Flame of Disparity

by Cinders of War

Chapter 10: Keep of Glass - Part II

Sunset Shimmer followed behind her friend, watching as she made turns that she couldn’t even see unless you look close enough. It was also hard to keep track of which Rarity was the real one, but somehow, she managed, all the way out of the maze. And extremely fortunately, there was a bonfire, just beyond a set of double doors.

“Free at last!” Sunset fell to her knees before the bonfire and lit it, feeling rejuvenated as soon as the fire ignited. “Come on, Rarity. Sit here a while.”

“Oh, don’t mind me. I’m a phantom, you see, summoned by you.” Rarity pointed to her white form. “I cannot use your bonfires. I must say though, I have never seen a flame like yours before. Could it be? Do you carry the Flame of Life.”

“So I have been told.” Sunset put a hand to her chest. It didn’t help to keep her warm, but it did have its uses in dark places. To an extent. “I’ve been told the creatures of this world want it.”

“Everyone wants it.” Rarity eyed Sunset. “I too, traveled from my land of Marestora to have it, but fret not. I shall not take it from you. It is yours. I’d like to find my own. Say, where did you get it?”

Sunset shrugged. “I woke up in this world with it.”

“Huh. I didn’t wake up with anything but my robes on me. You must be destined for something great, Sunset Shimmer.”

“I’m… just looking for a way home. Do you know of Fyrlon? Twilight told me if I gather the Flames of Death, I can find a way home.”

Rarity snapped her fingers. “Ah, of course. That is why you are here. The Keep of Glass. Home to Drawgren, Spear of Fire. Drawgren was from my land, did you know? He was once a great hero, sworn to defend us from the Abyss.”

“Abyss? What’s that?” Sunset looked away from the fire to her friend.

“You do not know of the Abyss?” Rarity came and sat beside her. “It is a dark place. No one really knows how it originated, but it is a place no one can simply enter. It would kill you as soon as you set foot in it. The Abyss holds the most frightening of entities, some of which might even drive you crazy just by looking at them. The Abyss is forever growing, seeking to consume everything.”

“Sounds dangerous…” Sunset pulled at a lock of her red hair. “Then again, so is everything in this world.”

“The Abyss is not a place you’d ever want to go to. Especially if you think the world is bad enough as it is.” Rarity picked at the sleeve of her robe. “Drawgren found a Flame of Death near the Abyss. Since then, he has gone mad and abandoned his post. He now resides in this keep, but as to why, that I do not know.”

“And I have to take that flame, huh?” Sunset looked around the room. There were carvings of owl faces on the walls. One of them had fallen to the ground, and there were words inscribed on the back. Reaching over with the tip of her weapon, Sunset pulled the carving closer and picked it up.

“‘Very good’,” Sunset read. Losing interest, she tossed it aside, where it bounced along the ground. More importantly, it shouted out the words “Very good!” as it hit the floor.

“Are you ready to continue, dear?” Rarity stopped looking at her fingernails. “We’ve spent enough time here as it is.”

“Oh, alright.” Sunset dug through her satchel first to check that her estus flasks were all filled. “All filled. Okay. I’m ready.”

Once she left the presence of the bonfire, Sunset Shimmer began to feel cold again, and she rubbed at her shoulders, trying to warm herself up. Past the bonfire’s room was an ‘L’ shaped corridor, where a treasure chest sat in an indent in the wall, between two mirrors.

“Oh, loot.” Sunset went forward, but Rarity stretched out a hand to stop her.

Just then, two knights with spears pushed out of the mirrors and lumbered over, their speartips aimed for Sunset’s neck.

“Great, more of these guys.” Sunset pulled out her steam sword and readied herself for a fight.

The first one charged, jabbing its spear forward, but Sunset was already on the move, deflecting the attack by hitting the spear high. That gave her the room to finish the knight with a stab to the chest, but then there was a bolt of blue and the knight fell back, dissolving. Sunset turned to see Rarity already readying a second bolt of magic. She fired it at the second knight, who tried to dodge, but was too slow. It too, dissolved into nothing.

“How come you can use magic, Rarity?” Sunset missed having her own magic. All she had here was her steam sword.

“Because I am a sorcerer…?” Rarity said hesitantly. “I graduated at the top of my class back in Marestora and was on my way to becoming a teacher. Then I became undead, and the rest is history.”

