Echoes of the Ancient

by Wandering Axioms

Act 4.5

4.5

“I’m not ashamed...”

Confusion was soon replaced by anxiety, as Princess Celestia tried to understand what was happening. None of the Parliament members would pay even the slightest amount of attention to her inquiries, they merely shouted frantic questions at each other, most of which concerned the whereabouts of one of their elders whom had disappeared. She turned her attention to a griffin soldier to her left and cleared her throat to gain his attention. The griffon replied by turning his head swiftly in her direction.

“I’m terribly sorry to bother you,” the Princess tried to remain as tactful as she believed was necessary. “But may I ask what the problem is?” The griffin shrugged.

“My apologies, your Highness,” the soldier replied. “I wasn’t really told anything either, but from what I can surmise, it looks like that old fool Elder Garand is missing.” The guard seemed to cringe at the mention of that name. “Where he went is anyone’s guess.”

Celestia turned her gaze forward at the mention of the Parliament member whom had sicced the guards on her. King Samran was up, turning his attention from one of his constituents to the Princess; a look of frustration and anger was upon his face. She was the first to speak, however.

“Your Grace,” Celestia spoke as the other members of the Parliament began to quiet down. “If I may ask this of you, did Elder Garand say anything, or give any implications as to where he might have gone?” Samran clasped his talons together, thinking about the Princess’s question.

“He certainly didn’t speak a word to any of us after the meeting,” he said as he leaned back into his throne. “I imagine that the old veteran would be trying to make his point by any means, like he usually does.” The King looked up suddenly; a thought that inspired dread was evident within his mind, judging by the horrified look that soon took over his complexion. “He couldn’t have,” he whispered to himself, although his voice carried all the way to Celestia’s side of the conference table.

“Your Grace?” One of the Parliament griffins asked in a worried tone. King Samran looked over at the griffin who just spoke. The chamber went completely silent as Samran looked to his left and right at the Parliament members at his sides. He clasped his talons together again as he finally spoke to them while looking forward, straight at the alicorn who sat across the table.

“I wish to speak with the Princess in private,” he spoke quietly, but his voice carried through the entire chamber so that all within could hear. “This session of the Royal Parliament of Gryphonia is adjourned,” he said in a flat tone, not taking his eyes off Celestia. The Parliament members exchanged brief glances with each other after hearing their ruler’s words. Some stood up from their seats and gathered their possessions, while others still sat where they were, evidently bewildered at the King’s words. He broke eye contact with Celestia again to give short looks of impatience at the ones who remained seated.

“Well?” He asked and gestured to the giant wooden doors at the entrance of the building. “You’re all free to return to your homes for the day.” The Parliamentary griffins who had not yet begun to clear out of the building exchanged unsure glances with each other; some kept their gazes off of their King. Eventually, they all stood up with all of their possessions gathered and began to shuffle their way out, like timid school children being dismissed from class by an impatient teacher.

Samran eventually left his seat at the head of the table once the majestic wooden doors shut with the last of the Parliament having been dismissed. The entire chamber was quiet, save for the sound of the King’s talons striking the stone floor as he approached the Princess’s seat. Celestia remained silent, waiting to hear what the foreign ruler would say to her.

He stopped no more than about four feet away from her. His expression of apprehension and worry soon spread to her face. Celestia voiced her worry for the King’s well being.

“Your Grace?” The Princess asked the griffin king. “Are you alright?” The King sighed and looked up at his royal visitor, who was at least a foot taller than him.

“I fear that Elder Garand may have decided to make his own journey to Frostfire Mountain,” he explained to the Princess. Celestia frowned after hearing this.

“What makes you say that?”

“Like I said,” Samran explained to her. “The older generation still holds a grudge against Equestria for the war thirty years back.” He paused and looked down at the stone floor for a brief second. “They actually distrust foreigners in general; pretty much anyone who isn't a griffin is fair game for their bigotry.” He sighed as he moved to sit in the vacant chair next to her. She was perfectly content with this.

“Do politicians like him have support with the people?” Celestia asked.

“Not a lot, thankfully,” Samran replied. “It’s primarily the older generation, but there are those who have passed these views on to their offspring, and this cycle of xenophobia continues.” He waved a dismissive talon through the air. “Ah, but we’re getting off topic here; I fear that while Garand’s supporters are in the minority, he does indeed still have some powerful allies.” He paused for a mere second and scoffed. “Many of which are persuaded by his coin, rather than his word.”

“Do you not have the power to remove him from office?” Celestia asked the troubled king.

“It’s not that I don’t have the power to do so,” Samran answered. “It’s not even that I don’t want to; it’s more out of respect for my father.” Celestia nodded slowly as he mentioned the country’s previous ruler. Samran continued. “The two of them knew each other fairly well, even before my father became the regent after his uncle passed away. They fought together in the Westwind Rebellions forty-seven years ago, and Garand was an honored guest at his coronation ceremony the following year.” The King chuckled at himself. “But look at me, getting off topic again,” he sighed as he turned his gaze back up to the Princess.

“My apologies, Princess Celestia,” he said. “I didn’t mean to bore you with my family’s past.”

“You needn't worry about it, your Grace,” the alicorn replied. “At any rate; do you believe that the regiment you sent is in danger?”

“I trust Lieutenant Cadmus,” the King replied. “I believe that he and his regiment can take care of themselves, and that Aiden friend of yours looked like he could handle himself.” He paused and shook his head. “It’s really that Forerunner we talked about: Vanguard. I fear that Garand and his supporters might attempt something drastic; for all I know, they might see these Forerunners as weapons to be utilized for the betterment of the kingdom.” He paused again and panned his gaze across the empty chamber. “Make no mistake, after hearing what you and Aiden have told me, there is no way that this Vanguard character will simply allow an entity as powerful as himself to be used as a tool for political advantage.”

“Then what is it that concerns you?” Celestia asked.

The King returned his complete attention to her. “I believe that Garand will only make our country a target for these Forerunners; and that is something that simply cannot be allowed.”

---

At this point, it was simply not possible to determine just how far down below the surface they were. Aiden, Tempest Runner, and Night Step had continued their downward spiral into what could no longer be described as a mine shaft. The walls had long lost their rigid, stone surface and was replaced by a flat, pale white metallic one. Aiden recognized this material from the interior ruins of Taotras, and he shuddered at the thought of that evil place. His two companions remained silent throughout the descent.

For several moments, Aiden could’ve sworn that he heard the sound of running water within the walls. This only worried him further at the thought of potentially being below the water table. If one of those tremors caused a break in this place’s foundation, then a thin wall could give way to a deadly flow, and the three of them would be; to put it lightly; royally screwed.

Aiden breathed in deeply as he finally saw an end to the stairs only a few feet further down. “About Goddamn time,” he muttered under his breath. He placed a foot ahead of himself, skipping two steps, on the surface below while letting out a sigh of relief that the downward trek had come to an end. The two ponies soon followed.

“So, now where are we?” Tempest Runner asked as he and Night Step looked around at the dark room before them. Tempest continued looking at Aiden, as if specifically expecting an answer from him, but Night Step obliged when no response came from the human.

“Judging from the architecture,” the unicorn prepared to offer a lengthy reply. “This place seems to be of human origin. It appears to be an installation not too different from Taotras...” The mage looked over to Tempest, likely waiting for a snide remark, but the pegasus said nothing. Night Step went back to panning his gaze around the dark chamber, keeping his words to himself.

What Aiden concerned himself with was locating the source of the pulse, and with it, Vanguard’s location. “Well, no way we’re gonna find him by just standing here,” Aiden thought as he began to walk forward into the chamber.

The room was illuminated almost immediately as the lights on the ceiling above flared to life, as if reacting to his presence. Aiden shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness out of instinct, as did Night Step and Tempest. Once his sight adjusted to the sudden illumination, Aiden allowed his protecting hand to return to its respective side.

The chamber was wide; they had descended the stairs and emerged in the middle, and it was about ninety feet to each end. For once in a human ruin, they encountered what they could call furniture. Several long tables were arranged throughout the room in rows of three, somewhat like a mess hall one would encounter in military barracks.

“Wow,” Tempest whispered. “It looks just like my middle school cafeteria...except it’s really white and bright.” Tempest’s usual jest got no laughs this time; not even the occasional chuckle out of Aiden, who typically found some enjoyment in the pegasus’s jovial attitude.

“Hey, Aiden,” Night Step leaned toward the human and called for his attention. He looked down at the unicorn who came up to his chest. “I can feel the tremors getting stronger; I guess that means that he is near?” The unicorn had a look of anxiety about him. Aiden nodded to answer his question, but smiled to relieve his apprehension.

“Don’t worry about it, Night Step,” Aiden whispered back. “I’ll handle him; the two of you should just focus on finding out what he wanted with this place.” The unicorn breathed a brief sigh of relief.

“That’s a load off of my mind,” he said. Aiden’s smile widened as he gestured with a hand at the doorway on the other end of the mess hall.

“Come on,” he said as he continued forward. “We aren’t gonna stop him by just standing here.” Night Step smiled back and happily obliged to follow him alongside Tempest. “So what do you think Vanguard hopes to find here?” Aiden asked as he stuffed his left hand into his pocket. He heard Night Step scoff behind him.

“I was hoping you could tell me, actually,” the mage replied. Aiden looked back at him with an emotionless expression as the three of them continued down the lit hallway.

“I don’t know, yet,” he paused as he returned his attention forward. “But I have an idea spinning around in here,” he lifted his right hand and tapped a finger on his noggin.

“And what idea might that be?” Tempest asked.

“Well, I thought about the things that Vanguard said to me, about having a ‘family’ to reunite,” Aiden began. “I have little reason to doubt that he is here to release another Forerunner.”

“Hold on, Aiden,” Night Step interrupted. “We don’t know that’s what he’s here for.”

“No, we don’t,” Aiden concurred with the unicorn in that aspect. “But think about it; why else would he come to some remote mine in the heart of the Gryphonian countryside? I doubt that he’s here to enjoy the scenery.”

“He could be here to retrieve some advanced human technology similar to the Thorn,” Night Step hypothesized. Aiden nodded in understanding.

“Fair enough,” the human replied. He turned his attention to the pegasus to his right. “Tempest, what do you think?” Tempest pursed his lips and hummed to himself in contemplation.

“Both sound reasonable, I guess,” Tempest replied. “I just want to know why he would want better technology on his side when he already has all of those weird powers of his.” Aiden smirked at Night Step while pointing at the pegasus whom had just backed up his hypothesis. Night Step huffed and muttered “smartass” under his breath. This seemed to lighten the serious mood up at least somewhat. At least for the two ponies.

The hallway was completely illuminated by the lights on the ceiling, painting the walls and floor a pure white color. They could see this corridor end in a three way junction, with an option to turn either left or right. Just below the ceiling, they could see two holographic signs of a faint cerulean color pointing down their respective directions. The text on the signs was in a long deceased language and was of a brighter shade than the sign itself. Tempest and Night Step both tilted their heads as they stared at the odd alphabetical characters, so foreign from their own.

“I suppose it would be wishful thinking to hope that you could decipher these signs, Aiden?” Night Step asked as he looked up to the human. Aiden sighed and tilted his own head, his eyes focusing on the words and letters. They were somewhat familiar to his mind; almost like they were a mix of Greek, Phoenician and Roman characters; but he could not for the life of him grasp what the author of these signs was trying to communicate.

“I’m afraid so...” Aiden finally replied. “Some of the alphabetical characters look familiar, but I haven’t the faintest idea what these signs say.”

“I see,” Night Step sighed. “So you don’t know which way to go from here?” Aiden scratched his chin and blew a few strands of hair out of his vision.

“Normally I would suggest that we split up,” Aiden said while rubbing the back of his neck. “But that’s simply not an option, given our circumstances. It’d be best if we stick together in case something happens.” Tempest looked up at the sign pointing down the right hallway and spoke his mind.

“I say we go this way,” he said while pointing a hoof in the direction he wanted to go.

“It might not really matter which way we go,” Night Step suggested. “For all we know, either way could be a trap.”

“Such a pessimist...” Tempest Runner sighed whilst shaking his head.

“What?” The unicorn asked with a flick of his tail. “Knowing the luck we’ve had so far, no matter what choice we make we’ll always end up in a room where something bad is happening, or something bad is about to happen.”

“And here I thought you were the voice of rationality in our group?” Aiden asked, but in a friendly, teasing manner, as displayed by the cocky smirk played across his lips. Night Step shrugged in response.

“There’s little room for rationality in a place like this, Aiden,” he replied. He sighed and narrowed his eyes to narrow slits, nodding his head in agreement. “But you do have a point; don’t worry, I can keep my cool.”

