The Necro Walk

by WorldWalker128

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I was summoned by a servant, who said that the king was ready, and would be waiting for me in the arena that had been constructed outside the castle.

“Leave any weapons you have here. You will be given a selection of weapons when we arrive at the arena.” He instructed. I nodded and removed the knife from my boot and then then said I was ready. The servant also nodded and exited the room, followed by me.

“Celestia keep ya, Lighthand!” Applejack well-wished. I thanked her, and then shut the door behind me.

Applejack and Trixie would be staying behind to keep an eye on Lyra in case she woke up before I got back, in which case they would begin questioning her. Jackylin was required to also be at the match given that I was fighting as her champion, but she would arrive from another route, and sit with the commoners.

The servant and I did not speak as we traveled the humid stone halls of the castle, and the silence continued as we exited through a concealed side entrance through the wall that only opened outward. Why we could not have simply exited through the front of the castle, I had no idea, and I stated this. The servant shrugged and replied that it was simply an old tradition.

The arena appeared to be a miniature coliseum that stood a little over three stories tall, except it was built from wood from the local trees instead of stone, and was certainly in much better condition than the ruin in Rome, and it was already packed with people of all ages, with still more entering it from wide entrances on opposite sides of the building. There was also a much smaller entrance painted around its sides with red. It was to this door that I was taken.

The servant stopped and pointed at the doorway.

“Go through here and enter the combat arena. Wait in the triangle drawn in the dirt closest to you. When the king is ready for the match to begin an assortment of weapons will be brought out for you and him to choose from. You may choose one of those weapons to fight with. Some of them are exotic, and some of them are common, such as a sword or battle claws. If you decline use of a weapon, you may instead choose a small shield, or buckler.” The servant was silent after this, and suspecting that he'd not be saying anything further I entered the doorway and walked along a dim passage broken by slim shafts of light that shone through constructed seats similar in design to that of bleachers at a high school football playing field.

The ground inside the arena was mostly packed dirt, but there were a few places where the grass had not been so thoroughly trampled by the people that worked in the construction so as to leave only bare earth. These patches of grass were sparse and thin, with most of them being towards the center where the current king already stood waiting. He motioned for me to join him.

As I entered the arena loud booing and laughter from the stands all around me filled the air and made my ears ache, but I tried my best to ignore them and focused my eyes only on my soon-to-be opponent. He looked calm and confident, but then, why would he not be? He was still fairly young, strong, and had to have been an accomplished warrior to have defeated the previous ruler. No doubt as the line of successions continued gaining the thrown grew progressively more difficult for prospective leaders.

After today they just might deem it impossible so long as Jackylin and I retain contact with one another. Maker-willing, I'll be able to find my way back to my own world once this war has reached its conclusion. The king turned his head to face the sound of hinges creaking and watched, as did I, as eight strong men carried a table laden with various weapons just as the servant had told me would happen.

They stopped first before the king, who swept his eyes over the assortment several times before he smiled and lifted a double-edged, double-bladed sword that was connected by a red handle roughly about eight or nine inches long. He lovingly ran a finger down the flat of one blade, and then looked up at the men and nodded. They then carried over to me. Meanwhile the crowd began whooping louder.

There were several swords of varying styles and lengths, two spears, one of which had a metal head on each end, several maces and morning stars, two types of whip, a chakram with fine serrated teeth, a blowgun with several darts, a crossbow with a quiver of bolts, battle claws that fit on the hands like a combination of gauntlets with actual metal claws that would fit over the ends of fingers, a few knives, throwing knife sets, and daggers, what looked like a box of small explosives that the girl in the labyrinth had used to threaten me, a quarter-staff, and a net and trident.

There were also a few things that didn't really strike me as a practical weapon, such as a common stick, a few types of large bones longer and thicker than my arms, a small bag filled with sand with a cord eight feet long attached to it, a short stake made of bone, a wooden ball the size of a volleyball, a discus, a rock the size of my fist, and a writing quill. In this case, I don't think the pen will be mightier than the sword! I chuckled inwardly a little, and then resumed looking over the weapons.

