> Fatal Corruption > by Pinkies Imagination > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: Don't look or it takes you... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is a better picture of Kassadin if you want to get a sense of how he looks. Chapter 1: Don't look or it takes you... "Hold the doors, do not let them pass!" I command to the lesser minions before me as I point. They look at me fearfully as I spoke and nodded. They ran towards a set of wooden doors and held them. Then the banging began. As they held the door, no doubt not for much longer, I recalled memories. But I shook my head as I always come back to the same cold feeling. And that horrible memory that taints my mind. I look up and notice cracks forming in the doors. I lift my right hand and ready my blade. I close my right fist as energy flows through my veins and my weapon brightens. The doors cave in. Any minions who were holding the doors and did not jump back were crushed under debris and enemies storming in. I slashed forward quickly, ripping a tear in the fabric of space. And jumped in, a millisecond later I appeared in the same room only right in front of the fallen door. I had rift walked a good 30 feet. "There is Kassadin, destroy him!" Shouts Malzahar. (Click for photo) Malzahar is an abomination in my eyes. But what can I say. So am I. He floats about a foot of the ground. I can see the purple particles of void magic dripping off his hands and around his feet. He looked at me, and I could only stare at his eyes. His mouth was covered and he had his hood on. As I stared time seemed to slow down. I snapped back in when I finally managed to blink and look away. All the minions who had destroyed the door began running towards me. Many of them were killed on their way by my own fighters, but most of them made it to me. Before they had a chance to react I let out a pulse from my hand, letting out a curved line of horizontal purple energy. Immediately wiping them out. I turned towards Malzahar and noticed him wave his hands. I immediately rift walked backwards. Just as I did I saw two walls of energy enclose on where I was a moment ago. I flew forward and swiped for Malzahar. As I did he ducked to the left. I just barely missed him, glazing a bit of his hood. He turned again and cast another spell. This one opened a large circle on the floor inches away from me. I backed up quickly. Inside it I could see the infinite void. 'Is he insane? Opening such a large void portal!' I shout in my mind. I look up to see... nothing. All minions have disappeared. No bodies. And no Malzahar. Just me. I look around and feel a cold sensation on the back of my spine. I begin to rift walk forward, and am suddenly stopped and pulled back. I feel a beam of energy around me. I painfully look behind me and see Malzahar focusing energy from his eyes. I then see his plan. I begin to panic. I feel paralyzed however. He inches me closer and closer to the tear in space he had created. When I was just above it I looked at him one last time. "Goodbye and Good Riddance." He spoke as he fired a blast at my face. Everything slowed down. I could see the energy nearing me. I felt so helpless. How could I have let my defense down and get caught so easily? The energy was near my face now. I felt the absence of all heat near my face. A few inches now. No escape... Darkness.... ************************* __--Perspective Change: Third Person--__ __--Location: Equestria, Ponyville, Library--__ Twilight tapped her hoof impatiently on the ground as she waited. "Spike whats taking so long?" She shouted from the center of the library. "Nothing! I'm coming now!" Spike shouts back. A few moments later Spike comes running down the stairs with a book in his hands. He stops and begins to breath in quickly. Twilight yanks the book out of his grasp with her magic Just as Spike sneezed. "AAAAAACHHOOOOOO!" A green column of flame shot out as he sneezed. He rubbed his nose and opened his eyes. He looked at his hands and began to panic. "Oh no not again! Twilight I'm so sorry!" He says as he turns to her. "Don't worry Spike, I have the book here." She says as she waves it back and fourth with her magic. Spike lets out a huff and wipes his head. "Whew. That was close, the last time I burned that book about stars and whatnot, it took months to find a replacement." He said waving his arms in the air for effect. Twilight rolled her eyes. "This isn't a book about stars and whatnot... It's a-" She was cut off by Spike. "Twilight, I was kidding, but we should really get outside. Our friends are waiting for us." He says in excitement. Twilight and Spike open the library door and walk out. It's dark out, probably around 11:00 pm at night. The two of them walk side by side for a while not saying anything. After a few minutes of walking they begin climbing a grassy hill. Spike hops onto Twilight's back and she continues walking. As she nears the top she can make out talking. As the two reach the top the talking stops. "Well it's about darn time!" Shouts Applejack. Twilight's friends had set up a small area to lay down. A blanket, a picnic basket filled with candy of different sorts. The usual stuff for a picnic. Twilight walked forward and lay down on the blanket as Spike climbed off her back. "Sorry, I just couldn't forget