“Wait. You’re… dead?” Sunset had to make sure she heard that right.

“Why, yes. I am. Don’t look much like it, right?” Rarity gave her hair a flip again and struck a pose. “Most of us from Marestora are undead. That’s why we come here, seeking life. Of course, those who lose their purpose become Hollow, but I have no intention of letting that happen to me.”

“Umm… well, look out!” Sunset pushed Rarity out of the way just as one of those owl mages fell from above, his axe clashing against Sunset’s sword as he dropped beside her, the force knocking Sunset down to a knee. “Undead or not, I’m not letting you get hurt, Rarity.”

“Hold on!” Rarity readied a spell and blasted it at the mage as he tried to break Sunset’s guard. The magic bolt smashed him across the owl face mask and sent him flying back against one of the mirrors, shattering it.

“Thanks, Rarity.” Sunset stood up and dusted her leggings.

“You should be more careful with yourself, dear. I’m a white phantom. Even if I die, I will simply return to where I was before you summoned me. You, on the other hand, if you die, I get returned as well. I lose nothing if I die. Remember that, Sunset Shimmer, when you’re with phantoms.”

“Um, right.” Sunset proceeded to open the chest and she was delighted to see what was inside. “It’s a top!” She fished it out with a hand. “Finally.”

It was a leather and steel piece, brown leather along the center and the sleeves, and fitted with chainmail around the rest. Sunset wasted no time in putting this new shirt on. At first, the metal clinked against her skin, which was ice to the touch, but once she got it fully on, the leather seemed to warm her up greatly. At least now, she wasn’t being directly affected by the cold.

“Much better. Come. We’re almost there.”

Rarity led Sunset down two more hallways and a large staircase. The staircase had three braziers each on the left and right, all of them lit and blazing strong. At the bottom of the steps was a giant double door, at least ten times taller than Sunset, rusted, but still looking very sturdy.

“That looks significant,” Sunset commented. Around the door were a few glowing summon signs, some of them white, some of them gold.

“Vinyl…” Sunset inspected the first one. “Vinyl Scratch?”

Sunset was quite familiar with CHS’ resident DJ. Holding out her soapstone, Vinyl’s sign disappeared, but soon, her white shape began to emerge from the floor, rising up and giving Sunset a bow.

“Hey, Vinyl. Nice to see you.” Sunset remembered they wouldn’t know her, so she stuck her hand out. “I’m Sunset Shimmer. Nice to meet you.”

The blue haired girl smiled and shook Sunset’s hand. Her outfit consisted of ragged robes, along with an old tattered hood. She carried a wooden shield on her left arm and an axe hung at her side. The other surprising thing were her glasses. Instead of her usual giant pink glasses, this world’s Vinyl instead had a small pair of glasses and they were see through, allowing Sunset to glimpse at her red eyes.

“Yes, now you seem more equipped for the coming fight.” Rarity joined them both and gave Vinyl a nod. “Come, let us proceed.”

“But there are more signs.” Sunset looked back to the floor, but they were all gone. “Oh, where did they go?”

“You have summoned two, Sunset.” Rarity raised a finger. “Two is the maximum number of phantoms you may summon at a time.”

Sunset scratched her head and Vinyl nodded in confirmation. “But why?”

The violet haired mage simply shrugged. “Those are the rules. Though, if you had a dried finger, you could summon one more. But beware. It opens you up to invasions from red spirits.”

Rarity saw the confusion on Sunset’s face and continued. “Red spirits are hostile spirits that invade you to impede your progression, unlike us white spirits, who are here to help.”

“Oh.” Sunset dug around her pack, remembering that old finger she found earlier. Was that what Rarity was talking about? “Is this it? The thing I can use to summon more people?”

“Well, yes,” Rarity said, recoiling a little from the mummified digit. “But I don’t know how to use it.”

“Try holding with both hands!” Sunset recalled. “Okay.”

Sunset took out the gnarly old finger and raised it up in both her hands. At first, nothing, but then a soft ray of light exploded out around it and vanished.

“Did that do anything?” Sunset looked at it and then put it back in her satchel.

“Look down and you’ll see.”

Beneath her, the colourful signs had all reappeared again, ranging from yellow to white. Sunset remembered Fluttershy saying something about the golden ones, who swore to help others in their journey. Perhaps a yellow one wouldn’t be bad.

