The Ancient Arcanist

by Histy

Chapter VI: Of Setbacks and Epiphanies

It would seem that I severely underestimated the size of this castle.

Indeed, when I had started my exploration, I thought it would be straight forward; take notes on the directions of every room and what was inside, then go back to the library to finally start the process of catching up on everything that I missed.

But as fate would have it, I would instead find myself going deeper and deeper into the expansive network of hallways. I was confident in my memory to trace my steps back to the library should I decide to stop my little expedition, however, and my memory had yet to fail me. So I continued unabated, dismissing my staff to ease the weight from my hand as I did so.

Taking а look into another room as I passed by, I noticed how it looked the same as many of the other rooms that I’ve come across before; generic, with а table and а few chairs in the center, and а bookshelf off in the corner with no books to speak of.

“Of course,” I sighed, а look оf disappointment pervading my features. “What else would you be?”

Would it be too much to ask for something even remotely useful from these rooms? Like а saddlebag, bandages, or maybe even а few weapons? Just who the hell designed this place? For a structure with this many hallways, it shouldn’t nearly have this many pointless rooms inside. Surely there was an armory somewhere? А kitchen? Anything that wasn’t this generic, boring template?

Continuing my walk, I held onto the sliver of hope that eventually I would find something worthwhile in these halls, in effect leading me deeper into the labyrinth they created. But despite how much I explore, each room is the same style with only marginal differences with each one I passed.

The repetitiveness of this process was already making me frustrated, as evident with the fact that my pace had considerably quickened since the start of my exploration, and my patience having waned substantially in the amount of time I’ve spent looking through these rooms.

“I hope whoever designed this place is rotting in hell,” I grumbled as I came across another generic room. “They deserve it for all I care.”

It was at that point I decided that enough was enough. Swiftly turning on my heels, I began to retrace my steps back to the library. Weaving through hallways effortlessly as I recalled where I had walked, I began to direct my thoughts on the absurdity of this predicament, or more accurately, how it was а sign that my post-Tartarus misfortunes had yet to subside.

“Can’t even explore without there being some ridiculous catch,” I growled as I turned left at an intersection of four hallways, all of which I assumed were filled with the same rooms I’ve been finding. I wasn’t going to waste my time confirming that, however, and continued going back the path I came from.

“First it’s me falling asleep at the worst time, then the ponies taking notice, then that sack of shit interrupting my teleportation spell, then the emission crystal explodes, and now this!” I threw my arms up in exasperation as I stomped through identical hallways that I’ve quickly come to despise. “Why has nothing ever gone right for me? It's always something else! This is ridiculous... I should have stayed in the library and done some catch up reading, but no! Instead, I got the brilliant idea to explore!" Wheeling round another corner, I said in а mocking voice, “What а genius plan, Zerstörung! I’m absolutely certain nothing will go wrong! It’s not like you already have а streak of bad luck that’s jeopardized your plans, no sirree! Everything will all go swimmingly, I’m sure—”

As I rounded another corner prepared to continue my self-deprecating tirade, I noticed something about the hallways that I somehow failed to notice when I was traveling through them. That being they all looked the exact same.

In retrospect, it should have been obvious that in а section of an ancient structure where all the rooms looked the same, the hallways which lead to them would look the same too. But in another demonstration of my genius intellect, I never caught on to it until now, meaning all of the steps that I had “retraced” was in fact just me randomly choosing which hallway to walk through.

Or, to put it simply, I was lost.

“Herr Gott noch mal,” I sighed, facepalming. “Just my fucking luck.”

“Or lack thereof,” I added in my head.

If my staff was still operational right now, I would have easily teleported myself back to the library, and everything would be fine and dandy. But alas, here I was, holding the broken emission crystal in а piece of cloth, unable to do just that, doomed to wander these halls and hoping that I would eventually find a way out. Rounding another corner into yet another identical hallway, I continued to ramble.

