that his attempt to change it into something else had failed.
“And you’re already such a mess of physical matter I can’t make you anymore chaotic. My, what an unexpected treasure!”
The chaos god grinned as he continued to admire his new find. After a while he looked out over the nighttime horizon to check that he was still alone.
“I don’t suppose whoever dropped this is going to be wanting it back?” He called out. In response there came the chirp of a few crickets.
“No one?”
Silence.
“Hmmm…well alright then, I’ll just hold onto it for now. See what fun I can have with it.”
He smirked while sinking back into the foliage of his tree with the chaos insect.
“Yeeeessss, I am going to have quite some fun with you.”
For any Dark Souls veterans who may ask if I have just given away a crucial plot point in this chapter, yes, but again, not in the way you're thinking. 
For MLP shippers who may be wondering if I'm hinting at a future pairing here, see above answer. 
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Well Discord is redeemed at this point, so hopefully we won't have an army of demons running around Equestria unless he seriously screws something up. I always assumed the chaos bug thing/former witch of Izalith was more a mindless beast than actively evil. If the 4 kings get dragged over though, there's gonna be trouble.
Is Nito gone for good? Nito meets ponies seems to good a concept to pass up by having him die so early, especially since he would probably get on just fine with them. I liked that in a game as dark and depressing as souls, the lord of the dead was actually a pretty chill guy who just slept all day long keeping an eye on things.
5955208 I assure everyone, Gravelord Nito will return. Can't guarantee he'll have a huge role to contribute, but he is most certainly not gone for good yet.
5955494 It's just my way of phonetically expressing Applejack's southern drawl.
Solaire, What have you done !!
Erm am i being paranoid but i have a feeling that Luna and Celestia are Gwynevere and Gwyndolin i am probably horribly wrong however.
Would that crucial plotpoint be that the hand is the hand of manus (but not in the way we think)?
Because I'd just assumed long before that it was his hand.
I wish it'd only be Seath coming to Equestria but it'll still be entertaining I think.
5955288 I imagine Nito to do what he always does. Sit in a big hole in the ground and be indifferent to everything that happens outside the hole and maybe feel obliged to give people things when they refuse to stop giving him orbs of death XD
5957810 I think you are wrong. Possibly Gwyndolin, sure. But Gwynevere was not real, she was an illusion made by gwyndolin. So I doubt Luna is gwynevere, as she is quite real.
Red liquid running across Seath's hand... very nicely tied into the opening cutscene.
6090580 While the Gwynevere you met is fake one, there actually existed a real one, she just left Anor Londo and them married Flann, the god of fire from another land long before the game started, like many other more sensible gods did.
What a cynical way of thinking. Not that a resident of a world like Lordran could be blamed for having it. Still, that's the thing about nature: it rebuilds and evolves. There is nothing it cannot survive. Humanity might die of in the meantime( the world works on geologic timeframes), but the world itself will recover.
Okay pretty great so far. But I have a question, you mentioned in this story that seath was the previous ruler of a place called verdite or something alone those lines. Is this a reference to kings field? It not that's okay, but it rEALLY MADE ME THINK OF IT.
6584626 I'd like to direct you to the FAQ I did for this series: http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/535179/friendship-is-scaleless-faq
Basically, yes you're spot on with your assumption.
Well there goes the theory that Discord was the one messing with the realities...
so......twilestia or no? im confused......
I love Twilestia, but if this story will be:
Seath =>Twilight <= Celestia, i don't mind
Well at least the King in yellow didn't invade too, and start throwing acid clouds at the chosen undead, and now i am 90% sure of who is doing this and if i am right then the Four Kings are long gone, in other news it is good to see Seath's madness in action and that the Chaos Bug has gotten away. . . i blame DS3 for making me feel like that for the Bed of Chaos, i wonder though it seems that each time someone goes though they end up with what could be described as there counterpart, does this mean that if Nito had gotten though he would of ended up with Grogar from G1
, though i do hope Nito's soul does get though somehow.
And the Discord took the buggo to Ronald McDonald Trump's Fun Dungeon
7082797
Indeed...more because I enjoy stories with that type of shipping than anything else though...well, except for the fact that Seath and Twilight have similar interests, and Twilight has already as good as admitted that she has a crush on Celestia...
Is it that damn cyclops that's messing with everything, perhaps the dog or his master? I am aware of another entity that could be messing with things, but I don't know how to describe him without giving anything away to people who either haven't played Dark Souls or haven't gotten to the DLC.
7197437
I'd think that Nito would end up with Tirek. They both live in pitch black hell holes, they both rely on the essence of others for their power (what other reason could there be for the Gravelord to literally cloak himself in humanity), and they both practice magics that are unacceptable to the rest of the world.
Discord and a bug demon... interesting
That's interesting. And if I was already suspicious of Seath, well...
Let's just hope the magic of friendship gets him before the sorcery of necromancy gets Twilight!
Maybe Izalith gets a new body, maybe Izalith x Discord could be a thing... but what about poor Fluttershy. Hopefully everything doesn’t go “Suddenly Demons” lol.
Sad that it apparently left the two daughters to die. Which means we are at either two or three witches of Izalith left depending on if the chosen finished the one that waits near the hidden passage exit.
That's a really curious way to pronounce "I got so wrapped up in my pointless blood feud I kept flooding the kingdom with monsters even after I won until the mortals got fed up with being brutally murdered all the time and offed me."
Self-serving viewpoints aside, it's mentioned often enough in the King's Field games that while Seath was worshiped as a god, it was specifically by elves, not humans. Which means if he was ever the god of Verdite, it was before it was a (mostly) human kingdom, which is a pretty big time span to just gloss over like that. Which does kinda fit the complete-lack-of-concern-for-lowly-mortals vibe he has going on, not noticing that he hasn't shown his face for so long he's approaching Nightmare Moon levels of mythical and the dominant species has changed, but still.
Also, hi there! I'm sure by now you've had a million and one comments about how your Dark Souls lore is bad and wrong because you missed this one message you can find in an optional scene somewhere that completely invalidates your interpretation, and I feel very strongly that this just isn't fair. Someone should hold your feet to the fire over the King's Field lore, too.
To be fair to Seath about being shut in, especially during the day, he’s albino pretty much. Low tolerance to the elements, especially sunlight, is understandable
Since Discord has played with fire before, I do hope he gets a rather nasty burn from this one.