Salvation

by voroshilov

Aurora

It took some minutes for Aurora to reply, though she did so behind the closed door of the Watchtower. Her voice was deep, but seemingly pleasant, every syllable flowing nicely into the next.

“I don’t want them here.”

Leviathan rumbled from behind the two alicorns. “Come now, Aurora, these two are our guests, we would do them a disservice not to treat them well.”

“Can you not help them yourself?” Aurora yelled back through the door, with Penumbra and Ablazed Glory’s fight or flight responses suddenly kicking in.

“Aurora,” Leviathan bellowed, firm, and without his usual polite tone, “come out, at once.”

There was a few seconds of silence that followed, with both Penumbra and Ablazed Glory frozen in place for what felt like years. After an excruciating wait, the door slowly opened inwards, with a figure about Penumbra’s height stepping out.

She was clearly cut of the same cloth as Nicholas, with smooth, pinkish-beige chitinous skin, thin cracks around the mouth, three glowing cyan eyes and an absence of any sort of visible nose. She did, however, seem much younger than Nicholas, her skin was healthy looking, with no scars or broken patches, she was thin but evidently healthy, looking almost similar to a Vortexian or other such person from a distance. Like Nicholas had, she wore armour, though hers was made of a silvery metal, rather than the dark, reddish-brown bone of the Emperor, and hers was clearly worn on top of her body, rather than fused to it. She had a pair of forearm bracers, two large, square pauldrons extending a good half a foot from her shoulders, and a square chestplate, ending just above her waist, which was covered by a long crimson skirt, a scabbard for a knife and a pair of skulls of creatures Penumbra couldn’t identify attached. Her feet were similar to Nicholas’, with three digits ending in claws, but were arranged at three equal points along the turn, giving her a more natural looking balance.

Her helmet was of a design similar to those of Nicholas’ Tomb Guard, with three upwards facing points at equidistant points along the turn, the central horn extending half a foot or so further than the other two, with a small opening for her third eye.

“What do you want?” She asked, clearly not relishing being in their company.

Penumbra stammered a moment, her mind trying of its own accord to work out what relation she was to Nicholas and taking up much of her needed thinking power. “The portal in the Citadel,” she said, before realising that provided very little information, “we want to repair it.”

“Good for you. Bye.” She turned back into the Watchtower, but one of Leviathan’s mighty limbs stopped her. She moved a three clawed hand towards her sheathed knife, before clearly thinking better of it, sighing, and turning back around. “Why should I help you?” She folded her arms as she looked Penumbra up and down. “Give me a good reason.”

It was at that moment Penumbra considered her options; on the one talon, Aurora may have been of close relation to Nicholas, so Penumbra revealing her and Ablazed Glory’s own relationship to him may have convinced her to help them; however, if Aurora was not of close relation, or otherwise held a dislike for Nicholas, doing so might shut them out of fixing the portal for good.

She was, however, out of options. “I am Sunless-Halo-of-Penumbra, and this is Ablazed Glory, we were students of Emperor Nicholas, he gave us these forms we now inhabit. We fought alongside him in the War in Heaven.”

Aurora’s gaze softened and she looked down at the staircase, away from the two. “I see,” she said, sighing as she shifted on her claws, “I see.”

“We wish to access the portal,” Ablazed Glory said, “we believe something important lies beyond it.”

“The Heart of Sorrow,” Aurora said, voice filled with what Penumbra believed was sadness, “has not been visited in so long. I remember what it was like on the final day, just before he freed them all.” She paused, her sadness palpable in the air. “Everything was silent. He told me he wished there was another way, but this was the only way there was. And, that this would be his final act, a final triumph to end his life on. He had to speak through a proxy, he’d been trapped in nullspace. I couldn’t even say goodbye to him.”

“What was he to you?” Penumbra asked, mentally placing her bets on father.

Aurora looked up at her, the indented skin around her eyes greyed. She smiled and stepped down the few stairs that separated them and looked her in the eyes, with Penumbra being slightly shorter but with her horn making her the taller one overall. “What your kind would call a partner, he saved me millennia ago and placed me here for both of our safeties, I happened to rather like it.”

Penumbra took an involuntary step back, though fortunately for her dignity it was Ablazed Glory who yelled what they had both been thinking, “Nicholas had a lover! What the hell?”

Aurora laughed, a powerful yet musical note. “Yes, hard to believe, I know. In his younger years he was quite the romantic, a trait he maintained in one way or another for his whole life, though in a more subtle manner.”

What Emperor Nicholas' idea of romance was, Penumbra was certainly interested in, but wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to know or wanted to ask, given what she knew about Nicholas from her own experiences.

Answering her unspoken question, Aurora elaborated, “it started with a bar of chocolate.” She chuckled happily, reminiscing. “Then he invited me to a fancy dinner that he had prepared everything for, even harvesting and processing the wood for the table and shooting the game himself - even today I am not quite sure how he held a gun. Even in battle, he was fond of gestures. During the Prisian Campaign he sacrificed an entire planet for me. Then, during the Silvian Wars he fought off an entire army at the entrance to a canyon for nine years, dedicating all of their power to me.” Aurora laughed at Penumbra’s slightly horrified reaction. “It was romantic, in a way. Our culture is very different to yours, tribute in such a manner is an incredible gesture.”

“He held off an entire army?” Ablazed Glory asked, easily distracted from their current topic to Nicholas’ achievements, “for nine years?”

Aurora nodded. “Nine years without sleep. He told me the enemy was forced to abandon the sector entirely, because so much blood had been spilt that his power had begun to change space-time itself.”

Ablazed Glory was quite clearly captivated by Aurora’s stories of Nicholas, with even Penumbra herself interested to learn more about Nicholas from someone who knew him so personally.

