The Dark Below

by WindigogoGadget

You Sold Our World

Julius. Orange.

Hate uttered the name with every drop of foaming, toxic spit it could muster. That named pony, somehow oh so familiar, and so yet far away.

One, pathetic, prized pony, the sole cause of everything that happened. Death. Destruction. Thousands, tens of thousands, had perished from their hooves. A stupid, greedy pony. It had traded in life, so much life, for so little. Not for power, loathe it was to admit that it could understand the reasons for trading lives for power.

It had traded valuable information. World ending matters, settled over thirty pieces. Not thirty artifacts. Not thirty tomes filled with knowledge of good and evil- but for thirty silver pieces. Meaningless pieces of metal. It had sold to them information on the routes and the leylines and the magic of the cities. It sold everything, everything it knew about them, the feeding, the shadows, the changelings, and now all It had to show for it was worthless coinage.

What good was silver in a land that reverted to its basics of sharing and sheer goodness? Even then, when the towns did use coinage, the prices were always so low, and the coffers so stuffed to the brim that the exchange of money was more of a symbol than it was a true exchange.

Thirty pieces. And the death toll was still being polled. How many died for just one coin? A thousand? A hundred thousand? Vile. Wretched. Not even in a thousand years, could its own greed be enough to sell out something as precious and valuable as life for a coin. Truly, there was one thing that held it at bay from drawing itself from the walls of reality and bearing down on Julia's with the fullest extent of its wrath.

Envy's hate, could not kill. This time, it was not because its hatred had turned impotent- its own hatred threatened the world with storms and cold winds- but it was because, in a sort of twisted way and roundabout way, Envy had begun to love. Its hatred could not overcome its equal parts of greed, and its value of life, and at the same time it clashed with its gluttony and hunger for a righteous punishment. It went against the commandments. The orders.

He could not kill him. But he could be violent. He could gnash his teeth on his flesh, make him scream and wail and beg, but decided something more.

It would make Julius loathe.

It's leviathan form, bled and oozed through reality, forming a white form, radiant and blinding. In this small form, it took upon Julius's visage with its own eyes. It saw an orange pony, with no magical talent, not a horn, not a set of wings, just a mundane pony. It's cutie mark, it's destiny, was a coin. A silver bit. Betrayal.

"Julius." It uttered, with quiet rage and all the gravity of a deadly riptide. "Dearest, pony. What have you done?"

Julius Orange turned with too many steps, frightened and surprised, his hooves stumbled as he was undecided upon if he wanted to flee, or to kneel. His eyes were pinpricks as he stammered, indecisive, and terrified.

"H-Ha... H-Hell- Hello. Hello, Father. You, had startled me, with your entrance."

The whelp was terrified. Like a brat spotted with a hand in the cookie jar. Or a hoof in a blood puddle. It stared. It stared at him unfeeling and emotionless, a blank stare that would at most confuse the several innocent ponies he had seen. But it had the opposite effect. It knew it's gaze was judging, it knew that he had committed a great and terrible act. Perhaps not enough to know the why, or the how.

But Envy knew, and that knowledge was enough to frighten the pony.

“I…. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone!!!” He screamed and his voice broke into a pig squeal as tears ran down his face in wide streams. For him, It was over. The world was ending, and it was all his fault. His family was gone, his friends were gone, and he would be gone soon too. Julius would have had nothing left, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. He let out a scream, and charged forward, hooves ready to plunge into the creature’s weak spot, whatever that may be.

Julius had lost everything, but his will.

The Leviathan took the force of the feeble blow without so much as a flinch.

How dare.

How dare they strike me?

"Was it worth it? Was that punch worth thirty silver?" The Leviathan spoke.

Julius’s eyes widened, and he backed up. “W-wait, w-What!? Wait! N-No! Please! I didn’t want any of this! I-… I’m so sorry, for everything!…”

Even as he fell to his knees, Julius refused to go down, hoping to explain his actions. Disgusting. It's refusal to accept the incoming truth with decorum disgusted Envy. “N-no! You don’t understand! I didn’t want any of this!”

Was he really that pathetic? He couldn’t simply allow himself to go out like this, he just had to try.

The Leviathan watched. Miserable thing, loathsome little pony. Sniveling? Groveling? That's not going to bring back all of the dead. It's not going to put the pools of blood back inside their rightful owners.

"Speak. Julius. You sold us out for thirty pieces. For what purpose would you do this?"

Julius trembled, taking a deep breath before answering. “I.. I was in debt, I had no real way of paying off my loans. I thought that… th-that I could pay it off with information that was irrelevant to the ponies, and maybe, if I was lucky, I could gain some extra bits out of it…”

He shivered, taking another deep breath before continuing. “It’s not worth it now, knowing what happened, but at the time, I… I just needed some way out…”

Debt.

Debt?

Stupid Dearest pony. He should have known better. Why would he have gone to the enemies coffers when the coffers of his home town would have gladly paid off his security, to let him continue being a free pony. And they had. They'd paid off his security, his debt, and let him walk away a free stallion by paying the toll in a sea of blood.

