Chapter 3
While the fillies napped, Alric cleaned the house and made a pair of bed frames for them. He didn’t have straw and he didn’t want to waste the hay in their supplies since that was food they could eat, if necessary. So he had to pile up layers of fabric and old clothes he had to make comfortable spots for them to lay at night. He liked to carry fabrics as that was something he could actually trade with the living before he had to move on. The same reason he carried common weapons and armor he had stripped from corpses since a good sword or suit of armor could be worth something to a mortal even if they were so weak as to be useless to him. It was a useful habit now as he couldn’t force them to continue sleeping on the floor as they were now.
He had thousands of feathers taken from birds he had hunted to make fletchings for arrows. Such was the nature of gathering resources over thousands of years, sometimes from the same bird repeatedly, without even really thinking about it as he went along his daily business. But making a feather bed would take time and effort. He hoped they wouldn’t stay long enough for him to need to make feather beds for them. They belonged with their own kind. And he knew they would probably detest staying around a monster like him if they knew what he really was. And why wouldn’t they? He was a cursed soul consuming walking corpse who may one day go mad after all.
The Undead were persecuted by the living and for good reason.
When the beds were done, Alric went outside and made an outhouse. The living required such things. Hopefully it would suffice in lieu of a proper sewage system.
When that was done, he started working on what would be his permanent home whilst he researched a way to return to his own world. He started building a castle out of crystal.
It would be a two or three day project since he was going to have to stop and take care of the fillies every so often until he was finished. However, he was going to need a proper lab to conduct his experiments and a grand library on par with, if not far surpassing, the Duke’s Archives. Perhaps a greenhouse to grow various medicinal mosses, Green Blossoms and Elizabeth Mushrooms so he would have products to trade with the ponies once he got in contact with them, so that he might purchase parchment and empty books from them for all the notes he would have to take. His little guest house was not going to suffice for that.
Perhaps he should also build a chapel where he could keep the Lord Souls separate from himself whenever he didn’t need them. Keeping the souls in his bottomless box where he had easy access to them was a risk he had no choice but to take in his world. In this world, why would he do such a thing? He needed to keep them safe, no doubt. Both from others and from himself in the event he started to go hollow. The biggest issue would be security to keep the souls safe but he had ideas for that. Nito’s miasma of death and disease could lay low even the other Lords at the height of his power and with Nito’s death soul restored to its former strength, Alric could use it to set up the Miasma as a trap for those foolish enough to try.
As he was working on the entrance hall he sensed the souls of Celestia and Luna moving once more. They had woken up from their nap. He kept track of them but continued working. He wanted to give them some time to themselves to grieve. And for Celestia to convince Luna of the truth assuming the filly believed he was still at fault for their deaths or “disappearance”.
He just started working on the library connected to the main entrance hall when he sensed their souls getting closer.
Putting his catalyst away, he turned and headed back to meet them in the entrance.
He saw them looking up at the two massive open doors in awe. They must have never seen a building so large before. The doors by themselves were taller than an average two story building after all. That also meant they would be almost impossible for anyone else to open due to their incredible weight as they were made of crystal, but he could make a simple golem for that.
“Hello, little ones… How are you two feeling?” He asked in a gentle tone.
“Sad… We miss mommy and daddy…” Celestia said glumly. Both of them looked as though they had just been crying.
Alric nodded. “I know it must be hard, especially for ones so young. You have my deepest sympathies. If there is anything I can do to ease thy burden, simply inform me and I shall endeavor to do all I can to support you.”
“I’m sorry…” Luna sniffled.
“Whatever for?” Alric asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I yelled at you… I threw things at you and hit you… I was bad… I’m sorry…” Luna explained, looking at the ground.
Alric walked over to her, knelt down, and lifted her into a hug. “You had just learned of your parents’ fate and were understandably distraught. I would advise against lashing out like that in the future as violence is the wrong way to cope with grief, but I understand your pain and of course I forgive you.”
