Welcome to Mortum, Goddess of the Stars
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Mortum
Written By, Serra Quill
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Now if someone had told you, they went to bed one evening after studying, not really taking care to undress properly and then the next day they woke up to a crowd of people, you would probably think them crazy. In Twilights case, its farm from it, as she now sits on a stone slab with her arm wrapped around her body to keep her shirt from coming undone.
"W-what?" Twilight said as she looked out to the crowd, seeing people in torn rags, mucked up skin and different colors smeared across their bodies. By each person a weapon lay near them, even the children held either a bow or dagger by their side.
The crowd knelt to the floor, placing their weapons next to them, clanging and thumps came as silence soon followed. Speechless, Twilight sat wondering what was happening until one of the people spoke, still not lifting his head. "Our Goddess has come, Mortum Requiem has arrived," the man said before finally looking up at her, small tears came from his face, "our Goddess Twilight Sparkle has arrived, the Warrior Savior!"
Suddenly an uproarious sound came from the crowd as they began to chant her name, slowly rising and then lowering themselves to the wet mud, showing worship that Twilight was confused by. Twilights thoughts were a jumbled mess, for one thing she wasn't dressed properly, though she had to admit neither it seemed was any of the women of these people. Two, she didn't know how she got here and three she was being worshiped like Celestia was in her home.
"W-WAIT!" Twilight shouted over the roar of the crowd, suddenly every face hit the ground daring not to face her, until the same man slowly rose.
The man shook slightly but tried to hide it well, "Yes, our Goddess?"
Twilight stared at the man, now noticing the horn that came from his head, a magic user, "g-goddess?"
One of the crowds children tried to take a peak but her mother swatted her head to put her back in place, the man held his hands palm up as he lay them in the mud, placing his forehead into the mud along with them. "Yes, Goddess?" he said with a trembling voice, still being able to say the whole words though.
Twilight suddenly stood, making the crowd jump but not move, the man tried to dig his head deeper as he listened, "I, that is, where am I. Please don't stick your head in the mud, I don't mean any harm, though I am confused why you keep calling me Goddess?"
The mans shoulders shrunk as he breathed out his breathe, slowly rising as the mud that stuck to his head plopped to the floor, though he stopped only a head height above the ground without looking at Twilight, "It is not my place to look upon the Warrior Goddess with such lowly eyes"
"Warrior Goddess," Twilight mouthed, no one noticed as they still were bowing, "what do you mean Warrior Goddess?"
"You, our Goddess, are the old blood, the worldender. The God of Mortum, we bow in your presence and submit to your every whim, my liege," the man said, lowering again.
Twilight sunk back against the cold of the stone, turning from the view of the crowd and the vast forest behind them, she turned to see a mountain that seemed to be carved. Black obsidian protruded out of the face of the rock in a huge statue of a womanly figure, upon the figures stomach was a star surrounded by five smaller stars, My cutie mark?
Looking up to the figure closer, she looked to its face and then the hair, it seemed to part in places and slowly darken in others, making two very distinct lines down its contours. Twilight looked on in awe as well as terror, the only difference really was where her cutie mark was but it definitely was her, if not for the dragon like wings and huge sword the statue held.
Then she looked down to where she awoke, a stone slab marked with a brown rustic liquid, she placed her hand in it and rubbed it between her fingers. If I were to say so, this looks much like congealed blood, she then brought it closer and took a small sniff. Her hand began to shake as her eyes widened, It is blood... then she turned back to the crowd, looking at the man who had his head still in the mud.
"W-why is there blood on the-" she stopped as she looked at the man closer, seeing in the light brown mud a patch of dark red slowly growing beneath his knees. Twilight took a step back but she hit the stone alter, "yo-your bleeding," she said, her voice wavering slightly.
The man looked up, his face pale as the horror in his eyes showed, "I am sorry I have brought a problem to you, I will be gone soon, out of your sight for good our Goddess," he said before hacking blood onto the floor, a child next to him lifted his head, tears streaming down his eyes.
The child grabbed the mans arms as he screamed in his face, "Father, Please!"
