Flame of Disparity

by Cinders of War

Chapter 24: Forgotten Gallows - Part I

Crossing the old rickety bridge leading away from Fyrlon, Sunset Shimmer walked slowly and carefully. For each step she took, she silently wished that the boards wouldn’t break under her feet and send her plunging down into the waters below. She likely wouldn’t die, but it would be a hassle to find a way back up, plus, it would definitely hurt.

Ahead of her, the bridge spanned across the sea below, leading to another part of the landmass, while on her left, Sunset could see the City of the Lost, Theiros. It felt as though years had passed since she had woken up in the city, but she still remembered all of it. It made her wonder what had happened to that helpful hollow that she met early on. Perhaps he was still wandering about, looking for someone else to help out, or maybe he’d already lost it and was searching for a flame.

When she was finally close enough to the other end, Sunset, having enough of crossing the bridge, took out her star sword and with a mighty throw, she was soon on the other side of the bridge, appearing by her sword in a flash of sparks.

“Glad that’s over with…” She looked back to the beginning and sighed. She was once again away from the safety of Fyrlon. She didn’t like it, but if she didn’t do it, who else would? She needed to go through with her journey and end it.

The grass on this side of the bridge, unlike the popular saying, was not greener. It was of a pale yellow colour, and it smelled as though someone had left an egg out in the open for way too long. An owl had been carved into the side of the bridge post, with an odd inscription on it that Sunset could not read.

The path ahead was a winding one, almost completely overgrown with that yellow grass and half hidden from sight. In the near distance, Sunset could see there was some kind of settlement there that the path led to. It was mostly shrouded by fog, but Sunset fancied she could see at least three buildings.

Following the path, Sunset trotted along, keeping an eye out for any enemies that might try to get the jump on her. Buildings always meant a settlement, or at least a former settlement. Whenever there were settlements, there were always…

And then the first creature popped out at her from behind a large boulder, a black hood over its head. It wore a beige and blood splattered apron and nothing else on its chest, revealing a rotted body and gangly arms, meaning this was likely a hollow. It carried with it a large cleaver, which was already swinging at Sunset, ready to cleave her in two.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Sunset hopped backward and lobbed a fireball at the hollow. The hollow went up in flames, screaming, but did not fall.

Sunset dodged the swipe from the cleaver, sliding to the hollow’s side and then slashing up with her sword, ripping through rotting flesh and bone, sending its right arm and weapon sailing away to the side. The hollow screeched, but was immediately silenced when Sunset spun around and decapitated it. The hooded head disappeared somewhere into the grass as the hollow’s body fell, still on fire, but now unmoving.

“Easy enough.” The girl swiped her red and yellow hair from her face and nodded.

She kept going toward the settlement, now keeping her left hand out to disperse some of the fog. The mist stuck to Sunset, all cold and clammy on her face, but the rest of her new armor seemed to protect her from the chill.

She continued, and had only just rounded the corner when she felt something hit her in the chest with a clang, almost knocking her over. Something clattered onto the path as Sunset rocked on her feet, looking around to see what had happened. She couldn’t see any enemies, but her armor now had a slight scratch on its surface and she looked down to see what had hit her.

It was an arrow, its tip blunted a tiny bit from where it had struck her breastplate. She immediately ducked down low and dashed over to the nearest boulder to take cover. Another arrow sprouted from the ground next to the boulder. Looking at the angle which the arrow was standing, Sunset followed it up to a high cliff where a hollow with a bow was standing.

Another arrow skipped off the surface of the boulder. Sunset bared her teeth in frustration. She didn’t have anything that she could use to take out or otherwise disable the archer. Her only recourse was to run for it and hope she didn’t get hit.

“This’ll even the odds a little…” Sunset reached for one of her four remaining jars of blue elixir as an arrow whizzed over her head.

As her body began to shimmer and fade from sight, Sunset ran out from behind her cover, sprinting as another arrow pinged off the boulder she had been hiding behind.

