The Phoenix King

by Turtlehaus

Chapter 43: The Rekindling

Ghostly images of the Echoes walked through the fields of Ouroboros silently writhing in torment. Like wisps of smoke the Echoes were blown away with waves of sand cascading out from a powerful force. An emergence of blue and green light swept over the fields bringing color to the blackness. All originating from Mira who floated towards the ruins of Castle Naught with determined scowl strewn across her face.

Her neon green marking sizzling like a branding iron, her blue stardust hair was now twice its normal length, and trailing from her like smoke. Her mouth opened wide shrieking so loudly that it carried for miles. It was intended to be a challenge. A challenge she knew Null would not ignore. Her shriek was one of many that Null had heard countless ages ago when he emerged from the Valley of Shadows. The cry was a word in the Arcana language that translated poorly in the tongue of ponies. The closest translation any pony could come to was 'everlasting'. It was a word used to describe the light that resided within each of the Arcana, a light which had been taken from them, and the light that refused to yield. In response a bolt of lightning broke the sky, the following thunder trembled the air, and from the abyss the clouds of the Storm rose from the darkness.

The power of the Storm shook the Forgotten City where the remaining Void Walkers stepped out of the shadows to heed its call. Their eyes drew to the light of the Arcana approaching the ruined castle and the Storm which gathered there. Alone it flew to its most certain death to challenge the darkness once again. For it was the only creature willing to stand against Null's wrath, a creature who had struggled to endure, to strive, and to never yield. Her name was Mira, the Last of the Arcana.

---

Wick and Pyre walked side by side through a series of tunnels that wound deep into the lowest parts of the Kingdom of Naught. The two periodically traded off on carrying Smolder. With his flame weakened to a mere fizzle there was not much either of them could do for him. Among flame ponies the loss of a pony's fire would mean certain death. Normally there are two ways this can come about. The first is having a pony's fire be extinguished in any manner to which the pony could not reignite or rekindle their flame. The second is old age. In Smolder's case, the fire he was left was just enough to keep him alive, but it would leave him in a comatose state if left untreated. The Twins knew of a remedy for this, it wouldn't be easy to obtain, but it was all they had. For the moment, the Twins debated on what Smolder had been up to since their last meeting.

"What do you suppose Smolder's first decree was?" Pyre asked looking towards Wick.

"I'm sure it was something involving the restoration of the Kingdom or at least close to it."

"I was referring to a decree that wasn't something Wingston told him to do."

"No input from the old bat? That is a rather interesting question." Wick pondered to himself. "He probably told every pony not to eat rocks."

Pyre laughed aloud.

"Okay, okay. His horn. Before or after he entered the Void?"

Pyre bit his bottom lip. "That's a tough one, but I'll say after. Judging by how we found him."

"Fair enough. Your turn."

Pyre thought for a moment.

"Do you think Smolder has a special some pony yet?"

Wick snorted before laughing rather hard at the idea.

"I'd have to say he has some pony in mind, but hasn't told them yet."

"You don't think he'd have the courage to?"

"No, I just think he can't get past that dumb thing he always says. That 'Hi, I'm Smolder' thing he does whenever he doesn't know what to say."

Pyre laughed again. "I'd have to disagree."

"Really? You think he's got a special some pony?"

"Well, he's a single colt who's just been crowned a King. I'm sure a lot of mares took a shine to him."

Wick glanced back at Smolder with a smirk.

"So you're thinking that he's been approached by a couple of mares and perhaps one of them made a lasting impression on him?"

"It's just a thought."

The tunnel curved downwards, twisting its way further into the world where few would be able to find them.

"Do you think he missed us?" Wick asked.

Pyre looked at him rather surprised. Wick didn't repeat himself. He knew they both wanted that particular question answered, but then again they were worried to what it may be.

"I like to think he has. Even after everything we did and didn't do for him." Pyre remarked.

"He'll want us to go home."

"I'm sure he'll be insistent upon it."

"Would we be welcomed by every pony else?"

Pyre didn't respond right away. Their cruelty didn't just effect Smolder, it bled over to the kingdom and it's flame ponies. They were responsible for carrying out the Mad King's will, flexing their authority whenever they pleased, and bringing their father back from the Void. It was almost certain that their return would not be met with open arms, but residual hatred from what they had done.

"I suppose we'll find out soon enough."

