The Elements of Virtue

by Rakoon1

The Element of Sorcery, Part IV - The Fog of the Lost

Back to the Spirit World, Crosswart had already passed the Nocturnal Desert and now was running through a very beautiful forest, with the sunshine piercing through the leaves, giving it a very unique glow. This caused the forest to look even more outstanding than before. But the most amazing thing were the many spirits lurking around, moving peaceful, without any concern. Some of those spirits had animal forms, while others were more distint.

“Amazing…” Star admired. “I’ve been in other realms, including Animarium, but they never showed this level of beauty.”

“Well, you better enjoy it as much as you can” Crosswart replied. “After the Wondrous Woods, we’re going to reach the border and then you’re going to see the other not so nice side of the Spirit World.”

As they kept moving, Star noticed Hepheus’ look, with him seeming uncomfortable. Also noticing he hadn’t call his spirit guide to help too, opting to ride Crosswart with him, Star asked:

“So, don’t you also have a spirit guide? If you have been here before, you must have come to meet him… or her.”

“I didn’t call him… because we have a… complicated past” Hepheus told. “I don’t know if you have noticed, but… before I became the hero I was, I was a villain. After my parents’ death, I went into a dark path. My spirit guide tried to stop me… and we had a huge fall out. Ever since then, we’ve stopped seeing each other… and I’ve stopped feeling him.”

“I’m sorry for that…” Star said.

“Sometimes, I wished we could meet again” Hepheus said. “He helped me a lot and after how distanced from each other… I bet he doesn’t want to see me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure” Crosswart replied, while running. “We, spirit guides, are closely tied to the beings we protect. Regardless what we may feel, we can never ignore them.”

“Really?” Hepheus asked, meditating about that. “I didn’t know that…”

It was then that the end of the Wondrous Woods approached. When they reached it, they found nothing more than a sole tree, a seemingly dead one, on a piece of arid land.

“This is it” Crosswart said, while Star and Hepheus got out of him and he stood up. “The Dividing Tree, the border… Once you crossed it, you’ll be in the Dark Side.”

They approached it and Star extended his hoof to touch the tree. As he approached the hoof, if could feel all the negative vibes coming from it.

“You weren’t kidding about the other side” Star said. “Please tell me the Fog of the Lost is not that far.”

“We still have to cross the Wasteland… and possibly face some dark spirits” Crosswart replied. “But you don’t have to worry. You have a very capable spirit guide by your side.”

“It’s good to know that” Star replied, with a smile. “Well, I guess it’s time to go ahead…”

Star touched the Dividing Tree and, once he did that, he found himself in a complete wasteland, with sky completely covered in dark clouds. The only thing that was really alive was the Diving Tree, which, on that side, was a very lush. After a few moments, Hepheus and Crosswart also appeared by his side.

“Uh… this place always gives me heebie-jeebies” Crosswart commented. “It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve come here.”

“Well, we can’t waste any more time” Star said. “Crosswart, lead us the way.”

“Well, then, up on” he replied, putting himself on all fours, while Star and Hepheus climbed to his back. “And hold on, I’ll try to go even faster.”

After they were ready, Crosswart resume the run, going even faster, like he said. It was then that, when they haven’t gone very far, a few shadowy spirits started to appear, blocking their way.

“Oh great, exactly what we needed” Star said, sarcastically.

“Don’t worry” Crosswart told. “I can handle this easily.”

Having said that, Crosswart turned to the dark spirits and released a supersonic roar that caused some effect on them, making them flee.

“Wow, that was impressive…” Star commented.

“Hey, I am your spirit guide” Crosswart told.

“Those were only shadow spirits” Hepheus said. “They’re like the scavengers of the Spirit World. They are not like the real threats.”

“Wow, you do know how to make a spirit guide look good in front of his ward” Crosswart ironized, while continuing to run. “But that is true. We’re lucky they were just shadow spirits. If we’re to get to the Fog of the Lost, we need to hurry.”