I lifted the pole weapon and whirled in the fingers of that hand, and spun it around my body a few times, then halted, frowned, and set it back on the table. As I did so the booing had lessened a little, and I smirked. Whirling the staff really was good for nothing more than putting on a show or testing how it felt in your hands, and though the staff itself felt fine, I doubted that it would hold up to the weapon the king had chosen if it came down to a melee fight. Really I could end this right now, but I'll probably have to make this look like I defeated him with skill or strength or perhaps luck in battle if I want a legitimate victory in the eyes of those watching.

I reached next for one of the daggers, but at the last second reached past it and took one of the whips in hand. I'd never used a whip, but from what I'd seen on television it could be quite effective, and it would also probably be the easiest thing to use my magic on to cheat without anyone noticing. However, I also had no experience in using a whip, so I had little idea as to how it would move and how I could imitate it without being obvious that something was not right. Frowning once more, I discarded it as well, and then declared that I did not want a weapon.

As the men carried the table away the king asked me if I really thought that a shield would do me any good.

“A strategist from my people's past once said that 'the best defense is a good offense', but having nothing but offense leaves you vulnerable to attack from behind.”

“But having nothing but defense gains you nothing. You can only retreat for so long.”

“True, but retreating is not running away so long as you lead your enemy to where you gain the advantage. All good hunters trying to take down something bigger than themselves know this.” The king narrowed his eyes at the veiled insult.

Several minutes later a blanket rather than a table was carried out with several variations of shield, and I settled on a small rounded wooden shield with an iron rim and spike in the center. The shield was near the weight of a gallon of water, but manageable. Hopefully it will be sturdy enough to hold up against any attack he may manage to get on me.

The men now carried the blanket away and did not return, leaving me alone with only the king for company. “When do we begin?” I asked. The king raised his weapon and pointed the blade behind me. I twisted my body and saw a man holding up two red flags atop a platform that jutted out away from the stands to which it was attached.

“When he drops those flags, we start fighting. If you look behind me, you will see a woman holding two flags as well. Are you ready to die?” he taunted. I twisted back.

“Are you?” I shot back. He whirled his weapon in his hands, creating a metal fan of death. When he stopped I flicked my eyes behind him and saw that the woman had dropped her arms.

“I'm ready to kill!” He ran at me, weapon once more whirling in his hands. I slid my body to his right, twisting as counterclockwise as I did, and he raised the weapon up over his head and tried to use its momentum to adjust accordingly. I raised my left arm, to which I'd fitted the small shield and struck him in the face with the upper rim of it, eliciting a mix of cheers and boos as his head was knocked back a step, but as he took that step he curled the end of one foot around my leg, using his unbalanced momentum to throw me off balance in turn.

Unlike him, however, I fell, and he was quick to try plunging one of the blades into my chest. I raised my shield almost too late and redirected his first blade, but even as our two combat tools met he was already redirecting his and the second blade was arching down toward my right-side ribs. I rolled the same direction across the dirt that his weapon spun. My shirt was sliced as finely as if by a surgical laser, but I escaped injury and used the momentum and brief time I'd gained to get my legs under myself and rise again to my feet.

Holding his weapon in one hand, the king lunged for me with the other empty and open, reaching with two fingers extended for the gap between my ribs. I reached up with my other hand to push his up, but rather than try to dodge he changed the positioning of his finger and gripped them tightly around my own, bringing his weapon to bear with the intent of removing my arm. Rather than struggle to get loose I shoved my weight up against him, once more twisting my body as if we were dancing and got close to his chest with my back pressing against him, then I jerked my head backward and heard the sound of something cracking as my head struck his. The king yelled, temporarily releasing my hand and placing his own on his face on reflex. I ducked under his arm, turned my shield to line up with the gap in his ribs, and shoved hard. He gasped and clumsily swiped at me with his weapon. I ducked. Something is wrong. ran briefly through my mind while he wiped his face with his hand and looked at his own blood. He glared at me, wiped his hand on his own shirt, and then returned it to his weapon and began once again, though more cautiously this time, advancing towards me. I raised my shield and waited patiently. He was younger, stronger, no doubt capable of being faster, and more skilled than me. Something is wrong... ran the thought again. What's wrong? I asked my brain. It did not answer. It was probably something obvious, as I most often missed that which was.