this book, who knows what may happen tonight. It's so strange to have shooting stars on a night like tonight. But Princess Luna said for some reason, the night has chosen tonight. And I want to know everything about anything that may happen!" She says with a large smile. "Heh... Typical Twilight." Said Rainbow Dash. "OH OH! LOOKIE! IT'S STARTING!" Shouts Pinkie Pie as she hops up and down. They all run to the blanket and lay down on it. They flop onto their backs and look into the sky. As different stars streak across the sky the 7 of them watch in delight. After a few minutes they notice another shooting star. This one somewhat different. It is bright purple and is leaving a very long tail behind it. A series of gasps is heard as they all watch it streak across the sky. Twilight fixes her eyes on it. "Oh my...." She begins. "I have never seen anything like THAT before..." She says as It continues to go across the sky. She then notices it is traveling much slower than a normal shooting star. "It's beautiful." Chips in Rarity. They all nod in agreement. Except for Twilight who focuses on the star. And just before she has any chance to decide what it is. It's light goes out. And the purple trail ends. Twilight blinks and opens her book. She lights up her horn and begins reading. "Twilight? Can ya'll wait till this is over ta read that?" Asks Applejack. Twilight turns to her then looks at the book. She then dismisses the light from her horn. "I'm just curious. Sorry." She said smiling. Applejack nods. "Don't worry, it was probably a little Surprise from The Princess." She said smiling. "Yeah... Maybe." Said Twilight as they both looked back into the sky. "Maybe...." > Chapter 2: A Whole New World to Toy With > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2: A Whole New World to Toy With (Back to Kassadin's perspective) *SNAP* I snap my eyes open, and come face to face with dirt. 'Wasn't I just in a building?' I thought to myself as I rolled onto my back. 'The sky? It looks so... clear.' I blinked and tried to push myself up, but fell back down immediately as a rush of pain shot through my right shoulder. I rolled to my back and looked at my arm. Biting back the pain, I examined my arm and shoulder. I let out a small growl. "Broken shoulder, and my sword isn't functioning." I said aloud as I touched the top of my right hand. I looked around and notice it is the middle of the night and in some kind of forest. I got on my knees and forced myself up while nearly falling again.I looked at where I had been laying. Where I had been was a small crater still sizzling with heat, meaning I had fallen from quite a distance. That's when it occurred to me. "The battle!" I shouted as I looked around quickly. I continued to look around expecting someone to jump at me, but nothing of the sort happened. I would fly up and survey my surroundings, but I can't so much as even hover. I took a few steps towards the nearest tree. "Been a long time since I walked on my own feet." I said as I leaned my back against the tree. I let out another sigh as I looked around once more. I shook my head as I pushed off the tree and began walking. Step after step seemed to drain more and more energy from me. I eventually couldn't take it anymore and collapsed on the ground, closing my eyes. *************************** "Stop! You don't know what your doing!" Shouted Kassadin as he attempted to free himself from his captors. "Heheheh.... you wanted power right? To see the void? Well... here is your chance!" Said another voice. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Shouted Kassadin as- *************************** "NOOOO!" I shouted as I flew upright. I began panting heavily as I looked ahead of me. I took in a deep breath and calmed down, trying to kill off those awful memories, and that awful past. I looked around and noticed it was just before sunrise. I turned to my right shoulder and poked it causing it to twitch a bit in pain, but nothing to bad. I propped myself up again and onto my feet. "Sigh... still can't fly. But at least I feel stronger again." I say as I start walking some more. I continue walking through the woods, nothing in particular catching my eyes. Then suddenly there is a loud sound, I immediately raise my guard and hide behind a tree. I listen a little closer, hearing what sounds like crunching leaves and sticks. Then everything stops and the forest go silent. I peek around the tree and don't believe what my eyes tell me. "A dragon?" I say aloud, my empty voice catching it's attention. It's scales are a purple with green fins, while looking no taller then knee length for me. It turns to me and gasps and speaks. "TWILIGHT!" It shouts aloud. I bite back my surprise and focus my energy. Just as I'm about to obliterate it with a force pulse, I hear movement. Lots of it. I stop my casting and run. I try to Riftwalk but remember the problem with my sword. I jump over a fallen tree and duck down, hiding under it. A few moments later I hear voices. "I swear I saw something. It looks so weird! I think it was wearing a mask. But it was HUGE!" Said the dragon. "Oh stop it Spike, you must have just seen something else. This forest can play tricks on you." Said a feminine voice. 'That dragon has a name?' I think to myself. "But Twilight!" Begins Spike. "Enough." Says Twilight. 