> Souls From Arath > by wille179 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter the First > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The two eldest members of the trio gazed upon the evening sky with no small amount of unease. The sole man in the trio couldn't help but grit his teeth in worry. As for the woman, she kept her face as neutral as possible so their youngest companion, their four (and three quarters!) year old daughter wouldn't be scared by their reactions. But there was no denying now that something was horribly, catastrophically wrong. Obviously, the forest they were suggested that they weren't anywhere near their home on Salt Island, for it had no forests at all. But the plants themselves looked somewhat familiar to the man; in fact, they reminded him of the great forests of Ufora, his homeland. And, having heard the roar of a dragon in the distance, the man had assumed that he was, in fact, near his homeland. And then the sun had started to set, and they panicked. “Why’s it moving so fast, Isa,” the man asked, his accent thick with the lingering touch of his native tongue. Isabella — Isa to her friends — had no answers. Well, nothing concrete, anyway, but she kept her more convoluted ideas to herself. “Hyg, if the sun really is moving faster, then we should get airborne. We need to be on the lookout for city lights.” Hyg, otherwise known as Hygonon Keizhal, nodded to his wife. “Matilda! We’re going flying now.” Matilda smiled. She, being the child that she was, bounded energetically to her father. “Yay! Flying time!” With great ease and swiftness, Hygonon scooped up the little girl and placed her on his shoulders, where she latched onto two of the four horns protruding from his head. Then, with his hands free once more, he grabbed his human wife and spread his wings. Now Hygonon, like anyone else of the three great flying races, could not fly under his own power; there was no way for his wings to be big enough, or his muscles strong enough. However, he, like every angel, every demon, and every fairy, could manipulate gravity with his magic. Even Matilda, a second generation hybrid with only a quarter angelic and a quarter demonic magic, retained enough of that power to fly with her underdeveloped wings. The moment his magic flared, gravity shifted, making the three of them drift upwards. But, as they went up, so did the air around them. Hyg’s wings caught that updraft, allowing him to haul his family skyward with minimal effort. Falling up from the forest with the sky now below them, it became quite clear that they were not in Ufora at all, for Hygonon could see a great city perched on the side of a mountain, one that was neither the great, monolithic spires spires of his home, nor the squat, wide buildings of Iascuatan, the kingdom of the orcs. In fact, none of the trio recognised the architectural style. “Hyg, I don’t think we’re on Arath anymore,” the human woman said. Her nephalem husband snorted. “No, that’s fairly obvious.” He reached one of his muscular hands back and gave the little girl hanging there a pat on the head. “You doing all right there, kiddo?” “MmmHmm,” she affirmed. Isabella looked back at her daughter, who was smiling widely. Matilda’s halo, though half as bright as her father’s, still shone warmly in response to her good mood. Isa figured that Matilda was so happy because she felt that this was just an adventure. Hygonon grunted. “I see a small town. Over there.” He pointed a clawed finger in the general direction. Isa and Matilda both looked, and sure enough, there was a small settlement with a creek running through it. The unnatural gravity pulling skywards them twisted under the nephalem’s will, causing them to stop ascending and start drifting towards the town. Slowly, they accelerated, though Hygonon made an effort to keep his speed low so that the wind wouldn’t bother his wife. Elsewhere, in the village towards which the Keizhal family was flying, a pink mare suddenly stopped in her tracks. “Twitchy tail, pinchy knee? Together? A scary falling thing?” She blinked, and then screamed. “AHH! Take cover!” Ponies ran. “HYGONON! SLOW DOWN!” Isabella shrieked. The nephalem just laughed. “Why, scared?” “YES!” But Isabella didn’t get to say any more as the trio plowed into the ground. Or at least, that’s what Isabella expected to happen. Instead, at the last moment, Hygonon flared the full brunt of his magic, creating an inverted gravitational field so strong that it completely bled off their speed just before they hit the ground. In fact, since gravity worked on every part of the body at once, including the inner ear, Isabella couldn’t feel the acceleration. To her eyes, the ground just stopped approaching. Hygonon’s goat-like hooves settled on the hard-packed dirt with barely a sound. Matilda then let go of her father’s horns and drifted to the ground under her own power. And as for Isa, the busty woman pushed her way out from her husband’s tight grip and then shoved him away from her. “Don’t you EVER do that to me again, you hear me? Because if you do, you’ll be finding potion sixty-three in you food for a month.” Hygonon wisely acquiesced. When the best cook in your family was also your city’s best potions mistress (and was a good cook precisely because of that skill), her threat of slipping him body-altering potions was very real. “Understood.” Only then did he really take a good look at the village around then. “Hey, where