My name used to be Joshua, I was someone who made cosplay props and sold them for a decent price. Now I am Nox The Unfortunate and I will sell my items for any worthy price.
My name used to be Joshua, I was someone who made cosplay props and sold them for a decent price.
At every convention I would go to to sell my items I would dress as some form of merchant from one game or another and primary sell items that that character was likely to carry, even if it was from a completely different game as long as it made sense that they would have it.
At the last convention I went to I decided that I would dress as Nox The Unfortunate from Wizard of Legend and therefor would only sell items that were cursed in the game they came from.
Now thanks to selling the wrong thing to the wrong person me and my entire stock are in a new world, I AM Nox The Unfortunate, all the items I have ever made are here with me and real, and the ones that were never cursed are now cursed.
The good thing? Every thing I sell has a warning on it so I can't get in trouble for selling cursed items for any price, and I do mean any price... You don't need your soul, right?
Apparently this got featured 8/28/19... What? How?
I tossed the dark maroon cloak over my self and turned on the green lights sitting just under my eyes. With the black morphsuit I was wearing the cosplay was complete.
Happy with the look I made my way to the convention entrance lowered the hood of my cloak and suit so the guard could see my face and showed my ID so that I could get in and set up my stand before the convention got started. Thankfully, as per I was told, all my items and setup materials were sectioned off in my reserved area.
I will spare you the details of me setting everything in place and just tell you how it looked when I was done. I had a short table with a raggedy cloth over it the color of dried blood, I had a selection of twenty items of varying sizes on top with there prices in front of them.
Behind me was a prop wall that was made to look like that of and old stone keep with shelves holding more props to be sold. Some of the items were from the same game while others were from many different games, moves, and television shows. The only thing they all had in common was that no matter what form of media they had come from they were all cursed items.
The most numerous of them were from the game Wizard of Legend, same as the character I was dressed as Nox The Unfortunate. My favorite, however, was the custom replica doll of Annabelle. If you don't know what that doll is or what it is from, consider yourself lucky.
With every thing set up and ready all I had to do was wait for the doors to open.
(000)
It has been several hours and the con only has about and hour left til it closed for the day, and I have made a fair amount of sales. So far only one person has tried to buy the Annabelle doll, but he didn't like the price for it and left. I considered negotiating the price but decided against it. I need to make a profit, so like hell I was selling anything here for less then the listed price for them.
As I was getting ready to pack up someone came up to me and asked about the Catastrophic Codex that was on the table. I got into character and began to try and sell the prop book.
"Ah, yes. The codex is a terrifying book to keep with you. For when read it will bring down the wrath of the elements upon all, and the end will be nigh." I told the Resident Evil Merchant cosplayer in a voice that I made for Nox to sound sightly creepy but friendly enough to buy from.
"Oh, truly?"
I chuckled to my self as the guy chose to play along. "Yes, once it has been read the unstoppable forces of the elements will assail all, my friend. Choose wisely, eheheh."
"Heheh, how much for it?"
"Oh, the price labeled in front of it is the price most would pay... But I am willing to except any form of payment, be it your first born, the life of another, or even your soul." Wow I am laying it on thick.
"How about this, I will pay your normal price here." He started, pointing at the sixty dollar price tag. "And if I like the results of my read I will give you something you could never imagine. Do we have a deal?"
Why not play along, yeah he would be disappointed when he tried to read it as there was nothing to read in it, but money is money. "Sounds like a deal to me." And I reached out to shake his hand.
"Ehehe, wonderful." With that he payed took the book and was gone, while I started packing up my things finished and left for today.
Eight Hours Later
I woke late into the night at the sound of what I was sure was an earthquake. I turned on the news and sat up in bed not to worried about it as they were common in this area and the buildings were made to handle them. Only when I saw the news I immediately shot out of bed at what I saw.
The news was showing catastrophes that you would only ever see in an apocalypse movie. The earth was split open and fire was raining from the sky, along with floods and high winds that were toppling skyscrapers. All this seen from multiple areas of the world on different cameras. The chaos made the news anchors unintelligible.
Hoping that I had accidentally switched on a movie I changed the channel again, and again only to see a different scene of the same thing.
I was about to run to look out the window when I heard a voice. "Catastrophic, is it not?"