She scanned through the names, finding three she knew: Dense Bush, Lightning Rain, and Bulk Biceps.

“Not Dense Bush…” Sunset decided to go with Lightning Rain. She didn’t talk to him much, but at least he was someone she could count on.

Raising her sign to his, Lightning Rain soon emerged from the floor, sticking both his arms out above his head as he stretched his body back.

This Lightning Rain had on a set of light cloth armor, along with a metal helmet and shoulder plates. Instead of the usual baseball bat Sunset would see him with, this Lightning had a long steel katana strapped to his side.

“Hello,” he greeted, looking to the door. “Let us go. Drawgren is just this way.”

“Let’s hope we’ll be enough to handle him.” Sunset gulped. Of all the monsters so far, Drawgren was the first to make her spine go ice cold, and no, it wasn’t the cold in this keep.

“And we better hurry. Before the red phantoms show up. They would have heard the dried finger’s call by now.” Rarity ushered Sunset to open the doors.

Sunset crept down the stairs and put both her hands on the doors. Putting everything she had into it, Sunset held her breath as she began to slowly push the heavy metal doors aside. It was incredibly difficult, and she soon found herself breaking a sweat, but she kept it up.

After about ten minutes of pushing, she finally had a space wide enough for Sunset and her party to proceed. It wasn’t long before they came to a billowing barrier of grey and white fog.

“There it is…” Sunset took a deep breath as she tried to look past the fog.

Just then, she sensed something. It was almost like a resonating within herself, like a sort of bell that rang out in a small space. Something was coming.

“Speed it up, Sunset. We’ve got incoming.” Rarity tapped her on the shoulder.

“Get through the fog gate.” Lightning Rain unsheathed his katana and held it in two hands. “We’ll keep the invaders off you until then.”

Past the three of her companions, a red shape emerged from the ground, covered from head to toe in spiky armor, wielding equally spiky armaments.

Sunset did as she was told and pushed her way through the dense fog, finding an open room with a balcony above, circling the entire room. The middle had a circular indent in the ground, which looked vaguely like an arena, and to the far end of the room was a throne, which was currently occupied.

Sunset felt the ringing sensation within herself fade, just as her friendly phantoms entered the room behind her, standing on her left and right.

“You guys dealt with the red phantom already?” Sunset said, impressed.

“Red phantoms can’t follow us through fog doors,” Rarity explained. “Although, red phantoms are banished once the host goes to the final battle. This is where we confront Drawgren. Prepare yourselves, everyone.” She raised her staff, staring at the throne on the far side of the room.

On the other side, a giant knight sat on the throne, slumped to one side, one hand holding a long spear. By giant, Sunset meant giant. The knight stood at least a whole body taller than her.

This could be no other but Drawgren, Spear of Fire.

Sensing them, the knight stirred, first raising his head to look over. He then pushed to his feet, dust falling from his joints and he placed one foot down a step to his throne, using his spear’s end as a support. Drawgren hunched down low, but then tilted his body back up as he released a blood curdling roar, loud enough that more dust began to rain down from the ceiling above.

“Here we go.” Lightning placed his katana by his head.

The baseball player was the first to approach Drawgren, katana at the ready. The knight soon thrust his spear forward, almost too fast for Sunset to see. Lightning rolled to the side, then slashed twice at Drawgren before having to move again. Sunset watched as Rarity and Vinyl readied their magic, with Vinyl’s being some kind of fireball.

Only having her steam sword, Sunset rushed in, deciding to help Lightning Rain with the knight’s attention.

The room’s temperature seemed to have dropped when Drawgren stood up, but Sunset paid it no attention as she thrust her sword through Drawgren’s knee. The knight bellowed and turned, punching her in the shoulder and knocking her to the ground.

Sunset rolled as Drawgren stabbed his weapon at her, trying to skewer her. Then a fireball exploded against the knight’s back. Sunset looked up to see Vinyl hurl a second fireball, this one slamming against Drawgren’s flank.

The knight growled and swooped at Vinyl, slashing at her with his spear. However, just before the weapon struck, Vinyl cast some kind of spell on herself and the spear bounced off with a clang, Drawgren recoiling in apparent surprise. Rarity took the chance to shoot a ray of bright blue light at him, leaving a dent in the knight’s armor but otherwise not damaging him much.