is everyone?” “Playin’ hide-and-seek?” Matilda offered. With a flutter of her small, hybrid wings and a burst of her still developing magic, she launched herself towards the windows of one of the nearby houses. She pressed her face against the glass and peeked through the crack in the curtains. “Pony!” There was an audible crash and a very human-like scream from inside the house, causing Matilda to giggle. “Matilda!” her mother scolded. “Stop peeking into people’s homes! That’s rude!” “Aww!” But despite her groaning, Matilda flew back over to her parents’ side. Isabella looked back at her husband. In a growling whisper, she told him in no uncertain terms, “If she picks your peeping tom habits, I am going to castrate you; forget the potions.” Hygonon at least had the decency to blush with embarrassment. His hair sizzled with uncontrolled fire magic while his horns crackled with a tiny dash of lightning magic. Isa nodded. “Good I see you understand.” Hygonon glanced up at the partially cloudy sky again. His frown returned. “If the sun going down sooner than we thought, we should really try to find shelter for the evening storm. I bet you that’s where everyone else is.” Isa agreed. Hyg scooped up his daughter and let her cling to his horns. Isabella stepped forwards, while he kicked off the ground and drifted alongside her. After walking a few blocks, and still not seeing anyone, Isa remarked, “This is getting a little weird, though. It’s still sunny; you’d think that the last minute stragglers would still be out, but no... nothing.” “And this place reeks of horses,” her husband remarked, sniffing the air, “but I don’t even see one, let alone a cart, stables, water troughs, or anything like that.” He looked around some more. “There’s not even horse dung on the streets.” “There was a pony in that house!” Matilda chimed in. “It had a hat on.” Now, being a four-and-three-quarters year old child, Matilda had figured out the concept of lying. But, she had also inherited her mother’s terrible poker face. So when Isabella looked at her daughter, and her daughter was looking as if she had told the truth, Isabella believed her. That didn’t make the declaration any less weird, however. “Well, if there really was a pony with a hat, maybe that’s why your daddy’s smelling horses,” Isa offered. The nephalem wasn’t listening to the exchange with all his attention; instead, he was focusing on the distant voices in the wind. “This way,” he announced, turning to drift down a side street. Isabella followed close behind. They didn’t expect what they found at the next intersection. “Ponies!” Matilda happily declared. And there were — dozens of them in fact, of every conceivable pastel color. And they were tiny, too. Whereas an elven war unicorn would tower over Hygonon’s massive, 7’4” frame, these ponies — unicorns included — would have been eye level with his crotch. And to top it off, some of them even had angelic wings. The moment Matilda had made her declaration, all of the ponies nearby had turned to look at them. An instant later, one shouted, “MONSTERS!” Pandemonium broke out, with ponies fleeing everywhere. In less than thirty seconds, the street was empty of all save the Keizhal family. “Well...” observed Hygonon, “I’ve never gotten that reaction before.” Isa blinked in surprise. “I thought you would have been surprised that we're apparently in a village of talking ponies.” Hygonon shrugged. “My second cousin and his wife paid a necromancer to shove their souls into their pet dragons. The last I heard, they were trying to have naturally born, sapient hatchlings. I just assumed elves just decided to do it as midget horses.” Isabella opened her mouth to respond, and then closed it again. She shook her head. “Nevermind. So, let's go find some horse people who don't think that we're going to eat them.” “We aren't?” Hygonon asked playfully. The potions mistress glared at him. “No.” Hyg sighed dramatically. “A shame.” The trio set off once more. Twice more, they encountered ponies, only for them to run off screaming. By the third time it had happened, they were starting to get annoyed. Luckily, it was then that they found a pony that didn't immediately run off. It had a dragon hatchling on its back, to boot. The nephalem smiled. The pony winced upon seeing his fang-filled mouth, but didn't run. “Finally, a sensible pony, and with a handsome young drake to boot.” To his surprise, it was the drake who responded first. “Uh, thanks?” Rolling with it, Hyg said, “Of course.” The pony, who the humanoid family noted had both wings and a horn, cleared her throat. “Sorry. My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. I heard that there was another monster in town, but it seems that the town is overreacting. Again.” She sighed. “Sorry about that. Ponyville is a little panicky, at least until they see someone dealing with ‘it,’ whatever it may be.” Her horn lit up, coating her throat in magic. “Everypony, you can come out now!” she shouted, her voice significantly amplified. Ponies stated emerging from their homes. Seeing that, Isabella thanked the princess. “If you don't mind me asking,” Twilight started, “how did you get here?” “We flew!” Matilda answered from her perch on her father’s head. Twilight shook her head. “No, I mean, how did you get to this world? The only humans I know of only live on the other side of the mirror portal and I’ve never seen anything like you... Um...” “Oh, forgive