The king stopped a moment and jabbed one of his blades into the grounds several times in the same area, then, eyes never leaving me for an instant, he took some of the loosened dirt in his hands and rubbed his two hands together. Better grip, I suppose. I relaxed. A mistake.

The moment I relaxed he tossed the contents of the dirt at my face and on reflex, which was another mistake, I raised a hand to block it, which blocked my view of him. When I lowered my arm again he was right in front of me, and I had no time to avoid him. I braced for pain, but it did not come. Instead he had stopped his weapon at my heart, tapped my chest lightly twice, and then then smiled mockingly and stepped away, turning his back on me. An insult to my abilities. An insult I ignored. The cockier he was, the far more likely he'd be to make a mistake himself. He bowed to the crowd, which laughed and heckled me for my failure to 'save my life'.

After several moments the king turned back, still bearing the mocking smile, and once more came at me, some caution still in his step and his hands gritty from the dirt.

This time around I took the initiative and broke into a run directly at him. He rolled his eyes and swung his weapon at me again, but this time I cheated and drew on a bit of magic. Rather than dodge his weapon, I caught it between the flats of my palms and then kicked him in the waistline just above the crotch, and let the sword slip from my hands at him being pushed back. The king grunted and stumbled back again, gaping at me, not sure that what had happened actually did.

“Are you going to fight, or are you trying to catch flies? I do have other things to do today!” His mocking smile vanished and his eyes narrowed, and then he did something I did not expect: he sat down on the ground cross-legged and laid his weapon across his lap.

Recalling what had happened the last time I'd lowered my guard I took several steps back and waited for him to make a move. But he did not. For more than six minutes he sat almost completely motionless and did nothing. Maybe he's hoping I'll fall asleep from boredom? A foolish thought, but it was only one of three that came to mind. The other two being that he himself fallen asleep, and the last that he was leaving himself open to draw me in close, and then he'd hack one of my limbs off. Either way I took this opportunity to catch my breath.

When I was once more breathing through my nose instead of my mouth the king looked up from his seat and stood once more. Still not holding his weapon, he asked if I'd enjoyed my break. I raised an eyebrow, doubtful that this was the only reason he'd stopped fighting. I did not answer him.

“I certainly hope you did, because now you're going to die.” He pulled his weapon out of the ground and casually brushed the stray pieces of dirt from the earthed blade. He then held his weapon horizontally and closed his eyes, his brow furrowing as if in deep concentration.

The ground began to tremble and I looked down at it, then off towards the nearest hill in the distance. Could that hill really have been a volcano and now it was about to erupt? But no. The shaking became more fierce and then cracks formed a ring around us. Three seconds later one third's worth of the ground rose up into the air, lifting us up to just above the lowest seating of the crowd.

“What the hay?!” I exclaimed, looking first at the crowd around us, which had begun to roar, and then at their king, whose eyes were no longer closed and was wearing a smirk.

“Surprised, old man? I used this same ability to win my throne. The previous leader I simply lifted into the air and slammed him into the ground several times until he was a bloody mush. This time around I thought I'd give my subjects more of a show. What do you think?”

“I think I'd like to know how it is your kind can use magic.”

“My kind? An interesting choice of words.” He shrugged. “No, I don't think that I will tell you. Telling an enemy what might be a possible weakness is not a wise thing to do. It was fun fighting you, old man. But now I think I'll kill you. Goodbye!”