'Twilight...? Heh.' I hear a growl from the other side. "Fine...." Says Spike. "Alright, now lets get home. We came here to go to Zecora's and that's it. We shouldn't hang around in this forest for much longer." Says Twilight. I hear some shuffling then more stepping noises. As they go silent I get up. 'I have to follow them. I need to get somewhere and get some information on what's going on.' I think as I start walking towards the direction I heard them go. 'More importantly, why I'm not dead....' I continue walking as I look around now and then, thinking I hear something. As I walk I continue to tinker with my hand where my sword should be deploying. "Ugh... why won't you WORK!" I shout out angrily. I attempt to activate it and it sparks. Nothing. I pull out a fragment and examine it closely. "Ugh GREAT. I need a new gemstone." I say as I put my arm down. My anger fades when I notice something ahead of me, light. I begin to pick up my pace. I get nearer and nearer. When I reach the edge I spread the trees away and look forward. "What in oblivion?" I say aloud as I stare forward. Ahead of me is a very large grassy field. And beyond that, the buildings of a town. I scan the area. "Looks empty, but I can't just walk out there like that. Too much open land." I say as I try to focus on the town. "It looks uninhabited. Strange." As I finish that I see an animal run into the field. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't for it's strange colors and what it was actually doing. The animal was probably the height of my chest, maybe even smaller. However it is quite difficult to tell from this distance. It's color was clear white and it's mane and tail was purple and looked very curly. I hunched down a bit and examined it some more. It lowered it's head to the ground and began walking around. Eventually it began walking towards my direction. I inched back a bit and hid in a nearby bush where I continued to watch. Suddenly it stopped, then right before my eyes a cluster of gemstones flew out of the ground. I was amazed. I decided it was well worth it to take a closer look. By the shape of it's body it seemed female, and judging by it's forehead it was a... "Unicorn...?" I whispered aloud. I covered my mouth quickly in fear of alerting her, to my relief she didn't hear me. That's when It hit me, gemstones! I need a gemstone for my sword to work. I began thinking of how I can use this as my advantage, then I heard it speak. "Oh... sapphire. I have enough of YOU. Where are those pesky emeralds." She says as I see her throw it away. I watch it as it falls a few feet in front of me In the field. I look up and see her back turned away from me. I shake my amazement off of seeing a talking horse and began to inch forward. I crept towards the gemstone, Closer and closer. I picked it up and turned around, just as I did I heard a scream. "MONSTER!" Shouts the unicorn as she turns to run. I quickly install the gemstone and light up my sword. I watch as it shoots from my wrist outward and grows to it's full length, emitting it's purple glow. I then look forward at the running creature heading for the town. Without any thought about what my power is limited to, I swipe forward and riftwalk towards it. After a second I appear right in front of her, causing her to jump back in surprise. "What are you!" She shouts as she makes herself as small as possible. "The void walker." I reply as I grab her. She begins fighting back. I hold her mouth closed and quickly riftwalk back to the forest. Feeling more tired now, I stretch out my arm holding her and look at her. She is still panicking, but not screaming. "Please don't hurt me..." She whispers as she looks down at my sword. I hesitate for a moment and look back at her. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just didn't want any panic." I reply trying to calm her down. I can feel her shaking in my hand, she nods. "Now, I need to ask you a question, where am I?" I say to the unicorn. "Eq-questria...." She says still shaking. "Never heard of it... are there more like you?" I ask looking back at the town. "Like me?" She asked confused. "You mean, ponies?" She says tilting her head. I nod. "Well yes, many of us live in Ponyville which is where I had come from." She said smiling a small amount. I grunt. "Well..." I put her down. "I'm sorry I had to grab you." I said, nearly shivering for saying that word for the first time in a long long time. She shook herself a bit and nodded. "I suppose it's alright... it was partly my fault... jumping to conclusions and whatnot." Then her eyes widen. "Speaking of which, what ARE you?" She says looking at my clothing more closely. I sigh. "That... is a long, LONG story..." I say as I sit down behind a tree. The unicorn sits across from me. "Well, I have a lot of spare time." She says smiling. I let out a small laugh. "Heh... call it a camp then?" I ask. She nods and sparks her horn. Causing a small fire in the center of us. I shake my head. 