Chimes In the Dark

by Faindragon

Chapter 3: What's Written in Blood

Chimes In the Dark - Chapter 3: What’s written in blood

NOTE: Grammar not corrected

The chime echoed through the sanctum, finding its ways through hallways and rooms. The sound arrived at a room with a giant throne and made its way to the black mare sitting at it. She smiled a smile that never touched her deep blue eyes, a smile colder than the embrace of death; colder than the moonlight that shone upon her. Her horn started to glow and a quill drew a line on a piece of paper. One chime had passed. They wouldn’t stand a chance.

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As the sound of the clock faded away, three ponies stood frozen in place, staring up at the object hanging from the dark ceiling. Notharam backed away from the dripping, trying to avoid the fresh blood on the cold stone floor. His gaze drifted upwards. Even though he didn’t want to see what caused the dripping, the fast glance before should have been enough, would his eyes not listen to him. His gaze continuing to move upwards, and he found himself looking at the source of the dripping.

The source was a pony, or the remains of one. It had once been a pegasus stallion, a coat that once had been light brown was now nearly completely covered of the red that was the pegasus’ own blood. Even the cutie mark was covered by the blood. It didn’t have a mane, not anymore. The mane that once had graced the pegasus was now gone, dark green straws at the neck indicated the color of the mane. It was nearly as if it had been ripped off the neck. The pegasus had been hung by his rear hooves, and slowly did the corpse rotate around, and what Notharam saw shocked him more than the corpse itself had done. The pegasus’ left wing was gone, ripped cleanly off the body, leaving a horrible gaping hole where it should have been. The right wing was bent at an abnormal angle, in a manner that led Notharam to believe that it had been broken.

The light from Emeralds horn changed position, Emerald had started to trot again. Every step he took made the light illuminate the corpse from a different angle, revealing more details on the corpse. A scar here, a gash there. But Notharam took a step back at the sight of the right eye socket. It gaped empty, staring right at Notharam; blood was still dripping out of the hole. It was not the worst thing that Notharam had seen; he had seen things in the army that he did not wish anypony to see. That did not change the fact that he hoped that neither Mistrunner, nor Emerald or Zinky, had seen it. But he saw one thing that made his heart jump over a beat.

The characteristic scar over the muzzle, a scar in the shape of the horseshoe that had caused it. He had known this pegasus by the name of Thunder. He was an old stallion who had held the rank of general in the army during Notharam’s time there. Notharam raised his hoof in salute, tears forming in his eyes. Thunder had been in command of the special squad that Notharam had been a part of, a unit which struck the enemy lines from the flanks.
Life had been a luxury in that squad, a luxury that was easily lost. The number of living members had dropped drastically until there were only two left, Notharam and Thunder.

Now death had found the second to last member. Notharam was the last remaining member, and a thought popped up in his mind.
How long will I be alive? Death has taken all the others, and I’m in this place with a maniac; how long will it be before death takes me?

He trembled at the thought, feeling his bones freeze. It only lasted for the moment up until the light from Emerald’s horn had passed the pegasus tied to the ceiling. Notharam shuddered and looked where the unicorn had walked. Emerald stood at one of the wall, examining something that Notharam could not see. Notharam also saw how Mistrunner had moved further away from the body, Zinky still with her. The two of them stood still; Mistrunner looked like her stomach needed to be emptied. But even if that was the case did she talk softly with Zinky, tried to support the little filly. It could not be an easy sight for her, and he wished it was a sight she would soon forget. being careful not to touch the blood.

Emerald stood and examined something on the wall, mumbling to himself.
“No, I can’t let them know… Mistrunner would be destroyed. Zinky is only a filly… The corpse passed what she should have to see by far. How can this be? Who would do this?”

“Let us know Emerald, what is it that you have found? What is happening?” Notharam asked.

Emerald looked back, giving Notharam a long glance.
“Notharam, I wouldn’t have told any one of you if you hadn’t walked over here, and I will still not tell the others. A text is written on the wall, and I wish that they had not told me about it, that I had never found it.”

“Who told you what? What are you talking about.” Notharam could not keep the fear from his voice.