I turned to see the Resident Evil cosplayer standing in my hotel room holding my cloak and watching the television. "When I bought that book from you I wasn't actually expecting anything to happen, and it didn't... For a couple hours at least. Now we stand hear and watch as your world ends. Lucky for you we made a deal so you will not end with it."
"What... what are you talking about. There's no way that prop I sold you caused this." I had meant to shout but my voice came out tiny and small.
"Oh don't worry about it. This would not be the first time I witnessed the end of a world, and it won't be the last. The multiverse is infinite after all." He said and tossed me the cloak. "Now, to hold up my end of the bargain. I am thoroughly pleased with the book, and that means you get something you could never imagine as real.
"I am going to send you to a different dimension with a new body, a new name, all the items you have ever made as real items, the ability to make more, and the drawback that they will all be cursed. Sound's nice, right Nox?"
I didn't have a chance to respond as I felt my body begin to change in excruciating pain as I fell to the floor,only I didn't hit the floor and fell through a dark abyss. When the fall ended I landed hard on my back, and I just laid there staring at the night sky til my consciousness left me.
My last thought as my eyes closed was to wonder what the humanoids flying above me were.
I woke with a groan, surprisingly more comfortable than I probably should be in a bed. Bringing my hand to my face to rub the sleep out of my eyes I froze at what I felt.
From what I could tell my hand seemed to be mostly the same with some small differences. My face, however, was fuzzy and I could feel a muzzle. I pulled my hand from my face and slowly opened my eyes to see that it looked like a cross between a hand and a cat paw. Turning my hand I saw it was covered in a deep black fur, and apon closer inspection had shades of grey and violet just barely lighter than the black.
I sat up in the bed scratching the back of my head and accidentally discovering why cats loved being scratched behind the ear. Looking around the room I saw a vanity and two doors, one likely how one would enter or leave and the other probably a closet. Deciding to get a closer look at my self in the vanity mirror I stood and immediately stopped at an odd feeling. Looking down I saw that aside from some bandages wrapped around my chest and shoulders I was completely naked but covered in fur so I guess it's not to bad, I considered raiding the closet for clothes but that seemed like it would be rude to whoever bandaged me up.
Making my way over to the vanity I looked at myself and was almost entirely captivated by my eyes. They were green and cat like, but were also glowing and kept bringing my attention to them.
My attention was then stolen away by a muffled shouting that got louder until the door on the opposite side of the room opened. "...eah I hear ya ma. I'm checkin' on 'm now!" And through the door came what looked like an anthro bird. "Oh, yer awake. Ma the Abyssinian's awake!" 'Abyssinian?'
" 'ight, I'll be t'ere when 'm done!" Someone said from out the door somewhere
"See somthin' ya like?" The bird asked as I had been taking in her(I think it's a her) appearance. I would guess that she's around my height and was wearing what looked like old fashion farming clothes, like those that the Amish wear only without the head wear. My confusion, however, came from the fact that the clothes were the type you would normally see a male wear but the voice was more feminine.
"Uh, my apologies. I was simply confused as to where I am and how I got here." I said with fading hope that everything since I had woke up last time had been a dream.
"Well we c'n tell ya w'ere ya are, but we was hoppin' ya would tell us 'ow ya got 'ere." The owner of the voice that was previously out of the room said as she walked in, wearing similar garb only it was the traditional female style still without any headdress and wiping her hands down with a hand towel. "Yer on tah Tri-Kingdom Border as it's known locally. Otherwise known as tah borders of the Griffin Empire, the Abyssinrian Kingdom, an' the Auran Federation. Yer turn ta tell how an' why ya was fallin' out the sky when ya got no wings. Ah' know some ya Abyssinrian's can do magic but Ah' don' see tah benefit of fallin' from the sky like that."
'Okay, a half truth should get me through this just fine... hopefully.' "I am a merchant, one of my customers didn't seem to like the product I sold him. Or he liked it a little to much, I couldn't really tell."
"Well, considerin' how far ya fell ya should consider yerself lucky that those bandages are all ya need." The first to enter and younger of the two said, having slightly less of an accent compared to her mother.
"Yes, it was most likely my cloak that saved me. Where is it, if you don't mind me asking." I didn't mean to say that, why did I say that?