“Armor’s too thick,” Lightning Rain said as he and Sunset circled around Drawgren, trying to draw his attention from the casters. “We need to attack at the places where the plates meet. Armor’s weaker there.”

Drawgren suddenly bellowed and rushed Lightning Rain, charging through the katana-user and sending him sprawling. Sunset Shimmer ran at Drawgren and stabbed her steam sword into the knight’s midsection, but the armor deflected it. Lightning Rain was right. She would have to aim carefully.

The knight staggered as Rarity sent a barrage of magic darts at him, but it only seemed to make him angrier. Rarity backstepped to avoid Drawgren’s spear, but she wasn’t quite fast enough. The spear raked across her belly and a spray of blood splashed out into the air.

“Rarity!” Sunset shouted, running over and kicking Drawgren in the back. Surprisingly, it worked and the knight stumbled. Vinyl lobbed another fireball, this one larger. It impacted Drawgren head on, exploding into a pool of lava around the knight that made his armor glow cherry red in the heat.

“Absolute disaster!” Rarity cried out, turning in a circle and looking at her injuries.

“Rarity! Doesn’t that hurt?”

“It most certainly does hurt,” Rarity said to Sunset. “But just look at my robes! They’re ruined!”

“That’s what you’re worried about? You’re more like my Rarity than I thought.”

Lightning Rain slashed at Drawgren but his blade rebounded off the knight’s armored body like the rest of his attacks. Drawgren bellowed and lashed out with a spinning kick that knocked Lightning onto the floor, his katana skittering from his grasp.

Sunset sprinted at her foe, but there was a blur of brown at her side. Vinyl.

Sunset watched as the white-skinned girl dashed past her, a flame blossoming in her right hand. But instead of throwing another fireball, Vinyl held her hand out and a noxious red mist blasted out, engulfing Drawgren.

For a moment, nobody moved.

Then the mist dissipated, revealing their enemy. The red mist had done some serious damage, and the knight’s armor was melting and cracked. Vinyl must have used some kind of corrosive magic to weaken his defence.

Drawgren roared, his voice shaking the room. From up on high, a glass statue of an owl fell down and smashed. Drawgren raised his spear and thrust it at Vinyl, who held up her shield, but there was too much force behind the thrust and her shield went flying. Vinyl was undeterred and unleashed a torrent of flames at Drawgren, further slagging the knight’s armor.

“Flame… Mine…” Sunset was sure she heard the knight say that. Wind seemed to be gathering around his feet as he stood there.

Suddenly, there was an explosion around him, where a wave of blue flame erupted, knocking everyone back. Sunset herself slammed into one of the pillars outlining the wall, hitting it hard enough to crack it.

Sunset could feel it before she could see it. A wave of cold emanated from Drawgren. Blue flames licked through his visor, and there seemed to be flaming wings coming out of his back now. The worst of it was his spear, which was now much longer, having sprouted a flaming tip almost half the length of its shaft.

Then Drawgren turned his attention to Sunset and began stalking towards her, one hand stretched out towards her like he was trying to grab her.

“Mine…”

And then a fireball slammed into his back, staggering him. The knight turned just as Vinyl lobbed another fireball at him, but then swung his spear to the side, releasing an arc of blue fire, burning over her fireball and forcing her to the side.

Lightning Rain ran in and slashed twice, but Drawgren was having none of it. Flapping his flaming wings, he leapt up into the air, swooping back down above Lightning, and to Sunset’s horror, speared his weapon right through the baseball player’s back, sending a wave of fire blasting out around him.

“No!” Sunset yelled and hopped over the encroaching flames, slashing at Drawgren’s legs with her sword.

Pulling his spear back up, Drawgren attacked Sunset with waves of blue fire as Lightning Rain dissolved into golden particles. Sunset couldn’t bear seeing her friends die, even if they were still okay elsewhere.

Sunset managed to get a few hits in before she had to dodge Drawgren’s wide slash. Her left arm caught on fire, but it wasn’t warm. The fire Drawgren was using was cold to the touch. It still burnt, but more of a burning feeling when you touch dry ice.

“Agh!” Sunset rolled on the floor, trying to put out the flames.

Rarity and Vinyl pelted more magic at the knight, trying to get his attention, but right now, Drawgren seemed focus on getting Sunset. He grabbed her around the neck, lifting her off the ground and up to his face, running his flaming speartip down Sunset’s chest.