The packed dirt beneath my feet and behind me suddenly broke away from the rest of the platform and fell from the rest. For a moment my being startled allowed me to fall as well, but I shoved it aside quickly and took hold of a chunk large with my own magic and stopped my fall.

The crowd that had been loudly vocalizing being impressed at their king's performance (those that could still see me, that is) suddenly began yelling in a different tone and began pointing at me as I lifted myself back up to his level. The king gaped.

“My boy, you've got a lot to learn about not underestimating your opponents.” I said as I stepped off my chunk of dirt and back onto what was left of his, letting my piece drop. “Did you really think that you were the only Human that could use magic?” He stared open-mouthed, not saying anything. “But now you know. My turn.” I pulled my shield off my arm and threw it like a Frisbee at him, giving it an extra telekinetic shove.

The king dove to the ground to one side and I allowed it to pass over him but redirected it and brought to to bear on him again within seconds, giving him just enough time to roll over and rise to his feet. What will he do, I wonder, now that he knows? And has he actually been practicing with it, or is telekinesis all he's got?

__ __ __ __ __

Faltos watched the fight form the stands in disbelief. He'd heard about the current king's fight with the previous king, but had believed the what he'd been told to be nothing more than an exaggeration. Now, as he watched the king wing his weapon at the shield to try to deflect it he knew better.

“So Lyra's theory was correct. This changes things a little. The old man just might stand a chance after all.” Which of course, meant that there was a chance that Jackylin might win the Contest and take the throne, which would toss a sizable obstacle into the path of his own ambitions. But perhaps there was a way to fix the contest so both contestants died. That did happen occasionally.

Where is that teal Unicorn, I wonder? She had not returned to her quarters that he knew of. It was possible that she had already left, but he doubted it as she had not yet received her payment for her latest report. She had never left without receiving it before.

Faltos covered his ears at a particularly loud mix of gasps and cheers at the sight of first blood since the king's nose was struck. The old man had created several spikes from the dirt and had managed to hit the side of the king's right arm. The king had also managed to deal a bit of damage and has apparently broken a few ribs with a hurled hunk of packed dirt or maybe rock. The elder seemed to be adapting to and ignoring the pain awfully quickly, though, and Faltos began to wonder if perhaps magic (for what else could they be doing?) could be used to heal one's self, and if so, why was not the king doing it as well?

Removing his hands from his ears once more Faltos rose from his seat and headed back toward the castle. If the old man could heal himself then the fight was likely to continue for some time.

“Not here either!” Faltos muttered as he exited the neglected garden.

Often while on Gaea Lyra would either be in the garden observing or sampling the local plants, or in a corner in the mess hall where the guards and servants took their meals or else in the training yard observing how Humans moved. Sometimes he thought that the reason she served him was so that she could learn how to be one of them. It seemed ridiculous to him, but this was what her actions spoke.

This is taking too long. Any longer and I'll likely miss the end of the fight. It was possible that she'd simply been caught and had been turned into someone's lunch which meant he'd have to find another willing-to-turn Pony for a spy, which would probably be near-impossible. Even though Jackylin had been able to convince that one town to serve her people, he highly doubted they would betray the rest of their race.

Deciding that looking for her at this point was useless he began walking back through the castle towards one of the exits. On his way out he passed by Jackylin and her groups' quarters and heard the sound of a scuffle inside.

His curiosity piqued, he stopped and retreated to the door and pressed an ear against it. He was pushed back into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway when the door was suddenly forced open. Lyra came running out of it with a few bruises on her body. Her horn glowed briefly and the door slammed shut again.

“So this is where you've been.” Faltos stated thoughtfully. “I've been looking for you.”

“Lord Faltos!” Lyra gasped, then bowed. “I had been trying to interrogate the orange Pony but I was careless and-” Faltos waved a hand and cut her off.

