The Forgotten Void Dweller

by Kaffeina

Prologue Arc: Off the Rails

The sounds of night filled the air with a variety of soft noises, owls made their calls and the rustle of bushes signalled the movement of other creatures. The stars and moon offered little light to guide their path, and the two people were hardly out of town before they were pretty much blind and would have been lost were it not for the shadow of the castle. The mountain itself blocked out a portion of the sky, oddly black against the slight purple hue that the night sky seemed to have taken.

The castle itself was not as dark as her perch, for she seemed to glow slightly. The travellers could only just make out the barest details of the ornate fortress, yet it still held and odd sense of awe behind it. Perhaps it came from where she rested, crying out from far above that which lay below.

The two travellers looked back to what lie ahead and woman pointed at the satchel on the man’s waist, before speaking. “I believe there’s a lantern of some sort in there, Magnus.” The man nodded in response and reached into the satchel and it jostled a bit before he pulled kerosene lantern out of the bag, passing it to her and then removing a small box of matches.

Aranea struck one against the side of the lantern and, while Magnus held it, lit it up and the clearing they were in, interrupted by a set of tracks, became dismally brightened. The light reached only so far, and left the travellers with but a few feet of vision. The night itself sunk heavy and low, despite the color of the sky. Each time the lantern flickered, the darkness crept forward like a thousand hungry tendrils.

The two moved over to the tracks and began following them, slowly. The clank of their shoes on the metal and then the dull thud as they stepped on the wooden boards that crossed the tracks. As the made their way cautiously, Aranea caught sight of something in the distance. Like what they had seen earlier in the night, a demon had crawled its way out of the ground itself.

Magnus reached towards the satchel, only for Aranea to grab his hand and shake her head. Gesturing quickly towards the other side of the track, she lead Magnus off to the side and they began moving around the beast at a wide berth. It’s armor, despite the lurking presence of shadows, was clear even from the distance they were moving. A deep chrome and shining black paint, embellished with silver, shuffled as its open helmet showed the shining eyes.

The monsters accompanying it bobbed in the air, their glowing shades of orange and yellow giving light to the field. The axe wielding demon groaned and the heavy armor clanked and jostled as it swung the axe in it’s hands idly. By their luck, or the demon’s poor eyesight, they were lucky enough for it to miss them. It moved closer to the woods and Aranea and Magnus moved out of range quickly.

The two kept an eye out for more demons, yet the monstrosities seemed to only appear in small numbers and in large distances from each other. The castle far above was slowly getting closer, yet it would still be a bit before they would arrive to the city itself. Aranea had taken to cleaning her spear with a cloth from the satchel, while Magnus was reading through her journal.

“Would Stopcast be a good use of Elemancy?” Magnus finally spoke up, eyeing the magic flask. In his other hand, he had the journal held up and was cross-referencing it. “I should think it would give an extra few moments to attack.”

“Based on the strength of who or what I’m fighting, that could vary,” Aranea had moved the cloth to the inner part of her spear as she spoke. It squeaked quietly here and there. “As long as I’m not caught in the radius, yeah.”

“And potency should be high as well?” Magnus asked, checking the journal once more.

“For repeated usage, yes.” The warrior had turned her attention back to her spear, though she was keeping her eyes wary. Their last demon encounter had been some distance back. Shifting, she moved closer to Magnus as a spray of light came from the tree line and a group of floating bombs appeared.

The tree line exploded outwards as a large quadruped in metal armor ripped through it with a massive sword. The trees had parted like butter against a warm knife and now lay strewn across the tracks and ground. Despite the iron giant having stopped, a pile of branches and leaves was still flying through the other debris. One of the bombs drifted towards it, and a loud growl emanated from the pile as it stopped.

“The hell is that?” Aranea said, looking at Magnus. When the man shrugged in response, she sighed and moved towards the demon. “Start casting,” she said as she stowed her cloth in her pocket and lifted her spear to confront the demon. As she approached, glowing green eyes locked with hers and she barely moved before quickly leaping up as the demon swung its sword.

Magnus opened the magic flask and threw the resulting swirl of magic at the iron beast. It’s armor hazed over with blue before turning a frosty white with the ground. The glow of the eyes stilled and then it was engulfed in a blazing flame before a whirlwind of lightning zapped the demon all over. The ground was charred and white, but the demon remained glowing with a light blue as Aranea dashed forward and began beating it. The strikes made the armor crackle, and the beast suddenly roared.

