Chapter 4: Near death
Details
*Thoughts*
~Mental speaking~
"Normal speaking"
~"Mental and normal speaking"~
Songs
... (Radio static)...
"You teach me about fighting and yet you speak of peace. How do reconcile the two, Talion?"
"It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war, Iron Hoof."
*There's just never enough room in these things.* I thought to myself, as I packed my suitcase with a few cloths and other personal effects.
When I managed to get the lid closed, I let out a sigh before sitting down on my bed.
I looked around my small room before my eyes settled on an old picture of my dad, sitting on the dresser. I picked it up and looked at it for a bit.
My dad, Aravel Drust, stood with a group of six other men. All but him wearing Great war British engineer uniforms, while my dad wore an American engineer uniform.
They were all standing in front of a British mark V tank named The Red Dawn.
I pulled the picture from its frame and slipped it into my shirt pocket. Standing up, I checked to make sure I had everything before I left. Finding everything in order, I grabbed my Holy Bible and my bag before leaving the room.
I walked through the hallway until I got to the living room and made my way to the shoe closet, where I pulled out an old black leather coat that my father used to where.
I was just putting it on when I heard someone behind me speak.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Turning around I saw my older brother Aden standing in the kitchen doorway. I turned back to finish putting my coat on before answering him.
"To win a war... People are dying over there and I can't just sit here and listen to the radio all day."
Aden walked into the room.
"Talion, I promised mom that I would look after you when dad died. You know she would have never approved of you going to war like he did."
"Well mom is not here anymore is she?" I asked frowning at him.
"This isn't up for debate Aden. My mind is already made up."
Just as I was about to grab the door handle, Aravel stepped in front of me.
"Why Talion? Why are you so bent on going?" He asked.
I let out a sigh before reaching into my shirt pocket and pulled out dad's old picture.
I showed it to him before answering.
"Because our dad fought for the same thing all those years ago. Because he sacrificed himself so that we could live freely. I have no right Aden, to do any less than him. Not when there are lives out there that I can save."
Aden took the picture from my hand and looked down at it as I continued.
"I asked him on the day of his deployment, the very same question Aden... Why? He told me that, when you have the power to stop evil yet choose to do nothing and others suffer for it, then it is your fault. I'm not doing this for me Aden. I'm doing this for him." I pointed at the picture he held.
"And every life out there I can save."
He sighed before responding.
"I know you are Talion... That's why I'm coming with you."
"Aden, don't try to sto-" I paused for a second.
"Wait. You're doing what?"
"I was already planning on going." He answered with a smile.
"I wasn't going to stop you either. Honestly I thought you were the one who was going to try to stop me."
I was stunned.
"So I had practiced that speech all morning for nothing?"
He laughed before replying.
"No. It was a good speech. Nice and short too."
"Did you make one too? I asked.
"Sure did." He pulled a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket.
"Though, it wasn't as good as yours."
We both shared a laugh as Aden reached behind an arm chair and pulled up his bag.
"And Talion, I'm glad that you're willing to fight, but I want you to remember something."Aden said as he slipped the picture back into my shirt pocket.
"Remember, always, why you fight... Remember our fathers words and oaths you took. To fight for peace... Always."
"I will, Aden. Always." I told him.
He smiled then opened the door for me and we both left our old house. Neither of us knowing we would never return.
I opened, my eyes to a dark clear sky. The sun still had yet to rise, but the edge of it's rays were visible.
I let out a sigh as I gazed up at the fading stars.
*Why are these memories coming back to me now?* I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out mine and my brother's dog tags.
*Why did I fight Aden? What did I fight for?* I looked down and closed my eyes.
*I'm so sorry Aden... I have forgotten my oaths... They are lost to me as I am to them.*
Putting the dog tags away, I got up and began doing a few quick stretches to wake the rest of my body up. After putting on my trench coat and retrieving my sword, I looked around the camp.
We were camped next to a small river near the side of the road. The storm from a few days earlier, caused the river to rise. A few trees at the edge of the river were being uprooted as the water rapidly flowed downstream.