"Its hangin' out in the Livin' Room." The mother said. "Come on, ya look well 'nough tah eat."
I followed them out to a dining area and saw what I'm going to assume is the father of the family walking into the house. "E'eryone hunker down, bandits 're raidin' teh town" After he had spoke we could hear the beginnings of conflict outside.
I saw my cloak next to the door and ran to grab it before I joined them in the back rooms of the house. CRACK! "AH SAW SOME'NE ENTER 'ERE! SEARCH TEH 'OUSE!"
In the corner of the room I saw the father grab two arming sword's and then tossed one to me. " 'elp me defend mah family an' teh debt fer savin' yer hide's repaid."
I took the blade from him and instinctively reached into the back of my cloak, grabbed something, and handed it to him. "Here, use this." As I said that I saw that I had pulled out a sword that I immediately recognized, The Murasame from Akame Ga Kill. "It is a powerful weapon of my own creation, use it carefully."
He cautiously took it from me and handed the other arming sword to his wife. "Tis nice Abyssinian blade, bu' what makes it so 'owerful?"
My answer was simple as the bandits smashed through the door. "Magic."
The three of us unsheathed our respective blades and the fight started. The father charged immediately and got two of them with a slash that would have divided the two to four if they hadn't stepped back. But I knew that they were already out of the fight because there was a trial of blood on the front of both there abdomens. The father was getting ready to attack again when the bandits had markings wrap around the exposed parts of their body's and they fell over dead.
The bandits behind those two took a confused and terrified step back while the father stared at the now black blade with wonder. I decided to take advantage of the pause to speak and hopefully scare them off. "That blade he wields is one of my best creations." Everyone's attention is on me, good. "The single tiniest cut from it will kill any being with a heart, but will kill any that it deems unworthy of its power. Unless you are really good at dodging I suggest running."
Several of the bandits took off like a bat out of hell while others stood there as if weighing there odds in surviving. The father looked at me with an expression of shock but swiftly shook it off and readied himself for more conflict.
I on the other hand decided to take the chance to see if I could use any magic from the game and was pleasantly surprised when a chakram made of electricity formed in my hand, or more precisely, a Volt Disc appered in my hand and got everyone's attention once more.
"Fok this." A bandit who looked like he was incharge said before he turned and ran, the others following with him.
"Alrigh' t'eir gone fer now, what was t'at ya said 'bout t'is t'ing killing its wielders." He questioned me pointing the blade in my direction.
"Simple, I lied. If I had merely stated that it could kill with the tiniest cut they would have continued to fight us for it, but by adding the 'it kills those it deems unworthy' part it made them question if they even could use it without dying anyway. It made the fight seem pointless if they couldn't even use it themselves."
"Now, you can choose to help the rest of the town or hunker down here til the raid passes. I will be doing the latter myself." I added as I went and sat down on the bed.
" 'ine. Grenda, Gabby, stay 'ere an 'eep a eye on t'is one. Ah'm gonna 'elp teh town." And with that he left.
It was nearly a full hour before the sounds of conflict ended and someone I didn't recognize walk in and gathered us.
"T'ere 'e is." The voice of the still unnamed father said, drawing my attention to see that he seemed to be talking to two of the town officials. From appearance I would guess the mayor and guard/militia captain. The one that had come to grab us directed me to them.
"So, the stranger you saved is the one that gave you that blade." The Mayor looking guy said, unlike the father he had no wings but still looked like a humanoid bird. "Do you have anything else like this."
"Yes, I do. It would not be free however, as I only gave him the blade for free as thanks." I responded once more saying something I didn't mean to.
"None of the countries claim this land as their's so they don't interfere when bandits raid. We will pay for what we can, we need it to survive." The guard guy said, or more precisely the cat guard girl said.
"Very well then. Would you like weapons, armor, clothes, tools, or simple every day items." I asked. "Though I will warn you, I don't make normal magic items."
"What do you mean?"
"I suffer from a curse, anything I make is cursed in some way. Whatever benefit they provide is countered by an equally powerful draw back. The Murasame, for example, kills any it cuts long as they have a heart. That includes if the wielder accidentally cuts themself when cleaning it or is careless while practicing with it." I explained to them.