Fortunately, they didn’t find any other dark spirit during their journey. It was then that Crosswart stopped and he said:

“And we arrived the destination. I hope you’ve enjoy traveling in the Crosswart Express.”

Star and Hepheus came down and then observed the place they were. Before them was a canyon surrounded by sharp rock formations and, inside it was a dense fog.

“Wow…” Star said. “It’s everything that you’ve told me about… and even more”

“This is the worst kind of prison that exists in the Spirit World” Crosswart told, while rising up and cleaning his hands. “It is boundless prison, but that doesn’t matter. The fog you’re seeing is much more than just a fog. It’s a spirit whose form is one of a fog. Anyone that enters it, cannot get out, as they become prisoners of their own miseries and nightmares. Are you sure you have to go there, Star?”

“I don’t have any other option” he replied. “I have to do this.”

“Well, I knew you’d say that” Crosswart said. “I guess that would be my advice to you… But I had to ask you that.”

“I’ll go with you” Hepheus said.

“No, don’t do it” Star replied. “Somepony needs to stay behind and warn everypony else in case I’m not able to get out.”

“I understand…” Hepheus said. “Good luck, then.”

Star nodded and, turning himself to the fog, opened his wings and used them to glide down the canyon. He landed on the ground and then started to advance through it.

“Okay, Star, now you need to remain focused” Star said to himself. “Remember, you’re here to find Clover. You just need to find him and take him out. It’s easy… No need to worry… I hope…”

He continued to walk, but he just couldn’t see anything. Occasionally he would see another pony walking around, but they were not Clover. But what he saw was nothing more than just someone that had succumbed to the influence of the fog, remaining walking vaguely and mumbling nonsense. If that was how ponies normally ended up inside the fog, then Star couldn’t help but feeling more anxious in finding Clover and get out of that terrifying place.

“Clover?!” he called. “Clover! It’s me, Star… Star Knight! Are you here?!”

But only silence was given to him.

“I can’t find him anywhere…” Star said. “But Pandora did say she would send him here. Maybe he got out… or maybe he’s someplace else… Or worse, maybe I’m just walking in circles!”

Star’s frustration was starting to become even bigger, when suddenly he started to hear hoofsteps approaching Star. Before this, he adopted instinctively a defensive posture.

“Who’s there?!” he asked. “Is that you, Clover?”

“No…” the voice said. “It’s me.”

And it was then that Dusk appeared before him.

“Dusk?” Star asked. “But… what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the Bermikun Triangle?”

“I just couldn’t bear having my big brother facing this all by himself” Dusk said, while approaching. “After all…”

He hugged Star and completed:

“We’re on this together.”

All of the sudden, Star could feel a tremendous pain on his heart, a pain that he knew very well: the Curse of the Poisoned Heart. But he didn’t understand how could that be. Not only he had the curse contained (for the most part), but he also was in his spiritual form. But that was not the only thing that seemed off. He just couldn’t believe that was Dusk.

“Let… me… go!” Star said, while trying to free himself. “My… heart…”

“What’s the matter, big bro?” Dusk asked, with a much sinister tone. “Can’t you handle the pain? And here was I thinking you could handle it quite wel… having in count how well you’ve been hiding it.”

Hearing that, Star was able to find the strength to push him back, but remaining with pain on his heart.

“You’re not Dusk…” he said. “He would never cause me pain intentionally…”

“And how can you know that?” the fake Dusk asked, approaching, while Star tried to keep the distance. “Because he seems to admire you? Because you passed through a lot? Please, not even you believe that. Because you know…”

Hasting to Star’s side, he completed, while putting a hoof on the former’s shoulder:

“You know how much pain you’ve caused him!”

Star could feel his pain becoming even more intense.

Outside the fog, Crosswart and Hepheus were waiting for Star, but the more they waited, the more they became worried.

