The Titans' Orb: Rising Storm

by Mister Horncastle

Chapter Six - Kxitx Tirea al alu Txawew Utu

(Death Magic in the Frozen Forest)

---

I jolted upright, now awake; something was wrong, I just knew it.
There was no evidence that anything had gone wrong exactly, but I felt it, and it wasn’t the first time I’ve felt this way, before I came to Portugal I could feel it, like I was being stalked by something.
And whatever it was… It was here…

I got out of bed and walked over to the door, the moment I made contact with the wood I recoiled in shock; the door was ice cold, colder than ice in fact.
I gritted my teeth with anxiety and pushed the door open, there was nobody in sight, and so I proceeded to wander around until I found a door that led outside, it was still night time but the moon was high; there was plenty of light and so I left the building and walked down the nearest pathway.

“Something’s very wrong…” I whispered to myself, shivering.

There wasn’t a sound, not even the wind could be heard; it was like I were in outer space.
I felt like I was being watched and decided to leave the area; I kept walking until I found woodland, I walked until I was deep within the woods.
I stopped walking and started to feel cold, very cold; the winter had started to really take its toll and soon enough I noticed it was snowing lightly.

{I think we’re entering the Frozen Forest again…} My conscience muttered.

I hummed in agreement and kept walking; as I walked, I picked up all the details around me, nothing was blurred or distorted, so I knew this wasn’t a dream; but in retrospect, I didn’t feel awake either.
My whole body felt weird, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it; I just felt tingly and achy all over, and for some reason my arms grew tired as I walked.
The trees around me had blackened bark, almost as though they’d been lightly torched, and the ground around me became darker and darker as I went deeper into the woodland.

Soon enough I came to a clearing and stopped to look around.

“What in the name of Celestia?” A male voice whispered from behind me.

I turned around to see the silhouette of a human walking towards me, his head on one side.
As he walked into the light, I suddenly realised it was myself.

“Are you a clone?” I asked curiously.

The moment I had spoken, I gasped and sealed my lips with shock.
I had a girl’s voice.

“I could ask you the same question.” My copy replied.

The moment he spoke, he also covered his mouth in shock; he looked down and looked at his hands, before feeling his own face and started to frantically pat his body and span around in circles.

“No, no this isn’t right; this isn’t right! This isn’t happening!” He whimpered.

He suddenly lost his balance and tripped over, and continued to pat himself. I looked down at my own hands, only to find a set of purple hooves; that’s when I suddenly realised I was standing on four legs.

“What the hell is going on!?” I gasped.

I started walking in circles and used one hoof to feel my face and chest; I looked behind me to find I had a lavender purple body covered in short velvety fur. I had a navy blue tail with a pink stripe going through it; I tried to wiggle my fingers only for the tips of my hooves to bend a little, then I crossed my eyes and looked down to see I had a muzzle, I looked up to see the tip of a horn that sat on my forehead.
I was Twilight…
Which meant, Twilight, was me…

The both of us made eye contact as we realised what was going on; before we both screamed at the top of our lungs.

“WHAT THE HELL!?” I squealed.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE HUMAN!? GET OUT OF MY BODY!” She screeched.

“HOW ABOUT YOU GET OUT OF MINE!?” I yelled back.

I tried to stand up on my back two legs, only to find myself completely unbalanced and very quickly fell over.

“Don’t hurt my body!” Twilight yelled.

I purposefully stood up on my hind legs again and launched myself upwards, I turned sideways and proceeded to imitate a whale, hitting the dirt with a thud; that was when Twilight ran at me and tried to pin me down.

“I said don’t hurt my body!” She boomed, my own deep voice mixing with her American accent.

““I’ll self-harm the fuck outta your body!” I growled.

She planted herself on top of me and tried to hold me still.

“What is wrong with you!?” She spat.

“You sent me to the other side of fucking Portugal, you purple hunk of twat!” I shouted, wriggling around.

Twilight had the advantage; being in my body, she had my physical prowess; but I had just enough strength to squirm around and buck her in the chest.
She fell back a metre and was about to run towards me again when my horn started flickering.

“What the…” She gasped.

I grinned as I started to gain control over Twilight’s magical abilities.

“That’s impossible, you’re a human; how can you know how to use my magic!?” She demanded to know.