“The walls Notharam, they spooked with me about this. What I didn’t want you to know is that written on this wall is a message from the maniac to us. Read it if you want, but this explains why I felt observed. All the time. It also explains that the wall talked with me.” Emerald said, his eyes once again on the wall.

“I really hope, not for my sake, but for yours, Mistrunner’s, and the little filly’s, that this isn’t true.” He turned to go, only to stop after taking two steps.
“By the way Notharam, I owe you my hoof. This place is not a church. It’s a temple.”

With those words did he trot away from the wall, slowly making his way to Mistrunner and Zinky, who had moved and now stood at the hallway they had come from. The unicorn didn’t seem to care if he walked into the blood or not. With him moving away, the light started to fade as well, but there was still enough light for Notharam to see what the unicorn had been staring at. On the wall was something written, in the same liquid as the one that had been on the floor. He slowly read the text, trying to figure out what Emerald had meant.

Four sacrifices have entered this building, this temple of light and darkness, this temple of life and death, this temple of harmony.
None of the ponies will get out again, the sacrifices will be made in the favour of the goddesses.
The walls are the judges, they choose in what order the sacrifices will be made.
The chosen will be warned, the judges will talk to them.
This is their judgment.

Another row had been added after the others; the blood with which it was written fresher than the rest.

The gemstone will die by its own curiosity, the first pony to the sacrifice is him.

Notharam felt the cold hoof of fear take a hold around his heart. The message on the wall was clear. None of them would be spared. He didn’t know how the walls would be able to judge or how they would be able to speak to the ponies, but he didn’t doubt that it was true. Emerald had told him about that wall spooked to him. The gem that was named in the text had to be a reference to an emerald, but how did curiosity come into the picture? Notharam was confused and scared, but he knew why he had to keep this from the other two. The idea of scaring the other two made him sick; why should they have to feel the same fear as he did. Why should they have to be scared as well? He started to trot towards the others, avoiding the blood once more. He prayed that the worry he felt inside wasn’t reflected on his face.

Notharam could see how Mistrunner looked at him as he slowly made his way towards the rest of the group. She had a puzzled look on her face, as if she was considering something; her eyes went from the filly at her side, to the corpse hanging from the ceiling and continued to the wall he had just returned from. Lastly, her gaze reached Notharam. She smiled lightly before trotting forward and gently wiping away the blood that was still on his muzzle with her hoof, leaning forward and whispering to him.
“What was it that you saw on the wall? “ Notharam gave her a questioning look.
“Don’t give me that look, pegasus boy; you have a horrible poker face. Something is wrong and I want to know what. If I could I would have gone over there myself. However, Zinky seems to want to stay close and I will not make her go any closer to that body than I have to.”

Notharam felt fear building up inside him. What was he going to say? He couldn’t tell the truth; he believed in what Emerald had said - that Mistrunner wouldn’t be able to handle it. And even if she could, why should he share this and scare her? But he had to say something. Anything.

“I will tell you later.” He responded while backing away from Mistrunner. “I promise.”

Mistrunner glared at him and opened her mouth to speak once more.

Emerald must have been listening to them; he spoke up from behind them and saved Notharam from further questions.
“If you two are finished, can we keep going? I don’t want to end up like that pegasus in the ceiling, and I feel that the best way to avoid it is to keep moving. We have three choices. We can go either of these two ways.” He pointed with his hoof to the right and the left of them. “Or we can return to the inner sanctum. But to returning to the sanctum would not help still my curiosity.” He seemed to think for a moment, before he added: “And I still want to solve this puzzle.”

Mistrunner was quick to turn around, turning to face Emerald.
“What was it on that wall, Emerald? Exactly what is it the two of you are hiding from me? I have the right to know!” she whispered. Zinky had moved away as Mistrunner whirled around, and looked confused at Mistrunner for a moment before she dove into the cover of the elder ponie’s leg one again.

Emerald gave Mistrunner a look full of concern, before he looked away, unable to meet her eyes any longer.
“It’s better if you don’t receive the information that we acquired from that wall, believe me. At this moment of time I sincerely wish that I never had seen what was on that wall, nor that Notharam had. To know what’s waiting in the future is not a thing I wanted to; and I don’t think you want either. So let’s just get going. Left or right?”

