A New Spark

by emerald_shine

Chapter 3: Demonic Tutor

The demons loomed over the party. They roared and swung their claws towards Kaya and Tyvar. Kaya dodged and jumped onto the demons arm. She ran to the demons head and struck his neck with the axe. The axe didn't break but it certainly didn't deal much damage either.

Tyvar also dodged but didn't have enough battle experience to do much afterwards besides roll on the floor. Kaya yelled down to the others. "We don't have time for this! Lyra! Do something!"

Lyra closed her eyes, trying to focus her magic and she could feel the mana flowing through her. When she attempted to use it however, all that came out was a small little spark of lightning combined with a flicker of flame. Above them, Kaya continued to strike the demon on the neck. She had produced small cuts but nothing of real damage due to the demon's thick, leather-like skin.

Lyra tried again but produced a similar result. Tyvar got himself back up just in time to be assaulted by the second demon once again. This time, he managed to dodge it and stay on his feet. He ran toward the demon and slipped around him. As the demon tried to turn, he ran his blades against its heel causing it to fall down with a large, earth-shaking crash. He approached the demon's large head and drove his blade into it.

Black blood began to flow out of the demon's head as Tyvar removed his blade. He looked up at Kaya, who was still struggling to do any damage to the demon. He touched a clasp on his arm and began to unfasten his blade from his arm. "Kaya!" He yelled throwing the blade up towards her.

Kaya expertly caught it and sent it straight into the demon's head. The demon fell and Kaya jumped. She was caught by Bon-Bon who was waiting down below.

"Kaya. I'm sorry. I just don't know how to control my magic right." Lyra said.

Kaya handed the blade back to Tyvar and he fastened it to his arm. "It's fine. You just need practice. It took me years to learn magic. This is why most planeswalkers and sorcerers end up aligning with only a couple colors. Who knows? You might end up aligning with red! You'll be able to do that fire spell you tried with ease."

Lyra's face fell. "But when do I get to align? I want to be able to help you guys. I want to be able to planeswalk and bring us home!"

Tyvar jumped in. "There's no set time. You need to become good with your magic first. You'll know when it happens."

Lyra was about to respond when the ground shook violently. Kaya looked towards the tower structure to see a glowing light coming from it. "We're too late! He's merging realms with the sword!"

The party rushed towards the light to see that it hadn't been coming from the tower at all. There was a chasm in the middle of the ground and on the other side, the realm looked completely different. A swamp-like area. There was a glowing stitch in the middle of the large chasm and standing on the stitch, they could see Tibalt holding the sword above his head.

There were hordes of demons rallying around him, similar to how the trolls had been. Tibalt was speaking in a language that none of them could recognize. He pointed the sword towards the swamp and yelled what the party could only assume was a battle cry.

The demons charged towards the swamp. It was then that Lyra saw something rising out of the ground. Zombies began to pull themselves out of the ground. These weren't like the zombie ponies that Spike had told them stories about. They were strong and covered in armor. A war broke out between the demons and the zombies.

Tyvar observed the situation. "He's created a doomskar. A tear in the realms to stitch them together. I can only assume he's done this to every realm. That looks like the realm of Karfell. The zombie realm. What should we do Kaya?" He looked towards Kaya but she had already began darting towards Tibalt who was laughing at the carnage.

The rest of the party rushed towards her but she reached Tibalt before they could devise a plan. She attacked him and stole the sword from his hands. She raised the sword over his head. "Any last words?" Lyra heard her ask.

Tibalt smiled. "It's finished." With that there was a flash of light and he disappeared.

Kaya stabbed the sword into the ground angrily. "God Damn it!" She turned back to the party. "He planeswalked. We aren't going to be able to find him easily."

"At least we got the sword." Bon-Bon said.

"Yes. But this war is a problem." Tyvar interjected. "Most creatures don't know about the other realms. This could shift the balance of Kaldheim forever if we can't stop it."

"What is that thing?" Lyra asked, pointing to a large demon who beheaded ten zombies at once with a large dual-head axe.

"Steer clear of him. That's Varragoth The demon overlord. He won't hesitate to kill anything that gets in his way." Lyra's face paled a little and they took cover behind a rock to come up with a plan.

"Tyvar?" Bon-Bon asked. "How are the realms of Kaldheim arranged?"

"They all revolve around the world tree. They can collide but it usually doesn't last for more than a few seconds at most."

Kaya tossed the large sword to Bon-Bon who fumbled with the handle a little before catching it, consequently being dragged down by its weight. "Okay. If these realms rotate, and they've all collided, then if we go back the way we came, there should be another doomskar. I don't know where but it's gotta be safer than this."

"If I know these realms the way I think I do, We're in Immersturm now. If that's Karfell, then behind us should be Bretagard."