“I just thought about how much I’d love to throw you at a brick wall right now; and hey presto, magic!” I chuckled.

{Hey, that was MY idea!} My conscience gloated.

I thought hard, and was able to envelop Twilight in a purple aura, before lifting her into the air.

“You won’t hurt me, you’ll only damage your own body!” She taunted.

I responded by slamming her into the ground, causing her to let out a large winded gasp of pain.

“It’s been through worse.” I laughed.

As Twilight tried to get up, I gave her a small telekinetic blast to knock her over again.

“You’re going to tell me what’s going on here; why are we in each other’s bodies!?” I ordered.

“I don’t know!” She growled, clenching her fist.

I used my magic to pin her down, and stood right on top of her; I knew my chest would be able to bear the weight, but would definitely cause some discomfort, along with difficulty to breathe.

“Why are we in each other’s bodies Twilight?” I asked, more calmly than before.

“I don’t… Know!” She replied.

I slammed my back hoof down on her stomach, instantly causing her to gasp in pain as I winded her.

“Answer me!”

“I SAID I DON’T KNOW!” She yelled in pain.

I stood off her, I believed her with that reaction.

“But I do…” A voice echoed through the woods.

I released Twilight and she got to her feet; we both looked around frantically to find the source of the voice.

“Who said that?” Twilight asked loudly.

No response.
After a few silent seconds, the woodland started to change; the leaves began to fall and the bark turned pitch black, before hundreds and thousands of snowflakes began to fall from the sky.
That’s when I definitely knew where we were.

“The Frozen Forest…” I muttered.

Twilight whipped around to face me, her eyes wide.

“You know it too?” She asked.

“Been here once, in a dream.” I replied.

I looked at Twilight; even though she was in my body, I could tell it was her by looking at her eyes; I had no idea what was going on, but I had a feeling it wasn’t just any old dream.

“So confused… So pathetic…” The voice spoke.

I remembered the previous dream when I’d been impaled on two swords; this was the same voice from before. Twilight evidently recognised the voice as well, as she was currently shaking in fear.

“You’ve been here before, haven’t you Twilight?” I asked.

She nodded, gulping nervously.

“Oh but there’s more than that, isn’t there?” The voice spoke.

Tears began to form in her eyes; it was weird watching myself cry, this whole experience was a complete brain fuck, I was only handling it well because I was in semi-shock, I was just trying not to properly focus on it all.
As I let myself take in all the details, I began to feel scared; this wasn’t just a dream, something very serious was happening right now.

“Shall I tell him?” The voice asked rhetorically.

Twilight fell to her knees and started to sob quietly, she didn’t bother to cover her face as she went into a full breakdown.

“I’ve been taking young Twilight to the Frozen Forest every night since she came to your wretched planet, and have been reminding her that she has no hope in escaping her fate.” He explained.

I heard a sound behind me and whipped around, there was nothing in sight; I looked back around and jumped in shock, I gagged and almost threw up at the sight before me.
My body lay flat on the ground, my head severed and rolling towards me; the snowy ground now crimson with my blood.
Twilight was dead.

“And I make the same promise to you…” He whispered in my ear.

With lightning quick reactions, I dropped to the ground as fast as I could just as the swords shot forward, I trusted in Twilight’s magic and teleported forward to dodge the next killing blow; as I reappeared a few metres ahead, I turned around to look at my attacker only to see a smoky trail from where he used to stand; whatever this creature was, it was very fast.

“Who are you?” I asked, turning in circles to make sure he didn’t sneak up on me again.

“Don’t play clueless with me. You know who I am…”

“Do I?” I retorted.

Silence. Utter silence.
I had to know where this creature was, if I could pinpoint him, I’d have a better chance at surviving this nightmare. That was when I remembered that I was in Twilight’s body here, I concentrated and started to twitch my large pony ears; they stood upright and scanned the woodland for sound.

That’s when I heard it. The scratching...
It was the quietest sound I’d ever heard in my entire life; the faintest ‘scratch, scratch’ in the world, a noise as faint as that of a wasp, walking upon a window pane. I pinpointed the sound and turned my head in the right direction and was greeted with more woodland; I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was there.

And then I spotted them…
Five, dark purple lifeless eyes in the darkness, staring at me, unblinking.