After we traveled back west on the road, we came upon the crossroads and made our way north towards Ponyville.
We have been on this road for three days now. Stone had told me last night, that we would arrive at Ponyville by tomorrow afternoon.
"You're up early again?" I heard Stone ask as he came out of his tent.
"Always am. Old habit." I said.
I looked towards the mountains up the road at the castle looming over the forests and valleys.
The city of Canterlot.
It was strange yet fascinating to see a city lodged into the side of a mountain. Stone told me it was perfectly stable.
In the time that I have spent with the Hoof's, they had taught me a little of Equestria's history.
From its founding, to Discord's reign and Nightmare Moon's banishment.
As I have guessed earlier, this world though vastly different from my own, had seen its fair share of wars.
But what they told me about the state of Equestria is that they have been at peace for nearly over a hundred years.
I was in a land where war was nearly unheard of. Where peace and happiness was served to you on a silver platter.
Equestria has made the greatest achievement of peace than any nation on Earth could ever hope to accomplish.
And it shocked me to the core. I just couldn't understand how they could hold onto peace for so long.
The only thing that shocked me the most, was learning that Equestria's princess had the power to move the sun and moon across the sky.
It also explained why the moon and sun always stayed parallel to each other.
But the fact that princess Celestia wields such power, greatly disturbed me though.
Stone and Lura had assured me that Celestia was a good ruler and would never abuse her powers, but that's not just what had me worried.
Celestia had painted a very large target on herself and Equestria's people.
The amount of power that lived in this land would not go unnoticed by evil.
They were all in danger.
"Talion? You alright?" Stone asked.
"Yes. Just thinking about Equestria." I answered.
"You sure seem to do that a lot." He said as he started taking down the tent.
Lura and Iron Hoof came out of the tent shortly after. Lura looked at me and smiled.
"Good morning Talion. Did you sleep well?"
"Better than four nights ago." I told her.
"Well, I'm glad to finally see you rest, since you haven't done so for the past five days." She told me.
"I don't need to rest Lura." I said.
"Everyone needs to rest, Talion. You are of no exception." She told me.
Stone Hoof spoke up when she finished.
"Hey, I'll tell you what I need right now. Some coffee and breakfast." He said sarcastically.
"Yes dear." Lura said with a smile while rolling her eyes.
Iron Hoof then came over to stand next to me. I looked down to him, to see him beaming with excitement.
"Are you that eager to continue your lessons? We haven't even had breakfast yet." I told him.
"He's right Iron Hoof. You'll need to wait till after you eat." Lura called over.
"Yes mom." Iron Hoof said a little disappointed.
I had begun teaching him how to sword fight four days ago, in turn for him letting me play his guitar and teaching me about Equestria and its people.
Iron Hoof had great potential in becoming an excellent swordsman. And even though I had only just started teaching him, he was a quick learner.
After we had finished breakfast, we packed up the rest of the camp and set off to Ponyville again.
So far for the past few days we haven't really encountered anything. In fact, the forest was a little quieter than yesterday.
Stone and Lura credited the lack of predator sightings to me, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling that something else was causing it.
It was approaching midday when we had decided to take a break from walking.
When we stopped, I had resumed Iron Hoof's lessons, while Stone and Lura watched.
"One, two, three, four, five. Again." I counted each time as I swung my tree branch for Iron Hoof to block with a wood sword I had made him.
"One, two, three, four, five. Good work."
"You look good Iron Hoof." Lura said.
"Thanks mom." He replied.
"Come on. Pay attention and move your feet. Now faster." I said as we began to speed up.
After going at it a few more times, I had decided to move things along in his training.
"Now remember, the secret to driving a strike. Focus the energy of your whole body here and here." I said as I pointed to his arms and hands.
"And let it travel through to your blade as you swing or thrust it forward.
Remember that it is a part of you, an extension of your arm. Empower it with your will and guide it to its target." I stepped to his side to give him space.
"Now... Drive your strike."
Iron Hoof compiled as he drove the wood sword forward into a tree.
"Again. Drive a strike." I said.
He swung at the tree again.