A swing of its massive sword nearly struck Aranea as she rolled away and back. One hit and she’d have been split in two, not her most favored magic trick. She used the demon’s overeager swings to her advantage, striking as soon as it’s sword hit the ground and dashing back once it was freed. The beast was nearly ready to go down when the clearing was lit by an explosion.

Aranea flew back and crashed into the dirt. Spitting pieces of grass out and wiping the dirt from her face, the woman stood up again as Magnus lifted a hand and tossed another explosion towards the demon. Aranea smashed the bombs as quickly as she could, and then made for the demon as the ground was finished charring.

Another ringing smash from her spear and the right foreleg of the demon cracked and shattered like glass. The beast roared in agony and swiped at her as it fell, only for her to slam it in the face. Another roar and a powerful, armored, foreleg swung her way. Despite blocking it, she was still driven backwards straight into a bomb. Once more, it exploded.

However, Aranea used the force that propelled her forwards to drive her spear home on the demon’s helmet. The resulting crack caused it to roar in pain and Aranea pivoted over its head as Magnus freed a vial from the satchel and activated it, causing Aranea to glow green like she had before. Immediately, the warrior landed and faced back.

Her face was no longer sweating from the effort and she looked to be in a better state. Diving below the next swing, she sprinted towards the bomb and smacked it as hard as she could with her spear. It let out a loud cry and she bashed it back towards the demon. As soon as it exploded and blinded the metallic creature, she leapt over it and drove the spear home for a final time.

The demon melted into a pool of darkness and Aranea began checking the ground. The items she did find, she carried over to Magnus and dropped them in the satchel. A few coins and even a sword disappeared into the seemingly endless bag before Magnus closed it and they moved towards the glowing pile of sticks.

The wood growled and tried to move, but the sticks that made up the creature’s leg was snapped and gone. After a few minutes of looking, they found a few proper length sticks and put them on the leg. Like a snake losing its skin, the creature lost the broken pieces of wood and absorbed the other pieces into its leg. The beast quickly stood up and yipped, a chain of metal dropping from its mouth.

Aranea grabbed it and pulled, but the wolf-like beast’s mouth was refusing to let go. She pulled as hard as she could and felt some wood shift. A medallion like item sat at the end of the chain and the warrior stared at it for a moment. I swear I recognize this… she muttered, before standing and grasping it in hand.

She stood and walked over to Magnus, who had already stood up and moved, but noted that the wolf thing seemed to follow her. “That was intense,” the man said, putting the flask back into the satchel, though he left the pocket open. Magnus looked at her before looking to the creature. “Are you keeping it?”

She looked down at the wolf made of sticks and leaves, “I suppose, if it keeps following me.” Magnus merely responded with a nod as they began walking once more. The walk remained quieter than before, though the sky was as pressing as usual.

The air held an odd sort of tension to it as Aranea looked at the item in her hands. Its familiarity told her it was important, though she wasn’t sure she had held it before. In all senses of the feeling, it was like an odd mix of deja vu and forgetfulness. Someone would have mentioned this person to her, despite the intimate connection she could feel she had through this necklace.

The soft crunch of grass beneath their feet served as their only companion while the two people mused. The darkness was nothing more than another background for someone else, though it’s oppressing effect on people was the unbelievable part. The darkness of Equestria at night seemed to push people to do things, sometimes and usually it was something opposite to what a person would feel normally. The cost of darkness was not what was in it, but rather what it wanted.

The chain dangled, quietly shifting in Aranea’s grip as she focused on her past. After ponies, people started appearing and she gazed out for the necklace she now had. Despite her grief, she finally found something familiar. Her name sung out deafeningly and mangled in her head, but Aranea recognized who and why.

Clutching the token tighter, she turned around to find the wolf gone. It seemed that whatever it wanted, had been fulfilled. Aranea muttered quietly to herself and a tear, nearly dried, rolled down her face as she realized what she had found, and exactly what it likely meant.

Her friend, who had been dressed as Iris, had this necklace because it was the final piece of the costume. The rest of it, she had said she wouldn't wear often but she admitted to having grown attached to the little necklace she had obtained from the convention weeks prior. If it was here, she was here, it had been stolen, or she had experienced something horrible and died.

A few more tears escaped and Aranea wiped them away before nodding to Magnus once more, “Come on, let’s go,” she said.