As she wandered down the path, Sunset spotted a trio of hollow spearmen, each of them just standing there, their jaws agape and their spears ready to strike. Fortunately for her, the blue elixir kept her concealed from their rotting eyes as she ran on. The hill where the archer was eventually came into full view, the hollow still searching for her and firing blindly through the fog.

Taking a second to aim, Sunset tossed her sword up, watching it spin like a buzzsaw until it was high above her, close to the hollow archer. It raised its head to look at the passing weapon, which Sunset materialized to in an instant.

Before it could even raise its bow, Sunset did a spinning slash and landed behind it in a crouch. The archer’s head rolled off its shoulders and fell off the side of the hill, landing below in a low thud.

“Finally took care of that one.” Sunset wasted no time in getting a read on her surroundings, just in case there were more enemies up here.

Jagged rocks lined the sides of the area, and there were more buildings up here, rotted and worn with age and likely abandoned, save for these few crazy hollows. There was a stage of sorts near the center of the settlement, with poles stretching up into the air from either side, meeting in the middle of the stage, where a trio of old rope dangled, forming a teardrop shape at the end.

“I suppose that’s why this place is called the Forgotten Gallows.” Sunset walked towards the settlement, ready for a fight.

There was likely going to be one, judging from what she knew.

True enough, one of those executioner hollows walked out from behind a building, an axe in its hands.

“Come on, let’s see what you got.” Sunset held her blade out and pointed it at the hollow.

Swinging its axe behind its back, the hollow approached. Sunset ran at it, rolling to the left just as it swung its weapon back in front, lodging the blade into the dirt ground. Sunset drove her sword through its side, but the hollow paid the injury no attention and punched her in the face.

The girl fell back, her eyes starry as the executioner hollow yanked its axe out to finish her.

And then Sunset felt it. Something tingling within her. A familiar feeling. It was the presence of someone being summoned.

Suddenly, a white phantom of a woman jumped down from one of the jagged rocks, thrusting her spear down through the hollow’s hooded head. The speartip went right through and into the ground, keeping the hollow’s body up as the woman hopped off its back, walking towards Sunset.

The woman had on a hood over her face, and a high ponytail stuck out its top, dropping down to her waist. She had on a steel breastplate and greaves, but everything else seemed to be of leather. A small round shield was strapped to her right arm, and with her left, she yanked her long spear out from the hollow’s head, allowing its body to fall to the dirt ground.

She bowed to Sunset, then gave her a wave, saying nothing. She looked familiar, but with her hood up, it was hard to tell.

“Umm… thank you.” Sunset got to her feet. The white phantom still continued to say nothing. “Uh, thank you?”

Then a smile formed across her lips and she bowed again, then turned around and pointed towards the rest of the settlement, where the gallows were.

“You want me to go there?” Sunset asked to be sure.

The phantom nodded and grinned.

Sunset shrugged and decided to do as the phantom said. She did just save her after all. Perhaps she knew the way to the end.

Sunset stopped in her tracks. Something didn’t seem right. She recalled what she knew about white phantoms. She needed to summon them with their soapstone signs if she saw them on the floor. How did this phantom get here without being summoned?

Suddenly a sharp pain flared out across her body, her limbs instantly going numb as she fell to the dirt floor, a spear right through her chest. Sunset could only lie there as the phantom pulled her hood back, her grin never leaving her face as she waved goodbye to her.

As Sunset’s vision began to fade, she finally recognized who the phantom was. It was Psithyra, the same Psithyra whom she had encountered on many an occasion in the real world and the same one who had tried to kill her in the Unlit Abbey, only to disappear.

Sunset tried to lift an arm up, but by then, it was already too late.

---

Sunset jolted up with a sharp gasp as she ran a hand along her body, looking for the point where she had been pierced. To her relief, there was none. Her armor was still in one piece, unscathed and undamaged as though nothing had happened.

“What that all a dream?” Sunset pushed tendrils of damp hair from her forehead. “A dream in a dream. Right.”

Then she remembered the flame that she had and its ability to continue to give her life. This was actually the first time since waking up here that she had actually died. Hay, this was the first time she’d died anywhere.