“Never mind that right now. It turns out your theory on the old man was correct. He and the king are fighting right now and it seems that he is far more skilled in magic's use than the king is. I aim to rig the fight so both parties die in the end, but I'll need your abilities in magic to do it. Do you think you can do this?” He asked, once again walking towards

“Well it depends on what you've got in mind for me to do. Most of my abilities with magic are relatively small things. Telekinesis, or making myself invisible, or short-range teleporting, or-”

“We'll see when we get there. In any case you should make yourself invisible again now. There are few people in the castle right now with the Contest going on, but I'd rather not take any unnecessary risks.” Lyra nodded and seemingly vanished.

__ __ __ __ __

Applejack groaned and weakly lifted her head from the floor. Trixie was still out on the other side of the room, a smashed table on and around her, and some blood stained her fur where a few shards of the table had stabbed her a bit.

Lyra had been awake far sooner than they'd expected, but had not revealed that she was until Applejack had needed to go into the bathroom to use it. As she uncomfortably sat herself down on the human toilet a crash suddenly made her abandon using the toilet and she ran back out to see that the table the humans had been using earlier had been shoved into Trixie while she'd been pacing and she was down. The teal Unicorn was nowhere to be seen, though the door was still shut.

Applejack had assumed she'd made a run for it and had shut the door to slow her down and ran first to Trixie to see if she was alright. As she came close her body was enveloped in teal light and she was thrown against a wall as well. Lyra removed her invisibility, and then Applejack blacked out.

Now awake once more she crawled across the floor to Trixie, who, while still breathing, was still out and slowly worked her way to standing again. Her right hind leg hurt whenever she put weight on it,. Hopefully it was only the beginnings of a bruise, but after the crash into the wall she feared it might be be something worse.

Balancing herself to the the best of her ability Aplejack began clearing away the remains of the table from around and on Trixie and then gently pressed the side of her leg to Trixie's neck to feel for a pulse. Trixie was still alive, but Applejack was no doctor and so had no idea just how bad or how mild a condition Trixie was in. Still, she knew how to make makeshift bandages out of cloth..

Applejack tore the cloth from Jacob's 'cot on the floor and began carefully removing the pieces of wood that had pierced Trixie's legs and then bandaged them as needed. The ones two that were sticking out of her side would have to wait until Trixie was once more conscious, and at least sitting up if not standing before she could remove and bandage them. Fortunately, this did not take much longer than it had for Applejack herself and Trixie was soon groaning.

“Did anypony get the number of that carriage?” Trixie asked dazedly as she raised an injured leg to her head and winced from the movement.

“The Unicorn got loose and we're both hurt. D'ya think ya can sit up?” Trixie tried and with a bit of pain succeeded. “Good. You jus' look straight ahead. I'm gonna pull some splinters out of ya. It'll hurt less if yer not looking at 'em.”

Trixie was was not sure that this was sound logic, but was not fond of pain and did as she was told. Two brief moments of sharp pain followed by a dull lingering pain that followed afterward the pieces were out and blood was flowing anew from them. “Can ya sit up? I can't bandage ya properly if'n yer still lyin' down.”

Favoring her uninjured front leg, Trixie slowly pushed herself up and Applejack finished patching her up. “Alrighty, that's as good as ah know how to do.”

“So what now?”

“Now? Now we wait fer the humans to come back, unfortunately. Both of us are hurt, and Jacob knows healin' magic. If'n he wins the fight then he can patch us up when he gets back and the Unicorn getting' loose won't matter as much. If'n we try an go after her now we'll prolly just get hurt again.” Applejack sat down on what was left of Jacob's sleeping cot, making a mental note to apologize later. “Besides, ah'm in no condition to go anyplace anyway. One of mah legs is hurt.”

“If you are unable to look for her, then Trixie will do so instead!” Trixie made an angry face. “Trixie owes her for her injuries!” Trixie trotted to the door, ignoring her pain from where she'd been punctured.

“But Trixie! Yer-” Trixie opened the door and made herself invisible and shut the door after exiting. “Dern stubborn mare! I hope fer her fool-sake she's careful!”