'That's... different... magic' I think to myself staring at the fire. I look back up to her and see her smiling. "Well, my name is Rarity." She said smiling more. I nodded. "My name is Kassadin." I say back. We both inch closer to the fire. "It all began with the void...." And so I began my tale. > Chapter 3: Mortality is Weakness > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3: Mortality is Weakness "So... let me get this straight... you get your power from this big empty place called the void?" Asks Rarity. I nod. "Sort of, I do focus my power from the void. However the void is not empty." I tell her raising my hand. "Many unspeakable things dwell within the void." I say shaking my head. She tilts her head a bit. "Like what?" She asks. I look up to her. "I would rather not scare a face such as yours. Speaking of which..." I motion around me. "It is beginning to get late. You should return home." She looks into the sky and notices the sunset. "Wow, have we really been here that long?" She asks. I nod. "Indeed we have." She stood up and stretched while yawning. She looked back at the town then turned to me. "Would you like to come with me? You seem nice enough." She asks me. I turn and look at her. "No, I'd rather not cause any panic." I say sitting back down and inching towards the fire. "Well... alright then." She says as she begins to walk away. She stops and turns around again. "Are you sure you will be okay?" I detect the concern in her voice. "Yes, I'll be fine, trust me." She nods and starts walking away. "Okay, just be careful, lots of dangerous things dwell within this forest." She finishes as she begins to trot back home. I let out a sigh and notice the fire is getting low. I reach to my right to grab some wood. A moment later I realize I grabbed nothing. I turn and look. "Great, out of firewood with a good..." I turn and look at the sun, "Eh.... hour and a half left?" I say to myself. I stand up and begin walking through the forest, looking for some nice, dry wood. I continue going straight and straight only, to keep myself from losing my way. I stop for a moment and look at my feet. I clenched my fists and jumped off the ground. As a few seconds passed without touching the ground, I looked down and noticed I was floating off the ground a good foot. "Ahhh.... finally." I say happily as I begin moving forward again. I continue to look around for anything I can use thats dry enough to burn, but everything is far too mossy. I continue walking until I find an entrance to a cave. I hover next to it and listen. Inside I can hear very faint snoring. "Best leave it alone. I have no reason to fight whatever it is." I say softly as I turn and go another way. Now and then as I move I leave a little burn in a tree using my sword to mark I've been here. I keep walking until I decide to look up. I have a good 20 minutes before night. I decide to double time it back to camp. It is a lot easier, and much quieter, to move when you can hover. However, when you need to move fast like I am now, it can tire you out. I finally reach my camp and can feel the darkness grasping at me. The fire is pretty much out, and I have nowhere safe to stay. I look around a bit and decide I'm dumb and should have gotten wood earlier. I start forcing myself to hover upward towards higher branches of the trees. While doing so I can feel the strain on my body as I climb height. My body is not yet ready after that fall to do this, but If I don't want to be eaten by something during the night, I have no choice. I reach the top branch and lay down on it, stretching out my legs until I hear them crack. I look into the sky and laugh a bit to myself. "I know your up there Malzahar," I begin, "And I know what your doing right now, but know this. I will find a way to get to you." I say looking into the sky. "I will cast you into the void myself and watch you die for what you have done this day." I continue. "And what you have done to me." I finish, while shutting down my sword. As my eyes begin to shut memories begin to flash through my mind. Some of war, some of friends. Some of my past. Sorry for the shorter chapter. I have a lot of running around to do. Which is dumb as it IS summer. Ah who am I kidding no-one reads the authors notes anyway -_- For those few who do I just want to say sorry for a short chapter and I hope you are ready for the shitstorm approaching. Oh yes... Don't forget to leave a LIKE if you haven't and you enjoy the story! > Chapter 4: Balance Above All Else > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I know this is kinda short, but I wanted to start updating it again. Chapter 4: Balance Above All Else As I hovered with sword at the ready, I continued to give Malzahar a stare filled with so much hatred and so much power, I was beginning to think I would soon destroy him just by looking at him. I slashed my sword to the right and yelled again. "Malzahar! Return her to me, or I will show you true terror for the monster you are!" I roared continuing my icy stare. Malzahar chuckled slightly and casually began floating away whilst a portal to the void opened where he once was. "If you wish to have her back, you find her." He finished as he began laughing maniacally. I starred back into the void, where so many unmentionable monsters dwell, and I could feel the anger ignite in my chest like a fire as I remembered my last few moments with my daughter. As fast as them came, they disappeared... into the void... I woke up in a hurry, igniting and thrashing my sword wildly as I quickly fell out of the tree and began plummeting towards the cold ground. A