He set the filly back down and stood back up. “Is there anything either of you need? I’ve made an outhouse if you need to relieve yourselves, and I do have a tea set if you’re thirsty. I like to make tea out of a plant called a Green Blossom. It’s quite good and Green Blossom has arcane properties that will restore stamina. I oft consume it raw which is… unpleasant… but the tea is quite good in my opinion. Or perhaps you require something to entertain yourselves? I have a wonderful chess set that has been tragically underused in recent centuries. Perhaps I could teach you how to play. I would offer books to read, if your parents taught you to read, except I doubt I have any tomes written in languages you might be familiar with.”
“Um… Tea might be nice… But, what is this? This place is huge! What about the house you already built?” Celestia asked.
“This shall be my permanent residence. I require a significant amount of space for my research. A sizable library to store my books, a lab for research and experimentation, a study for reading through my books and penning hypotheses and theories, a garden to grow medicinal plants I might sell, among other amenities for you two and any other guests I might have in the future. So I am constructing a castle to meet all of my needs. It should be complete in two, maybe four days. The smaller house I made was a temporary measure so we would have shelter whilst I construct the castle and later it shall serve as a guest house for travelers and the like.” Alric explained.”
“That seems like a lot to clean…” Celestia muttered.
Alric waved his hand dismissively. “You needn’t concern yourself with that. I shall simply make some simple golems to clean and maintain the castle. You two are my wards, not my maids and I shan’t put you to work as such. I am not so cruel as to force children to clean a castle of the size I shall build.”
If Seath could make Crystal golems to kidnap maidens for his unethical experimentation and to fight intruders or those who would save the maidens they kidnapped, Alric could make golems to do something so simple as cleaning. Searching out candidates with the qualities Seath sought and being capable of fighting required a great deal more complexity than simply cleaning, dusting, and patching chips or cracks.
“What’s a golem?” Luna asked.
“A magical construct of sorts. I shall show you once I have made one. For now, let’s return and I shall set the tea to boil over the fire.” He led the fillies back to the house and started making some green blossom tea.
In the coming days, Alric would teach the fillies how to play chess, would tell them stories of his past that he thought had a pleasant ending, were humorous, or had a good lesson they could learn from. Celestia seemed to really enjoy stories of Quelaan and Big Hat Logan, and seemed to have an affinity for Gwyn, Gwynevere, and Gwyn’s first born. At least with the more positive tales he told of the deities, leaving out their various misdeeds. Luna on the other hand linked his more humorous stories and enjoyed the legends of Artorias and the Four Knights of Gwyn. As opposed to her sister, Luna seemed to have an affinity with Gwyndolin.
Alric actually began to wonder if their names had something to do with it. Celestia held an affinity for the deities with a connection to the sun whilst Luna had affinities with the god of the moon. He eventually dismissed it as pure coincidence but it was an interesting coincidence at the very least.
Eventually his castle was completed and Alric had made the golems to open and close the doors and clean the castle.
The front doors had heavy knockers and a pulley system to ring a bell that was enchanted to be heard throughout the entire castle. The entrance halls had enchanted braziers for both lighting and warmth. The flames would easily burn for hundreds of years before they needed to be reignited and as with most magical flames they produced no smoke.
His library was practically a castle in its own right, easily double the size of the Duke’s Archives and thus capable of storing countless books. His study was connected to the second floor of the library and was actually about the size of a typical study. His lab was larger than most houses and had five floors each connected by two spiral staircases.
What would become his garden was a massive domed building supported by thick arches. The roof of the dome was semi-opaque. The plants Alric wanted to grow preferred darker places but the dome would let in just a bit of natural sunlight in case he decided to grow more than just his mosses, green blossoms, and elizabeth mushrooms which he very well might. The whole building was about five hundred feet in diameter and had crystals enchanted to maintain a specific temperature so it couldn’t get cold enough to kill the plants. He could even make a small artificial lake within the garden to maintain the humidity and keep the plants watered if he so chose.
