Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

by daOtterGuy

Slaughter

Starswirl plunged the arrow into his disciple’s chest with his magic. He stared impassively as Tome Seeker screamed, clutching at his chest. Blood splattered Starswirl’s face, giving the impression of depth, but he could tell through the feel of his magic that it was not deep enough.

“How frustrating,” Starswirl remarked. He increased the strength of his magic, plunging the arrow deeper into Tome, his screams rising in pitch. “I had always known you were thick-headed, I just never knew that also meant your skin.”

Tome collapsed to the ground as his blood turned from scarlet to a horrid mix of pink, green, and purple. The poison in the arrow worked fast, Tome’s body already beginning to waste away.

“The fifth one was to…” He checked the note tucked into an inner pocket of his robe “... Somnambula?” He did a rapid calculation in his brain. “Even I couldn’t muster enough magic to teleport a body there. Perhaps I could dump the body on their neighbours? That should suffice.”

A burst of magic and the corpse was whisked away to its destination. He pulled out the sixth and final arrow from the quiver strapped over his chest with his magic. An ornate gold shaft with swirls of pink along the exterior, its metal head a sharpened point embedded with a hidden poison.

There was one last disciple to find and Stygian had proved to be wily, hiding away from him in the initial entry. His machinations mattered not to Starswirl, as it was only a matter of time before he would find him.

He stalked the corridors of his tower, many of the rooms significantly damaged in the prior scuffles with his admittedly strong disciples. If they had shown such promise before all of this, he may not have had to resort to these measures, but, alas, they were adamant in their selfishness to not be sacrificed for his achievements, so now he must deign to hunt them.

A demeaning task.

After several fruitless minutes of search, Starswirl released a huff of annoyance. Stygian was frustratingly good at this game of hide and seek, and this was starting to become more of a chore as time wore on. He was confident that he would eventually best him, however. The tower was magically locked from the outside with his signature. There was no way out but via his magic.

As he trotted into one of the nearby rooms, he was blinded by a flash of silver light. He reeled back, then felt a stab of pain. When he regained his vision, he noticed red blood drip from a razor-thin cut along his neck.

Looking up, Starswirl saw Stygian, dressed in his dark apprentice robes with a silver knife in his mouth. Starswirl’s blood dripped from the blade. He looked battered, severely wounded from Starswirl’s assault, yet there was a fire of determination in his eyes.

“And what exactly did you hope to achieve with that?” Starswirl asked.

Stygian’s magic grabbed the knife and floated it next to his head.

“Lessons on Magical Signatures,” Stygian recited. “Most powerful spells can only be bypassed by the signature of the unicorn that cast it. In these cases, a simple replica will not suffice and the owner’s glow will need to be copied. This feat is not possible, except for one notable exception.”

Starswirl’s eyes widened as he realized Stygian’s intentions.

“No!” Starswirl shouted as he threw his magic forward to stop Stygian.

“Goodbye, Archmage,” Stygian spat.

Having acquired a sample of Starswirl’s blood and a powerful conduit of silver, Stygian’s magical aura changed to match that of Starswirl’s own, then quickly cast a one-way teleport as far away from the tower as possible.

Starswirl’s magic blasted into Stygian’s chest.

Stygian teleported away.

“No,” Starswirl yelled. He grabbed the nearest object with his magic and threw it, breaking everything in the projectile’s trajectory. He grabbed several more afterward as he shouted, “No, no, no, No, No, NO, NO, NO!”

“Now what are we supposed to do, Starswirl?”

He whipped his head toward the newcomer. Two shattered stars stared back at him.

“You have failed,” Phoebus stated.

“Not yet! I can still turn this around. I just—!”

“He’s long gone. You won’t find him. Not in time,” Phoebus interrupted.

“Someone else then!” Starswirl said, desperation in his voice.

“No one else is available. It had to be your apprentices, as they are the only ones that had enough of your magical signature naturally upon them to properly trigger the plague stored within the arrows.”

“Please, there must be—” A moment of realization “—They need my signature to work?”

“Yes.”

“Then what about me?”

Phoebus smiled. “Now you get it.”