“Oh, Sunset, you’re back!” A bouncing Pinkie Pie came over, a wide smile plastered on her big face. “How was it over there?”

“Huh?” Sunset looked past her and around her surroundings. She was back in Fyrlon, the central bonfire burning bright beside her.

“Oh, how unfortunate, Young Flame.” Twilight was by the bonfire, warming her hands. “You had perished in battle? Yes, when you die, your flame returns you to the last bonfire you had touched.”

“A white phantom!” Sunset exclaimed, sitting bolt upright. “That white phantom betrayed me!”

“That can’t be,” Pinkie protested. “White phantoms can’t hurt you. It’s physically impossible!”

“But it did!” Sunset remembered the spear through her gut. Painfully. “That’s the last time I’m letting my guard down near a phantom. The thing is, she just appeared from nowhere! I didn’t summon her.”

“Not summoning a white phantom and it shows up on its own? This sounds like the work of an enemy’s magical enchantment. Possibly a ring...” Pinkie rubbed her chin in thought. “Nope! No clue. You’ll just have to be more careful ahead.”

Sunset nodded grimly. She had only just gotten used to the bizarre set of rules that this world had, and now she was faced seemingly with an exception. This was not going to be easy. Hay, it never was.

“Off I go again, I guess.” Sunset patted down her attire and got up. “I suppose I’m thankful for second tries.”

“Nah, you’re better than that.” Pinkie slapped her on the back a little too hard. “You can die more than twice. That’s slightly better than a shadow!”

“Umm… Right. Well… I’ll see you two later. Hopefully after I come back with the last Flame of Death.”

Leaving Fyrlon once more, Sunset found herself back in the little settlement she had been in before dying. Strangely enough, all the enemies were in their same spots, with Sunset having to kill them all over again. Even the annoying archer hollow was back on its hill, firing arrows at her, but already going through this once, Sunset knew exactly what to do, repeating her earlier steps and teleporting up the hill to kill the archer.

Soon, she was staring at the gallows again, but this time, she kept her eyes peeled for any kind of phantom that might show up. Psithyra was, for some reason, trying to have her killed. Sunset thought that with everything they’d gone through in the real world, she’d at least be on her side, but she guessed this world had its own rules, and Sunset would have to play along with them.

Sunset carefully crept along, turning around every few minutes to make sure she wasn’t being followed. The same hollow came from around the building, just like before, but this time, Sunset knew exactly what to do.

Readying a fireball, she threw it at it and then teleported high. As the flaming ball burst across the executioner hollow’s front, Sunset was already above it, dropping right on top of it with her blade facing down, spearing her star sword right through the back of its neck. With a twist, the hollow stopped moving, its arms still raised as though it was trying to attack.

The girl hopped off its back as it dissolved into dust, smiling at how she had done it much better this round.

“Perfect.”

And then there it was again. That familiar feeling of someone being summoned as a phantom.

Here she comes…

Looking up the hill, Sunset spotted a familiar white figure with her hood over her head. With her spear in hand, she leapt off and dropped beside Sunset, performing a polite bow before waving her greetings.

“I’m not falling for this trick again.” Sunset clenched the grip of her sword tighter.

As the phantom waved, Sunset stomped over to her, sword in hand. Without waiting, the girl sliced across the air with her star sword, slashing the phantom halfway across the midsection before Psithyra was able to flip back and away from the attack, the smile on her face gone.

Sunset readied her stance for the fight, but instead, Psithyra turned and ran, heading towards the gallows, not even looking back once.

“Hey, what…?”

Sunset knew she couldn’t let her hide. That would just create another chance for a sneak attack, which was something she knew the woman was good at.

Breaking into a run, Sunset pursued the phantom up the steps to the gallows, jumping down on the other side as she ran on, turning left around a building. Sunset threw her sword, appearing in a flash against the wall, spotting Psithyra running along a row of little huts. Three hollows with axes emerged from them, disturbed from the commotion, but Sunset couldn’t stop to deal with them, not while that phantom was still around.