Mistrunner opened her mouth to protest once more, but was interrupted by a quiet sound that came from the right hallway. It wasn’t easy to hear at first, if she had spoken or the dripping from Thunder’s corpse had not stopped then they would perhaps never have heard it. Or at least they would not have heard it until it would have been too late. The sound that emerged from the shadows of the right hallway was the soft beating of a heart. Notharam felt confusion and curiosity for a moment, how could they hear the heart? It should not be possible, the sound of a heart is way to low to be heard just like that. Then he felt a gaze upon him, a gaze filled with hatred.

Notharam reacted quickly; he really did not want to meet the owner of that gaze. At least not in this place, not with Zinky this close.
“Everypony, take the left hallway. Avoid whatever it is that you hear the heart of. You go first; I will take the rear. Now MOVE before the owner of that heart comes too close. I don’t think it has found us yet, or else it would probably already be upon us,” he whispered to the other ponies, partly lying. He knew that he had felt something from the being in the shadows. He just didn’t know what being it was, but if the hatred was anything to go by then it wanted to kill them.

“Notharam is right - let’s go. I will lead the way, so stay close.” Emerald said. He looked at Notharam, and Notharam could feel that the unicorn knew that he would not follow them directly, before he quickly turned around, dimming his horn to illuminate only a few hoofsteps around him.

“Follow him Mistrunner, hurry, before it notices us. Take Zinky with you.” He nudged Mistrunner in the side. “Go!”

Notharam watched the other gallop away, their hooves whirling up dust. Emerald must have casted another spell since he couldn’t hear any sound from the hooves, but that was nothing he had time to think more about now. He turned around, prepared to meet whatever was coming towards him. But he could not hear anything, neither did he see anything moving. The hatred was still there however, pushing against his mind. A minute passed, two, three. No sound was to be heard and the hatred disappeared. He relaxed, and released a sigh.

He did, however, find himself in complete darkness. He hadn’t thought this part over, he had been sure he would die, all that hatred come crushing against him. He was stuck in the darkness, without any way to return to the others.

He sat down, what should he do? What he knew was that there were three hallways out of here, but which one had the others passed through? And in what hallway was the thing waiting? He realized that he had a one-third of a chance of getting to the right hallway by pressing his hoof against the wall and walk. It was all about finding the right wall.

He slowly started to trot, hopping that he walked in the right direction. With the sight gone did his other senses sharpen, he could feel nearly every grain of dust under his hooves, hear the sound of his own heart. Then he stepped into something, a liquid that he was sure he knew the origin of. He guessed it was the blood that had dripped onto the floor. That would mean that he was at the hanging corpse of Thunder, and only had to take a few more steps to get to the wall. He held his hoof out in front of him, and felt it hit the cold stone wall. For once luck was on his side, he would be able to find them again. He started to trot towards the right, knowing that that was the way the others had run. Perhaps his new found luck would hold for the rest of the night?

Notharam didn’t know for how long he had wandered around in the darkness, nor how many times he had stopped at a sudden sound. What he knew was that the hallway didn’t get any brighter; he had walked into a wall more than once, where the way had turned abruptly in the complete darkness. He was glad that he was not afraid of the darkness, but that did not stop the feeling that he would be jumped on by the owner of the hateful glare he had felt before. He had lost the count of times the hallway had changed direction, but it was after one of those turns that he finally found what he was looking for. The other three ponies had stopped in front of a giant door, made of a dark wood material with golden fittings around the edges. Emerald’s horn shone with the light it had before he had dampened it, the hallway bathing in the light emerging from him.

Judging by their reaction, they, or at least Emerald and Mistrunner, nearly jumped out of their coats; had he made some kind of noise and had scared them. They quickly turned around, eyes widened in fright. Mistrunner placed herself between him and Zinky, but Emerald only stared at him.