His chapel was in the very back of his castle and was larger than his garden, supported by thick pillars of crystal and lit by braziers like the one in the entrance hall. Along the walls were four massive statues the size of the Iron Golem of Sen’s Fortress. They were designed to resemble the four Lords. There were dozens of smaller crystal statues that resembled knights. Each of the statues would eventually be golems, but it would take time to enchant them all.
When they were finally animated, the four larger statues would each have a tiny fraction of the power of the souls that originally belonged to the Lords they represented, and thus they would each individually be as powerful as Seath or the Four Kings and could thus challenge gods and win. Whereas the smaller golems would be strong enough to match Gwyn’s Black Knights. Alric was taking the security of the Lord souls very seriously.
At the back of the chapel were four pedestals for the Lord Souls. He was debating if they needed much more protection than this considering this was a different world and presumably no one else would even know they existed let alone how powerful they were.
He would put some cursory enchantments around the pedestals to make him aware of anyone getting too close to them, casting spells on them, or even merely using magic to observe them remotely. If he noticed any interest in them from anything in this world, he would put in place defenses that would make Lord Gwyn himself pale at the thought of trying to break in to Alric’s Chapel. Entire armies wouldn’t be able to siege it and gods as powerful as Gwyn’s First Born or Velka would wither and die long before they could get anywhere near the souls.
But that was only if it proved necessary.
Alric also made a kitchen, a pantry, guest rooms, a sitting room, a ball room, and an infirmary just in case he ever had visitors and the guest house proved insufficient.
It was the day after Alric had finished his castle and he was trudging through the icy wasteland again. Celestia and Luna were back at his castle, safe and warm, likely playing chess as they had both taken to the game after they had both learned how the pieces moved. He, on the other hand, was looking for this ‘city’ the girls kept mentioning. As much as he enjoyed the company, he wanted to get them back amongst their own people as soon as possible.
Having changed out of his gold hemmed black robes, Alric was currently wearing the uniform of the Pardoners of Velka, minus the helmet. It was the most regular attire he owned and it was considerably more comfortable to wear than armor. On his hand were several rings. The Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, Lingering Dragon Crest Ring, the Ring of The Sun’s First Born, and his Old Witch’s ring. They were the rings he always wore for everyday use. And he had learned the Old Witch’s ring was the only reason he could understand Celestia and Luna in the first place. He was going to make an effort to learn their language eventually, just as he had learned the language of Izalith, but for now he needed the ring to translate for him. Especially once he found this ‘city’.
He tried asking Celestia for directions but she only knew general cardinal directions from her village, not an exact distance or location. So she wasn’t very helpful in that regard. Still he went in the cardinal direction she said the city was in.
To speed things along and cover more ground, Alric would cast a spell to teleport ahead several miles. And to make sure he wasn’t passing anything by he would teleport ten miles to the left and right of his primary path.
It didn’t take him terribly long to spot a village.
He teleported relatively close to the village, put his catalyst back in his bottomless box, and made the rest of the way on foot.
The village had a bunch of what appeared to be fruit trees around it but the leaves were sparse and they only had a few struggling buds. There were also a couple of fields with a few struggling crops. The fact the trees had any leaves or flowers and that the crops were growing at all shocked him, considering how cold it was. It had to have been the work of some kind of magic. Something like pyromancy perhaps, considering Pyromancy worked through a connection with nature. He had no idea how that would work as he’d never heard of nor seen such a spell, but he may have been able to do something vaguely similar as a miracle with the Life Soul. He wasn’t fully certain as he’d never done something like that before but maybe?
He reached the edge of the village and saw it was full of ponies going about their daily business, bundled in layers of clothes to resist the cold. Some seemed to tough it out and walk around with nothing but their own fur.
They were all Earth Ponies, he realized. None of them had horns like Celestia or Luna and none of them had wings like the pegasi who the fillies claimed controlled the weather.