The man shook the child off and grabbed his head, trying to put the child back in his place, so not to make the Goddess any more uncomfortable than what he had sought from his death. "Please forgive my son, Almighty Goddess, he knows not what power you have. Please let him atone with just the death of myself, ple-"
"No!"
The man looked up in horror, tears poured down his face as his eyes flicked to the side, his own sons eyes twitched in horror at what the Goddess had said. The man looked to her as if he would burn alive for looking at her, as he questioned with absolute terror, "no?" he replied in a meek voice.
"No, no one here is dying," Twilight said as she held her hand forward, somehow her magic had already appeared before she had even willed it to, lifting the bleeding man up to the alter and lying him on it. Many behind them tried to get to their feet, gasping that he had been placed on the alter, the man himself trying to drop off of it. Though Twilight looked down at the man with resolution and it quelled the mans movements, when he stopped so did the crowd.
She then placed her hand on the mans stomach, he shivered in terror for what would happen, until a green ambient light could be seen and heard as it hummed, the hole in which he had tore open for whatever reason began to close. His eyes grew larger at the thought and sight of such a feat, thinking no doubt their Goddess had truly arrived.
Twilight finally released her hand as she sharply in took air, nodding at her work she had done, though it felt weird because this spell usually exhausted her fully but she felt like she could do it many times more. "Now," Twilight said as she looked at the man, who once again trembled, she sighed.
The man jumped, Apologizing again for being a wretched lower being not even worth saving but Twilight finally snapped, "YOU ARE NOT WORTHLESS!" she said slightly louder than she should have, making her blush slightly as she finally remember to button her shirt.
As she reached down she looked to her stomach, where her once smooth stomach once was, a small indent of scarred tissue surrounded by five other blotches was, shaped like her cutie mark. As she went to button above it the crowd gasped again, one shouting not to do it, Why would I not button my top, its embarrassing standing here without a b-bra or buttons.
Ignoring the persistent crowd she tried to button her shirt but after she did, the shapes of the star upon her stomach burnt through the white of her shirt, setting it ablaze. Quickly patting it out, luckily not leaving any damage to her belly or her hands she breathed a sigh of relief, though that didn't say the same for her now belly shirt.
She buttoned the three left that at least covered her more needed area and let her belly show, which seemed to appease the crowd of people who were... sort of wearing the same things as her. Not the shirt, torn rags and such around their wastes and rags around the women's bust. Twilight turned back to the man who should have been on the alter, though when she did he was gone, looking again to the side she noticed him stood there bowing again.
Twilight grunted in frustration, "No more bowing for Celestia's sake!" she said to the crowd as they all jolted up, not daring to bow, "I will not do anything even if you offend me, I cant even do anything if I tried... I need to just find out where I am and possibly how I got here"
Twilight turned back to the man who now stood up, on second look he looked closely to Shining Armour in a way, except slightly shorter and had blond hair. "what is your name?"
The man began to bow again before he halted in doing so, remembering what was said, "I am Messenger, I was the one who summoned our Goddess to this lowly plane of existence"
Plane of existence?.... wait, "Did you just say you, that you summoned me?" Twilight asked in confusion, having another look at the alter, It certainly has a summony feel... I must be losing my mind, I just made a word up! Twilights hair began to spring up, bit by bit, feeling her panic rising she tried to calm herself. She staggered slightly at the implications of such an ordeal, one could certainly summon a demon to Equestria but she was no demon... was she? As her panic rose, she placed her hand onto the alter and grasped the edge of it in attempt to steady herself in reality, though all it accomplished was dust in her hand.
She brought her shaking hand to her face and opened her palm, as she did grey dust fell from it leaving a small pile in her hand. She then looked at the alter, the edge ground away in the shape of fingers all the way through. She barely even felt it when she did grab the rock, "W-what..."
Messenger stared at the rock for a second before he looked at his Goddess, she herself shaking slightly, "A-are you alright Goddess?" he asked, trying to be as polite as possible.
That was it, enough was enough, Twilight wanted answers. Though if she looked around she could find the obvious ones, it was just like a daring do novel, obvious third world tribe set up that worshiped some form of God. "I AM NO GODDESS, NOW WHERE AM I!"
