Crossing Worlds

by Crystal Night

Chapter Four: Unexpected Arrival

Azil opened his eyes due to the sun light coming from the windows. The events from last night was still in his mind. A soft knocking on the door was heard, if he knew any better was probably Bastion, ready to wake him and deliver his breakfast.
He gazed down, noticing that the purple princess was still sleeping in his embrace. She looked so peaceful while sleeping. Another knock was heard, a little stronger this time. Someone was getting impatient.
Only when he tried to get out of bed he noticed that he had hooves instead of his hands. To be honest, changing into a pony wasn't the worst of his transformations, especially on royal meetings with other nations. At least this change was...kinda funny.

Slowly he got out of his bed, trying not to wake Twilight. He summoned a large pillow, almost large as him and replaced the empty spot.
He waited for any sign of movement from her, but seeing she was still deep is sleep, he used the spell to change to his human form and proceed to open the door. Bastion was on the other side, when the door opened. He bowed to Azil, who closed the door behind him.
"Good morning Bastion, did you had a good night of sleep?" - he inquired.

"Actually, I did." - he answered, surprising Azil. "I took a few hours to sleep." Azil shook his head with a smile.
A few hours, according to him, was two hours, but at least he would get some rest.
"I assume my breakfast is prepared, right?" Bastion nodded. "Also, don't forget for the Princess."

"It's also prepared, Your Highness." Azil scratched his chin, he tried to remember if he had any affairs for today. Upon seeing this, Bastion levitated a folded letter to him. "Your affairs for today."

"Ah, thank you." He gave another smile and went to grab the letter when the door suddenly opened. Twilight rubbed her eyes, trying to shake the sleep. "Good morning, Princess Twilight." Azil and Bastion bowed. The purple alicorn gave them an awkward smile.

"Good morning to you too, now could you please...you know? Stand up?"

"Well, since you're awake, I guess we can have breakfast together." Twilight nodded, having breakfast sounded a good idea.
Azil turned to his fellow guard.
"Lead the way Bastion."

It took a couple of minutes to get to his personal office from his bedroom, meanwhile Twilight observed the castle surroundings and their servants, mostly guards. Much like Canterlot castle, the guards appeared to guarding important places, mainly balconies and some windows.
On their way to his office, several guards saluted him and the princess. Bastion informed every guard they had a princess in the fortress, which required even more proper manners from everyone.

Their breakfast was already set on the table. Azil and Twilight took their seats in front of each other.
Bastion closed the doors, leaving them alone. His presence wasn't needed for the moment.
Twilight looked at her breakfast, two flower sandwiches with...orange juice?
"We have many things from places, like oranges." - he said with a smile. "Apparently, the king likes oranges. A lot." Twilight giggled and started eating. The sandwich was amazing, it tasted so good. "I knew you would like it."

Azil kept eating his pancakes, until the remember about the letter. He opened the letter, hoping he wouldn't have to deal with a lot of stuff, he just wanted to spend some time with Twilight.

"Let's see..." - he mutered.

"What's that?" - Twilight asked, taking another bite.

"It's my affairs for today." His eyes wandered throught the letter. "Paper work and training with the guards. Seems fairly small."
He thought to himself. Although, I can delay the paper work. Again. I hate paper work... He let out a sigh, returning back to the subject of eating.

The two of them ate in a awkward silence, until he thought about something.

"Twilight," The pony in question glanced at him. She sure had some beautiful eyes. Don't get distracted Azil. "I was wondering, since I got mostly the day off, would you like to see the library again? I'm sure you haven't seen everything."

"Of course I would like." Twilight almost yelled then blushed at her sudden outburst, Azil giggled. "Sorry."

The Guardian and Princess spent most of the day inside the library. Azil spent the last two hours explaining the history of The Void, which wasn't an easy task. From what she knew, The Void was much older then Equestria, they had thousands and thousands of years recorded on books and scrolls, the latter some of them being missing for years. Azil also told her about his adventures with his master. Some hilarious and some very dangerous. Bastion knocked on the door and poked his head behind it.

"Training session?" Bastion nodded. "Do you want to see me training with the guards?"

"Why not? I saw my brother training too."

"Then let's go." - said Azil.

They arrived at the fortress's courtyard. Several guards waited for the leader to commence their training. The training was pretty simple, Azil would pick four or five guards and fight against them. Meanwhile, those guards would elaborate a tactic to win, or try. So far Azil never lost one. After that part of the training was done, Bastion would continue from there.
Azil watched the line of guards eager to test their fighting skills. Every voidling was different, which sometimes proved to be a challenge.
"I pick, you two" - he pronounced while looking at guards. "and you two. The rest step back." Twilight and Bastion watched from a safe distance. "You know the rules, but I shall said it again, you can choose any weapon or spell at your disposal. Try to create a tactic to defeat me."