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

I dodged another hurled chunk of earth easily and dove back into the fog I'd created by pulling all nearby humidity in the area into the center of the arena. As fog tended to be naturally it was thicker in some places than others, but it served its purpose well nonetheless. Most of the time he could not see me, and with my greater knowledge and skills I was able to make even him sweat from more than just the heat of the day.

For all my abilities, however, occasionally he got a hit on me, and when he did it hurt. Already I'd healed several broken or cracked bones, and had come close to losing an eye to a shard of stone from a larger whole that he'd mad explode near me. Now I know what was wrong, I thought as I circled around behind him for the fifth time so far, taking care to move slowly so as not to stir up the fog too much and give away my position. He was playing with me before just as I was with him for the audience's benefit. A loud thud from somewhere below reached me, followed by two more coming from elsewhere. Somewhere out beyond the fog, part of the crowd screamed in terror. he must be either losing patience or else is panicking if he's willing to be so reckless as to lob more dirt about without knowing where its going.

I had been dealing him minor hits for the lest eight or so minutes with the exception of the one time I'd forcefully ripped the water from wooden walls that ringed the coliseum and doused him with it and sending him into a coughing fit that nearly dropped him and the floating platform he stood upon back to the ground. The area of wall I'd pulled the moisture from was cracked where the water had forced its way out, and the people seated above it quickly moved themselves away from it when their seating creaked.

I paused in the space above and behind him by spacing of a few feet and watched him as best I could through the murk. He turned his head back and forth, eyes scanning the ground-clouds for any sign of movement that seemed out of the ordinary. For having only a few years of use he is remarkably powerful, though his attacks are sloppy at best. Unless I miss my guess, I'd have to say he's using Mantle's horn. If he was, then he either he did not know its full potential, did not have enough understanding or imagination in the use of magic, or he was afraid of unleashing its true power.

As far as raw power went, my staff granted me more than enough power to rip a mountain up from the ground by its roots and toss it up into orbit, or alter my planet's orbit to send it spiraling to a fiery doom in our sun, but more often than not finesse was better suited to accomplishing something rather than the standard 'huff-and-puff-and-blow-your-house-down' method. But an Alicorn's horn is rather long compared to a Unicorn's. Where could he be hiding- his weapon! His hands haven't left his weapon since he started using magic!

Creating a swirl of wind, I swept away the fog in a loop that ran form my immediate right, swept along the outside of the arena, and then returned to me again, surrounding me in a small swirling and frothing wave of water with myself at the 'eye' as it were.

The king's eyes had followed it to me, and he bared his teeth, preparing yet another boring barrage of dirt-boulders.

“Strength isn't everything, boy!” I yelled over the sound of my water-shield. “To win a fight you've got to use your head too!” I sent the water rushing at him, feeling the warm wet surge around me and pull away until I was once more dry on the outside. I chased after it, shaping it into a liquid wedge, and then drew all warmth from it, turning it into something none of them had ever seen on Gaea: ice.

Rather than attack me the king instead tried to block me with with a poorly-constructed wall. My ice-wedge slammed into it and pushed the sides apart a bit, but not enough to pass through. I dove beneath both elements and came up again in front of them, drawing some of the ice that had shattered on impact along behind me and brought it up to my right arm and melted and refroze it in the shape of a short -handled ax. It would break if it were blocked and would no doubt melt very quickly in this heat unless I intervened, but I wasn't aiming to use it for more than one strike anyway.

The king blinked in surprise when I came into his view again and brought his weapon to bear, one of the blades pointed at me. I flew within his reach, and then teleported behind him and whirled my own body midair and swung my makeshift weapon.

“RrrAAGH!” I yelled as I brought it down on one of his unarmored arms jusr below the shoulder. He screamed as the razor-edge made contact with his flesh and hacked through it, the arm in question falling away from his body and blood spurting out from both sides of the stump, spattering the platform with a drizzle of red drops.