This creature was an arachnid, confirming exactly who it was.

“I see you Nah’Lek.” I teased.

The eyes closed, and then I heard the sound coming from behind me; I whipped around and was able to spot the eyes again, closer to me this time.

“I can still see you.” I chuckled, lightly licking my bottom lip.

His eyes stayed perfectly still, and I stared at him, forcing myself not to blink.

“You’ve lasted twice as long as Twilight normally does.” He muttered.

“Well, she’s not exactly combat orientated.” I replied.

“Indeed…”

The eyes vanished once more, and I looked side to side, twisting and flexing my sensitive equine ears to pick up his new location. Try as I might, I couldn’t find it; I spun in circles desperately looking for his eyes, before I felt a chill running up my spine.

“And neither are you…” He breathed.

That’s when I looked up.

The creature slammed into me with the force of a car going at thirty miles an hour; I was forced into the ground and felt one of my front legs snap; I screamed loudly in agony before a large set of claws gripped my throat and began to choke me, they slowly squeezed tighter and tighter like a vice and I could feel my windpipe crushing. I opened my mouth to scream, only for a hoarse whisper to leave my lips.

{Do I have to do EVERYTHING by myself!?} My conscience yelled.

My horn suddenly turned purple and I was teleported far away.

When I reappeared on the edge of the forest, I collapsed, gasping desperately for air.

“Thanks Connie…” I wheezed.

{You’re welcome; and, “Connie”, really?}

“Well… You’re my… Conscience… Kinda fits…” I gasped between breaths.

{Sounds too girly, call me Conscio.} It replied.

“Fine… Whatever… I don’t really care as you’re just a part of my own brain…” I continued to gasp.

I stood up, only for a sharp pain to shoot down my right foreleg; I looked at it to see it had snapped right across the middle and the sharp bone was sticking out of the flesh.

“Uhm… OW.” I stated, gritting my teeth.

{That injury may require some attention ma’am.}

“You THINK!?” I shrieked.

I shook my head and regained my seriousness; this wasn’t just an endless nightmare, there was something more.

“Do you think this is why Twilight’s been such a cunt all this time?” I mumbled, trying to ignore the pain.

{It’s certainly a good theory…}

I looked around and got a sense of my bearings; once I had formulated a plan, I limped back into the forest.

{Remind me... Why are we going back in here?} Conscio asked.

“Answers.” I croaked.

{Care to elaborate there?}

“Nah’Lek said that he brought Twilight here every night to torment her, and I believe him; just think about how much Twilight was sobbing, she’s in absolute trauma. He said he reminded her of how she can’t escape her fate, but I personally don’t think he just kills her over and over again.
This forest has some answers, and if we find them, we can stop this feud between me and Twilight.” I explained.

{Aaaahhhh….. Clever…}

“Thanks.” I grinned.

I’d been walking for a while when I started to notice something.

“All the trees… They’re dead…” I pointed out.

{No shit, the forest is completely frozen over; hence why it’s called... The Frozen Forest.} Connie remarked.

“They’re evergreen trees, smartass; they’re not supposed to die in the cold.” I retorted.

I limped my way deeper into the woodland, picking up on all the details around me; there wasn’t a sound in any direction, there were no animals anywhere. I dragged my front hoof along the snow to see what was underneath, to find the dirt was jet black; literally everything was dead.
That’s when my conscience made sense of it all.

{Remember when we drifted off… And we heard the word “Fel”?}

“Aye..?”

{You don’t suppose…?}

I stopped dead in my tracks, and sat down; completely shell-shocked.

“Oh… My… God...”

The Fel…

An evil, twisted green magic that fed on life; it was Death Magic, used in the Warcraft games on my computer, along with being in the MMO version, World of Warcraft.
Once powerful enough, nothing can stop the Fel; it sucks the energy out of every living thing and leaves whole planets stripped of all life.
It promises great power, but at such a price…
While the user grows much stronger physically, it saps away at their brain until driven mad; corrupting them and twisting their mind, making them more and more evil and demonic until they are completely consumed, where they become a monster, intent on destroying everything in existence.