The tunnel let out into a large cavern completely devoid of light other than what Wick and Pure gave off. The light of their flames gave off hints of it being frequented by the Twins. It had two makeshifts slabs of stone to which they would sleep upon. Piles of slates beside each slab used to entertain themselves with chronicling their time within the Void. Etchings within the walls depicting tunnels and pathways the Twins had mapped out during their expeditions to find food. Interestingly enough, there was an entire wall dedicated to a two column chart that had drawings of what was good to eat and what wasn't.

"We've returned!" Wick announced aloud. "And you'll never guess what we've found."

In the darkness part of the cavern large clouds of black smoke rolled out before them. Large wings fanned open with a blaze of fire enveloping the hollow body of the Mad King. Rising his head from the raised rock bed he rested upon he narrowed his fiery red eyes upon them.

"Spare me your riddles." The Mad King hissed in boredom.

Pyre turned to reveal the unconscious Smolder slumped over his back. Almost immediately the fiery red eyes of the Mad King flared angrily. Bolting up right the Mad King's fire roared and engulfed himself in flames. He took one step towards them, fire raging in his throat ready to incinerate him.

Pyre stepped back as Wick stepped forward flaring his own mane to meet his father's challenge.

"Get out of the way!"

Wick spat fire upon the ground. "Or what?"

"You'll die with him!"

"Just try it!"

Fire plumed from the missing legions of his hide. It was clear that the Mad King was struggling with his anger. The rage that festered within him boiled over forcing him to spew his fire up into the air. Grunting, snarling, and spitting flames in his outrage the Mad King knew he had little choice than to back off. Traitors as they were the Twins were the only thing within the Void that the Mad King could trust. They had used each other to survive during their time within the Void and it was clear they still needed each other for their own devices.

Getting back down to rest the Mad King diverted his gaze from them. "Get him out of my sight."

"He needs your help, father." Pyre said approaching the rock bed again.

A cruel yet elated laugh escaped the Mad King, ringing off of the cave walls, and causing his flames to flare.

"I refuse."

"Smolder's flame is only just keeping him alive and he desperately needs to be rekindled."

"The life of the traitor does not concern me. Feel free to share your flames with him."

A sudden blast of fire struck the side of the Mad King's head and it had him turning to see the linger flames on Pyre's lips dissipate. The Mad King's eyes seared with fire, staring them down, but Wick and Pyre refused to let up.

"Don't fool yourselves into thinking that you can force me to help him."

"You know that Pyre and I cannot spare enough of our fire to help him. It would leave us in a similar state and Smolder would be lucky to regain consciousness."

"He is not my concern!"

"You're his father!"

"I am the King!"

The Mad King's voice shook the cavern. It was enough to have Wick and Pyre recoil from the flames that leaped from their father. Wick and Pyre fell silent, allowing the Mad King to settle his rage before attempting to converse with him again.

"Smolder could be of use to us." Pyre stated. "With him being an alicorn now, even you can't deny the possibilities this could present to us."

"You speak as if he would be willing to help is. There is no guarantee that-" The Mad King's words were suddenly drowned out by an echoing roar that rocked the cavern.

Each of them fell quiet. The cavern trembled around them as stalactites fell from the roof of the cave and shattered upon the ground. They knew what had been woken. The Twins, even the Mad King, lowered their flames at the sound of the Storm, and waited for it to pass.

"Something is wrong." The Mad King stated looking towards the ceiling.

"What? What is it?" Wick asked.

The Mad King's gaze fell to Smolder. His eyes flaring with fire. It became clear to him of how Smolder had lost his fire.

"So the Arcana is still alive."

The Twins looked at one another in confusion. Pyre took a step towards their father. "What is an Arcana?"

"An opportunistic leech that feeds on light. It killed your mother and has most likely tried to kill your precious little brother."

Wick and Pyre once more glanced at one another. It was unclear how much truth could be obtained from their father's words, but it did give a possible explanation to Smolder's predicament.

"What does this Arcana plan to do with Smolder's fire?" Wick asked.

The Mad King kept his gaze to the ceiling above, listening to the faint echoes of a battle reaching all the way down here into the depths of the Void. A rumbling was felt under their hooves, a series of tremors that grew in size mere seconds apart. An enormous quake ripped through the cavern, shattering the cave walls, splitting the ground, and crumbling the ceiling. Wick and Pyre moved to shield Smolder from the falling debris, but the Mad King acted first.