“Good,” Aiden said as he turned his attention to the signs situated above, still glowing and pulsing with light. “Might as well make a decision now,” he said to himself. He waved a hand, scoffed, and muttered: “Fuck it.” He covered his eyes with his left hand while pointing with his other to the right hallway. “Eenie meenie minie mo,” he began, shifting his pointer finger back and forth between the left and right turns. “Catch a tiger by his toe.” He could feel Night Step and Tempest Runner giving him odd stares. “If he hollers let him go, eenie meenie minie mo.” His left hand returned to hanging idly by its side. His pointer finger was stuck on the right turn. He shrugged.

“Well, looks like we’re going this way,” he decided. He could hear Tempest snicker.

“What was that?” The pegasus said with a laugh as he and Night Step began following the man.

“Just a nursery rhyme I heard when I was younger; you say it when you’re stuck on a decision.”

“Great lesson to teach to kids,” Night Step said with a usual roll of his eyes. “Do you have any theories on what might be down this hall, at least?” Aiden smirked and shook his head.

“None at all,” he beckoned with a hand. “C’mon, let’s get going.”

---

The hallway seemed to branch off into various other rooms, judging by the sealed doors on both sides. What these rooms could’ve been was anyone’s guess, as the hologram signs were no more helpful than the previous ones they saw. Aiden placed his hand against the pale white wall to his left, leaving a print in the dust that had collected on it. He couldn’t help but wonder what this installation was used for; was it a research facility? A military outpost? A population center? Whatever it was, it must’ve been extremely important to the ancient humans for them to hide it in the depths underneath Frostfire Mountain.

“I hope Lieutenant Cadmus and the others are okay,” Tempest sighed as they continued down the hallway.

“I think they’ll be fine,” Night Step nervously said while glancing around at the doors they passed. “From what I’ve heard, griffin soldiers are taught to survive in every kind of crisis, including earthquakes.”

“It’s not the tremors that I’m worried about, Night Step,” Tempest said looking over to the mage. “We’ve both seen what Vanguard did to those at Taotras.”

“I know, Tempest,” the unicorn stammered back, clearly not wanting to remember the event. “I just want to be out of here too, believe me when I say that. I want to be able to spend Hearth’s Warming with my family.” This sentence caught Aiden’s attention: he had read about the important Equestrian holiday in a book back in the Royal Library; when reading about it, he couldn’t help but smirk and chuckle at the uncanny resemblance it had with Christmas; wreaths placed upon doors, evergreen trees placed in living rooms and decorated, various candies and other sweets, exchange of gifts, and so on.

He was bothered, however, at the troubled thought that Tempest and Night Step had; they thought that they wouldn’t survive this, that they would die at the hands of some eons old entity that had no place in their world. His thoughts moved to his team back on Earth; how their families no doubt felt. This idea implored that he speak up.

“I won’t let him hurt you,” Aiden said simply. The two ponies looked up at him, the looks on their faces conveying the message that they didn’t quite understand. “Vanguard came here to lure me to something specific; I don’t entirely know what that something is, but I know it is imperative to his plan.” He paused and looked down at the two of them with a calm, confident look on his face. “It’s me that he wants; it’s me that he’ll get.”

Aiden’s affirmation on facing Vanguard seemed to settle their worries for the time being, at least to some degree. The last thing he wanted was for them to worry about every single detail. He would take care of Vanguard; and anything else that they might encounter; with the help of the Thorn. Speaking of which, he curiously pulled his left sleeve up to see if the Thorn was reacting to his thought. Indeed it was; he smiled as it glowed softly, saying that it was ready for combat.

“This thing will never cease to amaze me, will it?” He sighed as he breathed in deeply while they continued on their way; something rotten was in the air...

No, literally; Aiden’s nostrils caught whiff of something similar to rotten eggs or maybe burning matches. He made a quiet grunt of disgust before trying to catch the scent again.

“Is something wrong, Aiden?” Tempest asked. Aiden held up a pointer finger, nodding slowly as he did so.

“Do you guys smell that?” He asked.

“Smell what?” Night Step asked in response; Tempest soon began sniffing at the air himself.

“Smells like...” Aiden trailed off, smelling again to be sure. “It...smells like sulphur?” Tempest quickly turned his muzzle up in disgust.

“Whoa; yeah, I smell it now,” the pegasus coughed. Night Step also began to catch a whiff of the horrid scent.

“Yes, I smell it,” the mage turned his face to the side. “Sulfur dioxide if I’m correct.” He continued. “Found in volcanoes, typically, and is also toxic.”

“Well that simply won’t do,” Aiden sighed. “So what happens next?”

“We’d best get as far away from the source of it as possible to avoid overexposure,” Night Step suggested. “None of these doors will open...looks like our best option is to keep going down this hall.”

“And what if that only brings us closer to the source?” Tempest asked. “For all we know, this whole mountain could be a volcano just waiting to blow, and those tremors Vanguard is setting off could be--”

“Enough, you guys,” Aiden hissed, getting the attention of the two. “We’ll keep moving, and I’ll keep an eye out for anything unusual with the Thorn.” He rolled his sleeve back down to see it glowing even brighter beneath his skin.

“That thing?” Tempest asked curiously. “You can do more than just control fire?” Aiden smiled and wanted to chuckle, but instead let out a cough as the scent of sulphur seemed to grow nearer to them.

“Tempest,” he said while holding his left hand up to his face. “Not even I know what this thing is capable of.” The two ponies stepped back as the ring of Abitrath’s Gate began glowing. A veil only visible to Aiden’s eyes was soon draped over the surrounding environment. Everything had a faint greenish blue colored aura to it; the accumulated dust on the walls had disappeared and the lights on the ceiling seemed to become brighter.

“So this is what this place looked like thousands of years ago...” Aiden thought. “Or what it will look like in the future...or maybe...fuck, I dunno.” He still didn’t understand much of anything about the Equinox.

“What do you see, Aiden?” Night Step asked. “This is the...the Equinox that you’re in, right?” Aiden nodded as he panned his gaze around.

“Yeah,” he replied. “This place seems cleaner, like I’m witnessing a time when it was still inhabited by humans.” He breathed in deeply. “The doors seem to be active, looking at the panels beside them.” He gestured over at the door immediately to his left, the interactive panel now glowing a pale green. “At least it’s not blue for once,” Aiden thought. “I’m really getting sick of that color...”

“That door?” Tempest asked while pointing at it with a hoof.

“Yeah,” Aiden replied. “It’s likely that you can’t see it because of the split in time.” He knew he was doing a rather shitty job explaining it to them. “But watch.” He placed the palm of his left hand on the glowing panel and waited for only a brief moment to get a response. The panel let out a high pitched beep and the door slid open. “See?” Aiden said as he gestured with both hands at the pathway now revealed. The Equestrians both took several steps back, startled by the sudden change. Tempest merely looked on, amazed as Night Step smiled with fascination.

“Incredible!” The unicorn sighed. “Do you think that perhaps you altering the environment in the Equinox carries over into other connected time periods?” He hypothesized excitedly. Aiden meekly shrugged at the mage’s sudden burst of interest.

“It’s a fair guess,” he said. “There might not be a way to know for certain, though.” He pointed at the newly opened route. “You first.” Though his sentence wasn’t directed at either of them, Night Step took the offer first, gladly trotting along past the door’s threshold with his eyes closed.

“I can’t wait to uncover all the secrets of that device,” Aiden heard Night Step whisper from the other room as Tempest followed him in at a noticeably slower pace, his head hung slightly at their companion’s newfound eagerness to learn everything about this technology.

This new room appeared to be smaller than the ones they had previously encountered. There were two small tables that protruded out of the floor and appeared very similar to operating tables. There were cabinets along the wall to their left.

“Seems like a doctor’s office,” Tempest said as Night Step trotted up to one of the operation tables. The mage lightly touched the edge with a hoof, leaving a print in the dust that had gathered.

“I wonder,” the mage spoke softly. “Why would they leave this place? At first glance, it seems like they have everything they need to survive...” He rubbed his chin with a hoof while trying to think of answers. “Perhaps the environment on the surface was recovering around the end of their time?” Aiden allowed Night Step to think in peace as he looked through the cabinets.

“Completely empty,” Aiden said, catching the attention of his companions. Night Step left his place at the surgery table to examine Aiden’s findings; or lack thereof; for himself. He tilted his head.

“Huh,” the unicorn sighed, fascinated by this development. “Seems like they had time, then to remove all their tools and personal effects, just like in almost all the other ruins...” He paused as he and Aiden exchanged looks for a moment before looking back at the empty cabinets. “That’s the point that some mages like to make that the humans are still around, deeper within their cities than we can go...”

“Do you think the humans are still alive?” Aiden asked as he closed the cabinet door.

“Well, I am talking to one, aren’t I? No reason to doubt the existence of something in front of you.” Night Step replied with a friendly smile. Aiden managed to return with his own grin and nod.

“True,” he said quietly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He coughed as the scent of sulphur invaded his senses once again.

“Guys,” Tempest called out. “I’m catching whiff of that sulphur shit again!”

“Same here,” Aiden called back as he gently patted Night Step on the back of his neck. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.” Aiden finished as he activated the panel on the opposite door. The unicorn wordlessly followed the human and the pegasus out the door and into another hallway. Aiden looked around and smelled the air, only noticing that the toxic smell was getting even closer.

“Damn it,” Tempest coughed. “If we knew where it was coming from, we could at least try to get away...”

“Any ideas, Aiden?” Night Step asked. Aiden continued looking around, hoping to find a path that wouldn’t bring them closer to the source of the poisonous gas. Aiden coughed and bared his teeth.

“I swear, I can smell it getting closer to us,” Aiden muttered. Perhaps it was just the Equinox playing tricks on his senses, but Aiden was certain that he could hear the sound of fire. “Guys,” Aiden stuttered. “Am I just becoming even crazier, or is the scent getting closer?” Tempest let out a harsh cough before trying to smell the air again.

“Yeah,” Tempest coughed again. “It’s definitely getting closer.” Aiden looked down the hallway to his left, scowling as he did so. He was certain that he heard the fire from that direction, along with the sound of something moving. The sound of movement became even closer.

“Dawn’s Mercy,” Night Step whispered. Aiden squinted, thinking he could see visible heat waves snaking around the hall’s corner. He pulled against the collar of his shirt, noticing how the temperature had suddenly gone above the wintry temperatures that he was accustomed to.

“Christ,” Aiden swore as he felt beads of sweat just beginning to form on his brow and neck. He looked over his shoulder at his two companions. “Get back,” he ordered sternly before returning his attention to the danger ahead. Tempest and Night Step both obeyed instantly, backing away nervously and slowly, trying to avoid tripping over their own hooves. Aiden took a step back himself as he heard what sounded like a deep gurgling sound come from around the corner. He made a disgusted face at the sound.

What he saw next was a creature more horrifying than he had ever encountered aside from Vanguard. A pitch black limb slowly curled its way around the bend of the hall, the scent of sulphur dioxide becoming almost overpowering as the creature revealed more of itself. It was quadrupedal, crawling on all fours with its right front limb still clinging to the wall, its jagged tendrils piercing the metal. Its skin was an ashen black with various lines of bright orange that ran over all of its body like open cracks in volcanic rock. It lacked a visible face with the exception of a noticeable jaw that opened and closed continuously as molten sulfur dripped from the lip like saliva.

Despite the lack of eyes, it pointed its head at the three explorers, making it obvious what its intentions were with a drawn out, ear piercing hiss. Its front right limb came down to the floor with the rest of its body, leaving a small burning ember where it was on the wall. Aiden looked over his shoulder again at the now terrified Equestrians and whispered a single word.

“Run.”

---

Lieutenant Cadmus stared intently at the discovery he and his squadron had made at the bottom of the mines. The earthquake had indeed caused severe damage to the structural integrity of Frostfire Mountain, and he had decided that it was dangerous to remain in the bowels of a dormant volcano that had been buried for many centuries. The tremors and aftershocks could very easily reawaken a sleeping giant and endanger everyone in a nearby radius.

This recent discovery of an ancient ruins, however, was of his most paramount concern as it provided a potential hiding place for any miners that were trapped down here. Well, that and the recent arrival of Elder Garand, one of the members of the Parliament. Garand had stated that he was to take charge of the rescue and evacuation operation of any civilians within a forty mile radius.

Cadmus was skeptical of why the King would appoint him of all griffins to take charge of the operation and not a higher ranking officer, but the Elder had already provided documentation that King Samran personally approved of it, so it was not his place to question. The officer shook his head.

“Whatever,” he thought dismissively. “I should worry about getting anymore miners out of here...maybe finding Aiden and his friends too.” He looked up at the archway that led into the ruins, decorated with blood red glyphs that had an unnatural glow to them. The griffin sighed. “Sure hope that they’re alright...” he whispered.