It was fictional, or so I thought.
If Equestria was real, that must have meant any type of fictional universe was also real, in parallel universes; meaning the Fel could be entirely possible.
But if the Fel did exist, Equestria was in more danger than any of us could comprehend…

“Nah’Lek is threatening to unleash the Fel on Equestria; that’s why Twilight is so scared.” I concluded.

Without warning a searing pain covered my whole head as something grabbed my mane and lifted me into the air, I screeched with pain and kicked out frantically; before I could use my magic to escape, a long thin blade had been thrust through my neck, no words could describe such pain as I felt the metal pierce my wind pipe.

“Very close… But wrong…” Nah’Lek hissed from behind me.

He dropped me and I fell to the ground, and was left to drown in my own blood.
My throat was burning, and every time I went to breathe my lungs grew more and more painful as they filled with blood, I’d never experienced such agony, not even during my torture in Inigo’s compound.

In seconds my vision began to blur, the pain died down as everything grew numb.
All I could feel, was cold.
Before darkness consumed me.

---

I shot bolt upright in bed with a loud scream, panting and covered in sweat; I felt my throat and sighed a breath of relief to find it was all over, for now.

“And I thought the last time in the Frozen Forest was weird…” I muttered under my breath.

Suddenly my door was opened and a familiar voice spoke.

“Are you okay? We heard a shout.” She said.

“I’m fine… Sorry… Just… Just a bad dream…” I mumbled.

“Oh no… Another one?”

I paused, before tilting my head.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘another one’?” I asked.

“Well, it’s not the first time you’ve woken up screaming.” She told me.

I was super confused now, I’d only been here one night; hadn’t I?

“I’m lost.” I said blankly.

She came over to me and gave me a small hug.

“It’s probably stress, just try to get some sleep okay?” She said kindly, her voice like honey.

I was so confused, was I still dreaming or something?

“I… I don’t understand, I’ve only stayed here one night, and I’ve got my assignments with Paulo tomorrow.” I told her.

“Oh my… This is worse than I thought, let me get the others…” She said, getting up.

“No, wait.” I called.

She stopped and looked at me; I didn’t want to blow my cover or draw any attention to myself; I’d just go to sleep and hope things would make sense tomorrow.

“You’re probably right, it’s just stress; I’ll just sleep it off.” I said.

“Alright, if you’re sure.” She said.

“I am, goodnight.” I confirmed.

“Alright then, goodnight Twilight.” She replied, closing the door.

I rolled over and closed my eyes, before they shot wide open again and I sat bolt upright in bed once more.

“Twilight?” I blurted out with confusion.

I looked down to see I was still in Twilight’s body.

“Oh shit…” I mumbled.

If I’d woken up still in her body, was she now awake in mine? She had no idea where she was, or how much danger she was in; if she left my room in Paulo’s quarters, she could end up being mistaken for an assassin and be shot.

“I need to help her…” I whispered to myself.

{Our phone, try calling it?} Conscio suggested.

It seemed my conscience was smarter than me at times; ever since I’d made contact with the first orb shard he had become much more sentient, perhaps the effects of magic had caused my brain to enhance certain aspects.

{Or perhaps it’s because you’ve killed people, maybe your head’s now just a little extra fucked up.}

“Shut up.” I grumbled.

{You shut up.}

I ignored my sentient hunk of brain matter and concentrated hard on calling my mobile; my horn flared up, but there was no indication that it was working.

“Come on…” I hummed with frustration.

I tried once more, and in my mind I could hear a sound.
Buzz, buzz… Buzz, buzz… Buzz, Buzz…
My phone was ringing, thank god; I waited patiently as the phone rang, and then, at long last, it was answered.

“Hello…?” A whisper sounded in my mind.

“Twilight?” I spoke softly.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“You’re still in my body…” I sighed.

“And you’re still in mine…” She muttered back.

I thought hard, there must have been an explanation for this; and there must have been a way to revert back to normal.

“What do I do?” Twilight asked, clearly afraid.

“Stay put, I’m currently under cover as a member of Inigo’s old gang; just keep calm while I figure out how to fix this.” I told her.

At this, Twilight’s breath began to grow shaky and light; she was panicking.

“I don’t like this… This feels so wrong…” She quietly whimpered.

“I don’t like it either, we’re in the same boat okay? Just stay put, alright?” I ordered.

“I… I feel so… Broken… What is this?”