A flash of magic from his horn sent out a wave of red light that vaporized the falling rocks into piles of sand. Heaps of sand drizzled down upon them while the quaking began to subside. Wick and Pyre dug themselves out of the sand while tending to Smolder. The Mad King continued to gaze at the broken ceiling with great curiosity of what was transpiring up above.

"What's going on?" Pyre asked looking about the cavern.

"The two of you are going find out. Go to the surface and report to me your findings." The Mad King replied.

Whipping his fiery wings through the air, the Mad King blew the dust to the corners of the cavern and turned to face his sons.

"You don't actually believe we'd leave you alone with him?" Wick asked.

"The traitor's presence here is not by chance. Whatever his purpose is, you can be sure that he intends to return to Equestira. That will be our chance to leave this place."

Pyre scoffed. "You really think that we'd let you leave? That Celestia or any pony would let you return to Equestria?"

"This is our freedom I speak of!"

"We are here by choice!" Wick spat standing up to him. "We did it to protect Smolder from you!"

The ground beneath the Mad King's hooves started to sizzle. His fire mounting from the anger he felt, only staving it off by the presence of the Storm that loomed over them.

"If you want to keep your little brother safe from harm, we need to know what is going on, and that requires the both of you to find out what has happened up above."

"And how are we to keep him safe from you?" Wick asked.

"You don't."

"Rekindle Smolder and give us your word you will not harm him." Pyre demanded.

The Mad King could see his own stubborn determination in the Twins. It was pointless to argue with them.

Lowering himself back down to rest the Mad King wrapped himself in his wings. "I will not harm the traitor, but I will not rekindle him."

It was clear that a compromise was all Wick and Pyre were going to get from their father. The Storm was not something to ignore. It was necessary to find out what had happened up above that could have such an effect down here. Wick assisted in lifting Smolder from Pyre's back before placing him on the raised rock bed near their father. Neither the Mad King or Smolder stirred. It was clear that they would have to take it on their father's word to not harm him.

"We'll be back soon, father." Pyre stated aloud.

Wick and Pyre did not get a response from him, but their attention was on the unconscious Smolder. Each of them took a turn holding Smolder's hoof, a simple gesture to reassure him that they would be coming back. Offering him just a bit of their fire to him knowing that they'd have to attempt to rekindle him on their own. It was hard for them to leave Smolder with their father, although the climb to the surface would prove just as difficult, but the sooner they found out what had happened the sooner they could return.

The Twins entered one of the tunnels within the cavern that offered them the most direct route to other passages that brought them to the surface. These passages would be difficult to navigate, especially with all the enormous maggots that littered the area, but it was their quickest route.

"Do you trust, father?" Wick asked looking to his brother.

"I don't."

"And yet we're leaving him with Smolder?"

"Father would never admit it, but the Storm scares him. Smolder is his only way out of this place and that fact alone is what I trust."

"Do you think he will reconsider rekindling Smolder? It is the only way he will get what he wants."

"Father knows that rekindling Smolder is unavoidable. His pride won't allow him to admit this to us, but he will rekindle him on his own terms."

Wick and Pyre walked on. The echoes of the Storm were faint, yet they were miles from the surface which only spoke of how powerful it was.

After a time, Wick smiled at a question he just thought of. "Do you think Smolder searched our rooms for his rock?"

Pyre smiled at the idea. "I have no doubt that he did."

"I can't recall which one of us had it last."

"I did. I hid it under the a loose stone near the back left corner of my room."

"Do you think he found it?"

"If its not there when I get back then I'll know Smolder was in my room without my permission."

---

Black smoke billowed from the Mad King, his flames searing with heat. The cavern had fallen dark again without Wick and Pyre there to illuminate the place. Smolder's weak flame did little more to illuminate him in the darkness while the Mad King's fire hid within the smoke.

After a time the Mad King's wing lifted to reveal his fiery red eyes glaring in Smolder's direction. Unfolding his wings he got to his hooves to see the unconscious traitor lying at the edge of his rock. The mere sight of him caused his fire to rage, the anger already swelling inside him. A flood of memories were rushing back to him now, the small cowering colt of red flame, the winged usurper of yellow fire, and now this unconscious horned nonsense that was clinging to life. All this did was make the Mad King rage in fury, spewing fire in every direction, forcing himself not to target the traitor. Beating his wings, roaring at his son at his mere presence, the Mad King drove his hooves into the rock bed nearly shattering it all together.