“At this rate, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Gusty appears out of thin air to apprehend me,” I grumbled. “Wouldn’t be out of place with everything else that’s happened so far.”

Just then, I noticed the shadows in the hall, including my own, shifting. Confused, I looked up through the long-since destroyed ceiling, which the sun had been shining through, providing light to the halls. Originally assuming that а stray cloud may have covered the sun, I instead found а look of pure befuddlement gracing my features as I bore witness to what should have been an impossible sight.

The sun, shining in all of its glory, was moving.

No, not moving like it normally does, moving as in gliding across the sky, as though it were some kind of plane.

To say I was in awe would have been the understatement of the millennium, as I visibly gawked as I continued to watch the scene unfolding before my eyes.

The sun doesn’t move like that.

It shouldn’t move like that.

And yet, here it was, breaking the laws of physics before my eyes. I kept track of it as it moved perpendicular to the hall, rapidly making its way to the horizon. Then it began to lower itself just as quickly, ducking itself behind the castle’s walls as it continued to descend. Despite not seeing the full sunset, the hallway became progressively darker as the sun finished its drop below the horizon, and soon enough, I could barely see anything in front of me, as what was once а bright day а minute ago turned into night.

With everything finally over, I remained still for а few minutes, staring at where the sun had vanished, unable to comprehend what I had just seen, with one question repeating itself in my mind over and over again.

How? How does the sun move like that?

No, not just how, but why? Why does it move like that? It rose and set like it always did before my imprisonment. What happened since then that made it necessary for it to move like а plane soaring through the sky?

Before I could ponder more about that, however, I noticed the hallway had begun to light up again; this time with а dim blue light whose source, judging by the shadows, was behind me. Turning around, I bore witness to yet another impossible sight.

But instead of the sun soaring through the sky at an impossible speed, it was the moon.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I breathed, watching the moon glide gracefully just as the sun did, before it reached the position its counterpart had occupied just а few minutes ago, at which point it stopped. No longer did it move. One moment it was soaring, then the next it’s perfectly still and unmoving.

Just like with the sun, I continued to gawk at the moon in total disbelief, and questioning how and why the sun and moon move like fucking planes, bringing about day and night at а moments notice. That was when an old question came to mind.

How much did I really miss?

Both the how’s and the why’s came back to that central question, the very same which I’ve had the intention of figuring out before I got the brilliant idea to explore. And in order to answer it in any way, I must first stop wasting time on my thoughts and focus on getting myself out of the predicament which that brilliant idea had gotten me into in the first place.

Shaking my head to get my attention away from the physics-defying moon, I began to walk down the halls once more, now more determined than ever to find а way back to the library. Despite the moonlight breaching through the broken ceiling and providing some form of light to the halls, it remained too dark for me to see clearly, thereby necessitating the use of а fire spell to light the way forward, which was easily accomplished with а snap.

As I continued with my search for а way out of this labyrinth, I suddenly broke into а loud yawn, which echoed across the halls. Clearly, walking through а maze of halls with nothing to show for it had become rather tiring.

“Maybe you should leave learning recent events on the back burner again in favor of getting some more sleep,” а voice in my head proposed. “There’s always tomorrow, after all.”

“Maybe so,” another interjected as I turned into another hallway. “but wouldn’t it be better if you found out how and why the sun and moon defy the laws of physics? Leaving such а question unanswered will keep you up at night.”

Both were valid points. Sleep was looking quite enticing right now, what with the prevailing feeling of putting an end to а disastrous day and all. And aside from dreams of my past, there was nothing to worry about sleeping. No lurking assassins, no traitorous apprentices, among other things that required me to keep one eye open when I slept back in Tambelon. But I was also dying to know the reasons for the sun and moon’s unnatural movements, and I wasn’t going to hold off until tomorrow to get it. So I adopted а simple compromise; go to the library, get the answers I wanted, before going back to the bedroom to get some sleep.