The ponies noticed him and bolted, running back into their houses. Slamming their doors and shutting their curtains.
The village cleared as he passed through it until everyone was hiding inside.
He sighed. It was just like passing through a village with his hollowed form exposed. He was a pariah here just as much as he was back in his own world. Oh well. It wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to. At least these ponies were less likely to chase him with torches, pitchforks, scythes, and whatever else, or call the Undead Hunters of the Church to try and capture him and drag him back to the Undead Asylum.
He knocked on a door. “Excuse me, I do not mean to intrude, I simply need directions elsewhere. If you could be so kind as to help me, I shall be off immediately.”
He heard muttering inside. “Buck off! We ain’t got no directions for no freak like you!” A voice called back.
Alric pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and took a deep breath. “Very well, I shall try another house… Perhaps someone in this village shall be a bit more reasonable.” He muttered under his breath.
And so he did. He tried another house, then another, and another. Eventually he realized no one here was going to help him.
He decided to try his luck amongst the orchard and fields. Perhaps he could find someone who was working and ask them directions. Otherwise, he had an experiment he could try.
He saw a deep red almost purple-ish earth pony with what appeared to be a tattoo of an apple on its haunches. It was bucking an apple tree. Only a meager few apples fell out of the tree and into baskets set up to catch them.
“Excuse me. Might I have but a moment of your time?” Alric asked, approaching the pony.
It looked at him and upon seeing him it immediately glowered at him. “I ain’t got nuthin’ to say to a varmint like you! Ya better get on outta here before I make ya!” It sounded male. Looking at it Alric could make out signs of sexual dimorphism based on what he had seen of the ponies so far. This one was a male, so the males were slightly taller and bulkier than the females and their facial structures were slightly different too.
“I would love nothing more than to leave. I simply need directions. Please, would you be so kind as to tell me which direction I might go to reach a city? I know not its name but I believe it’s the capital.” Alric requested.
The pony’s glare intensified. “No! Just told ya I ain’t got nuthin’ to say ta ya. Now get, ya varmint! This is the last time I’m gonna tell ya!”
Alric sighed and turned. “Very well… However, before I go…” With his bottomless box on the opposite side of his body from the pony, he reached in and grabbed the Life Soul. With the golems not currently enchanted he didn’t want to risk leaving the souls completely unguarded. So they were all still in his bottomless box.
With the Life Soul he began channeling its power and cast a spell. The soul glowed brighter and what looked like tendrils of fire began to spread out from it in all directions like roots.
The pony looked at him in confusion as it noticed the soul in his hand and the tendrils of fire. “What in blue blazes are ya doin’ dagnabbit?!” He exclaimed in shock and some amount of fear.
“Helping.” Alric said simply.
The light got brighter to the point the pony had to protect his eyes with its forelimb and more tendrils emerged from the soul spreading significantly faster.
Around them the orchard practically sprang to life. Leaves grew in an instant, flowers bloomed and became fruit, the fruit expanded and grew. The ice and snow on the ground melted giving way to soil which sprouted grass. The effect wasn’t limited to the orchard either. It spread to the fields where crops started to grow in seconds and grow to significant size at that. When the light finally began to fade along with the tendrils of flame, it looked very much as though the orchard and crops had been blessed by a god.
“That’s it! I don’t know what the buck ya just did with yer fancy magic but I’ma kick... your… f-flank?” The pony started to say furiously but trailed off as he saw the state of the orchard.
While the pony was distracted Alric quickly stowed the life soul back in his box. He would prefer if the pony thought he had done this with pyromancy rather than letting him realize the existence of the life soul. “As I said, I was helping. I cannot imagine your crops were doing well in this cold so I thought I might assist as best I could. Please enjoy the bounty of this harvest. Take it as my apology for the disturbance I caused. I never meant to upset anyone with my presence. Now I shall take my leave and darken this land with my presence no longer.” Alric bowed politely and started to walk off.