“If you are wondering,” Aurora said, “no, I did not fight alongside him. I have not fought much, though he taught me himself, so I am by no means a novice.”

“Why didn’t you fight?” Ablazed Glory asked, knowing full well that she would relish the opportunity when given it, especially alongside someone like Emperor Nicholas.

Her response was a laugh, then a pause of a few seconds. “I suppose he was simply the stronger one of us. He had Oathbreaker, as well as the Darkness and everything that came with it. I have only this.” She unsheathed her black metal knife, which despite looking small at her hip was still a good three feet long, with a curved blade. “Granted, it’s still a lot more than most, but it's nothing much really, especially in comparison to him. He did the fighting, I did the studying.”

“Studying?” Penumbra’s interest immediately piqued. “What did you study?”

Aurora looked her up and down again. “You know the Voice, don’t you?” On Penumbra’s nod, she continued, “I thought so, I know my own. It was I who developed the Voice, and, I assume, he who taught you it.”

Penumbra nodded - she needed more information, never before had she felt such an addiction-like requirement to have something. “How did you do it?” She asked, feeling the rough region of her throat below her coat with a talon.

“Over a very long time,” she answered, “using methods that are now useless and experiments that cannot be replicated. Kaurava helped me, her songs were a good base to work off of.”

Kaurava. Penumbra had heard that name before. If she recalled correctly, it was one of the Emperor’s creations, though Nicholas considered her a daughter. She was supposedly very powerful, second only to Nicholas himself she assumed.

“What happened to Kaurava?” Penumbra found herself asking, assuming she was simply from before her time.

Aurora thought for a minute. “I’m not sure,” she admitted, seemingly surprised herself, “she may have died when Nicholas did, I know the Darkness went with him, which Kaurava used to support herself.”

There was silence for a good few minutes later, with no one knowing quite what to say to continue the conversation. Eventually, Leviathan spoke up, reminding them all of why they were there.

“Aurora,” he said, usual politeness returned to his voice as though it had never left - though he seemed ever so slightly stiffer, Penumbra couldn’t quite explain how she knew - “do you have any soul fibre? The portal in the Citadel is missing a chunk, which it will require if it is to be repaired.”

Aurora nodded. “I should have more than enough in my lab. Let me go and get it, in the meantime, get ready to take us to the Citadel.”

She turned and headed back inside, rushing up a staircase and into a room invisible from the doorway. Leviathan lowered his head down. “Please climb aboard.” He made a gesture with one of his tentacles, with the two alicorns climbing aboard carefully and sitting themselves down.

A few minutes later, Aurora emerged from the doorway, a large spool of glowing white fibre in her hands. She hopped aboard Leviathan’s head from the bottom of the staircase, propelling herself a good thirty feet with only a single jump, with Ablazed Glory remarking on how impressive it was as she sat down.

As Leviathan climbed down from the Labyrinth and began his walk towards the Citadel, Aurora briefed the two alicorns. “The portal leads to the Heart of Sorrow, in the Mindscape. The place will probably be empty, but be careful about the platforms you stand on, they have a tendency to move. You should come out at the foot of the Citadel, but with the damage to the portal and the probable damage to the Heart of Sorrow, you can’t be sure where you’ll emerge. I’d advise you get into the Citadel as quickly as possible, it’s much more stable there and you’ll have a better time.”

“Thank you.”

Aurora nodded. “Can I ask, what are you looking for in there?”

Penumbra was, though she wouldn’t quite admit it, not really sure. “We received a message from here a day ago, with someone wanting to meet me personally. I just have a feeling that someone is beyond that portal.”

Aurora hummed, seeming to take that as a valid answer. “Might want to be careful though,” she warned, “that portal has probably been broken for a long time.” She paused, looking for the words. “If your someone is beyond it, just be aware they might not have good intentions in mind.”

“Noted.”

They were silent for the remaining few minutes of the trip, Aurora flexing her grip on the fibrous bundle in her claws and looking out towards the Citadel with what could be described as a wistful expression.

Arriving at the Citadel, which from the height of Leviathan’s head could be seen to be buried slightly more on the left hand side, Leviathan wasted no time in wrapping around it like a serpent, with his tentacles slowly dragging them skywards.

“Once,” he rumbled, “this Citadel was the focal point of corruption. Once, this Citadel whispered as one approached. Once, this Citadel was the seat of Nicholas, The Composer, who commanded the land from his Blighted Throne. Now, it lies dormant, perhaps to remain so forever.”

They emerged onto a balcony, with the Retaliator visible through the Citadel’s throne room. Leviathan allowed the three aboard him to disembark, before climbing up further and bringing forwards a long tentacle about the width of Penumbra’s head, with an eye growing from its end.

“Follow me.” Penumbra brought them through to the Composer’s throne, which Aurora paused a moment to regard whilst Penumbra led the other two down and into the portal room.

She stared at it a moment, before slowly walking towards it. She ascended each step with agonisingly low speed, before stopping on the second to last one and placing her three clawed hand to the seat. Closing her three eyes, she allowed her mind to be filled with the memories of Nicholas, who she could feel was there in spirit.

“It worked,” she whispered, as if he could hear her, “your plan worked.”

She allowed herself another couple of seconds, before stepping down and following after Penumbra, who was briefing Leviathan on the damage.

“Hopefully,” Penumbra said, “this is all the damage there is. If there’s more then we might not fix it after all.”

Leviathan rumbled from outside, which was surprisingly audible given the distance, “I believe it is. It will take me and Aurora some time to complete the repairs, given the delicate nature of this device.”

Penumbra nodded, turning to Aurora who held the length of soul fibre in her claws. “Well, if you need me, I can help.”