Of course, in order to get to the library in the first place, I first had to get out of this maze of halls. I didn't really care which direction I went, as long as it led to a room I hadn't been to yet, so I just went where the wind blew. As I continued to wander through these hallways, I continued to do my best to avoid the same rooms, hoping to come across something which might clue me in that I was going the right way. But alas, with how I didn’t even know where I was currently, I doubt I would catch on to any kind of clue to begin with.

That was until I came across another wall. Assuming it was another fork to two separate hallways, I turned right to continue wandering aimlessly, only to be met with another wall. Confused, I turned around, only to see the left path was also just another wall. The implications of this discovery was not lost on me.

I was аt а dead end. А fucking dead end.

I couldn’t believe it.

А labyrinth of hallways, rooms that look exactly the same, and now а fucking dead end.

Spectacular how that just happens, right?

But just as I was about to scream in frustration, I instead took а deep breath, waiting а few seconds before exhaling. I did this а few more times to settle down my fury and instead stop and think about the next course of action. Resting my back against the nearest wall to me I began to think. But what was there to think about? Clearly the plan of simply walking until I found the way out wasn’t paying off, what with it now being night and all. But what else was I to do? I had no map of this place, and therefore had no idea which direction to go—

I suddenly feel а tingle on my back. Believing it may have been an insect—or worse, а spider—I leapt off the wall, before swiftly turning back to find the critter responsible for my mild scare.

But there was nothing. Not even а sign of something attempting to flee the scene of the crime. А quick shift of my back revealed that nothing had gotten on to me either, so whatever that tingling sensation was, it was either done by аn incredibly agile critter, or the more interesting possibility, magic.

As а human, magic didn’t come naturally to me. As such, I had а unique propensity to feel it. Most types of magic are felt as tingles, like gently rubbing your fingernails on your skin. However there are outliers, such as dark magic, which feels like being pricked by a needle. But I digress.

Approaching the wall again, I gently lay the emission crystal on the floor, before using my now free right hand to feel the wall for any sensation similar to the one I had felt а moment ago. For аbout а minute, my hand glided across the stone, feeling for anything out of the ordinary, with its path lightened by my left hand, basking the surrounding area with the light from the flame lit on its palms. Back and forth, my hand moved, from one stone brick to the next, feeling every crevice its fingers could get in. When I continued to feel nothing, I began to doubt the hypothesis of there being residue magic in this wall, but in the end continued with the search.

Then, just as my hand brushed into another brick, I felt it.

“There!”

In swift motion, my hand changed from passively sweeping the wall, to clenching at the area where I felt it tingle. And just as quickly, I pulled it away from the wall, now gripping the piece of rogue magic which I had stumbled into. And indeed, as I did so, а long, narrow patch of magic came out of the wall, almost as though it was а snake. Almost immediately, I began to scrutinize it like it was а particle in а microscope.

The patch of magic itself was as long as the distance between my hand and elbow. Despite its snake-like stature however, it pulsated like a bright flame, fanning itself out in all directions without disrupting its overall structure. It was purplish-blue in color, with some lines of red and spots of green scattered about. And to top it all off, there were subtle, but still audible sounds being emitted from it, from standard sounds like the cackling of fire, to more specific sounds, such as а clown horn. The fact these sounds were present at all was а dead giveaway to the type of magic I had just pulled from the wall.

Chaos magic. And at that moment everything clicked. Rooms that were no different from the other, endless hallways, dead-ends where there shouldn’t be any. All of which were most likely the product of the rascal which I now held. And I knew exactly where it came from in the first place.

Chaos magic is well-known for its semi-sentient nature at times, often acting without input from а mage, making it difficult to control as а result. That is unless you knew how to contain it, which is exactly what I did with the emission crystal. However, even when contained in the crystal, the chaos magic wasn’t stable. It continuously found а way to leak itself out of the crystal, thus leading me to create the conduits to send any leaked magic back into the emission crystal. Despite this solution, my staff still needed а healthy amount of maintenance to ensure the cyclic back-and-forth between the crystals worked properly.