“Your flame… mine…” he growled, his voice echoing inside his helmet.

Sunset was fast running out of options and breath. The fire pulsing from Drawgren was cold, so very cold. With nothing else at her disposal, she lifted her sword, her arm trembling with the effort, and pushed the button.

A rush of hot steam billowed from Sunset’s weapon and into Drawgren’s face. The knight stumbled back, one hand going for his face and releasing Sunset.

The girl fell to the ground, trying to catch her breath, at the same time, searching her pack for an estus flask. Vinyl came back in from the side, lodging her axe into one of Drawgren’s elbows, then releasing a small cloud of fire in front of her, like a miniature explosion.

Sunset found a flask and gulped down its contents, feeling warmth and strength seep back into her limbs. These estus flasks really worked some magic.

And then Drawgren leapt up again, his wings giving an almighty flap before he readied his speartip downwards. The impact he created when he landed sent both Rarity and Vinyl tumbling back, skidding on the ground before coming to a stop beside the walls. Vinyl began disappearing, while Rarity was unable to get up.

Sunset easily dodged the flaming shockwave again, red clouding her vision. She’d seen enough of her friends die to this monster already.

With a battlecry, Sunset leapt high, piercing her sword right through Drawgren’s chest as he tried to slash at her with his spear. Blue flames spurted out from the gash in his armor, some burning Sunset’s face.

Sunset pulled at her sword but it was stuck in the knight’s armor. Drawgren swatted Sunset aside and advanced on her with his spear.

This was it. She was unarmed, against a being that wanted with every fiber of its body to kill her. Her friends were gone. It was just her now.

Then, from the corner of her eye, Sunset saw something moving behind Drawgren. It looked like… an owl statue? It was sliding across the floor until it was right behind the knight.

What?

Then the air around the owl statue shimmered, melting away to reveal Rarity, who gripped her staff in both hands and shouted, sending a torrent of bright blue energy blasting into Drawgren’s back.

The knight fell forward onto his chest, the impact driving Sunset’s steam sword further in, so far that the tip stuck out his back in a spray of blue flames.

Drawgren struggled to rise, got up to his feet, but then shuddered and fell over, the blue flames extinguished for good. He glared up at Sunset one more time, reaching a hand out to her, but then his entire body went dark and began to flake, burning up into little blue cinders, while leaving behind a blue flaming orb, just floating in the air before Sunset.

“We did it…” Sunset ran a hand through her hair and exhaled deeply.

“One of the Flames, defeated.” Rarity leaned against her staff. “You are skilled, Sunset Shimmer. I hope we will be able to meet again one day.”

“Count on it, Rarity. Especially once I leave this world. You’re a good friend of mine. I can’t wait to hang out with you again.” Sunset gave her a wobbly thumbs up.

“Then I will take your word for it.” She began to shimmer and fade. “Farewell, Sunset.”

And then she was gone, leaving Sunset alone with the floating blue fireball.

A Flame of Death.

Finally, her journey had made some progress. From here, she only needed three more and then the way home would be opened.

Just then, there was a spark below the flame. Then suddenly, a bonfire materialized before Sunset’s very eyes, casting a warmth around her as it refreshed her strength.

“Oh, that’s nice…” she smiled.

When she was ready, the fiery haired girl got up and reached out to the Flame of Death. It soon floated over to her and vanished into her satchel. Sunset didn’t know how that worked, but she didn’t care.

“One down. Three to go.”

As she reached her hand out to the bonfire, there was a sudden pull in her fingers. And then the world began rotating around her, almost like her head was spinning, but she was feeling fine. It was the room that was changing. Everything around her turned dark, except for the bonfire, and when everything appeared again, Sunset found she was back in a familiar place. The place where she had first officially set out on her journey.

She was back in Fyrlon.

Author's Note:

Achievement Unlocked:

Drawgren, Spear of Fire - You defeated Drawgren, Spear of Fire, and have acquired the first Flame of Death.

A little extra for y'all. An image of Drawgren. Enjoy!

Comments

[Cinders of War]

8984442
Haha, thanks for volunteering. It's something we can consider, but if I may ask, which parts don't make sense, if you could name a few? I'm curious.

[Venerable Ro]

Strange, all of a sudden I'm reminded of Angel Beats.