"So there will always be a draw back? Fine, we can deal overcome that for the advantage they give. What do we need to pay with?" The mayor asked.
"If you say so, I accept any form of payment. Money of any kind, tools and ingredients to make more items, an arm, leg, soul, or if necessary your first born."
If your reading this then first off, fuck you this is a private journal.
Secondly, you are probably wondering about the date. It’s simple really, as of the current age I find myself in no one keeps track of the year, month, week, day, ect. Why? Because in the area of the world I am currently in no one has thought of it, it seems. Everyone simply says what the number of the day into the season it is, hence First of Autumn. The year is because it is still the first year I am here. Heh, maybe I’ll actually develop the calendar system here.
That aside, by my time it has been right around a month since I got here. I ended up selling a fair amount of weapons and armor to the local malita, as well as to some of the farmers.
Everyone payed with cash, food, or work for the most part. But I also got a literal arm and leg, a few indentured servants, and two souls. The souls were interesting, when they came up and said that they would pay with their soul a contract appeared between us that defined the sell of the item and that they would be giving me their soul for it.
And while we’re on the topic of souls, I found out that the souls of the dead that are not bound to a god, demon, or afterlife remain with their body for one day before disappearing to who knows where and that I could harvest them for the creation of items. The soul prop items that I made for a Dark Souls fan have also proven nice to have for the same reason.
I also have my own house and shop thanks to the indentured servants and those who offered to pay with work. It’s a simple place that reminds me of the blacksmiths house in Skyrim’s Whiterun(don’t remember her name). I got the local black smith to allow me to use his forge to make my own cursed anvil for making more items. How? I gave him money.
Now if you’ll excuse me I need to think up a calendar system to use.
And go talk to the customer that just walked in.
I made my way out of my room and to the railing to see the customer that had walked in. When I saw what was happening downstairs I was highly unamused.
There was a group of what were definitely out-of-towners. There was a Centaur/Minotaur hybrid thing, an actual Minotaur, a Griffin, and two different horses, one was a bat-horses thing and only about four foot tall and the other was a normal looking one about six foot tall. The reason I was unamused was because they were ruthlessly interrogating the Abyssinian that was meant to be running the front counter when I was unavailable, apparently under the belief that poor... Uh... I think her name was Catrina, was the one that had made most of the items in the shop.
Or at least the Centaur looking fucker was.
As I made my way down the stairs the bat thing noticed me and the very annoyed look on my face. It then proceeded to fail spectacularly at trying to get the attention of the others in the room.
Seeing this I had an idea. I hadn’t really experimented much with my magic yet but I wanted to get their attention without having to yell. So I attempted to form a small ball of air in both of my hands, to my happy surprise I succeeded. I then brought both of my arms wide, both Catrina and the bat seeing this covered their ears, and then brought my hands together in a Hulk style shock wave clap.
The resulting sound made my ears ring as it sounded like lightning had crashed right in front of me with a thunderous boom. It even knocked the the ones that weren’t expecting it and didn’t have four legs to steady themselves with to the ground.
The tall Horse, the Minotaur, the Griffin, and the Centaur were clutching their heads. The Centaur, Bat-horse, and Catrina being the only ones still standing aside from my self.
“Well that was far louder than I intended.” I said only to get a response in a chorus of shouted ‘what’s’. Surprisingly enough noone came in from outside the store see what the commotion was all about.
I moved behind the counter and gave it a few minutes for everyone to no longer be deafened by my slightly accidental thunder wave. “Can you hear me now?”
“Yes, now explain yourself.” Said the apparently hostile Centaur.
“Explain myself? Explain myself?” I started, making sure I sounded highly offended. “You are the ones that came into MY shop, harassed MY workers, and You want me to explain MYSELF!? You are lucky that I don’t throw you out!”
“I’d like to see you try.” Whatever you say fuckhead.
I raised my hand and conjured a ball of water and blasted him out of my store with a nonlethal Aqua Beam. “As you wish.”
Giving a few seconds to let what I just did sink in, and let a smug happiness that it actually worked sink in, I proceeded to ask a very important question in my most terrifying voice. ”Anyone else? No? Then how can I help you today?”
That voice seemed to unsettle them more than I thought it would, I really need to experiment with what i’m capable of so there are less surprises at inconvenient times.