“Come on, Star…” Crosswart said. “You can do this…”

“I don’t like this” Hepheus said. “He’s been there for a long time.”

At that moment, the triangle marks on Crosswart’s arm started to flicker. Noticing that, Hepheus said:

“I know what that means… and it’s not very reassuring. Please tell me it’s one of Star’s siblings.”

Concentrating, Crosswart could feel the pain and trouble Star was passing through.

“No, no… Star, don’t listen to him!” Crosswart explained. “That’s not Dusk!”

In the fog, the fake Dusk was still causing pain to Star, taking advantage of the curse planted on him, while continuing to taunt him:

“Because of you, he had to be casted aside. He had to grow away of his own family, with most of them being even unaware of his own existence… and that was just to keep you safe… Mommy and daddy’s greatest pride, their dear prodigy…”

Star wanted to fight him off, but he just couldn’t. It wasn’t just because of the pain he was feeling on his heart, but it was also because of what he was saying. Those were his insecurities regarding his relationship with his brother, something that has always haunted him: it was the guilt that he felt for being the reason why his brother had to grow up apart from him and their sisters. That fog was feeding on that and replicating the effects of his curse, while using Dusk to mess with him.

“Well, then, I want to see the great Star Knight get out of this” the fake Dusk continued to say. “You will remain here… forever, feeling that pain in your heart, not only because of the curse, but also because of pain you’ve cause to me! Just listen to your heart… Baboom, baboom, baboom, baboom…”

The more times he said that, the more intense was the pain Star was feeling. He couldn’t believe, after everything he had been through, that would how he would end: prisoner of a fog spirit, while feeling a tremendous pain caused by nothing more than his own guilt. When it seemed everything was doomed for him, Star heard a little familiar voice telling him:

“Don’t listen to him! It’s not your fault! It has never been your fault!”

Those words made him remember the all truth. That voice was right. He didn’t ask to be cursed. And he was not responsible for his parents decision to keep him and Dusk apart to protect him. How could he? He was just a young foal. With that in mind, he could feel his pain starting to disappear and then he started to get up, while telling to the fake Dusk, who seemed surprised by that sudden attitude of his:

“You’re wrong… I’m not to blame for any of this… I was also a victim. A victim to the Lord of Chaos. Because of him, I also spent years away from my little brother. Yes, I may have felt a little guilty, but I realize I have no reason to feel that way… and I won’t any creature tell me otherwise!”

That declaration caused a wave of energy to be released from Star that started to clear the fog around him, including the fake Dusk, until it spread through all the canyon. Before that, Star was able to see everything that was around him, every one that had been trapped there, all with an empty look in them. It didn’t take long for Star to finally see Clover. He hurried to his side, calling:

“Clover!”

But when he tried to wake him up, he couldn’t do it.

“Star!” a voice called.

He looked up and saw Crosswart getting down the canyon and then approach him quickly.

“Thank the Lord of Order that you’re okay” he said.

“Yeah, thanks to you…” Star said. “I could hear your voice… telling me what I needed to hear. Thanks, Crosswart.”

“Hey, that’s what spirit guides are for” he replied. “And I can see you found your friend.”

“Yeah, but he seems… not himself” Star observed.

“Just give him a little time” Crosswart said. “He stayed in this fog for too long. Once he is out, he only need a moment for the effects to ware off. But we need to get out of here now, before the fog returns.”

Star nodded with his head and then Crosswart took Clover and put him on his back, allowing then Star to climb as well. After that, the spirit guide run and climbed up as fast as he could and just in time, as the fog returned and covered the base of the canyon again. The young alicorn prince couldn’t help but release a sigh of relief for finally be out of that place.

When they returned to the top, however, they found Hepheus lying on the ground, hurt, with a sting wound on his left hind leg.

“Hepheus!” Star called, coming down Crosswart, who then proceeded to place Clover on the ground, and approaching him. “What happened?”

“Watch out!” he warned. “It’s a trap!”