Lyra raised her hands. "If we go back the way we came, won't we just end up back i that place with the trolls?"

Tyvar shook his head. "No. We arrived here through an omenpath. Those can connect to any realm. going backwards will lead us to the land of the Human Warriors."

Lyra's face lit up before Bon-Bon smacked her on the back of the head. "Not the time Ly."

The party traveled backwards and, just as Kaya had said, there was another doomskar. On the other side, was a lush green plane. "The demons must not be there yet." Bon-Bon said.

They began to walk towards the doomskar. As they did, Lyra began to hear a voice inside her head. Over here! Behind this rock!

She looked towards the others and quietly snuck off quickly. She knew she would be able to make it back before they actually crossed the doomskar.

When she reached the rock that the voice had led her to, she gasped as she saw a large red demon. Similar to Tibalt but not nearly as tall or scary looking. "What are you?"

"It doesn't matter." It spoke in a hissing voice that sent chills down Lyra's spine. "I've been watching you guys. I can sense the magic coming off of you. It is unfamiliar to me."

Lyra knew she couldn't show she was scared. Her emotions would be her best weapon here. "What about it?" She asked warily.

"I can tell you're eager to reach your group so I'll make this quick. I've seen your desire to use your magical abilities. I'd like to take a small bit of blood from you so I can study your magic. In return, I will enhance your magical abilities. You'll be able to cast spells with ease."

"Why would I make a deal with a demon? Seems risky."

The demon swirled his hands and an orange glow came from them. Lyra backed away a little. The magic took the form of chains and quickly wrapped around her arm, the other end attaching itself to the demon. "Luminous bonds. A spell that can kill anyone lying under them. I can honestly tell you honestly that I will perfectly adhere to this deal. I'd just like to be able to work with your blood and I will enhance your magic abilities in the way that I described earlier." The demon held out his hand with a smile on his face. The smile seemed friendly.

Lyra hesitated for a second and looked down at the orange chains on her arm. Slowly, she inched her hand toward his and she grasped it firmly.

The demon laughed and Lyra watched as colors began to flow through her hand. White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green mana swirled in her palm and flowed to her core. Lyra's could feel as her brain was filled with all knowledge of mana and the inner-workings of sorcery.

After the colors stopped swirling, the demon laughed loudly. Out of his index finger, he took a long needle and inserted it into her wrist. Lyra expected a feeling similar to giving blood. She was surprised to instead find that something was being pumped into her blood. She tried to pull away but the demon held her firmly.

When he was finished, Lyra collapsed to the ground. "You said you were only going to take a blood sample! What about the bonds?"

The demon laughed. "If you recall, while I was under the effects of the bonds, I said I was going to work with your blood."

Tears began to flow down Lyra's face. "What did you do to me!" She yelled.

The demon chuckled a little. "Oh, you'll find out. I would stop crying darling. I'm going to send you back to your friends. Enjoy your newfound power." He snapped his fingers and Lyra was back with her friends as if she had never left. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes before anyone decided to look at her.

The party crossed the doomskar into Bretagard and they emerged in a lush green plain. They saw a large wall in the distance and agreed to take shelter there.

Lyra began to flick her hand quietly. She was seeing the red mana flowing through her as she produced flames on the end of her finger like a lighter. It didn't burn her, but it sent heat through her whole body. She shook her hand and extinguished the flame. She continued to flick the flame quietly and extinguish it as she walked.

In her head, she heard four words that chilled her to the bone.

"All will be one."

* * *

"Any sign of them?"

"Not a one. I asked everyone I knew but they all said they hadn't seen them. Other than their normal human varients of course."

Starlight sighed. "What do we do at this point?"

Twilight sighed and flopped down on a nearby chair. "I don't even know. How are we going to explain to the princesses that two ponies went through our portal and are now stuck in who the FUCK knows where!"

Starlight placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "I have an idea. Let's recreate the portal, and figure out what went wrong. Once we can guarantee it's stable, we can use the coordinates you put into the first portal to find them."

Twilight shook her head. "I don't think that will work. When the portal collapsed, there was a good chance the tunnel got screwed up. They're probably on a plane we've never even heard of before."

"This is the best option we have."

"Your right!" Twilight yelled. She clearly thought of something. "Let's build another unstable portal!"

"That's not even close to what I was saying. Where the hell did you get that idea?"

"No! Let's create an unstable portal exactly like the one we just did with the blueprints we copied while we were building! Then, let's make a stable portal! We can alter the shrinking potion to shrink objects! We can shrink the portal and I could take it with me! We can use it to find Lyra and Bon-Bon and I can use the good one to bring them home."

Starlight looked at Twilight with wide eyes. "Let's get started!"

Author's Note:

I know this was confusing but I can't wait to continue.

If you know what "All will be one" Means, then you already know what's coming.