The four guards gathered around and debated. Once they finished their tactic, two of them went to grab some weapons and returned.
Azil realized they were prepared.
"You may start!" The four guards nodded to each other and assumed their positions. They made a square shape around Azil. Basic tactic, surround your opponent. Giving them a quick glance, he noticed one of the guards had a spear, while the other had a bow. "Interesting." - he mutered.
The bow wasn't a weapon that many knew how to use, only a few knew how to master it. The rest of the guards would probably use magic.

Without warning the guard shot two quick arrows at Azil. Seeing the incoming attack, he summoned a shield. The arrows simply shattered against it. He kept shooting arrows at him, while the guard with the spear charged at him with an amazing speed. Azil could stand his ground if wasn't for the fact his shield was getting weaker not only from the arrows, but also from the other guards shooting lightning bolts.
He always used weaker spells when was training sessions, some spells could prove to be very dangerous.
With a quick move he barely dodged the spear, Twilight gasped, the spear was inches from hitting him.

"Don't worry Your Highness, he knows what he's doing." - Bastion said, trying to calm the princess. Truth to be told, he did knew, occasionally he would get small wounds, like cuts, nothing to serious.

Dodging the spear, Azil grabbed the guard by his arms and threw him backwards. He did a flip in middle air landing on his back, everyone could hear the sound of metal hitting the ground, even Twilight. Azil was aware he got exposed, so started running towards the guard with the bow. Using his magic, he summoned a small shields, serving as protection against the incoming arrows. The Guardian had to admit, he wasn't bad with that bow. One of the guards nodded and used a shield to also protect him. Meanwhile, the other guard shot a magical sphere at Azil. If that sphere hits Azil, he would get stunned for a few seconds, depending how strong the spell as. He had to act fast. Those guards would be an issue.

With a quick teleportation spell, he was gone. The guards looked in every direction, even above them, but nothing. Azil was nowhere to be seen. Twilight was impressed, he really was good with magic.
"Here comes the best part." - she heard Bastion.

From nowhere, one of the guards went flying, his face hitting with the ground. The guard next to him turned around to see nothing.
"He's using an invisibility spell, be careful!" - he shouted at his fellow guards. Azil watched as the guards formed a triangle, their backs against each other and smiled. He summoned a mini tornado, sending the guards flying once more.
He took this chance to end the fight and ran towards the failling guards. With another quick spell, he gained wings and flew.

"Wow!" - that's was the only thing Twilight could say. The guard with the bow saw his approach and shot another arrow, but Azil grabbed the arrow and delivered a powerful kick, he grunted in pain. The guards with wings got him in middle air. Azil turned to face the remaining force.
He summoned small crystal shards and aimed at the guards. That spell was very basic and seemed almost for young voidlings, but was one of his first spells he learned, the crystal shards could paralyze their opponent, without causing any sort pain. This spell was mostly used by prison guards. Before the guards could react, their bodies refused to respond. At this rate, they would collide against the floor, but Azil carefully levitated them to safety.

Once they were safely secured, he snapped his fingers, breaking the spell. The guards applauded. Azil bowed to the four guards, they did the same, except for one guard, he had a hand on his back. Azil dismissed his bow and send him to take some rest.

"Most impressive young one." - a voice called out.
Everyone in the courtyard turned their heads and almost immediately bowed, even Azil. The princess raised an eyebrow. Bastion noticed this and spoke to her.
"You should bow, it's rude if you don't." Reluctantly, she did that.

"Alright, you can stop now, especially you Azil." He turned to greet Bastion. "How are you Bastion?"

"I'm fine, Your Highness."
Azil approached the small group.
"They are waiting for you Bastion." The guard bowed one last before resuming the training session. "You came more early than I thought, Master."
"Master? Do you mean..." - she thought to herself while glancing at him. He almost seemed to have the same size as Azil.
He gave him a sincere smile.
"Let's just say I got a ride." - He turned to his right side. "Is she the princess you wrote in the letter?" Azil nodded with a smile of his own.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, this is my Master, Vox."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Princess Twilight." - Vox proclaimed with a bow.

Author's Note:

Aaaand here's another chapter!
What do you think? Tell me ^^
I hope you enjoyed the reading