“Now hold on there partner!” The pony ran over to him and blocked his path. He gave Alric an apologetic look. “Look, uh… I’m sorry about how I treated ya. It’s just…”
Alric smiled at the pony. “I’m a foreign creature who you are not familiar with and don’t know if you can trust. I completely understand and I do not hold it against you. Especially in times such as these with the windigos about. As I said, this is my own apology. I intended no discomfort yet I have caused much and the discomfort I caused risked bringing those horrid beasts upon this village. I was careless and it shames me.”
“Nah, it ain’t no big thing… I treated ya unfairly and I’m guessin’ the folks in the village did too… Tell ya what! We got a big harvest ahead of us thanks to you and a long day’s work ahead of us. I’m gonna go round up some ponies to help harvest all this and we’ll have a big celebration to make it up to ya!” The pony told him with a big smile on his face.
“Oh no that really isn’t necessary. All I need are direct—”
Alric was cut off by the pony who started pushing him back towards the village. “Nope! We gotta do somethin’ to thank ya for all this. We’ll give ya whatever directions ya need later but before that we’re gonna show ya some good ol’ earth pony hospitality!”
Alric was somewhat caught off guard by this. He thought there was a small chance they might be willing to give him directions if he helped them like this but he had truly been planning on leaving after using the life soul to make their crops grow. He hadn’t been counting on any sort of reward, even his directions, he had simply wanted to help despite how they treated him. He most certainly hadn’t been expecting a celebration or feast in his honor.
He chuckled to himself and shook his head. “Very well. I shall oblige. However, you must allow me to go collect my wards.”
“Wards? Ya mean like some fancy schmancy protective magic like the unicorns use? Whaddya need that for?” The Earth pony asked confused.
“No, no. Wards as in children… er, foals who I recently rescued from a rather tragic situation. Sisters. I’m currently caring for them until I can find a proper home for them.” Alric explained.
“Ooooh… Sorry, with that whole light show and the plants growin’ I really thought you were talkin’ about magic… Sure! You go get them fillies and come right on back, ya hear?” The pony told him.
“They’re unicorns. I rescued them from a village that was frozen by windigos. Will their race be an issue?” Alric asked.
“Unicorns? Hm… Well, so long as they’re well behaved it should be fine. First, come on. We gotta go tell everypony this is yer doin’.” The Earth pony started pushing Alric back towards the village again.
Alric chuckled and started walking back. “Haha! Very well. Just so you are aware, my name is Alric. What’s yours, good sir?”
“I’m Crimson Crisp! Nice to meet ya, Alric!” The pony introduced himself.
Crimson Crisp led Alric out of the orchard and back towards the village. Once they reached the edge of the orchard they saw a small crowd of ponies gathered looking at the fields and orchard.
As they exited the orchard Crimson Crisp ran ahead and explained the situation to everyone. As he talked, the ponies' demeanor towards Alric started to change. They started smiling at him and were much more open. When Crimson Crisp finished talking several ponies came up and apologized to him while others headed to the orchard or fields to start working immediately.
It was a massive change of pace for him. He was used to being hated and ostracized due to his status as an undead. This was a nice change of pace for him. Even if the only reason these ponies liked him at all was because he had made their crops grow and they might want him to do it more.
He eventually managed to get past the ponies to set up a marker to make it just a bit easier to teleport back to this village for a few days. When that was done he drew Velka’s talisman and cast the homeward miracle. He ended up back in the entrance hall of his castle.
Smelling the souls of Celestia and Luna, he made his way towards them.
He found them in the midst of a game of chess.
“Check mate, I win!” Luna cheered happily.
Celestia smiled and knocked over her own king. “Good job, Luna! I didn’t notice your knight until it was too late.”
“Still playing chess? Ha! I’m glad you two have taken such a liking to the game. I quite enjoy it myself.” Alric said as he entered the sitting room where they were playing.