me. I am Hygonon Keizhal, a nephalem. This is my wife, Isabella, and this little kiddo,” he plucked the girl from her perch and set her on the ground, “is Matilda, our daughter in blood and soul. Say hello, Matilda.” Matilda ran up to Twilight Sparkle, stepped past her, and hugged the little hatchling on her back. “Hello, Mr. Dragon!” “Gah! Twilight! Help!” the young drake exclaimed, but he needn't have worried. Hyg was there a moment later to pry his daughter loose. He picked her up, making her squirm as she tried to break free of his grip. “Sorry about that. I guess I’ve filled her head with too many stories about dragons.” The dragon brushed himself off as if he’d fallen in the dirt. “No worries. I'm Spike, by the way.” “Spike!” The still squirming girl exclaimed. Isabella and Twilight both chuckled at the scene. “I hate to interrupt,” the purple pony interjected, “but I really do need to know how you got here.” Isabella answered. “We flew, that much is true, but only from where we appeared in that forest.” She pointed towards the woodlands they had appeared in. “The Everfree?!” Twilight exclaimed. “Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?” No one was. Twilight looked relieved. “Thank Celestia. But you just appeared there?” They nodded. “Strange. Hmmm... Well, I suppose that you could have come from another world by some other means. I’ll look into getting you two home tomorrow morning.” Hygonon and Isabella’s eyes glanced at the sky again. “That long?” the latter asked. “What?” Twilight asked back. “That not really that long at all, and I’d rather be fresh.” Hyg elbowed his wife. “Faster days means faster nights, too.” “Oh, this is going to be so confusing,” Isabella realized. At the same moment, the implications of Hyg’s comment registered in Twilight’s brain. “Your world has a longer day cycle?” Twilight rather promptly dragged them off to her home after that. To their great surprise, it was the local, tree-shaped palace they’d seen from the air. Their surprise was mainly from the fact that a horse or pony named princess sounded much more likely than a pony who was a princess. Only once they were walking up to the castle did it finally connect that they were in the presence of actual royalty. They scrambled to cover up their social blunders up to that point, but for two different reasons. Isabella did so out of embarrassment, while Hygonon only cared about making sure that the pony who was offering to help them home wasn't offended. Once that was over and done with, and after they had figured out that the day was seven times slower in their homeworld than here, Twilight began bombarding them with questions about themselves and their home world. Hygonon, being less academically inclined than his wife, eventually ducked out to find Spike. The young drake had strongly caught his interest. Matilda was once more perched on his head as he drifted down the halls. Stopping at a door labeled “Spike’s Room,” the bent down and nephalem knocked thrice. The tiny drake opened the door. He had to crane his neck back to see Hygonon's face from that angle. “Oh, hey, is Twilight done quizzing you now?” “Nah, she and Isa are still going at it. I was more curious about you. So, what's your story?” “Hmmm... well, Twilight hatched me when she was applying to get into Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. And while the Princess and her staff cared for me while I was a baby, Twilight took me in a year or two later and I’ve been her number one assistant ever since.” “You were her assistant at two?” Spike shrugged. “I mostly just sat in the room and played with toys while Twilight was studying. I kept her company and forced her to take breaks every now and again. Heh, I still do that now.” Hygonon examined him closely. “You know, except for the fact that you walk upright, you look very similar to the dragons of my world.” “Really?” The nephalem nodded. “You're about six, right?” “I’m twelve.” Hygonon waved his hand. “Maybe the years are different here too. Or maybe you're just small.” Spike pouted. “Anyway, assuming you grow up just like the dragons in my world, you’ll be quite big and strong.” The little drake’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Really? Hey, when do you think I’ll get my wings?” Hygonon frowned. “Well, I can’t really say. In my world, there’s a special piece of demon magic involved that transforms them into ferocious war beasts, since without it, our dragons are just big lizards. Here, there aren’t any demons, but maybe you’ll get them on your own.” The excitement in Spike’s eyes faded back down. “Oh. Twilight said I’d have to wait for them...” Smirking, Hygonon held out his hand. An orb of fire appeared in his palm before twisting down into a tiny ball of white light. “Here, eat this. It’s safe.” Spike picked up the little ball of light, and marveled at how solid it felt despite having been conjured from flame. “What’s this?” “A little bit of my magic. It’s how we give the lizards their wings and make them into proper dragons. It’s only temporary; when I cut the connection, you’ll go back to being you.” Spike considered. “All right.” Then he popped the orb into his mouth and bit. Hygonon felt the magical connection establish instantly, though the vague awareness of Spike’s surface thoughts was novel to him. As soon as he was sure that the connection was stable, Hygonon poured his magic into Spike’s body. Spike burst into flames. Lightning