Surprisingly, every person in front of her, even Messenger dropped to the ground grovelling at her anger. To make matters worse a massive black cloud above covered the skies as lighting struck a nearby tree, well great, now my anger somehow creates a storm, gee thanks world. Now they are not going to believe I'm not a Goddess.
"You are in sil'wha, the west of nak'thu where our main tribe dwells," Messenger said as he faced the floor, water quickly drenching his head and clearing away the mud as it seeped down the steps.
Twilight covered her head with an arm as she wrapped the other one around her chest, this weather and a white shirt do not match, "I have never heard of such places, not only that but I studied all the maps of Equs'"
Messenger looked up at her, squinting as beads of water hit his face, "That is because that is the lower world, you are in your home world now your highness, you are home"
"Home... where," Twilight asked as she lowered her arm to her side, the revelation that she may not even be on her planet, "where are we in the universe...," Twilight thought by far it was the oddest question in history and would never be uttered again.
The man got to his knees as did the rest, for some reason, "You are home, home on Mortum Requiem, our Goddess is HOME!" He shouted as lightning struck.
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Some Time later, back in Equestria
The Diarch of the Sun and her counterpart of the Moon sparked into existence outside the doors of the nostalgic golden oaks library, having been summoned by her students assistant. The Sun rose her hoof and quietly rapped it three times against the wood of the door. A few seconds later the door was opened, a straight pink haired women with wings answered the door, her eyes red from exhausted and crying.
As the Sun and her sister entered, she saw many faces she knew well, all in much the same state. Though she probably knew what had happened she began her question, "What has happened?"
Spike walked forward, his usually vibrant green pointy hair slunk near his face as he trudged over holding a golden tiara. Holding it out as a tear escaped his eye, the Sun looked upon the item as it rose in a golden aura, the metal was still the same but in the centre piece of the tiara held a crystal. One that was dulled and cracked, breathing a heavy sigh she looked to the occupants of the room again, "where is she?"
They all looked to Spike, his shoulders slumped, "we... we don't know?" he said, more of an question than a statement thinking the Sun would know more.
The Sun felt a hoof upon her shoulder, "Then it has happened Celestia, she is gone," the Moon stated.
Celestia looked to the room as her demeanor darkened, "She has ascended, to where she belongs," Celestia then placed the tiara down, "Come now Luna, there is much to do before Requiem contacts us," Celestia said before leaving the room again, the occupants of the room moving to catch her attention but a hand from Luna stopped them.
Luna turned slightly back to the door, her eyes turned in their direction but not directly at them, "She has not passed on, we shall tell you what has happened shortly, please don't worry. I have to go for now, I shall be back soon with news of Twilight," Luna said before making her way out.
Spike stood with slumped shoulders looking out of the doors of the golden oak library as the door slowly closed upon the group inside, as it did he closed his eyes and between gritted teeth he whispered, "Twilight," before crying.
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Oh Spike, I hope you and the girls are okay, Twilight thought as she trudged on through the mud, the rain had finally stopped. Though it left the ground rather hard to walk upon, though Twilight Sparkle was never a quitter and she needed answers that apparently the "Elder" had back in Nak'thu.
As she walked Messenger came up next to her, "Please Goddess, let us carry you there," he said as he held his hand in the direction of four men carrying a seat made of obsidian, sweating with every step they took.
Twilight cringed slightly at the sight, feeling slightly sorry for them, although upon her saying she was fine walking they would have none of her words. Continuously asking her to be carried, eventually she got sick of the nagging and gave in to the requests. The four men smiled wide at the revelation that they were needed by their God, even as they struggled to lift her back up with the added weight of the obsidian they never stopped smiling.
Twilight sighed in resignation as she let the people of, err.... Mortum was it, do whatever they want within reason. Hopefully it wasn't one of those tribes where they sacrifice the body of their God to release her spirit or some crazy notion or she will soon be in quite a problem.
The minutes passed by as soon something above the trees could be seen, surprisingly it looked to be an Iron tower rising above the trees, two minutes later she could see a steel fence bordering off the jungle and the city which looked closely related to Canterlot, if not better so.
"Where are we?" Twilight asked, one of her carriers spoke up.