The Bat stepped forward and gave a slight bow. “I am sorry for Rikhes’m’s actions. We are adventures from the guild in the Cenminos Empire, we were hired to take care of the bandit problems in the area.”
’Cenminos? According to the map I looked at, that is really far. The Aruan Federation and another nation known as Grasmer are between it and here. “Kinda far to go for a single town, and I doubt the pay is that good.”
“I guess that word doesn’t travel fast out here.” The tall horse put his two cents in. “The Empire forcefully conquered Grasmer and bought the Federation after tricking them into bankrupting all their little self-governed states.”
’Well then.’ “Alright, what are you doing in my shop then?” As I said that the Centaur, Rikhes'm, made his way back into the store.
“We’re here cause we where meant to solve a problem, only for it to already be solved when we got here.” He said making sure to stay just to the side of the door, ready to leave as fast as he could if needed. ’He’s smarter then I gave him credit for at least.’ “It would seem that you are the reason for this and I want answers to how a single Abyssinian could be the cause... Or at least I did when it was just her down here. Her magic is weak and nearly nonexistent, yours however...”
’Yours however what? Don’t just trail off like that, dick.’ “What do you have for sell?” ’DIIIIIICK’
“Everything in here is for sale aside from that doll.” I said with a thumb pointing at the Annabelle doll behind the counter in a specially made glass case made to only let things with good intentions move it, or move through it if they are a spirit. Haven’t had any problems from her since she was placed inside it. Which is good, don’t even want to think about what would have happened if it didn’t work. “Attempt to buy it and and I will ignore you. Attempt to steal it then what ever she dose is on your hands if you succeed.” And all accept the Minotaur began to look through the items I had.
“Do you make special orders?” I-She asked, the tits probably should have made that obvious.
“Depends on if I have the materials, and if I don’t already have something that matches what you want. But yes I do, it will cost more however. What are you looking for?”
“All of your weapons here are heavily enchanted, even I can feel that. So what I am looking for is a good ax.” At that I told her to give me a moment and made my way to the back of the shop, it was just a kitchen and a small storage room but they didn’t need to know that.
Stepping into the storage room I started to search through my cloak as I knew that I had a good number of axes, but I was looking for one in particular. Or I was looking for one in particular until I pulled out the Leviathan ax from the fourth God of War game, and then the one I was looking for, the Messad from Noblesse in its concealed form.
I brought both of them out and set them on the counter. “Take your pick, or both if you want.”
She picked up the Leviathan first and the head of the ax covered itself in frost and glowed with blue magic. She seemed to like the look of it but set it down to look at the Messad, which instantly changed to its true form when she picked it up and I could see obvious strain on her as rage took over her features and seemed to barely hold back from flying into a blood rage.
Then she dropped it. It landed on the floor with a thud and changed back to being concealed. “I-I’ll take this one.” She sounded extremely tired as she picked the Leviathan back up.
“The Leviathan, capable of freezing foes, returning to who ever the wielder currently bound to it, and makes fire hurt the wielder much more than it should. Three hundred in local cash or and equivalent of it. Unless you wish to pay in another way, such as indentured servitude like Catrina here.”
“Just take the money.” She set down a bag and walked off, the others seeming to reconsider buying anything after seeing the Messad. Oh well, there will always be others.
“Have a good day! Oh, and make sure to tell others that Nox the Unfortunate is open for business... again.”
For their might is under mine, like grass to a tower,
Clang
Soon they realize, and down they settle,
Clang
So I won't consume them like zea,
Clang
My payment I desire, so they search and scour,
Clang
So they may grow, like plants on a bower,
Clang
And through blood three amulets are made for thee.
(000)
I shot up in my bed with a start. Inspiration had struck me in a dream, a dream that was fading rapidly. But the inspiration wasn't.
I got out of bed and looked out the window so as to tell the time, moon is setting and I can just make out the sun over the horizon. Early, early morning. Good, that will give me time to work on design and gather money for what I need. I went down stairs and shut myself in my work room, something told me I would want three of these made in less than a week.
A few hours of drawing up designs later and I have the lay out for what I want to make, I have my money I'll need gathered, and it is now late enough in the day to go out and get the supplies I'll need. Making my way out I see Catrina manning the counter as expected and let her know that I'm going out.