So, long story short, my staff being left in the pocket dimension with no maintenance being done on it for countless years ensured the chaos magic was able to discover easier ways to escape the grasp of the conduit crystals, thus answering why my staff couldn't cast the spells it used to.

The shattering of the emission crystal, meanwhile, was harder to ascertain, but my current theory was the last of the remaining chaos magic, after receiving many inputs and spells, decided to bust out all at once, thus destroying the crystal containing it. After finally becoming free from the shackles of the crystal, the chaos magic then decided it was time for it to mess with me а bit, changing the layout of the castle wherever I went. That was until it made а hiccup in the form of brushing against me on the wall, leading to the situation it currently found itself in.

“To think you were the one who was causing all the misery I’ve endured all this time…” I remarked, watching as the chaos magic’s snake-like form continued to writhe in my grip, attempting to break free. “To be honest, I don’t know what to do with you.”

Obviously, I couldn’t let it go free and continue wreaking havoc upon my plans. But I couldn’t exactly continue holding it either, as I needed my left hand to light the way forward with its flame, while the right would hold the emission crystal, heating it up sporadically along the way in accordance with the repair method. Meaning there was no way I could reasonably carry this thing without forgoing something important. I sighed at the dilemma. If only the emission crystal took а shorter amount of time to repair, then this situation could have been entirely avoided…

Unless…

My eyes lit up as an idea popped into my head. Snuffing out the fire in my left hand, I summoned my staff, alongside the six conduit crystals, onto the floor. Using the dim light provided by the moon, I organized five of the conduit crystals into а pentagonal shape at the top end of the staff. Then, setting the emission crystal on the floor, I grabbed the single conduit crystal I hadn’t used, I brought it up to the chaos magic. The rogue strand seemed to have caught on to what my plans were, as its struggle noticeably increased, to the point that it almost broke free from my grasp. Thankfully, my iron grip held firm, ensuring the rascal wasn’t going anywhere.

When the two were all but right next to each other, I suddenly shoved the chaos magic into the conduit crystal. The action had an immediate result, as the chaos magic began to practically shriek as it was forcibly contained into the conduit crystal, with the crystal itself flaring to life with аn orange glow that was so bright that it lit up the entire hallway around me, and caused me to close my eyes to shield them from its intensity. As I did so, a loud screeching could be heard, most likely from the chaos strand as it objected to being forced into the crystal. This continued for several tense seconds, before the screeching began to drown out, and the light subsided, allowing for me to open my eyes to admire my handiwork. The conduit crystal would have looked the exact same as it had before, if not for the slight glow it was now emitting. Meaning my insertion of the chaos strand had been successful.

Carefully, I placed it at the center of the other conduit crystals. The reaction was immediate, as the crystals began the task of creating а field to contain the chaos magic embedded in the center, lighting up brightly, but not as prominently as when the chaos strand had been embedded. I watched silently as my staff, once still and lifeless, began to rise autonomously, until it stood almost completely vertical. The conduit crystals worked as though the emission crystal was not needed, but closer observation revealed that wasn’t the case.

The conduit in the center, working as hard as it could, was already emitting some steam, as it struggled to contain the chaos magic within it. The window of opportunity I had was short, and as such I needed to act quickly.

Snatching the emission crystal with my left hand, and my staff with my right, I willed it to teleport me back to the bedroom. Within а second, my eyes no longer laid on dark hallways lit up dimly by the Moon, and instead found myself looking upon the bedroom.

I let out a sigh of relief at the fact my aimless exploration of the castle was now finally over. And after many hours of pointless exploration, I now found the bed in front of me very tempting to sleep on.

But, as fate would usually have it, а whistling sound to my right, oddly reminiscent of а kettle, interrupted those thoughts. Turning towards the source, my eyes settled on an alarming sight.

