Spirit of the Arcane

by DuskIsGolden

002. Of Spells and Assassins

002. Of Spells and Assassins

"This used to be a training grounds for apprentices like you," Absinthe blindly lied, gently kneading the floor with her hooves, "a lot of things happened to this ground, but don't let that bother you." She took a strong breath in and let it out after materializing her staff out of thin air, she grabbed it and set it down next to her.

"Now," she sighed in a joyous tone, "how to phase blink,"

She rolled her shoulders and Trixie followed suit. Absinthe closed her eyes, Trixie did the same. Absinthe then backed away and called out, "now think of blinking somewhere else in the room! Think hard, now!" Trixie did as she was told and thought as hard as she could about moving. The circle beneath her started to glow a deep ocean blue and Absinthe's eyes got wider as she thought hard to keep her memories from flooding her mind.

Trixie kept thinking to herself, Move... just blink over there! To that wall! You can do it, you bucking stupid spell! Move me! You damned piece of- suddenly Absinthe saw Trixie's horn glow more and more fierce and gorge itself with light and streaks of it what burst from the blob that covered her horn. Absinthe tensed up again- she was planning to die, but soon after she had grabbed her staff to which she would prepare her soul for death, Trixie had blinked out of sight. Absinthe blinked blankly before realizing what had happened. She probably got lost in the Phase... happens all the time, she thought. Rolling her eyes but giving off a faint smile, she jumped in after her apprentice.

* * *

Trixie was no longer a blue mare with simple features and silver-colored mane. Her eyes glowed dark gold, her body was breathing a mysterious life force. Around her was a world pitch-black and hollow, not of this world. It dripped when dry and when dry would soak with madness. it glowed dark purple, the traditional color of the Arcane. She was lost and hated to admit it. This can't be blinking, can it? That wasn't part of the spell, was it? What is?- I don't even- what the- she shook her head madly as she heard Absinthe's voice calling from far away. But with only one turn of her head, Absinthe was standing right next to her. Shocked, Trixie fell over, clearly stunned, which made Absinthe laugh for a moment before helping her up.

"Are you ready to blink now?" Absinthe yelled, and Trixie nodded. And in a fraction of a second, both of them disappeared.
When the two mares had reappeared, Trixie was only a foot from where she started and Absinthe was back where she blinked from.

"I barely moved!" Trixie cried, frustration crawling in her voice. Absinthe laughed gently and coaxed the young mare to look at the bright side.

"At least you did blink, dearest," she mentioned. Trixie looked back at the circle and then back at her mentor.

"I suppose so..." Absinthe warmly wrapped her foreleg around her apprentice's neck and answered warmly,

"I know so. It takes practice to blink from place to place, it's a.. well... basic thing. I'm sure after a few days of practice you'll be just fine," Trixie nodded and shut her eyes again.

"Can we keep practicing, Absinthe?" she said in a determined voice. Absinthe nodded.

"Of course."

* * *

It was several hours that Absinthe trained the young mare, with each blink the trip through the Phase was less and less, and soon enough, Trixie was blinking around the room. With each new time, Absinthe's fears of death were lessened; Trixie wouldn't go rampant with madness she had decided. Trixie was one student who wouldn't succumb to it, no matter how much thoughts could pry its way into her mind. She was just too young to give in to it.

* * *

-A few months later-

"Are you sure it was Absinthe? Last time we tried to repossess a soul like that we ended up ending the lives of over three-hundred innocent ponies," a cloaked colt listened to his speaker. It was a nervous looking Colt who was always neatly dressed, a look of terror almost always on his face when he was around his workers. The cloaked colt was blind in one eye, so a solid fire ruby replaced it, but it had aged to the point where it matched the charred look of his cloak. He wore a hat of equal darkness and he glared at the nervous looking colt.

"Would I lie to you?"

The nervous looking colt shook his head furiously, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Exactly," the cloaked colt stated dimly. "She had an apprentice with her, and when the young one- Trixie, I believe- was being taught to blink. I know that style of teaching, blinking is a spell that she commonly needs to rescue her new students from," the nervous colt merely nodded.

"But how are you sure it's her?" he thought for a moment, "Did she have any scars? Wounds? Trademarks? I mean... her cutie mark is barely recognizable. What means do we have?" the cloaked colt was looking away from his colleague and out of a tall glass window at the end of the room and chuckled darkly.

"Oh, we have old odds and ends we need to settle. When I see her I know it's her, when I see her style of teaching, I know it's her. When I get my chance to take her out before her apprentice does..." a dramatic pause followed, "... then the score will be settled," the nervous colt narrowed his eyebrows and blinked.