With a leap, she kicked off the first one, throwing her sword into the third one’s chest, teleporting to it before yanking her weapon off and slicing at its legs. Now past them, she sprinted off, leaving them to shamble after her as she continued her pursuit of Psithyra.

She had never really gotten a good reading of Psithyra in the real world, but she figured she was past using violence. Perhaps this world’s Psithyra was still the crude and double crossing Assassin she had once disguised herself as. Sunset couldn’t know for sure, but she knew this world’s Psithyra had to go, or she was going to be looking over her shoulder for the rest of her journey.

Deep in thought, Sunset almost missed a giant flaming hammer as it swung down to her left. Stopping in her tracks, Sunset jumped backwards as far as she could as the hammer crashed into the dirt floor below, spraying chunks of soil everywhere. A larger hollow now blocked her path, a tall and wide creature with a hunched back and bandages around its face. Its hammer was made of metal and at the back of its head was some kind of clicking mechanism, like that of a revolver, where the fire seemed to come from.

Sunset thought she was going to lose Psithyra, but the white phantom was now returning, her spear back in both hands.

Uh oh.

Now she had to deal with her and this giant hammer hollow, plus if she took too long, the three executioner hollows up the path were going to catch up.

As the giant lifted its hammer, Sunset threw a fireball at it, lighting its right side on fire. With a roar of rage, it clicked the mechanism at its hammer’s head, and the entire thing lit up as well.

Her eyes wide, Sunset leapt back just in time as it swung the hammer sideways, taking out a chunk of a wooden building in a fiery explosion. Whatever that hammer was, Sunset didn’t want to be near it when it was lit.

Psithyra was closer now as well, her spear already pointed forward as she sprinted back, a smile on her face.

“Ah, crap…”

This did not look good at all.

And then Sunset remembered something Fluttershy had passed to her before she left the safety of Fyrlon. That weird seed object from the tree. Her friend had said it would keep her safe from invaders. She didn’t know exactly what it did and she had yet to try it out.

“Better now than never…” she said as she dug around her pack for it.

Finding the wooden seed, Sunset pulled it out and held it high just as the giant hollow clicked its hammer again.

At first, nothing happened, but then the object glowed a light blue and the air around it seemed to shimmer. As Psithyra got close enough to ready her spear, the giant hollow suddenly swung the hammer at her instead.

Sunset could almost see her smile waver as she parried the blow with her weapon. A small explosion happened across her side, her cloak catching on fire as the giant advanced on her, clicking its hammer back again.

Using this distraction, Sunset teleported herself past her foes, coming to a stop against a well in a small clearing. Psithyra turned to look at her, but before she could even raise her spear, the giant’s hammer connected with her and launched her into the air in a fiery explosion.

Sunset didn’t waste time to see if she was dead or not, and sprinted down the dirt path, leading to another part of the town. She ran by a second set of gallows, where one of the ropes actually held a dead body, which looked burnt to a crisp.

Two more hollows emerged from the buildings there, hoods over their heads and axes in their hands. With a combination of her star sword and a couple of casts of her combustion spell, Sunset dealt with them easily enough and moved on.

And then there it was. Just past the next building, the entire area fell away into pitch blackness, a black so dark that light didn’t even seem to pierce it. Beyond the beginning of the darkness, there were more buildings, but each of them had been shattered and wrecked, like a typhoon had gone through it. Sharp rock-like shapes protruded from the ground, rising up like giant stakes to pierce even the strongest of monsters.

This was it, this was the beginning of the Abyss.

The dark seemed to writhe and throb before Sunset’s feet like it was alive, waiting for her to enter, challenging her to enter.

Looking back through the thin fog to the rest of the town, Sunset could still hear the hammer of the giant hollow smashing into structures. It wouldn’t take long if it decided to come over this way.

Sunset still didn’t know if she could set foot into the Abyss without dying, but she had to give it a shot.

She breathed in and gazed into the Abyss, which almost seemed to gaze back. “Here goes nothing…”

With all of her strength, Sunset moved her first foot over the dark line and held her breath and shut her eyes.