The upturned rocks had Smolder's limp body rolling over towards the Mad King. Smolder's hoof knocking against his father's. The softest of light illuminated from the Mad King's horn. Darkness was slowly bleeding into his view, the roar of his fire slowly being silenced, and the world started to fade.

The Mad King found himself standing in complete darkness, his flames illuminating countless shattered panes of glass that hung in the air around him.

"What is this place?" The Mad King looked about in the darkness.

A large shard of glass drifted towards him. His wing immediately swiping it away, only to pass through it. The shard grew larger, enveloping the Mad King before consuming him entirely. Nothing but darkness again, no forest of shattered glass to be seen.

His eyes met a small stone bassinet illuminated by a single beam of light I. The distance. A chill ran down the Mad King's spine, it felt like a familiar sight, one that he had buried deep down.

A single step echoed so loudly that it made the Mad King recoil from the sheer pain of listening to it. Another step generated an equally loud echo that reverberated for quite some time. Slowly, but surely, the Mad King stepped forward becoming used to drowning boom of his steps to reach the bassinet. Within it a small infant foal with small flickers of fire slept soundly.

In a flash the Mad King was transported back to Castle Char. The hour was late, moonlight bathing through an open window within the nursery. Looking back down at the bassinet, the Mad King found himself cradeling the infant foal in his arm. The infant nuzzled itself closer to the Mad King's chest. For a moment, the Mad King smiled feeling a wave of bliss washing over him.

"I wont let it take you."

From these words the darkness began to shower gold coins all around them. Each one hitting the ground with such an explosive clang that it forced the Mad King to cover his ears with his wings from the pain.

"Scorch."

The coins continued to fall with each coin producing the repetitious boom.

"What is your treasure?"

These words rose above it all. The showering of the coins had stopped. Lowering his wings the Mad King could see something stirring within the darkness. A memory that sent chills down his spine, an all too familiar fear that gripped his heart. Flames from the Elder Dragon's mouth spewed from between its teeth in the darkness.

"Give him to me."

The Mad King looked down at the infant foal still sleeping soundly.

"Or I shall burn them all."

"He's... my son." Scorch whispered.

"Give him to me!"

The Mad King shielded the foal with his wing, drawing him away from the Elder Dragon.

"Give him to me!"

"You will not take him from me!"

The scales beneath the Elder Dragon traced with fire in the darkness. Its head leaning forward with the tremendous wall of fire that escaped from its jaws. The Mad King turned from the flames, shielding his son from the Elder Dragon feeling the flames consume them.

The Mad King lingered for a moment. Eyes shut tight from the impending pain that the flames of the Elder Dragon would bring, but it never came. Slowly opening his eyes the Mad King could see that he was once more within the cavern. A look of bewilderment about him. The roar of his flames were once more flaring from him. Attempting to raise himself from the ground he felt something odd within his arms. Smolder was nestled against him.

Fire from his hooves were dancing with Smolder's in the effort to rekindle him. The Mad King stared down at him, the feeling of anger slowly replacing the fear inside him. Smolder took a sharp breath, his fire flaring for a moment having grown a bit stronger as the Mad King recoiled from him. Flapping his wings hard the Mad King threw himself up and away from Smolder.

Smolder lay still. His flame still weak. The Mad King's breathing had become irregular, his rage mounting, but his thoughts were scattered. With his eyes burning like hot coals the Mad King let loose a roar that shook the cavern that caused his fire to envelope him. Fire spewed from his mouth, bathing Smolder in a flame so intense that it melted the rock bed around them.

With a snort the Mad King flicked his head away from Smolder allowing the fire to subside. The rock bed hissed from the heat while Smolder lay unharmed from his father's attack. The flames were being drawn into Smolder, his own fire beginning to flare before bursting to life and dancing wildly once more.

Smolder's breathing was more audible now and was resting soundly. The Mad King fell hard onto his knees, his own breathing now becoming labored. Parts of his hide cracked, his fire being replaced with more black smoke and the fire in his eyes wavered with each ragged breath. Dragging himself away from Smolder, away from the memories, the Mad King wrapped himself within his wings to allow his fire to fester once more.

"Smolder..." The Mad King whispered.

With his eyes closing the Mad King kept his gaze upon his son. Exhaustion forcing him into sleep.

"I would have burned them all for you."

Comments

[Stellar_]

Well that was unexpected

[Night_Striker]

an fhater can't trully be angry at his sun this is trully tuching