"Well?" the cloaked colt whipped around on his hooves and glared at his colleague.

"Well what?" he hissed, and the colt rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof, mentioning,

"Well what happened?" he shrugged, "you said you had a score to settle," the cloaked colt grinned. His good eye was a glossy, deranged shade of reddish-pink, his teeth were bright white. He tipped his hat over his bad eye and sat on his haunches- something he barely ever did, and he cleared his throat and began his story.

* * *

-Flashback-

There was a hushed silence, like that of a community before a storm and all the world waited for something to suddenly happen. Several seconds passed. Nothing happened. Minutes trailed on like days, the rain poured and the bleak sun slithered through the black clouds. No Pegasi had set up the storm, no weather team could move it, not even the best Unicorn could make the storm remove its presence between two ponies positioned across a giant Arcane circle. One was holding a curved sword in his mouth, and across from him was Absinthe, who was already beginning to cast a powerful spell. Her horn glowed and small glass-like tendrils begin to form from the ball of light. The colt who held the curved sword in his mouth narrowed his eyes and prepared to slice through the white Unicorn, who was carefully eyeing him back, watching him like a hawk. The colt watched the crowd of people grow, and eventually, several seconds clicked by again, and a long bell-tone rung through the air.

Lunging from his position, the Colt raced towards his target. He was brash, young, and definitely an athlete, but he was still no match for the power of Absinthe's magical abilities. He swung his curved blade, slicing through the air with a sick ease, but only air. Twisting his head around, he saw the bright purple and white tendrils fly past him, cutting a deep mark into his cheek. Following the tendrils was Absinthe, who had blinked moments before she saw the blade. Shaking his head fiercely and running back towards his target, he threw the sword towards Absinthe, who blinked as the sword reached her. She cried in pain as the sword followed her through the Phase and out it came as several small shards of obsidian embedded into her thigh. Groaning, she cast the tendrils at the Colt, who could do nothing to dodge the long strips of lightning-quick light. The slammed him against the wall, one of them digging deeply into his side, the other lashing relentlessly at his face. But yet in his effort and struggling, it only got worse as Absinthe, still at the other side of the circle controlled her whips with gentle ease and frustration. Suddenly she let go of her opponent and started walking away, and the colt, seeing this as his last ditch-attempt to kill her, grabbed a small dagger and threw it as hard as he could through the air. It spun and drilled into the back of Absinthe, who collapsed immediately. Blood dribbled out of her wounds, and the Colt had laid down on the dirt, panting furiously. That... he thought to himself, That takes care of her. Not even a mere second after the thought, he heard a sound like a swift object splitting the air, and before he knew it, one last tendril was in her control, and it passed through his left eye and shoved him up against the clock tower behind him. He slid down the tendril, bleeding tremendously, but he was barely alive.

Whatever their duel was for, neither of them exactly knew. But from then on, it was a cat-and-mouse game. When she could, she would recall grand architectural superstructures, but he knew how to see past her petty tricks. He would find her and one day kill her. There was no reason for their feud to keep going, their match came out of chance. They were lined up, told each other to end their opponent. However, the town didn't expect the game to last this long.

* * *

When the colt finished his story, the nervous looking one backed away.

"So you two aren't done, then? I mean... sounds like you two are fierce competitors!" the colt finally said. The cloaked colt nodded and blinked with his one good eye.

"I have learned a thing or two about the Arcane, however," he said, "and that whenever you kill your opponent in an agreed duel, you learn everything they knew about this dark magic," the nervous colt suddenly looked less nervous and a wild green grew on his face,

"So what do you plan on doing?" he inquired, "are you just going to kill her?" the cloaked colt thought on the statement and replied,

"If I assassinate Absinthe, I'll have to kill her apprentice, too..." he trailed off, but picked up again, "but only if she hasn't tried to learn anything more than she already knows..."

* * *

Comments

[The Midnight Stalker]

Hazza!! It is I The Midnight Stalker. Keep up the good work man. It looks promising.

[DuskIsGolden]

1128492 Indeed it appears so! (A wild Midnight Stalker has appeared!) Thank you very much !

[The Midnight Stalker]

1129258
I myself have something epic planned as well. Ihave a newfound zeal to write. All thanks to some subtle encouragement from a friend. HaZAA!!!!

[DuskIsGolden]

1129605 excellent!!! This is good to hear

[Aevus]

Awesome as always. You know your not one to disappoint and I like it. Great job on advancing the story some. Good Luck!

[DuskIsGolden]

1131058 Nice to hear you like it still :D.