"This is nek'thu, home to the Alicorn tribe"
Twilight nearly fell from her seat as he said that, "A-ALICORN?"
"Yes, our tribe is the Alicorn tribe," came a voice from her left, being now particularly more familiar, seeing Messenger. He looked up to her before a child, the same one as earlier rushed to his side, which he then held his shoulder, "home of nearly three thousand and the place where the palace of crimson is held on Mortum"
"Palace of Crimson?" Twilight questioned.
"Yes, the place where the worldender will reside before making her decisions," Messenger said nonchalantly.
"What do you mean by Worldender?" Twilight asked, even she was annoyed at how many questions she had to ask.
The man seem to look confused for a second before turning to her, "y-you do not know? I thought you would know?" he said in a wavering voice, a few seconds later the group of people halted at the metal gates, the very person at the front shouted to the gate keeper who looked down in crimson Armour. He in turn nodded as the large metal gate screeched across the ground as it moved out of the way.
Once it finally stopped the group began to move once again, as they did Twilight looked into the city from where she sat, men and women wore clean clothes and many looked to glow in radiance. This just confused her until she looked at the first woman in the line that carried her, as the woman passed the thresh hold of the cities gates her rags became white and stretched to cover her body, seeming to also radiate its own light. As each passed they all got their new attire placed upon their bodies.
All eyes in the city watched on from the sides, going to one knee and placing a hand upon the left of their chests bowing slightly. The thresh hold was quickly approaching and Twilight found that her heart was stuck in her throat, whats going to happen to me, I know what happens to them but I haven't tested whats going to happen to me.
Noticing the distress his God seemed to be in, Messenger kept face forward and explained, "Within the sanctity our garbs become what are worth are, if you are servant you are given black garbs, if you are Warrior you are given red, if you are of public you are given white. Then there is our Goddess, upon passage into the sanctity will be given the finest robes of Purple, which will then bind to her being so that even if she were to leave the sanctity she would not be disgraced such as we lower beings," he said like he had just read from a book.
With slightly less panic Twilight accepted her fate, then this should prove to them I am no Goddess, then I can find a way home. Twilight thought as she began to pass the thresh hold of the sanctity, as she did though she felt her stomach burn slightly, looking down she saw that the scar that was on her belly pulsated giving her slight pain. She began sweating as she was now halfway passed the meter thresh hold.
As it pulsated black lines sprouted from the five stars, each making its way upon an appendage, one to either and and the same to each leg and finally one to her neck. Her skin sizzled with heat, unexpectedly not hurting at all, she watched as they made small pasterns upon each arm and leg. Finally she passed the thresh hold, a blinding light erupted that she and many others had to cover from, even her carriers shook unsteadily when it happened.
As she opened her eyes again she saw the world in a different hue, almost more brighter and colorful, looking down she felt different. Not metaphorically but physically different, looking down she noticed a few things. Her clothes had disappeared, replaced by purple silk like wrap that floated just away from her skin but mysteriously never showed any vital parts to any angle. Next she noticed how her skin had tanned more slightly, her nails had grown and brightened. Her arms and legs were slimmer and longer, finally she looked to her stomach, where once a scar was, a black mark remained of her cutie mark. Though from where the five smaller stars was was the marks connected to her limbs.
Looking over herself she looked to her left where Messenger was, clad now in a black robe, his eyes watering slightly. As was many of the other faces within the city streets, she was about to say something but a roar of cheering came from the streets.
Then in front of the people Two lights shone brightly, Messenger looked forward and smiled, "The Apostles are home as well, it is a joyous day," he said as he knelt again, the rest of the city followed suit except for the ones holding Twilights chair. As the Golden and Blue light got brighter Twilight thought she would have to cover her face like everyone else but the need never arose.
As Twilight looked on her mouth dropped open, "W-what?" was her only words at the two young, small girls in front of her who struck a familiar look to people she knew.
They both knelt as they put their right fists above their left chest, both at once spoke as if connected, "Goddess, it is good to finally see you"
Then the Golden clad one lifted her head and smiled at Twilight, "Well Twilight, it seems the time has come," she said, her calm smile never leaving her feature as Twilight gawked at her.
"P... P.... Princess?"