“Sir?” A young corporal called for his attention. Cadmus perked up and turned his head in the young soldiers direction.

“Is something wrong?” The soldier pointed a talon to his right.

“We’ve found two civilians hiding out in one of the lower tunnels,” the soldier explained as another griffin and a Kobosian were escorted to his side by another griffin soldier. “They claim to both be miners, which I see no reason to doubt that. They say that they hid deeper in the mines to avoid being trampled by the sudden exodus of workers.” Cadmus nodded understandingly.

“What are your names?” The Lieutenant asked with a talon scratching the bottom of his chin. The griffin miner spoke up first.

“Klein,” he said meekly. The Lieutenant turned his attention to the Diamond Dog.

“And you?”

“Jak,” the middle aged dog grunted quietly.

“You’re both unharmed?” Cadmus asked as he pointed a talon. They both nodded immediately. “You can leave the mines and the immediate vicinity at any time?” Again they both nodded. “Are either of you missing any personal effects that can be reclaimed?” Jak shook his head instantly.

“I just wanna get home and forget this place,” he whispered. “It was a stupid idea of me to come to this country in the first place...” the disgruntled Kobosian shook his head. “Should’ve just stayed in Kobos.” Klein appeared to look at the dog with empathy.

“What about you, son?” Cadmus asked the griffin miner.

“I’ve...” Klein placed a hand on his chest. “I lost a necklace that my mother gave to me.”

“Family heirloom?” The Lieutenant questioned further. Klein nodded immediately. “We’ll need a description of the lost item.”

“It’s a silver amulet,” Klein said. “With an oval sapphire embedded in the center: my mother’s birthstone...” he smiled. “And mine.”

“I see,” Cadmus said quietly. “Your mother is no longer with you?” Klein’s eyes closed and he shook his head solemnly. “I understand; I won’t pry any further. If we find it, I’ll make sure it’s returned to you.” He looked over to the soldier. “Get these two to the surface immediately.” He finished as he pointed a talon upwards.

“Aye, sir,” the soldier saluted and turned to escort the two survivors to the surface. Cadmus turned his attention back to the ruins’ entrance, thinking about how they should go about their first excursion into the newfound maze at the bottom of the mines; should Elder Garand approve of said excursion.

---

With Tempest and Night Step both at what Aiden deemed to be a safe distance, he turned his attention to the creature that reeked of sulphur. The Thorn was still active, and he raised his left arm once again. With a shaky breath, he pointed his open palm at the creature, hoping that it would have some effect. The creature snarled at him again, more molten saliva dripping onto the floor and corroding its surface.

Aiden coughed again, trying to get the horrid stench out of his throat. The creature apparently took this as a threat as it flayed its front limbs and reared up on its hind legs, standing several inches taller than Aiden. It then began sprinting towards him, quickly closing the distance in a matter of mere seconds, its limbs merely a constant moving blur to Aiden’s eyes.

“OH SHI-” The lad was immediately thrown off his feet by a powerful blow from the creature’s arm. He was flown several feet away and landed on his back, the agitation in the back of the head reawakened. He groaned in agony before looking at the creature again with utter contempt. The fiery monster raised its left arm, one of its razor sharp claws extended, ready to tear through flesh. Aiden rolled to his right as quickly as he could manage, just in time for the appendage to pierce the floor where he once was; a few seconds slower and he would’ve been impaled.

Aiden immediately scrambled to get up and run in the direction of Tempest and Night Step, who were looking back, terrified of the new threat they faced, yet reluctant to abandon their companion and friend to his fate. When the monster realized it had missed, it pulled its claw out of the floor, leaving behind another corroded mark where it was. It sprinted full speed after the human it had set its sight on.

“Go, go!!” Aiden shouted as he caught up with them. Against his better instinct, Aiden threw a quick glance over his shoulder to see that the monster was gaining on them quickly, it’s black gangly limbs being just a single blur. “Shit,” Aiden thought. “We can’t just run forever...” He brought up his left hand again, hoping that the Thorn would still be willing to cooperate with him. True to his wishes, the ring of Algat’s River was glowing a bright crimson, standing out from the blue of the rest of the Thorn. He doubted that fighting fire with fire would really help in this case, but it was better than running out of breath and being trampled by this thing.

Aiden pointed his open palm at the creature when there was little more than a yard of space between them. A bright red light gathered in the palm of his hand; this was followed by a trail of the burning sulphur being pulled out of one of the cracks on the creature’s skin. It reacted with a hiss of agony as if Aiden were drawing blood with a syringe. It eased up on its chase, allowing them to gain some distance, but Aiden figured it wouldn’t be long until it recovered.

He noticed that the still burning sulphur had, in fact, accumulated in the red light in his hand. Aiden smirked at the opportunity of giving the sulphur monster a taste of its own medicine, but the idea that it could potentially heal it dissuaded him. “If only I had a real weapon...I could totally go with an assault rifle or shotgun.” These thoughts didn’t help him ignore how tired his legs were slowly becoming. He had the choice to either use the sulphur that the Thorn had gathered, or stop running. The latter option was a death sentence, no doubt there. He heard Night Step shout as something whizzed over his head, but he caught no glimpse of what it could be.

Aiden looked forward, only to see that Night Step was at the end of the hallway alone, looking back with a look of pure shock on his face. “He didn’t,” Aiden immediately thought, throwing another glance over his shoulder. Indeed he did; Tempest stood there, both he and the creature recovering from the pegasus’ attack. The monster clutched its fleshy stomach with a limb as more orange sulphur ran down its wound. Tempest threw his helmet off as the corrosive fluid landed on it, making it a potential danger; this allowed his blonde mane to flow freely as he turned his back to the creature and made a break to regroup with the others.

“Idiot!” Night Step yelled as he waited for Tempest and Aiden to catch up. “What exactly did you hope to accomplish!?”

“I slowed it down, didn’t I?” Tempest retorted.

“I think you just pissed it off even further!”

Whilst Tempest and Night Step were about to go at it once again, Aiden stopped where he was, turning a hundred and eighty degrees to face the creature as it was almost finished recovering from Tempest’s headbutt to the stomach. He reared back on one foot readying the handful of sulphur like he was a professional baseball pitcher. His throw would have impressed a major leaguer; the burning sphere of corrosive chemicals hit its mark: the neck and chest area of the monster. Aiden smiled and did a small fist pump in celebration as the attack took immediate effect.

He turned towards the two ponies and gestured for them to keep going. Tempest nodded, seemingly believing that Aiden could handle himself, whilst Night Step still seemed uncertain. Regardless, they both continued onward, around the next turn while Aiden returned his attention to his irritated foe. He was somewhat surprised by the fact that this creature’s exterior was not built to withstand its own acidic insides. “Ah well,” he thought with a shrug. “No complaints here!”

The beast, with a now corroded upper chest and neck hissed at Aiden once again with even deeper malice. Aiden backed away slowly, only taking his eyes off the creature for a brief second to look over his shoulder. This brief second was all the creature needed to begin sprinting toward its prey once again, leaving a large brownish colored acidic mark on the floor where it once stood.

“FUCK!!” Aiden cursed as the monster struck him in the chest again. Aiden hit the wall behind him, knocking the wind out of his lungs. This caused the veil of the Equinox to lift, and the hall returned to its original state. Aiden noted that now the creature began to move slightly faster and it seemed to sort of phase in and out of visibility, as though his eyes could no longer completely perceive it. “Another benefit of the Equinox, I guess,” Aiden spat as he quickly regained his composure.

He looked down to the Thorn, hoping for it to be his salvation once again, but for once, the glowing weapon under his skin did not respond. He shook his head for a split second before making an absolute break down the next turn in the hallway where Tempest and Night Step had gone, hoping to reunite with them as quickly as possible. As he ran, he looked down at the Thorn again with spite.

“Figures, it only works when it fucking feels like it!” His legs felt as though they were on fire, but if he stopped running, he knew that the sulphur creature would show him no mercy.

He saw another turn ahead, and a new idea began to form in his mind. “Maybe if I can lure it into the corner and move out of the way at the last second...” It was better than just running forever, of that he was certain. Thus he put his new plan into action; he came upon the next bend in the hallway. He stopped in his tracks, turned around to see the monster rapidly approaching him, uttering another malevolent hiss.

“That’s it,” Aiden whispered, standing his ground. “A little closer...” The monster closed in at less than thirty feet away. Twenty feet. Ten. “Now!” Aiden yelled to himself as he dived to his right and out of harm’s way. His opponent slammed into the metal wall at full speed, immediately silencing its hiss. Aiden got up, satisfied that he at last had a moment to rest his legs. That satisfaction was short lived.

The monster began moving again, slowly pulling its head out of the dent it had made in the wall; its movement was much more shaky, clearly dazed from Aiden’s trickery. “Ain’t no rest for the wicked, it seems,” Aiden sighed as he grudgingly began another sprint in the opposite direction. At the very least, he had bought himself and the others some more time, and at most he legitimately injured the hostile creature. He frowned as he continued running into this system of hallways, all of which broke off into more rooms with doors that would not open. “I just hope they’re safe,” he thought. “Please, please, let them be safe.”

---

“Great,” Night Step sighed as he and Tempest Runner entered another large chamber. This one, like the previous two they had been in, had an arched ceiling, with bright cyan lights at the apex that shone down on them. The other end had another staircase that led even further down, also just like the previous two chambers. Night Step shook his head with frustration. “Is every direction in this whole place a dead end except for down?”

Even Tempest was not in his usual joking manner like he was whenever an authority figure wasn’t around. He looked ahead sternly, anticipating the worst, hoping for the best, as the training officers in the Solar Guard had instructed him. Whatever was ahead, he just hoped that he was as ready as possible. To make already terrible matters even worse, Vanguard’s pulse was even stronger than before.

“He’s directly ahead, isn’t he?” Tempest thought, not wanting to show his fear. “I know he is...it’s obvious...”

“Damn it all,” Tempest groaned as he turned to look back the way they came. “If Aiden doesn’t get here in the next five minutes...” He tried to keep his thoughts on Aiden’s survival as well as their own rather than just the evil that awaited them below, but those thoughts of primal fear still slipped through the cracks. “I’m going to die here...I’m going to die in this place...”

Night Step occasionally struggled to use his magic, only to have the tremors dispel it almost instantly. He quickly gave up, knowing that he was just wasting his energy. “If I could actually use my magic,” he whispered wishfully. “I could maybe just teleport us out of here...”

Tempest looked over at the mage with a stern look. “Night Step, can I trust you?” The unicorn seemed to be caught off guard by the question.

“I...” he stammered before he offered a coherent answer. “Yes,” he nodded. “Of course you can.” He said it with the utmost honesty in his voice. “What do you need?”

“I’m going to go forward,” the pegasus noted the sudden apprehension in Night Step’s complexion. “I need you to stay at the top of these stairs and look out for anything; if Aiden decides to drop in, bring him down; if it’s anything else, then feel free to come get me.”

“You’re insane, Tempest,” the unicorn shook his head while saying that with an absolutely dead serious tone. Regardless of the pegasus’ attempts to reassure the frightened mage, he remained adamant of his position on the idea. “You’ll die if you go down there...”

“I won’t be doing anything drastic like what I did earlier,” Tempest reassured while referring to what he did with the sulphur beast. “I’m only going to recon the lower chamber; I’ll stay near the stairs and out of sight. I just want to figure out what Vanguard came here for.” Night Step still shook his head, only now averting his gaze from Tempest’s. “I’ll only be down there for ten minutes at most.” Night Step was still very clearly reluctant. “Five minutes!” Tempest bargained. Night Step raised an eyebrow while giving a look of moderate disgust that the pegasus would try to barter such a deal with him. The unicorn scoffed.

“Five minutes,” he repeated in a manner that made Tempest unsure if he was agreeing or simply repeating what he said.

“Is that a yes?” Tempest asked. Night Step nodded once.

“Five minutes,” he repeated again while pointing a hoof at his companion. “Not a second more.” He paused for a brief moment. “If you’re not back up here by then, I’ll go down there myself and drag your flank all the way to the surface.” This declaration took Tempest off guard, as it showed that Night Step seemed to harbor genuine concern for his safety. Either that or it would simply look bad on his record if his companion died out in the field and he did nothing to stop it. Tempest kinda hoped that it was the former. He was still surprised to the point that Night Step had to repeat himself.

“Are you listening?” Night Step said, snapping the pegasus out of his bewildered state. Tempest began nodding rapidly.

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you,” he said. “Five minutes will be all I need, anyway.” He attempted to dismiss Night Step’s worries as he turned towards the stairs still looking back at his mage companion. The unicorn seemed confused at Tempest’s hesitation.