A unified gasp came from the crowd when they realized what had happened, but even having accomplished that I was not finished yet, nor was he, for the king still held his weapon, and he wasn't giving up even after having lost an arm.

“You old bastard,” he growled. “I'll kill you!!!”

“Yes, you've been doing such a great job of it so far!” I taunted him sarcastically, Blinking several meters away from him. “Now I don't have to lift a finger to beat you. If I wait long enough, you'll just bleed out!”

I suddenly felt myself hoisted up into the air. He's trying to do to me what he did to the previous king! I realized. I soon found myself zipping through the air towards a wall and tried to break free. Unfortunately even princess Cadence was more powerful than the Twilight Sparkle and her brother, who were among the most powerful Unicorns, and my efforts amounted to almost nothing as I slammed into the ring's wall. My breath was knocked out of me, one of my legs felt broken, and my back hurt. Temporarily stunned I did not even resist as I was pulled form the wall and returned to the position I'd been in before I'd been hurled.

“I may die from blood loss, old man, but I'd rather be damned than let an elder defeat me!!” He spat as his body began to tremble from what was likely weakness. My body was hurled towards the wall again, and again I slammed into the wall, this time seeing spots after the impact and feeling pain race through almost my entire body.

And again. And again.

I was about to lose consciousness when my vision suddenly went completely white and the world around me disappeared. Before me stood an angry Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, you idiot! What are you doing?! Fight back!”

Then the vision was gone and once more I was being pulled back away from the wall. The world around me seemed to be moving in slow motion; people in the crowd were going absolutely crazy, and off to my right I could see Jackylin biting her nails. I felt as if I were drunk, and my pain were happening to someone else as I was carried once more back up to my original position. But this time I was carried further until I hung in the air above the king, who had fallen to his knees from where he sneered at me.

“I may die, but you go first, old man!”

“Nyc gan veal. Who cuhnt.” I replied. The king leaned forward a bit closer.

“What was that?” I ran my tongue over a few of my cracked teeth and my lips and tried again.

“I said...I can heal. You can't!”

I dropped my eyes to his wrist and pictured the bones connection them suddenly ripping away from one another, and used telekinesis. The king's bones tore out of his arms, leaving his wrist a bloody, warped mess. He screamed again as his weapon fell from his fingers and both I and the platform fell with gravity, as did he. I weakly kicked at his weapon to push it out of his reach, and then slowed my descent and left him to fall at regular speed until his impact silenced him.

A loud thud resounded from the impact of the once-hovering land and from the reactions of those in the crowd it seemed the ground had shook from the impact quite a bit as well.

As the dust settled began to settle the crowd was nearly silent save for coughing from said dust. I set myself as gently as I could down on the outer rim of the arena area and set to healing myself, starting with a scan to see if my organs were alright. The outside of my stomach was a little scratched and several of my ribs were once again broken, but somehow the core of my body was still for the most part alright. My arms and legs and even my skull were another story and it would probably take more than four hours of continuous focus to fix myself up again. On the bright side, I had won, which meant I could take that time.

The first people to reach me after the fight were the weapon bearers, and they wasted no time in removing the shield from my arm, ignoring the grunts of pain they elicited from me in response. They then left me lying where I was and began climbing the dirt pile, presumably to retrieve their former-king's weapon as well. Once they were gone I returned to realigning my broken bones. I had nearly finished when Jackylin and a handful of guards arrived. Jackylin was beaming, the guards looked afraid.

“Woohoo! What a fight! I had heard stories of the king having a weird ability, but I had just thought it was exaggerated rumors! But even with him having it you still trounced him! I can't wait to see the look on Faltos' face when-” she stopped and leaned in closer, her face concerned. “Hey, are you going to be okay?”

“Give me three day's rest, a salad the size of Applejack and a hot bath in that order and I'll be right as rain.” I replied. “But for the moment I'd appreciate it if no one would try to move me for the first of those days. A pitcher of water might be nice, too.”

“I think that could be arranged, but wouldn't you be more comfortable on a bed or in a hammock?”