I sighed, she must have been feeling a wave from my depression; while I was used to being miserable inside around the clock, such a feeling for Twilight would hit her like a truck.

“Just breathe Twilight…” I hushed.

“Okay… Callum… Callum I’m s-”

The call cut out.

“Shit…” I growled.

I tried calling the phone, and tried calling over and over; but to no avail, it didn’t even ring. Twilight was evidently scared, and if this wasn’t resolved by morning, she’d most likely blow my cover and fuck up my chances at rescuing Bunnie.
Suddenly, without warning, my whole vision went blurry and a migraine shot through my head like a bullet; I put my hooves over my head and squeezed my eyes shut in pain. I leaned to my side and fell out of bed, hitting the ground with a hard thump.

“What’s… Going on…!?” I groaned through gritted teeth.

{I don’t know! But whatever it is, make it stop!}

And just like that, the pain was gone; but something wasn’t right, something was very bad.
I felt a burning inside me, like I had indigestion or something, and I felt miserable, utterly miserable; on occasion my depression gave me very low moods and feelings of despair and no motivation, but this was something completely different.
I felt hatred.
Seething hatred.

My door opened, and there was the sound of hooves approaching me.

“Oh gosh… Twilight, let me help you.” Fluttershy’s voice sounded.

I felt her hooves on my shoulder and chest, and I instantly recoiled.

“Get off!” I barked.

She jumped back in shock, before trying to help me once more; the moment she made contact with me, I smacked her hoof away and stood up, before walking up to her.

“Go away!”

“I’m sorry… I was only trying to-”

“Now!” I growled loudly, causing her eyes to water up.

In seconds, the tears were streaming down her face and she turned to the door.

“I’m sorry!” She sobbed, not bothering to close the door behind her as she fled.

I froze solid, like an ice cube.
What just happened to me…?

{What the fuck is wrong with you Callum!?} Conscio scolded.

“I… I don’t know… I don’t know what just came over me…” I stammered, beginning to shake.

I felt a sudden chill down my spine and my whole body jolted, my neck went into spasm as I uncontrollably twitched. A few of these twitches later, and I realised I was becoming weaker; my body felt heavier as my muscles could no longer hold me up. I dropped to my knees and tried to lift my head to look around, only for more energy to be sapped from my body and my head dropped back down, my chin was resting on my chest as I was able to let out a faint whisper.

“Twi… Light…”

I fell sideways and was unconscious as soon as I hit the wooden floor.

---

For the third time, I sat up in bed.

“Am I properly awake, or am I still in this nightmare?” I asked aloud.

No response, not even from my own conscience.
I decided to start with the obvious, and looked down at my own body; I was human, I had two legs, and two hands, with ten fingers on each, I was now back inside my own body.

“Well thank god for that…” I muttered.

I got out of bed and looked around, I was in the bedroom Paulo had offered me, which was another pointer that I was properly awake now. I crept towards the door and put my hand on the handle, only to flinch as it was colder than ice.

“This is getting boring Nah’Lek…” I muttered, pushing the door open.

I followed the same route from the first time in this dreamscape, and made my way back into the forest; after a good few minutes of trudging along, I eventually reached the same clearing from before.
Now that I was in my own body, I had much more confidence in being able to survive a little more in this place; all I needed was to go deeper into the forest.
I saw a much darker patch of wood in the distance and assumed that would lead closer to the centre, and so I headed in that direction.

“Wait!”

I turned around to see Twilight, blood down her face, chest, and neck; her mane was ruffled and her eyes were streaming with tears, I jogged over to her and inspected her wounds. Much to my surprise, she didn’t resist as I put my hand under her chin and looked her over.
Other than a large gash on her left cheek, she was okay, the bleeding had stopped and had just left a nasty mark; she must have already encountered Nah’Lek and had made a lucky escape.

“Please let me come with you…” She asked hoarsely.

I tilted my head on one side.

“Why?”

“Because… I just don’t want to be alone in here…” She whispered, wincing as one of her tears entered her cut.

I nodded, and let her follow me as we headed into the dark woodland…

“You know he’s watching us, right?” I muttered.

Twilight merely whimpered in a fearful response.

As we walked, I noticed the snow was getting considerably deeper; beforehand it was about an inch thick, but now both my feet were practically submerged, my feet were painfully cold, but I knew this was all a weird dream sequence and so I just gritted my teeth and blocked it out.