moment before impact I regained my senses and pushed up, willing myself to float. As I made impact with the ground I did a roll and landed knelling and looking back up at the tree. I may have not stopped the fall, but I damn well made it survivable. "Blasted monster... even in sleep I'm haunted by him and what he has done..." I muttered to myself as I began a walk around the forest in hopes of finding firewood. It was just after sunrise and I could feel the summer heat pushing down on me. As I moved through the forest I could see the faint shimmer of dew on the grass and hear all the animals that lived inside. Before I could think anymore on this I felt... a presence. A powerful one, two actually... just outside the forest. "I've never felt so much power since..." I paused for a few moments as the thought passed through me, "The void." I began making my way to the strange power, I felt almost drawn to it. Before I had even realized I was nearing the border of the forest once more. As I approached the treeline I could hear voices being thrown around, along with a very familiar one. "So you say this thing-" The first voice began but was quickly silenced by the next. "Man, he was a man Twilight, not a THING." Corrected an all too familiar voice. "Alright... so you say he seemed to attack you, then just kind of... relaxed?" Responded the one known as Twilight. "Sort of, I thought he was trying to attack me, but he really was just trying not to cause panic... I think." Rarity replied. "Very well... I will see if me and my sister can find him and see what his intentions are." Spoke a voice that actually made me feel... calm. It was a strange feeling... calm. It's something I hadn't had for so long and almost forgot about. I enjoyed the feeling of serenity the voice seemed to emit. I felt drawn to the motherly voice as it spoke. I began moving towards the treeline, entrapped by the feeling, not wanting to let it go. "We will see what he wants and wishes to do, what do you suggest Luna?" The voice asked in a questioning tone. "I think we should wait for it- him... to show himself once more. Not to force him to reveal when he wishes to remain hidden." The voice I now know as Luna. Both voices were so.... strange. I could feel power radiating from their very being. I had to find out what they were, and what their purpose was. With my mind made up I finally made it to the treeline and peered through and opening to see a small group of the ponies walking away. One seemed like the same I had met yesterday while the other three were a mystery. One was purple and appeared to be a unicorn, while the other two were much larger, the white one being the largest with a flowing ethereal mane, while they both were sporting a pair of wings and horns. The shorter of the two was a deep midnight blue and appeared to have an ethereal mane just like the white one. 'How strange... maybe I should get their attention. So far they haven't proven a threat' I hovered through the treeline and took in a deep breath. "Wait! I'm here!" I yelled back having them all freeze at the sound of my voice. The white one known as Rarity turned and instantly slapped a smile on her face, whilst the white and purple ponies had looks of wonder and curiosity. The blue pony seemed to just be scanning me with eyes glowing with fascination. After a few moments of silence they began to slowly walk towards me as I slowly, in turn, made my way to them. As we neared and stopped not a spitting distance from each other, we just continued to stare. And as quickly as the silence fell, it was broken. "Nice to meet you again Miss Rarity... I assume your here on different terms now?" I ask, hoping to get some talking going. "Yes, I told Twilight here about you and she told the princesses. They all wished to meet you." She spoke with a tune that screamed poise. "Princesses?" I asked as I looked at the two larger equines. I quickly decided it's best to act like one should in front of royalty. I quickly dismissed my hovering and landed with a small thud, causing Twilight to jump a bit from the sudden change. When I was standing steady I knelled down and looked up at the two. "I hope I haven't done anything illegal to cause you any... distress?" I spoke trying to think of what to say. After a few moments of silence the white equine shook her head a bit and smiled. "No need to kneel, however it is very appreciated." She began as I got back from my position and began hovering again. "And no, you haven't done anything. I just had word about you and decided I should come and... meet you... you sure are interesting-" "Sister?" The blue pony questioned motioning towards me. "Oh right Luna, we wish to have you follow us into town. But first... My name is Celestia, Princess and co-ruler of the land of Equestria." She stated as she stood high with her wings stretched out. "And My name is Luna, Equestrian Princess and ruler alongside my Sister." Luna also spoke out while also standing straight with flared wings. I nodded a bit and spoke up. "Pleased to meet you... My name is Kassadin the void walker and protector of Valoran. I also agree to come with you to town... on one condition..." I say as I pause for a moment. "If you tell me what exactly you are...?" I finish as I once again feel the pulsing of their strange power.