“Alric! Did you find the City already?” Celestia asked him. She almost seemed somewhat nervous as she asked him that.
He shook his head. “No, but I did find a village of Earth Ponies. They agreed to give me directions, but first I assisted them in growing their crops and thus there is going to be a feast. I couldn’t simply leave you two here whilst I attend by myself. So I’m here to collect you.”
“Earth Ponies…?” Luna asked uncertainly.
It was then Alric remembered the Windigos only came to their village after the Earth Ponies came with less food than usual. He winced at his oversight. “Ah… Right… They assured me there would be no trouble despite the fact you two are unicorns. However, you needn’t attend if you believe the situation will be too uncomfortable for you.”
Celestia and Luna looked at each other for a moment.
“Sissy?” Luna asked, looking to her sister for a decision.
Celestia bit her lower lip before looking back at Alric. “Are you sure it’ll be okay…?”
“You have my word. And even if there were to be an incident, I would keep you and everyone else safe. No ill shall befall you or those around you whilst you remain within my care.”
Celestia thought to herself in silence for a moment. Eventually she nodded. “Okay… We’ll come…”
“Are you certain? Please, you needn’t feel pressured. If you don’t wish to attend I can fix your lunch and dinner for you before returning on my own.” Alric asked, worried for them.
“Mhm. I’m sure… You said it’ll be okay. We trust you, Alric.” Celestia stated.
Alric gave her a gentle smile. “Very well. If you’re certain, then come. Let’s not keep them waiting.” He drew his catalyst, knelt down, and held out his hand to the fillies.
They came over to him and he teleported all three of them to the Earth Pony village.
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Somehow wouldn't be surprised if he become the creator of crystal ponies
Great chapter :D
Very nice.
11873715
I was going to post something similar to this but you beat me to it lol
excellent so far
sure hope Queen Weaver's still going tho
11874128
Yeah I'm still working on Queen Weaver. Sorry about the long update time this time. I wanted to post at least a few chapters for this. And finding a way for Twilight and Rainbow Dash to come to Griffonstone with Taylor is a bit of a challenge. I might end up just having to have Taylor leave a note telling them she went to Griffonstone and to take care of her spiders while she's gone, and having Twilight and Rainbow follow her anyway. Regardless I'll try to post the next chapter of that as soon as I can.
I’ve read all three of your stories and I can’t wait to see where they all go
This is pretty good so far. I doubt this story will have much "trial by combat" plot progression, what with him being max level. I think it might be a bit difficult to not make him into some kind of Gary Stu, depending on what the story conflict you end up doing is.
11874502
There might be a little violence but that's not going to be a primary focus of this story. Below is some major spoilers. You've been warned.
Edit: Spoiler deleted.
11874785
Don't spoil it, I was just saying that you've got to be careful with a character that can't really grow much more martially in an adventure story. I trust you with your own friggin story, I just thought it's nice to hear some cautionary words once in awhile
11874889
Ah, okay. I apologize. I've deleted the spoiler. Thank you for the words of warning I do appreciate it! Admittedly I have had problems with writing Gary Stu characters in the past and it has killed some of my stories. So you're right, getting a reminder/warning is a good thing some times.
I was just trying to clarify that in this particular case his power is kind of irrelevant to the narrative I'm going for and I suppose I went a little overboard with the spoiler thing. His power is mainly just a plot device for a story focusing more on character interaction and emotion rather than violence. I'm writing a tragedy/slice of life. There might be some violence which is why I tagged it as a warning but it isn't going to be a major point of focus.
11874897
Ok, nice. Slice of life with what is essentially medieval One Punch Man sounds pretty cool. Looking forward to it
Speaking of OPM, Maybe I should watch season 2 one of these days
have you seen it? Is it any good? I hear the animation got worse
11874924
I haven't seen it, but I've been meaning to. No clue about the animation.
11875422
Fair enough. I deleted the mention of him using the divine blessing.