"Again. Drive a strike." I said again.
He swung again.
"Excellent. Remember to relax your stance. Once more. Drive a strike." I told him.
We continued like this for another hour before we had to head out again.
Later during the evening, we had started to set up camp underneath a small cluster of trees.
While Lura was cooking dinner and Stone was chopping wood, Iron Hoof sat next to me while I played the guitar as I have every night since he let me use it.
"Who taught you how to sword fight Talion?" Iron Hoof asked me.
I haven't really talked about myself throughout my time with them. Even though they have been nothing but kind to me since we met.
I decided to answer his question.
"My father. He was a practiced swordsman when I was about your age. He had taught me and my brother how to fight when we were young."
"You had a brother?" He asked.
The music suddenly stopped as I realized what I had just let slip out.
Stone instantly noticing this, came over and spoke to his son.
"Iron Hoof, you know not to ask him abou-" He didn't get to finish as I interrupted him.
"No, it's okay." I let out a sigh before answering Iron Hoof's question.
"Yes, Iron Hoof. I did... His name was Aden, my older brother."
"What happened to him?" Iron Hoof asked.
I looked down and closed my eyes before answering grimly.
"We both left for war... Only I came back."
Iron Hoof came over and hugged my side. I chuckled a little and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay. He got to be with the Lord first."
Iron Hoof looked up at me in confusion.
"The Lord? Who is that?"
"The Lord Jesus Christ, our father in Heaven who created us all." I answered.
"We have a father in Heaven?" I heard Lura ask.
Hearing this I became a bit concerned for them.
"Of course. He is the one that saves us from our sin and whoever believes in him as their savior, shall live with him for all of eternity. Do you not know him?"
"Well, we know about heaven, but always believed people go there when they live a good life free of evil." Stone answered.
"Do you read?" I asked him.
"Of course." He answered.
I reached into my coat and pulled out my Holy Bible.
"You might want to read up on this." I said as I handed him the Bible.
"What is this?"He asked.
"Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth.
Start in the book of John." I told him.
He raised a questioning brow before sitting on a log and started to read.
It was a huge surprise for me to discover the existence of pony kind. It was an even bigger surprise when I discovered that they could speak and read English too.
After dinner and answering a few questions from Stone Hoof, Lura began getting things cleaned up, while I sat next to the fire with Iron Hoof.
"Talion?" Iron Hoof asked.
"Yes?" I asked him.
"Thank you for teaching me how to fight." He told me.
I turned and smiled at him.
"You're very welcome Iron Hoof."
We sat in silence for a while. Watching the stars above or the cracking fire.
"Stone are you ever going to take a break from reading that book?" Lura asked her husband.
"When I finish this chapter." He replied.
"You said that an hour ago, hun." She told him.
Stone looked up.
"Oh. Sorry honey. It's just an interesting book."
He looked at me and reached over to give me back the Bible, but I held up a hand to stop him.
"Keep it. I have another." I told him.
He smiled in response.
"Well thank you Talion. But I did want to ask, did all these things I'm reading about really happen?"
"Yes they did. Over two thousand years ago." I answered.
Iron Hoof stood up and stretched out his back.
"Fascinating. It's a little hard to understand though. Sounds more like a fictional book than anything else."
"I'm really glad you're interested in reading the Bible, Stone." I said.
"And I'm glad you showed it to me... Hey where did these things happ-" He was about to ask, when I stood up suddenly. I had just started to sense a large amount of movement coming from the east.
"What is it?" Iron Hoof asked a bit nervous.
"There is a large number of animals heading this way. Something big is chasing them." I replied and just when I told them, the ground started to shake.
"Stone, Lura get over to the wagon. Now!" I shouted as I picked up Iron Hoof.
I ran over to the wagon and set Iron Hoof down next to it as Lura and Stone rushed over to stand next to me.
Stone had picked up his sledge hammer and held it close, while I stood in front of them drawing my sword from its scabbard and holding it in front of me.
A few moments later, many wild animals rushed out of the forest and ran across the road, paying little attention to us as they passed by. We had even seen a manticore and a pack of timber wolves run by.