“Maybe, but then I'd have to realign my bones all over again.” I grimaced at the thought. “In case you can't tell, I'm not exactly healthy right now.”

“Oh, I can tell. You look like you just fell off a mountain!”

“It certainly feels that way.” I agreed. “So other than my staying right here during the near-future, what happens now?”

“Now we burn the previous ruler's body as is tradition and I take up his position! I'll have a lot of things I'll need to learn about the current state of things as well as what he planned to do before he died before I can effectively take over. After that there is, of course, going to be new people trying to take over the offices of those that were serving the previous king, which will probably lead to about half a year's worth of assassination attempts and a few small internal political and non-political wars...mostly stuff that I myself will have to deal with. Don't worry, the only time you'll need to get involved is if someone challenges me to a Contest, and after what this crowd has just witnessed, I doubt that will be happening anytime soon.” She gave me a reassuring smile. “So water and rest is all you want right now?”

“If it's not too much to ask.”

“It isn't.” Jackylin turned to the guards that had followed her and pointed to one that had green eyes. “You. What's you name?”

“Dan, ma'am.”

“Dan, find a servant and tell him or her to bring a small tent and a pitcher of water and a glass out here.” He saluted and left, and Jacyklin addressed the rest of them. “Three of you stay here and ensure no one disturbs my champion.” They nodded. “The rest of you come with me. I've got a lot of work to do, and little time to do it.”

Jackylin left with two guards, and left me with the other three, who took up a triangular position around me and did as they were told. Meanwhile, I got back to work on fixing my legs.

Chapter 15

Comments

[Deathpony]

cant wait for the next chapter really liked this one

[WorldWalker128]

931269
oh dear. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll have to do it later through, gotta go to work.

[Ranakastrasz]

Whoa. Didn't expect that result.

But then, I try not to theorize too much, as Its far less interesting if I know what is going to happen :p

[WorldWalker128]

931625
Out of curiosity, what did you expect? I could probably hazard a guess, but where's the fun in that?

In all honesty I rarely actually plan anything out and nothing is final until I've written a few paragraphs past the event that's occurring, and sometimes not even then. Originally I thought I'd have the fight end with Jacob, Jackylin, and either Applejack or Trixie fleeing from Mythica with Faltos taking over and using the gathering of the peoples as an opportunity to launch a full-scale invasion earlier than the king had intended. Given the damage that Jacob wound up taking during the fight, however, and that a surgeon or doctor can cause a whole crap-load of damage on a rushed surgery (or in this case a rushed magic-infused healing session) I decided against it.

Most of the next chapter will be filler-time while Jacob patches himself up and rests, but you'll get to see what's been going on in Equestria in the month and then-some since their little party exited Mythica.

[Ranakastrasz]

Well, I didn't expect him to be able to use magic, but then, like I said, I try not to predict what will happen if possible, Since it is more fun that way.

[WorldWalker128]

935856
You must have missed the previous chapter; Lady Yishna's people in the ancient royal castle fought Luna with magic. As to the king personally being able to, the explanation I cut out and have in the second installment of 'deleted scenes' because it didn't really go well with it.
As to why they can use magic, read through A Favor Returned. The reason is not brought up in Necro Walk because things took a much different path than that the other did and it was not particularly important in the grand scheme.
To why no one seemed to know that Humans could use magic on this side of the coin, it was because Gaea-Humanity were the enemies of Mythica in the past, and because the Humans of Gaea were more interested in domesticating and/or eating the locals rather than studying them.

[Ranakastrasz]

Well, I never finished "A Favor Returned", Since That was before I felt any Doctor who crossover could be any good (now I know better, but haven't gotten to it yet)

Also, Any book on my *Epic* list supposidly I know well enough to not have to read the entire thing when a new chapter comes out. Anything else, I wait till its either finished or has 4-5 chapters avaiable, since otherwise I don't have the time to invest. Obviously this means I lose out on background information.

Well, That makes things a lot more clear.