Alright, first things first, to the Blacksmith.
Making my way through town is rather easy as most of the people move out of my way either out of reverence or fear. I don't really care which, it makes my life easier. Though it could be the determined and focused look on my face as well. When someone is on a mission they can be quite terrifying.
Arriving at the blacksmith's place I make my way around back as it is quite easy to tell he is working on something from the clang of his hammer. "BLACKSMITH!" I yelled over the noise.
"The names Grover!" He yelled back at me. "If you want to be specific it's Grover Kng."
"I know. I don't care. You are a blacksmith, therefor you are Blacksmith. Now, I need thees three molds made in less than three days." I said while making sure to cutoff the oddly formal griffin before he could get angry with me for being a dick. "How much am I paying you for them."
"Three hundred for the molds and an additional two hundred for the supplies. And I can have them done in two days." He said looking over the three mold sketches I made.
"Excellent, I'll hold you to that. Here's a thousand, now I have other things I need to do. Good day to you sir."
Second things second to the clothing store to see if they have silk, and if not then to the general supplies store or the market.
Making way to the clothing store took a bit more time as I didn't remember where it was and had only been there once. But, I did make it in decent time.
"Why, hello Nox. I trust that my sister is being treated well." The paper colored Abyssinian named Opal-something or other greeted as I came in.
"I haven't touched her if that is what you are referring to." I replied with a dead stair. "Do you have any silk? I am in need of some for something I need to make."
"Silk? Silk is rather expensive and the most we've been able to get is a single spool of ribbon. In other words, you would be paying a rather hefty amount for it."
"Two thousand," I say setting a bag of the local currency on the counter. "And I will take a few years off of Catrina's indentured servitude for the entire spool."
Without saying anything she reached under the counter and set the spool on top. Grabbing it I turned and left, mentally noting to take two years off of Catrina's six.
Now back to the shop for the third thing I need.
As I walked in to the shop I saw three short horse people, or as they are properly known, Ponies. There was one of each of the three 'Tribes'. The Pegasus was orange, orange, and more orange. The Unicorn was blue with the face of a ditz. And the 'Earth Pony,' also known as the basic bitches, was purple and looked like she was trying to hard to be gloomy and intimidating and was therefor failing utterly.
The thing that got my attention the most however was the fact that they where singing some song about getting things for free from Catrina, and the fact that my brain went numb just from hearing them tells me that absolutely no magic is involved at all. Sarcasm intended.
Well, this sets my plans back some. Time to beat the bitch out of some bitches. Then make somethings for them to buy as I am pretty sure they were what that dream was telling me about.
I can't decide how I feel about that spell Adagio found. Yeah it lets us get whatever we want, but it requires us to sing. Now I have nothing against singing, but its not exactly stealthy.
Sure we can just say that Sonata used magic without us noticing or that she used her magic to force us to go along with her, but... It's Sonata. Pon-er people, not in Equestria gotta remember that, are more likely to believe that we manipulated her.
Which isn't to far from the truth, but what do I know, by Adagio's plans I'm just the muscle of our little group.
"Would you just take something already, Agi? This place gives me the creeps." I said as I turned to look behind us. "It feels like I got something watching over my shoulders." There was nothing there but... didn't we close the door when we came in?
"Oh shut up Aria, a magic shop that is not afraid to deal in cursed items is to rare an opportunity to pass up. And don't call me that." Agi tacked on that last piece with a glare. "We need to find something worth using. If the rumors that this Nox character actually makes these things himself is true, then we are required to take advantage of the fact that he is not here. Neither of us have a horn, but I know for a fact that you could feel the magic radiating off this place from a day out of town because I could feel it myself."
"That's part of what gives me the creeps." I started to browse the items that where in reach while keeping an eye on the open door, I know for a fact that we closed it.
I was looking at a sword that would be large in the hands of a Minotaur when I noticed that it was to quiet. Sonata not being around quiet, actually. And since she was around, that can only be bad for us... unless she managed to kill herself with one of the cursed items.
Actually no, that would also be bad as it would mean no more access of the mind spell. I would also rather not lose my sister. 'Shit, she better not be dead.'