“Well?” He asked, gesturing with a hoof. “Are you going to go, or not?” Tempest nodded, looking down at the floor with a solemn face.

“Listen, in case something does happen to me,” Tempest said softly. “Please tell my parents...” he hesitated slightly for just a second, these next words being the most difficult for him to say. “Please tell them that I’m sorry for putting them through this...” Night Step’s ears flattened as Tempest waited for a reply. Night Step nodded once.

“I will,” he said quietly. Tempest smiled to show his gratitude before he turned and began the trek down the stairs to face what awaited them below. Night Step was then alone with his thoughts.

---

Aiden’s legs felt like they would give out at any given moment from the constant running. He had managed to gain a good distance from the monster, seeing as how it seemed to be dazed from slamming into the wall at full speed and having acid eat away at the skin on its neck and chest.

“Christ, does this thing ever give up!?” Aiden huffed in between breaths as he turned another corner. He had been running for the past several minutes, but the burning in his calfs told him that it could’ve been years since he rested. He didn’t bother looking over his shoulder, knowing full well that he would just see his new fiery friend gaining on him. “Doesn’t really help when I feel like I’m just running in circles; do these hallways even go anywhere!?”

An answer to his internal question was granted; the hallway ahead ended in a turn to the left as well, which led Aiden to believe for a moment that he was going in an endless cyclical path. What he noticed merely a second later was the presence of a large window that allowed for one to overlook the chamber below. This window ran along the far wall for several feet until the next turn. An idea formed in Aiden’s head. It wasn’t the greatest idea, but it still offered more of a chance than what he was doing.

He stopped at the corner and turned to face his opponent, just like he did in the other hallway. He had apparently gained quite a good distance from it, as it was still several feet away from him. It had intended to change this however, as it soon broke out into another sprint towards its prey. Aiden smiled and mentally scoffed.

“Apparently a slow learner,” he thought right before he dove out of the way of the creature’s path of destruction at the last moment. He just hoped that the glass wasn’t bulletproof, or plexiglas or anything of that sort. Good thing for him that it was really just like any other fragile window; the creature was plummeting down towards the floor of the chamber below. Aiden regained his footing and turned to look at the results of his little plot.

“Aha,” he chuckled as he looked down the drop at the creature laying on the floor at least eighty feet below. “Natural selection at its finest.” Aiden placed his hands on his hips triumphantly. His pride was short lived, unfortunately, as the feeling of numbness soon overtook the backs of his knees. His joints threatened to give in right where he stood, so he stumbled back into the wall behind him and slid down into a sitting position. He curled his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly, relieved that he was no longer putting so much stress on his legs. He began laughing softly as he tried to catch his breath from all of that running.

“Wow,” he sighed as his gaze shifted up to the ceiling; his eyelids clamped shut instinctively to shield his sight from the fluorescent lighting above. He was thankful for an opportunity to rest. He breathed in deeply of the air that now lacked the acidic stench of sulphur dioxide.

“Much better,” Aiden thought tiredly. “Now...I think I’ll just rest my eyes for a few moments.” At least that is what he intended. He should’ve anticipated his body intended for his rest to be much longer. While he couldn’t quite describe it, finally being able to sit down and have a moment of respite from his worries brought on a kind of euphoria that one would normally associate with achieving spiritual enlightenment.

His eyes snapped open after what felt like only seconds later to him. He quickly scanned the hallway he was in to see that it hadn’t changed one bit. The monster wasn’t what worried him now, rather than reuniting with his companions. “Shit,” he cursed softly as he struggled to stand up. He had not intended to completely doze off like that and potentially allow Tempest and Night Step to get too far ahead. “If only I had a watch or something, I could tell how long I was asleep,” he thought. “Couldn’t have been any longer than a minute or so...right?” He should’ve known by now that asking questions like that, even mentally, always had bad repercussions for him.

At least this time, it did not seem so. Looking through the hole in the window at the chamber below, his former predator’s body was still there, not moving in the slightest. “That’s one problem out of the way,” he sighed as he pulled his attention to the path before him. He began a steady jog down the path that he hoped would bring him to the end of this circus ride. He was still exhausted; he was hungry. He wanted nothing more than to fall flat on his face and take the longest nap in history. He sighed.

“Like Cage the Elephant said,” he whispered whilst following Vanguard’s pulse. “Ain’t no rest for the wicked. Not before they go through an extensive mine and ancient technologically advanced ruin and fight some ancient evil entity deep below the surface of some fantasy world ripped out of a children’s story.” He paused his little rant for a breath. “I should earn every single medal in existence for what I’ve been through.”

---

The pulse was the strongest he had ever heard it, even stronger than what it was in Taotras. Tempest Runner made sure to tread slowly into the new chamber, not wanting to alert Vanguard to his presence. It seemed to be working; either that or the entity was just toying with him.

This chamber was much larger than the previous three; the arched ceiling was much higher and the walls were further apart from each other. Tempest’s attention, however, was drawn to the gigantic source of cyan light at the other end of the chamber; the light washed over the entire chamber, yet seemed to be contained by what looked like a glass shield. There, standing before the light and its glass barrier was the source of the pulse and the tremors. Vanguard never tore his gaze from the source of the glowing light.

“What is he doing?” Tempest thought as he slowly tried to inch his way closer for a better look. Whatever it was that Vanguard was doing here, Tempest was determined to find out.

The entity pressed a hand up against the glass, remaining completely silent as he did so.

---

Another holographic menu popped up at his vessel’s touch. He felt relief as the idea that he was one step closer to reunion came to his mind. The menu offered several options such as the details of the central containment chamber’s sole inhabitant, research logs about it, and so on. Vanguard paid no mind to any of these as he scrolled down to the option he was looking for; what he had anticipated for an innumerable amount of days and nights was finally his.

“Today, dearest Ascendance, Forerunner of the Rise, you are your own again.” He searched and searched for the option that read “Cryogenic Release”, but he could not find it no matter how many times he scrolled through the menu.

Vanguard was uncertain of himself, now. With a slowly faltering smile, he tapped the option that read “Research Logs”, fearing what he would see. The next menu that popped up displayed a list of text records documenting the Forerunner named Ascendance. The most recent record was made only thirty one years, nine days, and twelve hours ago. Vanguard’s smile quickly turned into a frown at this discovery. He selected the file, and it read as such:

It’s time to go; with the few of us that are left, there’s no way we can keep this installation up and running on reserve power. Almost all research and security personnel have already been evacuated back to the homeland, we just need to transport Ascension to the new site, which will not be disclosed in any of these documents for security reasons.

The surface civilizations, as far as we know, are oblivious to our continued existence. We’ve been sure to keep our surface excursions brief and few in number for just this purpose. The last thing we need is a few curious explorers to wander into our abandoned installations and releasing some horror that they’ve never seen before, be it something other than one of the Forerunners like a sulphur runner or banshee.

This facility’s systems will completely shut down within twenty hours of our departure and can only be reactivated via the Cipher.

The document went on about the last humans’ exodus out of this place and back to their original home, merely thirty years ago. Vanguard’s frown turned into a scowl. “How can this be...” he said to himself, placing a hand upon the glass wall of the empty containment chamber. “I know I sensed Ascension in this place. What sort of trickery could they have used?” He continued reading to the bottom paragraph.

Vanguard, if you’re reading this, then by now you know that you’re too late to release your sibling. We all knew the return of the Forerunners was inevitable, and judging by your title that you would be the first to return. By the time you read this, we will have already won; your surviving siblings have been scattered to new far flung locations around the world. You won’t be finding any of them, or us, I assure you of that. We have retreated back to our brethren on our home continent and have fortified our shores with defenses that no one, not even you can pierce. This isolation is the price we pay for survival.

Farewell, Vanguard, and good riddance.

--Demetrius

The glass shield was still cold to the touch, despite Ascension having been moved from cryogenic storage several decades ago. “Demetrius,” Vanguard whispered with a quiet scoff as he remembered the frightened child from many millennia ago; he could barely talk after the Greatest Usurp and the humans went underground to escape the harshness of the surface. Cryogenic hibernation along with human medical science greatly prolonged his life, or so it seemed.

Regardless, humanity still remained an obstacle to his plans. A stubborn one, to say the least. Vanguard raised a steady fist, angered by the fact that he had been tricked by Demetrius and his cohorts, and brought it down on the glass barrier before him, completely shattering it. As the fragments rained down on him, he thought to himself briefly. “It is interesting to postulate what defenses they confidently boast about in that document.” He looked down at his feet as the holographic menus dispersed. “What could they have that not even the power of a Forerunner could break?” He asked aloud while lifting a hand, catching a few falling pieces of glass in the palm. He smiled as he gazed longingly into them before he clenched his fist, crushing them with ease. Allowing the smaller pieces to fall to the chamber floor, he looked over his shoulder at the pegasus behind him. He smiled softly.

“What do you think, Tempest Runner?”

---

Tempest was curious as to what Vanguard was mumbling about; he was even inclined to inch his way closer. He caught what sounded like a name. Tempest’s ears twitched as he strained to catch what the Forerunner was saying. Another voice in his head protested. “I better just turn my flank around and head back up to Night Step,” it said. “Besides, it sounded like what he’s looking for ain’t here. Here’s to hoping that he never finds it...”

This thought pattern focused on survival seemed to win over his explorative desire, as he unwittingly took two timid steps back away from the entity and the object of its attention. This was probably the most regretful thing he did this day.

Vanguard raised a fist, causing Tempest to freeze in place. The young stallion gritted his teeth, fearing the worst before the Forerunner smashed the glass barrier in front of him with seemingly little effort. Tempest instinctively closed his eyes as the sound of clinking glass and metal reached his ears.

The pegasus opened his eyes slowly and cautiously to see that Vanguard was now looking back at him with a kind smile. He knew that this was only a mask for the malice behind it. Vanguard opened his lips and spoke, but Tempest was simply too nervous to hear it.

The Forerunner turned completely and began walking towards him, small pieces of glass still falling from the ceiling behind him like the last drops of an exhausted storm. Tempest commanded his legs to turn and begin the greatest sprint ever to escape, but his limbs would not budge. Even his wings refused to respond to his commands. His eyes would only blink when absolutely necessary; each seemed to last for hours and Vanguard was only brought closer with each one.

“No,” Tempest pleaded silently. “Dawn’s Mercy, no...” He prayed quietly to Equestria’s first monarchs. Vanguard was merely feet away from him now, and closing in ever so slowly; at least it was slow to his eyes.

“Well, Tempest?” Vanguard asked, now only two feet away. “I asked you a question.” He leaned in closer, causing the pegasus to naturally shrink back like a frightened, cornered animal; which to the Forerunner’s eyes, that was all he was.

Tempest refused to allow his eyes to look any further up at the entity which stood almost half a foot taller than him, even more so with him shrinking down to look as harmless as possible. Vanguard seemed to slowly extend a hand out and Tempest immediately shut his eyes, expecting the worst.

The pegasus felt utterly childish when Vanguard gently patted him on the top of his head; far from a show of affection of any kind, but rather in a condescending or pitying manner. His touch felt cold and hollow; lifeless even. Yet the feeling had a definite, profound heat to it. It was one of the greatest contradictory sensations the young stallion had ever felt. It was enough to make him shiver. He figured it would be best not to speak up or slap away Vanguard’s hand with a hoof, knowing full well what this entity was capable of.

“He could probably crush my skull or snap my neck on a whim,” he thought as Vanguard’s hand remained still on top of the pegasus’s head. He sighed as he looked back up, looking at the stairs behind Tempest. He continued talking, but Tempest paid no mind to it, rather just focusing his eyes on the floor. When his vision began to blur slightly, he at first thought it was also Vanguard’s doing, somehow rendering the poor pegasus blind with some form of dark magic. It took a few seconds that it was simply his eyes welling up out of simple fear.

“And it is this fear,” Vanguard said as the first tear began to fall. “That makes you what you are.” He sighed as he looked up toward the ceiling. “And that, believe it or not, my friend, makes us more alike than you could possibly imagine.”

---

The pulse was within Aiden’s grasp. And Vanguard with it. The young man paid little mind as he passed a frantic Night Step who was trying to explain how Tempest had gone ahead. That was all Aiden paid attention to and it only served to quicken his pace as he began the trek down the stairs. He still heard Night Step’s cry for him to wait. Aiden didn’t blame the unicorn for feeling fear.

About halfway down the stairs, he heard the reluctant trotting of the mage following him. He threw a skeptical glance over his shoulder and he indeed saw Night Step following his steps. Aiden quickly returned his attention to the steps ahead of him while clenching his left fist. This time, he felt the Praemian Thorn flare to life without having to look at it.