“What did I feel while I was in your body?” Twilight asked while we walked.

I sighed; I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell her or not.

“What do you mean?” I quizzed, pretending I had no idea what she meant.

“You know damn-well what I mean, what was that emotion I felt? If you can call it an emotion; I’ve never felt anything like it before, and it was absolutely crippling. I felt like my body was so heavy, it was almost impossible to stand up to reach the phone, but my body wasn’t actually heavy, I just had no energy.
Just walking to the phone felt like I was running a marathon, as though I had no strength, no emotion at all, no motivation, or ability to even see the importance in anything. It was scary… Really scary…”

{Just tell her. You might end up getting some sympathy from her.}

I sighed and decided to go with Conscio’s advice.

“That, Twilight… Was depression.” I answered.

The hoofsteps behind me stopped, and I turned to see Twilight had frozen.

“What?” She spoke.

“You heard me, you felt depression.” I repeated.

“I… I don’t under-” She cut herself off mid-sentence.

She was speechless.

“What you felt, I feel nearly every day; sometimes it’s even worse than what you felt. It’s died down massively since I started this quest with you, but I still have days where I just want to stop existing; but I keep going, for you six, for Equestria.” I elaborated.

“That’s… That’s…”

“Horrible, sometimes considered mental torture, I know.” I interrupted.

I turned away from her and kept walking.

“We’re here to survive and find some answers, not talk about my state of mental health.” I spoke.

“But…” Twilight started, but didn’t continue.

She followed me and we stayed quiet for a while, before she spoke once more.

“I didn’t know…”

“Because I never told you.” I muttered back.

“Why?”

At that, I snorted.

“What kind of question is that? You’ve been a massive sack of dicks to me since we met!”

“I… I didn’t m-”

“How quaint… Bonding over mental health issues.” Nah’Lek’s voice sounded from behind us.

I looked over my shoulder to Twilight, and gulped.

“Run.” I ordered.

We both bolted, running forward as fast as we could; we ran and ran without bothering to look behind us. Soon enough the snow was at my knees and I began to slow down, desperately trying to wade through the snow.

Behind me was a scream, I turned around and almost broke into tears as I witnessed Twilight being impaled through the chest; I barely got a look at Nah’Lek, he was under a cloak and surrounded with black smoke, all I could see were his eyes, and the swords that glistened in the bright moonlight, now dripping with Twilight’s blood.
I turned away and kept running, but I knew he’d be gaining on me; I tried as hard as I could nonetheless.

Without warning my foot sank beneath the earth and I tripped over, hitting the snow and rolling over; I looked back to see I was alone, I must have lost Nah’Lek.
I looked to where I had fallen, to find a great big hole in the ground; it was big enough to slide down inside and appeared to lead somewhere. I crawled over on all fours and put my head down inside the hole to see a faint green light coming far away underground through a tunnel, this hole must have led to a cave.

{I bet our answers are down in that cave.} Conscio hypothesised.

I heard a noise and lifted my head up from the hole, to see a shadow towering over me; I didn’t even bother moving and just looked up at the eight eyes that glared at me within the dark form.

“Yeah, you caught me, just kill me.” I muttered.

“I have a better idea...” He hissed.

He slinked a few metres away from me, and allowed me to stand up, before throwing one of his swords to the ground, as he did so, a large cloud of black smoke emitted from his hidden form.

“I want to see why Celestia sent them to you, let’s see how long you last in combat...”

I slowly approached the sword, expecting him to strike me down before I’d even picked it up; I kept eye contact with him as I moved closer and closer to the large smoky shadow.

Those eyes…
Those dead, haunting eyes…
They were utterly terrifying, if it weren’t for my experiences in Chernobyl, I’d probably have been paralysed by his deathly stare, this creature truly was the stuff of nightmares.

“I expected something more, perhaps a soldier; not a child…” He hissed as I slowly reached down to grab the sword.

“Well I wasn’t exactly expecting a giant spider with a vape problem.” I retorted, picking up the weapon.

“Inexperienced and immature, Celestia really does choose her heroes well.”