As the last of the animals passed us, we heard stomping from the east getting louder by the second.
"Stone, get your family out of here. Right now." I told him.
"What about you?" He asked.
"Don't worry about me. Just run. Get out of here now!" I shouted.
He grabbed Lura and Iron Hoof and rushed them up the road in the opposite direction of the stomping, which was still getting louder, but before they could get far we all heard a very loud roar.
I looked up as trees were pushed to the side or knocked down by a very large hydra.
I stared with wide eyes at the giant five headed lizard, as it came into the clearing.
This was my first time seeing this kind of creature and I had been hoping not to encounter any of them.
Even manticores stay clear of hydras in the east swamps, but every once in awhile, a hydra will go on a hunting raid through the Everfree forest.
Even with this powerful beast in front of me, I felt no fear and held my ground. I had to buy time for Stone, Lura and Iron Hoof to get away.
The hydra noticed me standing in its path and roared before charging.
As the hydra lunged at me with one of its heads, I side stepped and slashed my sword across one of its left eyes, blinding it.
The hydra reared its head back in pain as two more attempted to attack me.
I ran towards the hydra's body and dodged the attacks.
As soon as I came close to the hydra's chest, I drove my sword into it and twisted my blade. This effect caused the hydra to roar again as three of its heads breathed fire at me.
I leaped backwards, pulling my sword out with me and slashed one of the necks of the hydra.
But before I could prepare for another attack, one of the heads breathed fire at me again, causing me to jump out of the way towards two other heads.
As one of them attempted to eat me, I ducked and stabbed my sword underneath it's chin all the way through to its brain.
I then quickly tried to leap out of the way of the second head, but it managed to clamp down on my left arm.
"Talion!" I heard Stone Hoof shout, but couldn't focus much on him.
I yelled in pain as the hydra lifted me into the air, but before it could do anything else, I stabbed its right eye with my sword.
The hydra roared in pain again and threw me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me.
My back was on fire with pain from the impact. I tried to quickly get back up, but was suddenly hit in the front by the hydra's tail as it swung it's body around.
I lost the grip on my sword as I was thrown into the air towards Stone, Lura and Iron Hoof, who had stayed against my wishes.
When I finally fell back down, I rolled across the ground until I came to a stop in front of them.
~Talion.~
I laid on my back as I tried to get air back into my lungs. My vision was darkening and I could feel death coming for me again.
*Not now! Not again! Get up and fight!*
I tried to get up, but felt Stone and Lura stop me. I looked up at them both.
"Let me go. The hydra is coming." I managed to cough out.
"You're hurt badly Talion. You can't." Lura said.
I pushed myself into a sitting position and saw the hydra turn in our direction and started walking towards us. Anger clear in its eyes.
Looking down, I saw my sword embedded in the ground. Just a few feet in front of me. Iron Hoof turned in the direction I was looking and also saw the blade.
As the hydra continued its slow approach, I tried to get up and retrieve my sword when suddenly, Iron Hoof bolted towards it.
"Iron Hoof, no!" I cried, but it was too late as my protest fell on deaf ears.
Iron Hoof reached out and grabbed a hold of my sword and pulled it out of the ground. As soon as he did, he screamed as his eyes and mine burst into blue flames.
He was frozen on the spot as my power flowed through him and I felt his mind pass through me. Within an instant, I lived his memories. I felt his wants, hopes, fears and dreams.
I couldn't stop this from happening. All I could do is see it through to the end.
Stone and Lura could only watch and scream in terror as their son and I became like shadows. Then after what felt like hours, Iron Hoof and I stopped screaming.
With the pain gone, I slowly stood up and walked over to Iron Hoof.
The hydra had stopped during our screaming in confusion, before speeding up towards us.
As I reached Iron Hoof, I stood at his side, but didn't look down to him. He was shaking and breathing heavily as his eyes still glowed with blue fire.
"Stop. Breath in. Count to four. Breath out. Count to four. Repeat." I whispered to him.
I watched the hydra get closer, as I listen to Iron Hoof steady his breathing.