“Vanguard,” Aiden thought as he neared the bottom of the steps. “I’m here...”

“Tempest!” Night Step shrieked when he saw Vanguard standing over the defenseless pegasus. The Forerunner looked up with a neutral expression to meet Aiden, who had almost the exact same look staring back at him. Night Step softly spoke his companion’s name once again, finally rousing the attention of the pegasus that sat on his haunches.

Tempest slowly turned to look over his right shoulder at his fellow explorers with gritted teeth. His ears were flattened against his head and his eyes were leaking with tears. This detail caught Aiden’s immediate attention.

“Tempest...is crying?” He looked back up to meet Vanguard’s piercing neutral gaze with one of his own to match. Vanguard allowed the hand he had on Tempest’s head to return to its side, and the pegasus slowly rose to his normal height, but retaining his gaze on the floor. As the pegasus began to turn to face his companions, Aiden stepped forward, the Thorn glowing its usual cyan color, both the rings on his thumb and index finger lighting up along with it.

Night Step came to Tempest’s side and escorted him back to the stairs, leaving Aiden and Vanguard, more or less, alone. The two long separated deities stared at each other for the longest time, while the two ponies could do nothing more than watch. Vanguard’s pulse was still very strong along with the tremors, but Aiden suddenly appeared to be unphased by either of these factors. Vanguard was the first to speak.

“I was beginning to wonder why you had taken your time, Intervention,” he spoke standing perfectly still. He clearly meant this in a completely rhetorical way, for both of them knew the answer. Aiden merely shrugged as his opponent called him by his actual name, and answered anyway.

“I figured the release of the sulphur creature was your doing,” Aiden replied in an unamused tone. “If you think that you can still sway me to come back to your family, then you’re dead wrong.”

“Our family, Intervention,” Vanguard corrected.

Aiden simply shook his head at what his former brother had said. “No; not anymore. Not after the things I had done while under the blind guidance of our Mother’s hand. I’ve left those ideals behind when I was first exiled from this world.”

“And what place do you have without us?” Vanguard asked in a dire tone of voice. “What purpose will you serve other than to survive?” He pointed at the two cowering Equestrians at the foot of the stairs. “How could you possibly hope to live amongst their kin; how could you live within the walls of their meager cities and structures knowing full well the power that resides underneath your skin?”

Aiden was fully aware that Vanguard was not referring to the Praemian Thorn. He was in fact referring to the Forerunner form that resided within his human body. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out, that was for certain. Aiden was merely a vessel, like the human form that Vanguard was taking; a living facade. An effective, attractive camouflage meant to conceal the most ugly of realities. Aiden looked down at his hands, his left one giving off the familiar glow.

“I know my place,” he sighed after a moment of silence, the only exception being the constant pulse that stuck with Vanguard. “I know full well of all that I was, all that I am, and all that I have always been.” He looked back towards Vanguard, his hands lifting up to his eye level. “I am a product, sculpted by many to fulfill their own needs and desires. I am one who is willing to ignite a spark in the darkness so that others may see, willing to carry one that cannot walk, willing to stand in the path of fire to act as a living shield.” He allowed his hands to return to their sides ever so slowly before looking back at Tempest Runner and Night Step; he offered them both a friendly smile to comfort them.

Night Step retained his worried complexion, but Tempest seemed to have regained some of his usual composure from his close encounter; he smiled back. “I say these things,” Aiden continued. “In regards to ones like them, because all of these deeds I am happy to do for them, for they are my family.”

These words seem to have struck a chord in Vanguard’s being. He frowned while looking at his younger brother with his eyes narrowing to slits. “This is your ultimatum?” The Forerunner asked honestly. Aiden only nodded to finally confirm his suspicions. Vanguard looked away for the briefest of seconds. He took in a deep breath before he lifted his left hand up, pointing the open palm at Aiden. “So be it...”

Aiden knew that an attack was imminent, so he had already commanded that the Thorn drop the veil of the Equinox over his eyes. The bluish-green aura overtook everything once again, even Vanguard as a black, jagged limb made of obsidian shot out of the palm of his hand, ready to impale. Aiden’s now enhanced reflexes allowed him to dodge to the left with ease as the limb hit the floor behind him.

Vanguard wasn’t as fast as he normally was outside of the Equinox, but that didn’t stop him from proceeding to a completely new attack. He sprinted towards Aiden, a blade of obsidian still jutting out of his left palm; Aiden responded by only parrying to the right, just barely missing a swing from the toothed sword.

Aiden was ready to counter with something, when he remembered that he needed a source of energy to utilize Algat’s River. He had no time to chide himself, for Vanguard was still quite fast, even with Aiden’s advanced perception and reflexes in the Equinox. The Forerunner pulled his right hand back for a brief second before allowing it to fly forward; Aiden remembered this attack.

The human soon found himself being flung back to the wall, pushed by an invisible force; the impact knocked the wind out of his lungs, and as he slumped down to the floor, Vanguard suddenly stood over him, a look of regret played across his face. He said nothing as he raised the blade attached to the center of his left palm. Aiden took the chance of his opponent’s torso being completely exposed and allowed a swift kick to make contact with Vanguard’s ribs.

He grunted and stumbled back slightly; Aiden was certain that he felt something hard give way under his foot. His elation that he had caused harm to his enemy soon faded as Vanguard seemed to quickly recover. He raised the obsidian sword once again, a glare that spoke frustration having replaced the one of regret. Aiden was ready to kick once again when Vanguard grabbed a hold of his ribs, hissing in obvious agony as the pain must’ve taken some time to register. Aiden seemed somewhat confused for the briefest second as to what was happening, but then instantly took the opportunity given to him and escaped from the corner that his opponent had him in.

“What the hell was that?” He thought as he took the time to gain some distance. Vanguard stood tall while throwing a slightly confused glance back toward Aiden. The man smirked as a hypothesis came to him. “Vanguard is simply appearing to me in a human vessel...a vessel that still possibly feels pain.” He immediately frowned at the idea of having to inflict suffering on a human whose form was stolen by a monster. “Maybe there’s a way I can save the guy,” he thought in regards to the man who was unfortunate enough to be Vanguard’s disguise.

Aiden realized that road would have to wait to be crossed, as Vanguard had just recovered and was advancing quickly, obsidian weapon still drawn. He tossed a quick glance at the terrified pegasus and unicorn and yelled.

“Go!!!” Night Step seemed to be more willing to follow the order than his companion, whom he was still trying to offer solace. Night Step began his trek back up the stairs, Tempest following only after throwing a deeply worried look back at Aiden before Vanguard was upon him again.

Aiden gritted his teeth as he and Vanguard locked together, with him just out of reach of the blade’s kiss while Vanguard tried to inch it closer to his opponent’s throat. Aiden’s right hand held tightly against Vanguard’s opposing wrist, forcing the weapon away from his face. Aiden found this the perfect opportunity to speak up.

“I honestly thought you’d be a greater challenge than this,” he managed a chuckle. Vanguard said nothing in response and his piercing, accusing glare remained unaffected. Aiden refused to let this get to him. “Okay, maybe taunting him isn’t the smartest thing to do.” He knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold this position with his foe for much longer; hoping to find an easy way out for once, he threw a quick glance to either side of him. The stairs to his right led back up to where Tempest and Night Step had gone. “No way I’m going to just lead him to them,” Aiden dismissed. A quick look to his left revealed an extension to the large chamber they were in.

This extension seemed to be where Vanguard was headed, as Aiden could make out a lot of broken glass on the floor ahead of him and a doorway could be seen beyond a fading fog of blue color.

Aiden gave Vanguard one last sheepish grin. While this at least seemed to confuse the older Forerunner only a little bit, it gave Aiden the opportunity to break off and make a break for the newly discovered path. Vanguard stumbled for only a brief second before he began pursuing his brother with a sheer unemotional coldness in his eyes. Aiden didn’t look back as his boots crushed the fragments of glass into even smaller pieces. He thought to himself as he began a whole new sprint. “Well, at least with all the running I’ve been doing today, it’s pretty much a guarantee that I’ll be staying in shape...”

---

Tempest paced back and forth, baring his teeth as he tossed an occasional glare back down the stairs where Aiden and Vanguard were settling things. He shook his head and scolded himself repeatedly. “We shouldn't have left him down there. I shouldn’t have gone down there in the first place. We should never have come to this place...” He knew full well that there was nothing they could do; Night Step’s magic was useless with Vanguard’s pulse still present, and he knew that he wouldn’t last four seconds against the powerful Forerunner.

“So is this all we can do?” Tempest asked as he turned his head to Night Step. It was not a sarcastic or bitter question, rather it was an honest inquiry into what more could be done on their part.

“What use would we be?” Night Step retorted quietly. “We could go back up and get the griffins to help us...but we’d be leaving Aiden down here alone and,” he shook his head in disgust. “Celestia knows what else we might run into on the way back up.” He was of course referring to the sulphur creature they had encountered earlier. He chuckled slightly; at least Tempest thought he was laughing before it turned into solitary sobs broken up by words. “I’m a coward,” he spoke softly. “I’m a coward, I know, but I don’t care. I don’t want to die down here; Dawn’s Mercy I don’t want to die!”

Tempest simply didn’t know what to say at this point. All he could do was look back down the stairs and silently hope for Aiden to resurface, victorious in his battle.

---

Cadmus was more uncertain of himself now than ever before in his career. Upon his return to the surface, he witnessed one of his sergeants standing next to Elder Garand, ordering the troops to form up. With a flare of his wings, the Lieutenant was in the air and flew over to where his superior and subordinate stood. He had a nervous feeling stirring up in his insides. “This can’t be good,” he thought to himself.

“Uh, pardon me, Elder?” He spoke when he was certain that Garand was within earshot. The old griffin looked over to his left as the Lieutenant landed beside his trusted sergeant, Waystone. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve been ordered to pull out, sir,” Sergeant Waystone replied. The Lieutenant tilted his head.

“Pull out?” He echoed back. “Why is that? We still have those two Equestrians and the human trapped in there with who knows what!”

“The fate of two ponies and a hairless ape is not of your concern,” Elder Garand said gruffly. “We need to get the civilians out of harm’s way and wait to see if the dormant volcano does anything. In the case of an eruption, we will evacuate the immediate vicinity of Frostfire Mountain and return to Stormview to tell his Grace of the incident.” Cadmus shook his head in disbelief to what he just heard.

“This is ridiculous,” he scoffed. “Sergeant Waystone, get your unit ready, we’re going back in.” Before Waystone could reply, Garand held out a talon.

“No, you’re not,” he sternly replied. “You’re not in charge of this operation, Lieutenant; I am.” Cadmus was at first uncertain if he truly heard these words, but the Elder quickly affirmed this notion. “As of the moment, you are unofficially relieved of your authority.”

The Lieutenant was incredulous; he shook his head as his mind finished processing what Garand was saying. “Did his Grace give you that authority too?” He asked with a scowl. He didn’t wait for the Elder to give an answer before he took off once again. “I’ll go in by myself, then,” he thought. Sergeant Waystone looked over to his commanding officer with a frown.

“Let him go, Sergeant,” Elder Garand said quietly as if reading his thoughts. “He’s signing his own death warrant.” Waystone turned to Garand briefly before looking back at Cadmus as he passed the threshold into the mines again.

---

Vanguard was relentless, most definitely; but so was Aiden. The two brothers had found themselves in another chamber, this one possibly the largest in the entire installation. They both stood on a bridge that overlooked a foggy abyss below; the fog was colored a light blue by a source of light that must’ve been further down. Aiden threw a quick glance over the edge and turned his attention back to his opponent. “Could the ancient humans see in any color other than fucking blue!?” He unknowingly said aloud. He refused to allow this distraction offer time for Vanguard to make a move, however.

His opponent held his obsidian weapon at the ready, the blade jutting out of his left palm which waited at his hip for the opportunity to strike. Likewise, Aiden wielded his left hand by his opposite shoulder, the glyphs and symbols of the Praemian Thorn lighting up, signaling that it was prepared for an all out battle.

All just in time as well, for Vanguard lunged at Aiden once again, but this time, the obsidian blade seemed to lose its jagged edges and moved more freely like a whip rather than a sword. Aiden jumped back to avoid getting lashed by the now malleable material. “You have got to be shitting me,” he thought as he quickened his pace back, trying to gain more distance between him and Vanguard. Attempting to think of something funny to say, all he could get out was:

“Yeah, I’m getting every single medal for this; no questions asked.”

Like previously, Vanguard showed no reaction to his words as his obsidian weapon began to solidify again in a hook formation. Still, his quick swipes at Aiden’s stomach were thwarted by the human’s enhanced perception. Vanguard pulled his right hand back and prepared for another burst of invisible force to push Aiden onto his back, but Aiden wasn’t having that anymore.