"Thirty. Pieces." Envy repeated. The furious roar that laid beneath the surface of those calm words, existed only in their minds

Julius’s ears hung low, and he buried his head in his hooves. “I know it wasn’t right… I never intended to hurt anyone! Please… please, just let me explain…”

He was desperate, clinging onto the desperate hope that the creature would hear him out, not completely destroy him, and like a broken record he tried to hold up feeble words like a shield; as if they had not already failed him.

“I… I was stupid…”

"It was obvious enough." The Leviathan spat venomously.

Julius flinched, and stayed down on his knees. “Please… I know it was wrong… But you don’t understand! When I made that deal…” He trailed off, struggling to come of with an explanation.

“I… It didn’t seem to matter, back then. I swear, it didn’t!”

"WE didn't matter back then." It uttered. It's voice sharp, and dangerously calm. It's wrath tempered, controlled.

Precise.

"We didn't matter when you sold us out for coin. We didn't matter, when you could have simply asked for help, from your own kind." It continued, speaking clearly as it's body swelled with hatred and rage.

"We didn't matter when they were killing us, and you were spared. And then, you had the nerve, the gall, to hide here, with us."

Julius looked at the creature with pleading eyes, his mind racing, trying to make excuses. “I… I know…” He gulped.

“I could have asked for help, but I… I didn’t want to be a bother! I thought I could handle it myself, I didn’t need help…”

It was all falling apart, nothing he could say would fix it.

“I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, really, I didn’t!”

The Leviathan raised it's head, and turned away from Julius as it gave a guttural noise, a pained, sorrowful and low laugh.

Everything had been ruined. Because sweet little Julius didn't want to be a bother. The stupid idiot. The blithering little fool.

The scared boy.

"You? a bother?" It giggled at the absurdity. The sharp little squeals like the cackle of hyenas on a hunt were as ice water, flowing down the spine of Julius. Or perhaps that was simply the weight of his sins.

“But I… I would have just become a burden and then… and then-“ He continued, desperately trying to find a way out.

“Please, just… let me make this right! Please, there has to be something I can do, PLEASE!”

Tears run down his face, mixing with snot as he looked at the Leviathan with wide eyes, waiting for the end, but hoping that there was something he could do to avoid it.

Silence.

Condemnation.

The Leviathan stared at Julius in all of its hateful glory, it's eyes boring into him as it dissected, tore apart.

"You have slept in our beds for days, beds kept warm by the ashes of your consequence. Nothing you do will right your wrongs, dear pony."

Julius felt his body grow cold, as a shiver ran down his spine. “But… if nothing I do will fix it, then what am I supposed to do? Just… just accept that I’ve ruined everything? That all these ponies have suffered because of me, and that I can’t do anything about it?”

Silence echoed around the house.

Justice.

"Yes." It uttered. It's voice was calm upon its surface, but below laid a deadly undertow of pure hate.

"There is nothing more you could ever possibly do."

Julius closed his eyes, feeling the air leave his lungs as he slowly accepted his fate. He had done nothing but harm the ponies around him, even when he thought he was doing the right thing.

He wanted to run, so desperately wanted to run, but he couldn’t. He felt as though his legs were welded to the ground.

“Okay…” He whispered, his voice hoarse. “Okay…”

Judgement would be passed with just a few final words. A closing statement, to nail his coffin shut.

"I leave you now, with a debt that neither gold nor blood, nor life, can repay. For the wages of your sin is death, now bare them upon your back. The death of every child, shadow, and changeling, will rest upon thee."

Julius’s eyes went wide as he heard the final utterances. The consequences of his actions were now clear, a reality he would never be able to run from.

He couldn’t say anything, words had escaped his grasp. All he could do was listen to the creatures final words, a final decree that would sentence him to a living Hell.

Julius' life had been spared. But now the guilt would weigh around his heart like lead, and would surely tear him to pieces beneath its weight.

Justice.

Julius could still feel each and every word of the creatures harsh decree, sinking into his heart like spikes of burning iron. He had been spared from death, but given a worse fate.

Guilt.

For three days, and three nights, Julius struggled in his bed, and slept soundly nevermore, until he found solace in the comforting embrace of a noose around his neck.

And with this, Julius Orange’s fate had been sealed.

He had betrayed a city, betrayed a nation, and even betrayed himself.

His guilt was insurmountable, and his debt could not be repaid, no matter how hard he tried. He would never feel the warming rays of the sun, nor the cold embrace of the moon, nor the soft kiss of a loved one. Buried facing away from the sun, in the shadow of death.

Julius Orange had passed, and all that remained in his wake was the aftermath of utter, pure sorrow and ruin.

Even with his death, nothing he could do could change that.

Author's Note:

I had originally intended to name this chapter "There Is No Origin, Vested Rank or Status that Will Stop The Sharp Edge of A Sword", before combining it with the current title, and then just sticking with "You Sold Our World."

Comments

[kvazar]

Ambition drove you to abandon everything you had... for everything you wanted.
honestly tho this fic is so underrated