“Notharam, is that you? But, how can it be? We heard that heartbeat getting louder, we heard you running at it, heard a sound that had to be your body thumping against it. Then we heard you scream, a heart piercing screech of horror, we heard the sound of flesh ripped apart, and the scream stopped. WHO ARE YOU!” Emerald said, his voice unstable.

Notharam was taken aback by this. What had happened? What had they heard? He knew that he hadn’t died, he hadn’t even seen anything in that pitch black darkness that had been back in that room.

“Yes, it’s me. I don’t know how I can prove it, but I will! I stayed back into that room to meet whatever it was, to buy you time to escape. But it wasn’t anything there, I don’t know how long I waited. I realized that nothing was coming towards me, that I was alone in that place without any light at all to illuminate my way. I walked towards the wall, and felt my way here. I will do anything to prove that I’m the one that I say I am.” Notharam said, fear filling his voice.

Emerald rapidly responded with a question.
“What flavor was it on the candy I gave Zinky?”

Notharam had to think for a second before he remembered.
“It was a raspberry flavored lollipop, you took it from one of your saddlebags.” He answered, smiling when he thought back at the smile on the little filly’s face as she got the lollipop.

Mistrunner had stared at him in disbelief since Emerald had been speaking.
“Notharam, that doesn’t prove that you are who you say that you are. You must answer something that happened before we got to this place.” She went silence, thinking.

“Mistrunner, we didn’t know each other before we came to this place, how can we be sure that he answers with the truth?” Emerald asked Mistrunner without taking his eyes from Notharam.

“Well, I didn’t know him, but I have seen him before.” Mistrunner said looking at Emerald, before she turned her head towards Notharam. Something in her eyes told Notharam that he lied, he couldn’t figure out what she lied about thought. “Three years ago you were in Canterlot during a military ceremony. How many ponies stood between you and Celestia?.”

Notharam remembered that day, he and Thunder had been there to receive a recognition for their service in the army, for risking their life’s more than once in the service of the military. He wasn’t surprised that Mistrunner had seen him, nearly all of Canterlot's inhabitants had been at that ceremony.
“I stood at Celestia’s left wing, Thunder stood at the right. I was the first too be offered it of us, but refused to accept it before Thunder, who was of a higher rank than me, had got it. All of the previous members of my squad, those who had died in service, received the Medal of Honor as well. The members of their families had been there to collect them. “

Mistrunner looked at Emerald.
“I’m ready to believe him. You were working deep in the library that day, but I was looking at the ceremony from a window. He did indeed stand at Celestia’s left wing.”

She turned toward Notharam again, this time with a concerned look in her tear filled eyes.
“I… We were so afraid. We thought you were dead.” A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Notharam slowly walked over to her and the filly that now had moved to stand next to her.
“It’s okay Mistrunner, I won’t leave you that easy again. I promised to protect you, didn’t I?” He smiled weakly at her.

“Noaram promised to protect us. I believe him, Noaram won’t let any harm come upon us.” Zinky said, her eyes wide as she looked up at Notharam, smiling.

“I will Zinky, as I promised.” Notharam said, returning the smile, before he turned towards Emerald, who stood and examined the door.
“Emerald, do you not believe me? What more do I have to do to prove for you who I am?”

Emerald flinched, Notharams voice bringing him back from his thoughts. He turned around, facing Notharam.
“Why, of course I believe you. It’s just that this door with its decorations, I feel like if I have seen this symbol somewhere else.”
He pointed at a golden circle in the middle of the door. In the circle was an open book engraved.

Mistrunner took a look at the circle, and then gave Emerald a sidelong glance.
“Are you starting to become senile or is it something else wrong with you Emerald? That symbol is the same as the one that is on the door into the closed section in the Royal Library of Canterlot. The section that was the oldest part, were only the royalty herself had right to enter.”

Emerald shacked his head.
“I think I might, haven’t been in that part in years. Fifteen years to be exact, when Celestia herself demanded the key. She went down there, and I followed her to make sure that the books were in a good order, it wasn’t often I was down there. But as you say, I remember it now.”

Notharam couldn’t stand still any longer.
“Then let’s get going.”

He putted his hoof against the door, pressing it open.

It opened without a sound.

And the clock chimed.