“I don’t think so!” He shouted as he swiftly lifted his left leg and gave a blow to Vanguard’s head. The Forerunner staggered for only a moment, but this was plenty of time for Aiden to bring his foot down on the obsidian blade with all of his might, snapping it in half like a thin ingot of heated iron. He smiled at the result his effort had produced.

Vanguard quickly retaliated by grabbing Aiden’s left ankle with his free hand and pulling his leg up, causing Aiden to fall flat on his back. A new obsidian sword began to form in his right palm, the remains of the broken one crumbling to pieces. Aiden’s eye caught sight of the newly formed blade and rolled out of the way from being impaled.

The human was on his feet again within seconds and was quickly backing his way along the bridge; the two of them were about halfway across it at this point, and a quick glance over his shoulder showed that it led into another chamber, though Aiden couldn’t make out what was in it in such a short time.

His attention was immediately brought back to Vanguard, who held the blade jutting out of his palm out to his right like it were a regular sword. “How far down does this freaking place go?” Aiden thought to himself. He continued to back towards the doorway that led into the next chamber, all the while with Vanguard staring him down with an emotionless gaze. “Looks like I might just find out...” Aiden thought as he backed himself beyond the threshold and into the new chamber.

Upon getting a decent view of the new room they were in, Aiden noted that it was another dome shaped chamber; fairly large and from what Aiden could discern, this was some sort of reactor, judging by the large glass cylindrical structure in the center of the chamber containing a brightly glowing orange material. “Finally, some color other than blue or grey.” The two of them entered the chamber onto a catwalk that overlooked the reactor itself, and they were flanked by two staircases to their left and right, the one on the left leading to an upper catwalk while the one on the right led to a lower one.

Gazing upon the reactor, Aiden surmised that it was probably drawing geothermal power from the earth, or something along those lines.

“Imposing structures, are they not!?” Vanguard shouted in Aiden’s direction whilst gesturing towards the reactor itself. “I also must admit to how impressed I am by humanity’s resilience and ingenuity.” He pointed his blade towards the glowing structure in the center of the chamber. “But alas, witness in how ultimately frail their works are, along with their memory.” The blade in his right hand suddenly extended at incredible speed into the glass casing of the reactor, causing its surface to crack like a fragile ornament. Aiden instinctively backed away from the reactor until he hit the wall behind him.

“Jesus Christ!” Aiden swore as the obsidian limb retracted itself from the target it struck. “What the hell is he trying to prove now!? He could end up killing us both!” A bright light began pouring out of the point from where Vanguard had struck. Aiden could only look on in fear for what would likely happen.

“Witness how easy it is to snuff out their fires,” Vanguard said as he struck the reactor again. “Witness how they attempt to clamber up the edge of the world, desperately trying to not be forgotten.” With these words being spoken, a second limb of glassy obsidian shot out of his right shoulder, then another out of his left. Amazingly enough, the only thing they left behind were splotches of a pitch black ink material from where they emerged; no blood, wounds or torn fabric on the locations where Vanguard’s robe covered.

The two new limbs planted themselves into the floor and began hoisting Vanguard’s body up until he was at least ten feet into the air. Aiden looked back down at the Thorn, hoping for an answer to this new situation. The ring of Abitrath’s Gate still glowed, but Algat’s River could find no nearby source of fire or lightning that he could absorb. Aiden took the slowly dying glow of the Thorn’s insignia as a sign to start running.

The stairs that led to the lower catwalk were blocked by Vanguard, as was the way from which they both came. The only obvious way out was the staircase behind him which led to the upper catwalk, and that didn’t offer a clear escape either. But still, it was a better option than being eviscerated by Vanguard’s new form.

Aiden turned and clambered up the stairs with the haste of an animal being chased by a vicious predator. He was roughly halfway up when Vanguard brought one of his jagged limbs down on the stairs he had ascended, bringing them down to the floor below. Aiden stumbled as he reached the top and nearly fell flat on his face. The catwalk circled around half of the chamber and ended at an inactive computer terminal, not unlike the other ones he saw.

The man, however, had little time to pay much attention to his surroundings, for Vanguard pierced the floor behind him with another glassy limb. “Shit!” Aiden yelled as his hands clutched to the railing at the end of the catwalk. He shifted his gaze from left to right, hoping for a way out that wouldn’t end with him falling again, of all things.

A grating to his left that covered a ventilation duct caught his eye. He took absolutely no consideration into the possibility that it wasn’t wide enough for him to fit; not exactly like he had the time to do so. With two swift, powerful kicks, the grating was dislodged and Aiden quickly tossed it out of his way before he went feet first into the ventilation duct. He got one final look at Vanguard’s form before he slipped the rest of his body into his new place of refuge.

It was far from spacious, that much was certain. Aiden was just barely able to move his arms, which brought him to the verge of panic as the thought that he could be stuck here came to him. “Stuck in a ventilation shaft with Vanguard just outside,” Aiden thought. “To hell with the medals, I’m getting the key to the fucking city.”

Thankfully, he managed to place his hands on the sides of the vent and push himself further along. “I guess this is how the Grinch felt while in the chimney,” he whispered to himself as he continued towards the end of the vent. After a few seconds more, Aiden felt his feet reach the other side.

As he pulled himself out of the vent entirely, he took into account of the new room he was in. Scratch that, it wasn’t really a room, rather a small vertical tunnel that was a continuation of the ventilation system itself. The floor of the tunnel was a metallic grating that covered a slowly spinning fan which blew a cool breeze up at Aiden’s face. The human looked up to see another ventilation shaft. He sighed with exhaustion.

“At least I’m safe for the moment,” he whispered. His eyes widened as he said this and they darted from left to right, fearful that he might have just jinxed it. When nothing happened, the lad let loose a breath of relief. Said relief was short lived, however.

Aiden stumbled forward, slamming into the nearby wall after an enormous tremor seemingly shook the entire facility. The sound of an explosion was heard in the reactor chamber behind him, and that was more than enough to get him moving. He frantically grabbed onto the edge of the next duct’s entrance.

“Alright, break time’s over!” He yelled at himself as he hoisted himself into the vent. This one was slightly more spacious, and he managed to work his way through it at a much faster pace than the previous one.

He emerged into another hallway; to his left the hallway went on for another ten feet until it turned to the right, while the opposing direction had a spiral staircase that led down. “Pretty certain that down is the last direction I want to go,” he thought right before the sound of another explosion came from the reactor chamber.

The lights above suddenly went out after this, and the hallway was shrouded in complete darkness for a few seconds. The lights came back on just as suddenly, but projected a deep red light over everything, and the sound of an alarm could be heard. Aiden turned to his left and began the trek down the hallway as the tremors that shook the facility became more frequent, as well as the explosions.

He came to the turn and was about to proceed onwards, until the sound of metal being torn in half assaulted his ears. He covered them and yelled in agony at the ear splitting noise before he returned his attention forward only to see that one of Vanguard’s razor sharp limbs had broken through the wall and split apart the metal in its wake, completely blocking the hallway.

Aiden held up his hands and backed away with a look of pure frustration upon his complexion. “Okay! God, I’ll go the other way!” The human yelled before he turned and headed back for the spiral staircase.

The way down further into the depths of the facility was accompanied by further explosions in the hallway behind him; this, along with the still blaring alarm, gave him plenty of reason to quicken his pace. “Shit,” he said to himself. “A possible chain reaction on my hands too.” He shook his head at the situation he was in. “This day just keeps getting better and better.”

He continued onward into a hallway that likely ran below the reaction chamber, as steam was being vented out of steel grating on the ceiling. He heard Vanguard’s obsidian limbs on the floor above, quickly approaching the staircase he had just descended.

“Oh, fuck!” Aiden cursed as he became aware of this and began to sprint for the door at the end of the hall. The green panel to the right of it signaled that the door was unlocked. Aiden could only hope that it would prove to be his salvation.

After slamming his open palm onto the panel, the metal door slid open and he stumbled into the next room. The door automatically closed behind him, which gave him relief that he wouldn’t have to look back to see Vanguard closing in on him. Aiden turned to look at the now secured door; he knew that it wouldn’t be enough to hold the Forerunner off.

Aiden scanned the chamber he was now in; the first thing to catch his attention was another little pool of mercury in the center of it. He was well familiar that this meant a new power for him. He wasted no time; he rolled his left sleeve up even further whilst the Thorn began glowing once again, as if reacting to the nearby well. He plunged his limb into the transparent liquid as far as it would go and looked over his shoulder to further ensure that he was safe for the moment.

Vanguard’s presence was still quite obvious beyond the door, and the pulse was still as strong as ever; the tremors that accompanied Vanguard as well as the rattlings of the explosions still shook the facility to its core. All of these things managed to distract Aiden from the slight prick of pain that signaled the next ring of power had inserted itself.

Aiden retracted his hand from the well to examine how the Thorn had changed. The only notable change he could see as the glyphs of the ancient weapon lit up like a night sky on New Year’s Eve was the presence of a new ring around the knuckle of his middle finger, this one a bright gold color. The other two rings of Algat’s River and Abitrath’s Gate began glowing their usual crimson and blue, respectively, as if happily welcoming their new neighbor.

“So now what can I do?” Aiden curiously thought to himself as he eyed the shimmering golden ring. The sound of Vanguard approaching had reached the door, accompanied by the sound of something heavy brutally striking it. Aiden turned with a look of panic upon his complexion. He held out his left arm, hoping for the Thorn to activate and hoping that it wouldn’t decide to stop working when he so desperately needed it to.

An obsidian blade pierced the thin lining in the center of the door from where it slid open and began forcing it to do so. The ring that harbored his newest power began glowing even brighter as Vanguard forced the door open even further. “Whatever it is, it better do something fucking amazing right about now!”

Jagged blades of glassy obsidian forced the door completely open, and Vanguard’s human form could be seen with the majority of the limbs emerging out of his shoulders and back. It was when Vanguard lunged towards his opponent once again that the Thorn finally reacted. The golden light became almost blinding, and Aiden shut his eyes tightly whilst looking away, fearful of what he would see when he opened them.

Only a few seconds passed until Aiden opened his eyes again, first noting that all sound had ceased; the pulse, the tremors, the explosions; everything fell silent. He pulled his left hand back, placing it upon his chest to see if anything was damaged. He was unharmed, and a hand placed upon the back of his head had found that the wound from earlier had already healed.

Placing his attention upon his foe, he found Vanguard to be completely immobile; frozen in place with one of the obsidian limbs reaching out to strike him. Even stranger still, Aiden noted the thin golden colored aura that now surrounded the Forerunner; the same shade as the new ring on the Thorn.

Aiden looked down at the ancient weapon and smirked that such a power was now under his control. “Of course, like with the others, it’s probably only gonna work when it feels like it,” he reminded himself as he turned to face the door on the other end of the chamber. He turned back to face Vanguard once again, noticing that he was beginning to move again, although quite slowly. Disappointed that the effects lasted only a few brief seconds, he slammed his right fist into the door’s panel behind him.

While fleeing down the newly opened path before him, Aiden’s thoughts drifted to his two equine companions, hoping only that they both made it to the surface safely.

---

These ruins were unlike anything that Cadmus had ever seen before. He had little time to take it all in, however. The lighting on the ceiling soon turned an intimidating red, painting the walls and floor a deep shade of scarlet. The Lieutenant knew that he couldn’t afford to get distracted at this point with the possibility of a volcanic event. He focused on the hallway ahead of him, frowning as he thought to himself.

“This place is so confusing; how am I supposed to find Aiden and the others in a maze like this?” He shook his head, trying to keep those thoughts at bay. “Nothing’s gonna get done with that kind of attitude; now come on, Lieutenant!” While he didn’t even want to admit it to himself, he was well aware that he had to hurry; the intense tremors below told him that the worst was about to happen.

Coming upon a three-way intersection, his ears caught the sound of a door opening down the hallway to his left...

---

Aiden’s path had taken him through another laboratory, this one much larger than the others; while he had managed to evade Vanguard for the time being, he feared that he now had another eldritch abomination on his tail. He determined this much from the empty cryogenic tubes that he had passed, and the sound of distant noises; something was definitely stalking him from the darkened corners from one room to the next.

To his fortune (for the first time that day, it seemed) he encountered a hanging bundle of electrical wires near the door. While most would see this as a dangerous safety hazard, to Aiden, it was blessed salvation. The ring of Algat’s River began glowing as he drew nearer to the hanging wires, and the human gladly held the Thorn up towards them. The electricity crackled as the ancient weapon drew in the energy in a noticeable stream of light.