erupted from his spines and tail. He freed himself from the pull of gravity. And for a moment, he hung there, shrouded in a growing ball of fire and lightning. And then, as the lighting and fire extinguished itself, he dropped to the ground with a massive thud. The most obvious change was his size; he stood a head taller than Hygonon, and bore well-defined muscles. Horns matching the nephalem’s protruded from his head. A halo of illusory light shone, seemingly backlighting his head from every angle and yet from nowhere at all. And then there were his wings, which were a perfect match of Hygonon’s own. They were a mix of angelic and demonic, both feathered and membraned. The dragon looked down and examined his new form. “Wow,” Spike rumbled, his voice two octaves lower, “I look good! I feel amazing!” “It’s interesting, though,” Hygonon remarked as he watched the drake examine himself. “I can feel so much power in your own soul, and yet you’ve barely tapped into it. Are you keeping yourself suppressed, or is someone suppressing you?” “Uhh...” Spike drew a blank. “You’d feel it; it’s like being shoved into a tiny box and feeling like you need to move.” “No, I don’t think so.” Spike frowned. The feeling the nephalem had described just didn’t ring any bells. “Ah well. Come, I’m sure you want to show Twilight.” Spike’s toothy grin returned full force. “Yeah!” Twilight and her friends watched in awe as Spike and a mare named Rainbow Dash danced together in the evening sky, whirling and twirling about. The dragon ascended and, at the peak of his arc, let off three great jets of flame: an emerald one from his mouth and two orange ones conjured from his claws. Hygonon watched on from below, his wide, cloven hooves firmly on the ground, but his finger tracing the path Spike flew. He stood separate from the rest of the group, as the ones called Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy seemed uncomfortable in his presence. He’d heard the former mutter something about “smiling wrong,” and decided to give them space. His wife walked up to him. Her gait was no longer her usual one, a sultry walk that accentuated her potion-enhanced, self-crafted curves. No, it was the march of a determined woman who knew what she was doing and needed results yesterday. “Stop.” It was a command, and one that, had the circumstances been normal, would have been obeyed by Hygonon instantly. But instead, he made no move to comply, and kept twirling his clawed finger, smiling all the while. “My dear Isabella, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Whatever you intend for that boy, stop. Now.” Hygonon stood up straight and took a heavy step towards his wife. He placed a single claw, the one that had been following Spike, under her chin and lifted her head to face his. “Hmmm... No.” She tried to push his arm down, but the muscular appendage refused to budge. It was like stone, save for the fact that it followed her every movement to keep the claw in place. Then he drew her head back up towards his. “Hygonon Keizhal, you are the son of Kazur Keizhal, one of the most evil men in the world, in blood, in soul, and in upbringing.” The nephalem’s arm fell to his side, and his smile shattered, revealing the snarling, fang-filled orifice beneath it. Fire burned across his nearly-bare chest, up his shoulders, and in his hair, giving him a lion’s mane of flame. Lightning crackled between his horns, barely restrained from striking anything and everything near. “You say you despise him, you say you want to be nothing like him. I know you try to be a good man, Hyg, but you are your father’s son. And at the end of the day, I can count the number of people you truly care for on one hand. Everyone else is expendable garbage in your eyes; I don’t need to be a mind reader to know what you’re thinking when you look at people the way you do. And I know you looked upon me with those eyes, once upon a time. “So, I see you playing with a child, smiling and laughing and bringing him joy, and I see those gears turning in your head. I know you have something planned, and I know it is nothing good. So, whatever it is, Stop.” The flames and lightning slowly faded, until not a trace remained. Even his thin leather straps that barely counted as clothing were untouched. His murderous expression faded as well, until it too was gone without a trace, leaving only a simple smile behind. “You know, it’s times like this when I’m reminded of why I didn’t kill you back then, and why I fell in love with you anyway.” “I am aware,” Isabella remarked offhandedly, having heard the same line before. “Very well. I shall remove my magic from the whelp.” Isabella looked over her shoulder at Spike, who was standing back on the ground with the other ponies. “No, leave it for now; let him have his fun. Just do nothing more with that plan of yours.” “Of course,” he agreed. “I won’t need my plan anyway if the princess can get us home.” It clicked in Isabella’s head, and she saw in her mind what she knew his plan to be. “I’m sure she can get us home. She has quite the magical library, one that I’d love to look through; I’m sure there’s an answer in there.” “Of course,” he repeated, a twinkle in his crimson eyes. “I’m sure you miss your potions lab already.” “I do,” Isa admitted. Hygonon’s clawed finger flicked back up just before Spike launched into the air again. As it twirled, Spike followed its path through the sky, flying on borrowed wings.