“The immature boy who’s killed countless men, started an uprising amongst slaves, and can put up with someone as cruel as Twilight; I must be sooo immature.” I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

While I engaged in this conversation, Nah’Lek had no idea that my clever little conscience was mapping out the route we’d taken in my mind, so the next time I came to the Frozen Forest, we’d know how to get to this exact place, where we could slip down the hole and solve this mystery.

“Are you going to fight me, or are you finished stalling?” He growled.

“I just wanted a nice chat before you inevitably kill me.” I chuckled.

“Do you not fear me?”

“Yeah, but I’m well aware this is a dream, so no matter what you do, I’ll wake up at the end of it.” I replied.

“But upon waking up, you’ll have to deal with the raging thoughts again.”

“What raging thoughts?”

“Do you not feel the bloodlust flow through your veins each day?” He asked rhetorically.

I pulled a confused looking duckface and tilted my head on one side.

“Nope, no idea what you mean.” I said, shrugging.

“Interesting.” He hummed.

“So, can I see what you actually look like?” I asked politely.

“You will, in due time…”

“Now who’s being immature? Hiding under a cloak of shadow and lecturing me with melodramatic tones.” I taunted.

In a flash, Nah’Lek had shot forward into me and sent me flying backwards with a powerful blunt blow to the chest; I hit the ground and quickly rolled up to my feet, now taking this fight seriously.

“That was a warning…” His dark raspy voice growled.

{Right, I’ve got this place mapped out; just end this now.} Conscio piped up.

I tightened my grip on my sword, and tensed up my body; Nah’Lek’s sword swished side to side to taunt me, little did he know what I was going to do next.
I took a step forward, and prepared for a charge; before placing the tip of the sword at my own throat and forcefully falling upon it.

I barely felt a thing as the sword pierced my brain and killed me instantly.

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Holy throne.... At least Twi now knows how Callum feels almost every day, maybe now she'll be a lot nicer next time....

[HB_DS2013]

7550641 Yep. Something tells me ponies have little to no knowledge of mental heatlth whatsoever.

[SweetSunbeam 61619]

7550641 SOmehow, I have my doubts given her hero worship of Celestia's instructions

[EUDASH92]

Curse you Cliffhanger Friday!

[billykilly]

7550669

Most likely, but still doesn't excuse her behavior. I mean just like what one commenter said, she is endangering the mission and if she doesn't start changing than they wont complete the mission. Besides by this point she has just becoming very tiring to listen to and I just want something to happen with her honesty.

[billykilly]

Oh well, looks like stuff is going to change between Twilight and Callum

[Darth-Piekus]

Seems that Naklek is not Sargeras. All those hints show to me that he maybe is an Old God. Only they can produce those type of Nightmares which can turn you angry and corrupted like that. So Twilight must be under the influence of an Old God and that the Real Twilight is trapped in here.

[Mister Horncastle]

7552593 Oooooh!
You're so unbelievably close to the answer!!!!

[Unending Suffering]

7552621 NIPER!!! gosh darn it man, dont do this to me, we talked about this at the beginning of the story, dont make Nah' Lek so OP. (although i will admit this isnt really all this bad) I mean the whole mind swap and forcing into a dream from another universe away, i consider a little too much. Also im reserving judgement on what I think about twilight and her excuse for acting like a dick, but if the answer is similar to what darth said I can see it making sense but it really wont be as satisfying as if Oh i dont know she gets a freakin verbal beat down, and some celestia bashing would be nice. :P good chappy tho, also your additive of art is quite interesting, if i a little immersion breaking.

patiently awaiting chapter seven.

[Unending Suffering]

7552621 oooooooooooOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOooOOOO, something just hit me like a brick. Callum has a really sapient consciousness, but im think what if thats maybe a little purple unicorn. Or maybe im jsut thinking in to it way to fucking much. Who knows?

Edit, ok after further review it is apparent that concico or whatever isnt twilight seeing as it said a name was too girly.

[Darth-Piekus]

Ok I now I think I got it.

He's not an Old God or a Fallen Titan. The only thing left from Warcraft that is literally stronger is a Void Lord. Is he a Void Lord?

[Mister Horncastle]

7553175 Nope.

[SirAnonymouse]

Well this took a turn. Kinda wondering what to expect next, so what'll Callum's next actions be?

alsotheotphasreturned

[first hand account]

well...
shit