“Alright,” Aiden sighed as the electricity gathered around his index finger. He turned his attention to the room, waiting to see if his newest stalker would reveal itself. “Next bastard who decides to mess with me gets a face full of lightning...” he muttered to himself while holding his left hand out towards the darkness of the chamber, waiting for whatever it was that was following him. He was aware that it couldn’t be Vanguard; the pulse felt too distant.

Nothing happened, with the exception of more explosions being heard from the aqueducts and vents below him. “I should get moving then,” Aiden thought to himself while hesitantly opening the door behind him. “I think I’ve stumbled into enough clusterfucks for one day...”

Aiden made his way through the exit, not taking his eyes off the darkened chamber until the automatic door closed itself. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned to examine his new surroundings, when he heard a gasp to his right.

“Aiden!?” A familiar voice shouted.

“Cadmus,” Aiden sighed with relief upon sighting the griffin. “How did-” the human stuttered, trying to figure out what to say. “Why are-” He placed a hand upon his forehead and took in a deep breath. “Look, let’s just find the others and get the hell out of here; come on!”

“W-wait!” The Lieutenant called, holding a talon out whilst the human turned his back and was on his way down the hall. When Aiden did not respond, Cadmus had no choice but to follow, lest he lose track of him again. Once he caught up, the Lieutenant couldn’t suppress his questions any longer. “What happened down here, Aiden?”

“We found Vanguard, and it turns out that he was indeed here to release another Forerunner,” Aiden replied.

“Mercy,” Cadmus whispered while shaking his head. “Having two of those things on the loose...”

“The Forerunner he was looking for was no longer here,” Aiden added. “So we can at least be glad of that. But it seems that other creatures were being kept down here...”

“Other creatures?” Cadmus echoed. “Such as?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Aiden sighed while looking over his shoulder, certain that the creature he was worried about was still following him. “For now, let’s just focus on finding Tempest and Night Step, then we’ll go back the way you came in.”

“If I can even remember,” Cadmus said. “This place feels like it would take months to properly map out.”

The two of them proceeded towards another door at the end of the hallway; Aiden looked over his shoulder again with a scowl played across his lips. “Alright, I know that we’re being followed,” he thought as he lifted his left hand up towards his opposite shoulder and stopped just a few feet short of the threshold. Cadmus stood on the other side of the doorway, looking back at Aiden.

“What is it?” He asked with more than just a hint of worry in his voice. Aiden kept his eyes on the darkness that enveloped the hallway they had just passed.

“Keep going,” Aiden replied with a dire tone in his voice. The electricity he had stored in the Thorn had gathered at the tip of his index finger. It didn’t seem like enough to do any severe damage, but Aiden determined that it would be sufficient to work with. He looked over his shoulder at Cadmus. “Go on,” he nodded for the Lieutenant to continue. “I’ll catch up with you.”

Cadmus hesitated, looking on into the direction they were headed, then back at Aiden. The human nodded once again, affirming that he would be okay before looking back at the invisible monstrosity that he faced. The griffin nodded back and continued onward into the unknown.

“This better not be some jump scare bullshit,” Aiden whispered to himself. “I know that you’re there, just show yourself!” He yelled at the unseen creature. Silence followed, with the only exception being the distant ring of the facility’s alarm, and Vanguard’s pulse, even more distant still. Aiden took three careful, tentative paces back towards the open doorway that Cadmus had just gone through, his eyes not taking their attention off the darkness in front of him.

Movement was soon caught out of the corner of his vision. He clenched his teeth as his opponent finally revealed itself from its hiding spot. The monster consisted of a humanoid torso, with skin as white as ash. Its four limbs where the arms and legs would be were long, rubbery and gangly; in fact they were little more than long tendrils that softly touched the floor. Its neck was short and ended in a wide, gaping, toothless, featureless mouth, as though someone had beheaded the creature and removed all of its guts. It had no eyes; or at least none that Aiden could see, but the creature still obviously perceived him, be it through a sense of smell or hearing, as it reared its “head” (neck mouth thingy?) to face his direction.

Aiden took another step back and prepared himself for whatever the monstrosity was about to do. Indeed, doing so seemed to only provoke it as the rim of its sole orifice seemed to contract and expand. It closed for a brief moment before opening again, letting out a high pitched screech that could probably shatter glass and eardrums alike.

“Why do I always find myself in these situations!?” Aiden yelled at himself whilst covering his ears. He also felt his entire body being forced back, like the shriek of the beast itself was producing enough force to do so. He planted his feet where they were and bared his teeth, determined as ever before. “No way, asshole; I am not getting knocked down again!”

With determination and frustration clouding his eyes, Aiden clenched his left fist, the electricity stored within the Thorn sparking and crackling in reply. The wailing monster ceased its cry, and Aiden took this as the best opportunity to retaliate. He flailed his left arm toward the creature, opening his palm as he did so; the bolt of lightning exited out of his index finger and jumped towards his opponent.

It screeched even louder as the electricity noticeably coursed through its entire body, causing it to spasm and jerk about in a fit of agony. “Chew on that, motherfucker!” Aiden cursed at the monstrosity while running after Cadmus, certain that a little shock wouldn’t keep something like that at bay for long. Aiden looked down at the Thorn once again, only to see it give off a few more crackles of vibrant electricity. “Algat’s River has run dry again,” Aiden thought with disappointment.

He didn’t think that the Lieutenant had gotten very far in the few moments that his attention was focused on their shouting friend. Or at least he hoped that this was so.

As luck would have it, ‘twas indeed so! Aiden emerged into another wide, elongated chamber. He called out to the Lieutenant, whom had made it about halfway through; the griffin looked back at him with a smile that displayed a newfound confidence. He beckoned and shouted out. “They’re here!”

Aiden held his breath for a moment, wanting to see it for himself. The sight of two figures further along on the other side of the chamber; one with a deep navy blue coat, the other the color of snow; allowed him to breath in once again. Tempest smiled softly and gave a light wave with a hoof to his direction. Aiden sighed and instinctively returned the wave as he shortened the distance between them.

“Where’s Vanguard?” A glad, yet still very weary, panting Night Step asked, not trying at all to hide the concern in his voice. “We heard the explosions down below, and then that piercing alarm...”

“Yeah,” Tempest continued for the tired mage, though he did not seem to be faring much better, still recovering from his close brush with Aiden’s otherworldly sibling. “Once that happened, we really started to book it back here; we hadn’t even the faintest idea of what was happening down there.”

Aiden beckoned for the three of them to follow. “I’ll explain everything once we’re out,” he said while glancing over his shoulder at the path he had just come from. Vanguard’s pulse could still be heard over the alarm; still somewhat distant, but still as just as oppressive as ever. “Vanguard can’t be far behind us, so right now, we’d best focus on getting out of this circle jerk.” That managed to get a chuckle out of Tempest, at least somewhat relieving the tension of their situation. “So, Lieutenant, do you by any chance remember the way back any more than I do?”

The griffin pointed back down the junction from whence the two of them came. “I’ll lead you to the best of my ability; don’t worry.”

“How comforting,” Night Step sighed.

“It’s better than just wandering around in circles in this bottomless dungeon,” Tempest replied to the mage’s comment. He gave the Lieutenant a trusting smile. “It sounds good, Lieutenant Cadmus; you lead, and we’ll follow.”

The griffin began the trek back with Aiden right behind him, staying watchful in the case that the screeching monster wasn’t done yet, and the two ponies lined up behind him, their own eyes scanning the dark corners around them. Vanguard’s pulse was even more distant than before; Aiden took this as an opportunity to ask Night Step for a small favor.

“Hey, Night,” the human asked while keeping his eyes forward. The unicorn hummed softly, allowing him to know that he had his attention. “I was wondering if you could maybe charge the Praemian Thorn with your magic, considering that there must be some good distance between us and Vanguard.”

Night Step’s ears folded back for a second. “I’ll try,” he answered. “But there’s no guarantee that I can get anything.” The mage closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, trying his hardest to conjure up any source of magical energy he could get. A familiar jingle filled the air, and Night Step’s horn was soon bathed in a deep purple aura that quickly spread to the Thorn. Aiden held his hand up to see if it was having any effect.

A crackle of electricity was heard and the ring of Algat’s River began to surge with energy once again. Aiden gave a confident smirk when Night Step was finished. “Awesome,” he said while giving the mage a thumbs up with his other hand. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing, friend,” Night Step replied as they continued on the path that Cadmus led them down. Aiden focused his attention forward, certain that the monster that he and the Lieutenant had encountered earlier was still very much alive and still capable of doing harm. He hoped that one last bolt of lightning or two would rectify that.

He balled his left hand up into a fist and held it out in front of him, Cadmus taking point of their unit. Tempest and Night Step both remained silent as the Lieutenant led them back the way he and Aiden came. “Is that creature still alive?” Cadmus asked the human. Aiden eased his left hand’s grip and advanced ahead of the griffin.

“Knowing my luck of late, I probably just made it angrier,” Aiden sighed. “Don’t worry though, if it tries to get in our way, I’ll give it something to scream about.” He flexed his fingers, the now charged up Thorn flaring with electricity arcing between his fingers.

“Alright,” Cadmus answered. “The path I came on was this way,” he motioned forward with a talon.

---

The countryside of central Gryphonia was so peaceful around this time of day; Elder Garand got a near insatiable sense of pride welling inside of his being from merely breathing in the frigid air. This was a country that he had fought and bled for; ‘twas a land that had seen countless instances of armed conflicts over the centuries, and Garand had fought in several of these over the decades of his life, first in the Changeling Invasions over fifty years ago, then again in the Westwind Rebellions a few years later. After his service as an officer in the army, he served happily in the Parliament under King Samran, and his father before him.

He and the new King had more than their fair share of disagreements, of course, what with being separated by a generation of complete peace. The elderly griffin sighed. “Such contentment only numbs the mind; numbness leads to carelessness.” In his mind, Samran lacked the experience to properly defend his country; experience that Garand and plenty of other veterans had. Many other discharged officers agreed with him in this regard. He wasn’t about to simply stand by and watch Samran give their country away to foreigners.

Indeed, even now as he led Lieutenant Cadmus’ squad towards the city of Westspire, the seeds of revolt were growing. Garand smiled as he gazed over to the Western horizon, the last orange sliver of the sun painting the landscape a fiery orange.

---

At last, the layout was becoming familiar to Aiden, for he was certain that they were on the right path out of the ruins. Of course, every single hallway and stairwell looked the same in these catacombs, so only Cadmus had a slight recollection on the path he had taken to reach them.

Vanguard wasn’t too far behind them, as the pulsating and the tremors had suddenly become much stronger. Poor Night Step felt helpless with his magic rendered useless by Vanguard’s presence. Aiden silently volunteered to take up the rear position of the group, motioning for the ponies to go ahead of him.

Aiden glanced over his shoulder, although he wasn’t sure why; he was well aware that the Forerunner was giving chase and that it wouldn’t be much longer before they were finally apprehended. “We better get to the surface quickly,” Aiden thought as panic welled up in his chest. “I don’t think that the Thorn will be able to hold him off much longer.” He turned his attention forward once again. “Lieutenant, how much further until we’re back in the mines?”

“Just a little more,” Cadmus replied while panting. “I’d recognize these metallic walls anywhere!” That had to be a joke, Aiden thought for a brief moment. Even if the Lieutenant had marked the places he had been before, the rather poor lighting of the halls made it almost impossible for an individual to see their own hand/hoof/talon in front of his face.

“But...maybe those glowing eyes of theirs allow griffins some form of night vision?” Aiden postulated to himself. “Anything that’ll help us get out, I suppose. Might as well ask him once we’re out of this snake pit.”

The whole facility still shook with the sounds and shockwaves that began down in the reactor. Even more terrifying still, Aiden soon heard an ear rending shriek that was comparable to the sound of a train being derailed just behind them. “Shit!” The lad yelled. Tempest looked back at him, also horrified at what they had just heard. “Keep going! Go! Go!” Aiden shouted, ushering his four legged companions to keep moving onward.

“We’re almost there!” Cadmus yelled back at his entourage. “Keep pushing!” That alone was almost too much for any of them. The constant running with a horrible creature chasing them, just waiting for one of them to falter, only made Aiden’s already quivering knees become even more like jelly.

Looking up, Aiden noticed that the stairs were finally coming to an end; his hope was almost immediately dashed when he reminded himself. “Now we just need to begin the harrowing climb up towards the surface through the mining passages...” Cadmus and the others soon disappeared beyond the threshold of the ruins’ exit. The ground below his feet trembled as if the World itself had decided to shake him off like a dog would a flea. His heart was thrashing against his ribcage like a rabid animal trying desperately to get out.

He couldn’t help but look back upon reaching the threshold. The metal walls receded and soon became stone once again. Aiden looked ahead of himself again to see his companions had come to a stop.