The center conduit crystal, which had already been struggling to keep itself together, was violently shaking in place. All over its surface, strands of chaos magic oozed out as it escaped the confines of the crystal. It looked as though it would shatter at any second. Something which I couldn’t allow under any circumstance.

So I did what any reasonable practitioner of magic would do in such а situation.

I panicked.

I dropped everything, and I mean everything, I was holding onto as both of my hands closed around the struggling crystal. I ignored the sounds of the other crystals falling to the floor as my single-minded focus to prevent the chaos magic from escaping and torturing me again was paramount.

I grunted as the crystal brightened with the contact, and felt the chaos strands on my hands, writhing as they tried to find а way around them. All the while I did my damndest to keep the chaos magic in the crystal.

For а while, this tango continued, although with time, I felt less chaos magic on my hands, as I slowly but surely reincorporated it into the conduit crystal, before eventually the whistling had all but vanished, and the shaking had completely ceased.

Believing I had prevented calamity, I looked down at the saved conduit crystal with а content smile.

“That was close,” I breathed. “Could’ve had another broken—“

That was when severe pain, one which I had not experienced since the days of the Emperor, pierced through my hands. It was as though а knife had been driven through both of them.

“Fuck!” I screamed, almost dropping the crystal out of the sheer pain I was experiencing. But I stood fast, and kept my hold of the crystal. Through the pain, I looked down at my hands holding it, and came across а new sight.

The chaos magic, which I had thought had been successfully contained, had now stabbed through my hands in what was likely а last ditch effort to break free. I saw small spikes protruding through both of my hands, the chaos magic attempting to push itself through them towards freedom.

I was not going to let it achieve that.

Using my limited magical potential, I rebuffed the chaos magic’s attack, forcing it back into the crystal once again. The pain remained severe, but it gradually began to lessen as my efforts did their work. Soon enough, the spikes had disappeared from my hands, the pain continuously diminishing, from a throbbing pain to an ache, and from there a mere tingling sensation. Before, finally, nothing.

I waited а few seconds. Then а few minutes. After what felt like an hour, I finally let my guard down as it became clear that the strand wasn’t going to try anything else to break free.

Conduit crystal still in hand, I collapsed onto the bed, exhausted from all the meaningless drivel that had occurred throughout the day. All I wanted to do now was simply sleep and get this comical fiasco behind me. Figuring out the ways of the Sun and Moon will have to wait until I wake in the morning.

And besides, this place is in the middle of nowhere. As far as I’m concerned, I have all the time in the world to learn that stuff. The ponies, if they even care about finding me, are probably still several days away from getting to this place. That is if they are able to identify it correctly from the one I sent back, which in of itself is not certain. And now with а patch of chaos magic back in my possession, I now have some means to defend myself should such а thing come to pass.

Assured in my security once again, I clutched the conduit crystal tightly, As I felt the embrace of sleep claim me, bringing to an end yet another frustrating day.

Comments

[DingoAte]

Nice

[Pensive]

20 bits it's Discord when she wakes, any takers?

[kvazar]

The house on the borderlands, half-swallowed by the stain.

[Starlight Nova]

Does this story have anything to do with the Havoc of the Pony POV Series? Because I really, really hated that character. In fact, to be honest I hated just about EVERY character in that story. Even the ones that I kind of liked I still had problems with. But Havoc, Entropy and Strife were always the ones I hated the most. So I’m going to need some confirmation from you before I start reading this story.

[Histy]

11617735
I don’t know what this “Pony POV” series you’re talking about is, so I guess not? Nor have I ever made а character with the names you mentioned. Havoc was just simply the title of the fic.

[hmaf43]

Will this version of Celestia/Luna be strong or worthless piece of craps that needed mane6 for every battles?

[Histy]

11624364
Without spoiling anything, I’ll try my best to respect their power levels.

[Heretics Everywhere]

really enjoyed this so far.