"Ready your stance." I told him and he raised my sword as he slightly couched. The weight and size of the weapon not seeming to effect him.
"Steady your weapon."
He pointed the sword forward.
The hydra was almost on top of us now. Stone and Lura were screaming our names as we just stood still, not responding.
"Focus all of your energy into the sword and guide it to its target." I continued as the hydra reared all of its heads back, preparing to attack as it reached us.
"Drive your strike! NOW!" I finished.
Iron Hoof suddenly flashed forward in a blur of blue light towards the hydra and drove the sword across its whole chest, creating a deep gash. He then landed in front of it and stood still.
The attack was so unexpected to the hydra, it had stopped moving as its whole body was frozen in shock, before letting out a deafening roar and started to stumble backwards.
The hydra then started tripping over itself and fell over. It's struggles and cries of pain soon became weak before quickly ceasing all together.
Lowering my sword in his grasp, Iron Hoof slowly turned to face me. The fire in his eyes went out to reveal tears flowing freely down his cheeks. The shadows left his body and he returned back to normal as he dropped my sword and collapsed.
I fell to my hands and knees as my body changed back as well. The injuries I had were all gone, but I haven't used that kind of power in so long, I was unprepared to connect with another mind.
Especially, Iron Hoof.
It was so very different than a humans mind. I hadn't entirely expected it to be possible. But there was no way for me to tell just what kind of after effects the connection will have on either of us.
Stone and Lura were snapped out of their daze when they saw their son fall and quickly rushed over to him.
"Oh God, please save him." Stone Hoof said as he and Lura cried.
"He will live." I told them both as I attempted to stand up.
"What happened to him!?" Lura shouted at me.
I didn't answer her, but instead stood up and walked over to Iron Hoof and knelt next to him. I put my hand against his neck to check for a pulse. When I made contact with him, he breathed in sharply, getting air back into his lungs.
Stone and Lura let out a cry of relief and hugged their son.
"Lura, look." Stone said to his wife. Looking down we all saw a strange symbol or mark had appeared on Iron Hoof's shoulders.
It looked like a sword with its blade embedded into a hill of blue fire, which became tree roots and was surrounded by a silver eight sided star in the background.
"He found his cutiemark." Lura said in disbelief.
After a few minutes, Iron Hoof's breathing steadied and he opened his eyes again. His parents gasped in shock at what they saw.
I looked at his tear filled eyes and saw that they were no longer a bright green, but were now a deep teal. Almost as if they were electrified.
"Iron, are you okay?" Lura asked him, but he didn't answer.
His eyes fell on mine and I felt his thoughts enter my mind again.
~Talion, the bombs on its way. Are you clear?~
"Oh no." I said as tears started to fill my eyes as well.
Stone looked at me in confusion and worry.
"What do you mean?" He asked me before turning back to his son.
"Iron Hoof, can you hear me? Are you alright?"
Iron Hoof and I continued to cry as we both answered at the same time.
"We're clear."
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Uhm Pairs wasn’t taken in the First World War the fighting got close to Paris but it was never captured by the Germans.
10107212
Lol. Sorry mate. I was writing late and was tired. I forgot. Thanks for reminding me.
what wonderful story my good sir i hope you continue this because i love it.
10108002
Thank you very much.
Trust me. I have no intention of stopping.
10108358
This is good
10113244
Deus Vult
Huh, never thought the Bible as an anagram; Talion and Iron being one, same relationship between Talion and... I forgot his name, but the elf ghost/spirit.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Talion, mate, you need to learn your "your" and "you're". I have seen it used correctly once in the 4 chapter I have read so far (which could be more but I don't remember other stances of it being correct).
Another thing is that "through" is not the past tense of "thrown" that would be "threw". Through is to go over something or to pierce something.
I have only seen this one once in chapter 4 but "too", as in "the same", has two "o" not one.
I get this is unedited but the amount of those and other "mistakes" is just too much for someone that is trying to write correctly...
Nice story so far, a little slow as not much has happened, but established the characters very well and shows much potential.