“Damn it!” Cadmus shouted. “The gods forsaken pathway to the surface collapsed!” The lieutenant looked around frantically for an alternate way out before turning his gaze up the chasm.

“Looks like we’ll have to fly!” Tempest stated suddenly. “Aiden, get on!” He gestured with his head while his wings flared. A quick glance back towards the ruins entrance only showed the darkness that they had left behind. The human, thankfully, had complete confidence at this point that the pegasus had more than sufficient strength to carry him.

“Cadmus,” Aiden yelled as he saddled himself upon Tempest’s back. “You think you can lift Night Step?” The unicorn mage and the griffin exchanged looks for a brief moment.

“I can try!” The Lieutenant yelled before his wings lifted himself into flight. Night Step lifted his forelegs out for Cadmus to grab ahold of. “I’d tell you to hang on tight, but...” he managed to let out a chuckle, although it sounded quite forced. “You don’t really have anything to hold on with.”

“Not exactly the best time to be making jokes!” Night Step pleaded as Cadmus and Tempest became airborne with their respective passengers.

“Finally,” Aiden thought with a deep breath. “Time to get the hell outta here! Their ascent towards the top of the mines was slow; this didn’t surprise Aiden, or any of the others for that matter. But it also didn’t keep any of them from the brink of panic when an unearthly shriek reached their ears.

It came from the bottom of the chasm, where they had just exited the ruins, but something about its nature was odd. It also sounded as if whatever it was, it was coming at the group from all directions; almost omnipresent, even.

“Shit!” Tempest yelled at the sound of the shriek. “What in the Sun’s name was that!?”

“I don’t know!” Aiden hissed as his grip on Tempest’s shoulders tightened. He looked back down towards the bottom as they continued on their ascent. The abyss they were fleeing from grew darker still, something that the human thought wasn’t possible. “But let’s just take that as another reason that we better book it out of here!”

“I hear that!” Cadmus grunted, clearly struggling to lift the unicorn mage. “But gods above, you ponies are heavy!” Aiden looked back down into the chasm below while Cadmus was busy going on about the dead weight of a unicorn he was carrying. The darkness was definitely growing; quickly spreading towards them like an infection in an open wound.

“Not good!” Aiden thought while about to panic. Both the pulse and the tremors returned; the suddenness of it alone was enough to make Night Step cry out in pain. Cadmus looked down at the fellow he was carrying with concern.

“What’s wrong!?” He yelled over the rumbling of the cavern that surrounded them. Night Step gave no answer, rather he could only grit his teeth and hiss in agony.

“He looks like he’s trying to cast a spell,” Tempest shouted in reply. “He can’t do it with that fucking pulse getting into his head.” The tremors became more intense as the pegasus pointed out the problem.

“Doesn’t really look like that’s gonna stop him this time...” Aiden thought while shifting his attention from the unicorn’s face to his horn, which sparked and flickered with magical energy like a dying flame. The tremors grew even stronger still; while reluctantly, Aiden managed to force himself to look back down at the chasm.

The darkness had crawled up along the walls toward them; it had the same glassy sheen as the obsidian that Vanguard harnessed as a lethal weapon. Now it looked as though the Forerunner commanded it like a liquid beast; a living, amorphous entity.

“Almost there!” Tempest shouted at the griffin. “C’mon Lieutenant, lift that fat unicorn!”

“I’m trying as hard as possible!” He struggled even harder trying to lift his passenger. Night Step was still focused on trying to cast his spell. Aiden considered using his new time-slowing power, but remembered that it would probably slow down the others along with Vanguard.

“And there’s no point in doing something if it’ll heed our progress too...ain’t nobody got time for that,” he thought with a frustrated sigh as he noted the tremors become the most intense they had ever been.

The pulse had made it nearly impossible for him to think clearly, while also beginning to have adverse effects on Tempest and Cadmus as well. The beats of Tempest’s wings lost their rhythm; they soon became clumsy and slower.

“Fuck my life,” Aiden thought with deep despair when he looked over to the Lieutenant, holding onto a small fragment of hope that they still had a chance. That small fragment was quickly taken, thrown to the ground and stomped into tiny splinters when he noticed the distant, tired look on the griffin’s face.

Time seemed to slow down, as it seemingly always did when he was falling from great heights. Cadmus loosened his grip on the unicorn as the lids of his eyes, and Night Step left his grasp within mere seconds.

Aiden wrapped his arms around Tempest Runner’s upper body and neck, swinging their bodies around as they fell back down the chasm and into the abyss; his back faced the bottom, so that the pegasus was at least somewhat protected from the fall. Given the past two experiences to go on, Aiden would survive the fall regardless of the height. He was going to save one of his friends at the very least.

He wished that he could save all three; he would give his own life if he knew it could be so. The most he could do is look on in horror as Cadmus’ and Night Step’s limp bodies plummeted with them into the bowels of the world.

His attention turned towards the passing apparition of darkness of Vanguard and silently cursed at his brother. This wouldn’t be the end; not for him at least. He would be down two friends; potentially three if his plan to save Tempest didn’t hold out; but his hunt to stop Vanguard would continue.

He looked down at the Thorn, realizing that the powers within it, while indeed amazing, wouldn’t do jack to help him out here.

His vision darkened as Vanguard’s black, foggy form passed them completely. It didn’t feel like anything once he passed through them, but at the very least, he took the pulse and tremors with him. At least the absence of the pulse would help him clear his head.

Now, the air rushing past his ears as they fell was the only sound he could hear. His eyes watered up; it was partially due to the gusts of wind tearing at his face, but mostly due to the thought that he was about to lose his two closest friends, along with his newest friend. He tried to do his best to think ahead; where he would go from here, what he would do next, but this soon proved to be fruitless, as his vision was obscured by the brightest light he had seen in a long time. He couldn’t see a damn thing.

At least he felt no pain.

---

The white light faded, and was replaced with a pitch black sky, dotted with many stars and a thin sliver of the moon. Aiden’s eyes widened at this, wondering what in God’s name just happened, when he realized that the four of them were still falling. He only let out a small yelp before he hit the cold hard ground, still holding Tempest in his protective embrace.

Now he felt pain. The Lieutenant landed not far away, letting out his own grunt upon impact, as did Night Step. The most that the lad could do was lay there while the stars stared back at him while his brain tried to register what had occurred. While the gears in his head were turning, Tempest stirred.

“Hey, Aiden,” the pegasus whispered hoarsely.

“Yeah?” The human answered after a few seconds.

“As much as someone else would find this really romantic, could you please let me go?” He tried to clear his throat, but went into a small coughing fit.

“I...uh,” Aiden stammered as Tempest regained his composure. He couldn’t help but let out a hearty chuckle at his request. “Sure thing, bro,” he laughed as he released the pegasus from his embrace.

“Thank you,” Tempest said to show his gratitude before rolling over onto his stomach and stood up. Aiden quickly followed suit, sitting up straight into his usual crossed leg position for a few seconds before getting up to his feet.

“Where are we?” He asked while turning to his pony companion. Tempest simply remained silent, staring at the landscape before them with amazement. Aiden soon felt the same as his eyes fell upon the entrance to Silver River Mines.

“We...” This was all Tempest could get out while looking upon the ruined outpost, painted several shades darker under the palette of night.

“We’re back on the surface,” Aiden finished for him. “But...how?” He took a step back. “I remember that we were falling back down into the mines...Vanguard passed us...”

“That thing was Vanguard!?” Tempest yelled in Aiden’s direction.

“It was the source of his pulse, so chances are he took that form for a quick exit.” Aiden crossed his arms and looked around. Lieutenant Cadmus was to their left and was beginning to stand up. He called the griffin’s name and waved when he looked over in their direction. He smiled at the fact that he was okay. “Now...where is Night Step?”

The sound of coughing was heard from Cadmus’ left, drawing the attention of all three of them.

Night Step was laying on his back, his forehooves curled up against his chest. Breathing heavily, and sparks of magical energy flaring from his horn, the poor unicorn looked accusingly at his three companions as they gathered around, looking back down at him. Aiden was about to speak up, when Night Step decided to voice his opinion first, pointing a hoof at Tempest.

“You...fucking...owe me...” he spoke between breaths. “All of you...”

The three of them exchanged glances, Tempest’s glance quickly showing off a beaming smile.

“So that’s what the light was,” Aiden thought while smiling back down at the unicorn that had saved their lives with his magic. “We’re lucky that Vanguard had passed us when he did, I guess.”

“I guess we are,” Tempest replied while looking back at Night Step. “Thanks for that, Night.” The unicorn nodded slightly to acknowledge him.

While the two ponies were talking, Cadmus looked around at the site and muttered to himself. “Bastard,” reached Aiden’s ears.

“Something wrong, Lieutenant?” The human asked. The griffin officer shook his head and looked down.

“They’re gone...” Aiden’s head jerked back when he heard this. He was about to ask what he meant when he took another look at their surroundings. They were the only souls around; Cadmus’ troops were all gone.

“Your unit,” Aiden whispered. “Where did they go?” Cadmus shrugged at this question.

“It doesn’t exactly take a scientist to figure out that Garand led them away...”

“Elder Garand?” Aiden asked to which the griffin nodded. “That asshole was here?” Again, the Lieutenant nodded. The human looked around, placing a hand over his mouth.

“Well,” Cadmus said suddenly while looking back at Aiden, the hurt and anger at the fact that his entire platoon would just desert him like that. “I guess that this is just another thing that we’d better report to his Grace.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Tempest spoke up, holding a hoof up. “Where would that Garand guy even take them, or why for that matter?” Cadmus seemed reluctant to say anything at first, but looked over at Tempest with a solemn expression.

“I don’t know,” he began. “But given the disagreements he’s had with the King since the day of his coronation, I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if he was building up forces for a civil war.”

“Civil war,” Aiden mirrored the Lieutenant’s words as he shook his head in disbelief. “He would have the gall to do such a thing?” Cadmus let out only a single laugh.

“Believe me, he has the gall, alright,” the griffin replied, turning his gaze back to the entrance of the mines. The tremors had ceased, and there were no signs that the destruction happening several dozen leagues below in the heart of the ancient ruins had reached the mines.

“Soooo,” Tempest Runner sighed while nudging Aiden in the waist. “I guess we should get back to Stormview then, huh?” The human nodded.

“Looks like we’d better start walking,” he said with an exasperated groan.

“Can’t I just have a couple of minutes to catch my breath?” Night Step asked, still on his back, looking over at Aiden with a pleading expression. “Using a teleportation spell on four living creatures can really drain a unicorn of his stamina.” He spoke while still breathing rather heavily. Aiden nodded and sat down next to the unicorn, crossing his legs like he always did.

“Take your time,” the lad finally said quietly as he cupped his chin in his hands. As Night Step caught up with his own breath, Tempest and Cadmus both decided to join them, the pegasus laying down to Aiden’s right while Cadmus rested to Night Step’s left. It was comforting for the four of them to simply rest, knowing that the horrors of the ruins were trapped far below the surface, where no one would find them, where they belonged.

At least Aiden hoped that none of the monsters made it out...

“At least nothing’s trying to kill us for once,” he thought to himself as he allowed his hands to fall to touch the cold grass they were resting on. He turned his gaze up to the star decorated sky above. “Nice night out,” he said aloud.

“Yes it is,” the unicorn replied with a slow nod. Tempest and Cadmus seemed to follow suit, lifting their eyes to admire the stars and the thin sliver of a moon above.

End of Act 4

Author's Note:

Hardware issues with my computer is partly to blame for the long hiatus for this chapter. That and flat out laziness on my part. But at least I grinded this one out, and it only took me roughly three months!

Comments

[Cadmium]

Somehow i'm irritated that the thorn, which is supposed to be the ultimate superweapon capable of felling gods, is so weak and his usefulness is so limited. Also the erratic behavior of that thing is just grating.

But i still love the story, especially the background you are weaving together, i'm a total sucker for exposition and epic worldbuilding .

[MerlosTheMad]

2830730

I was instantly sad this wasn't actually a Gone With The Blastwave Crossover myself...

[Sjogras]

I want to read this, I really do as I remember it being a good story, I just can't recall the plot line very much. It was a while ago...

[Veile]

TOTALLY worth the wait!

[Marcus Centurian]

I thought this fic dead, but I'm glad to see that it is not.
3 months? Eh, I've seen worse. I totally agree with you on the power of laziness.
Keep up the good work and I hope to see your next installment.

[Ablesoap]

wait don't tell me this fic is dead

images.wikia.com/glee/images/7/7a/NO_GOD_PLEASE_NO.gif

[AstralBlaze]

3339240
Sorry to say this, but this fic has been dead for Seven Years...