But before Star could process anything, a little stone that was beside him shone with a flash and then Scorpio immerged, hissing. Before the young alicorn could do anything, the mutated changeling stung him on a leg as well. As soon as that happened, Star could feeling the debilitating venom of Scorpio starting to make effect.

“Scorpio…” Star murmured. “What… are you doing here?”

“Did you really think the Lord of Chaos would just let you get Star Swirl’s book just like that?” Scorpio asked. “I don’t think so. Not so much fun when you don’t have a nasty fox helping you detect any danger, hein? Consider that as vengeance for last time.”

Before Scorpio could do or say anything else, he was charged by Crosswart, who throw him back to some distance. The mutated changeling hissed at the spirit guide, but the latter replied with one of his supersonic roars. That roar was a warning, being the reason why it wasn’t that strong, however Scorpio was able to perceive the power Crosswart possessed.

“You’re lucky you have your bear-thingy protecting you, Star, or else you would feel much more than just my sting” Scorpio hissed. “But then again, I already did what I needed to do.”

And so he moved away quickly.

Turning to Star and Hepheus, Crosswart asked:

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, we are…” Hepheus said, while starting to recover.

“Fortunately, Scorpio’s venom doesn’t last very long…” Star said, also recovering, looking then to his sting wound and noticing there was a purple coloration around it. “But it’s funny… this venom seems a little bit… off.”

“I agree” Hepheus replied, also looking to the wound. “It’s not the same one.”

Crosswart observed both wounds, using both his sense of vision and smell. At that moment, he recognized something in the venom.

“Oh no…” he said. “I know this kind of venom… Guys, I think you’re stuck here in the Spirit World… forever.”

“What?!” Star asked. “No, that cannot be…”

Hepheus, hearing that, tried to break his meditating state in the Pony World, but he was unable to do it.

“Crosswart is right” he said. “We can’t leave. That must be what Scorpio meant. The Lord of Chaos must have sent him to sting us, so he wouldn’t be able to come out of the Spirit World, not even by the physical portals”

“But I can’t get stuck here…” Star said. “I need to get out and find Star Swirl’s book, so that we can stop the Pony of Shadows and… restore my mother…”

Crosswart couldn’t help but feeling sorry for Star. He could feel how much overwhelmed he was with the weight of the responsibility he had. Deciding to fulfill his duty to him, Crosswart started thinking of a way to help him, scratching his mane while doing, and then he remembered of something that could help him and Hepheus.

“Wait… that’s it!” he said. “I know how we can fix this.”

“You do?” Star and Hepheus asked at the same time.

“Yes, but I have to warn you that it won’t be very pleasant” the spirit guide warned.

“Crosswart, you’re the best!” Star exclaimed. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome” he replied.

The moment was interrupted by some moans. They turned and saw that Clover was recovering from the effects of the fog, sitting up and trying to clear his mind.

“What happened?” he asked.

“What happened is that I took you from the Fog of the Lost” Star replied, approaching him.

Clover turned to him and became very surprised for seeing his old friend from foalhood.

“Star?” he asked. “Is that… really you?”

“Of course I am” Star replied. “Who else?”

“Well, it’s just…” Clover started. “You’re exactly the same since last time I saw you.”

“To me, it has been only a few weeks” Star said. “But then again, I also didn’t expect that the Clover that I met in the Triangle, the same one that loved pranking and drop stink bombs was actually Clover the Clever.”

Clover chuckled and said:

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. As you can see, I did matured. But if I became the pony I am, it’s all thanks to you and Dusk. How is he? Don’t tell me you’ve come to rescue me all by yourself. That’s so not you.”

“Well… actually, there’s another reason why I came, besides helping you” Star replied. “I need your help, Clover. It’s very important and only you can do it.”

“Then ask” Clover said. “You’re my friend. Of course I’ll help you in any way I can.”

“I need to know where’s the book Star Swirl used to seal the Pony of Shadows…”