I whipped around and scanned the room. There where only two beings that I could see, Adagio and the Abyssinian. Adagio and I locked eyes having apparently come to the same conclusion that there was something else in here with us. *SLAM* We both turned to the now closed door only to see nothing there.
No door, no windows, Tartarus not even the wall was there. It was just... a void of pitch black.
"ARI-" Adagio's bellow was cut off. I turned only to see her terrified face and and an arm reached out to me as she was pulled by dark shadows into the void that was now all of the walls and ceiling.
I looked back to the sword, indecisive of weather or not I should use it.
Of course I impulsively grabbed and swung it towards the shadows when they reached out to grab me as well. The moment I touched the blade it began to emit a blue glow from its center and edge, and it wasn't long before the only light I had was the blade.
The void had consumed everything around me. The only place left untouched being right under my hooves. Unfortunately, as its size would suggest, the sword was to heavy for me to use properly.
To make things worse I was jerked back to the reminder that this was a cursed item shop when I began to hear... something in the back of my mind that I just knew was coming from the sword. L̴͚̉ĕ̸̖ṭ̴́ ̵͕͝m̶͒͜ē̸̮ ̷̥̕h̸̥̉ẻ̴̦l̶̬̕ṕ̵̗ ̵̡̆ÿ̸͉́o̷̳̿u̶̩̓~̷̥̔~
I glanced at the blade and thought through what had happened. We came to town and headed for the powerful magic source that all three of us could feel. Used the brain wash mind song spell thing. Sonata disappeared and Adagio was absorbed into a void. Said void was now surrounding me and it seemed that the light of the cursed sword was the only thing keeping it at bay, though it is still creeping closer. And now the sword is trying to get in my head.
I could only come to one conclusion, and it utterly terrified me. So I pleaded with thing that was doing this.
"N-nox, I'm s-sorry we tried t-to ste-eal from you. I-I'm gonna put the s-sword down. P-please don't k-kill my s-sisters."
I just love this spell. Sure I can't cast it myself but it lets me get whatever I want because I want it. Even better, this Nox creature that owned the place was out somewhere.
That meant that this would be even easier. Only a powerful mage could make all this after all, and with him gone it was all free for the taking
"Would you just take something already, Agi? This place gives me the creeps." Aria said. "It feels like I got something watching over my shoulders." Seriously? She dresses like that and complains about this place?
"Oh shut up Aria, a magic shop that is not afraid to deal in cursed items is to rare an opportunity to pass up. And don't call me that." I made sure to soot her a glare as I spoke. "We need to find something worth using. If the rumors that this Nox character actually makes these things himself is true, then we are required to take advantage of the fact that he is not here. Neither of us have a horn, but I know for a fact that you could feel the magic radiating off this place from a day out of town because I could feel it myself."
"That's part of what gives me the creeps." I just rolled my eyes and got back to inspecting the magic items here. 'Ooo, whats that?'
It was... something that looked like a crossbow with the bow part replaced with a metal tube that was stilized to look like a dragon. I was about to take it when I noticed that it was to quiet. Sonata not being around quiet, actually. And since she was around, that can only be bad for us... unless she managed to kill herself with one of the cursed items.
Actually no, that would be worse as it would mean no more access of the mind spell. Not to mention, I would rather have my sister remain alive.
I whipped around and scanned the room. There where only two beings that I could see, Aria and the Abyssinian. Aria and I locked eyes having without a doubt come to the same conclusion. There was something else in here with us. *SLAM* We both turned to the counter to see that the Abyssinian was missing. "AH-"thud.
I turned back to Aria to see her on ground and backing away from a figure in a maroon cloak that seemed to be absorbing all of the light in the room. I grabbed the crossbow like weapon and through it forward it shoot whatever was in it at the creature. "ARIA!" I yelled, more worry in my voice than I was willing to admit
She turned to look at me, but as she did the thing reached an arm out and began to emit a lime green mist like fire in a beam. A beam that was headed right for Aria.
"ARIA, MOVE!" I Bellowed as I pulled the trigger.
The weapon let loose a deafening roar and shot out a ball of blood red flames, and the beam of ominous green fire redirected to intercept the fire ball. I was reminded of the fact that this was a cursed item shop when I suddenly felt light headed, almost in the same way as sudden and major blood loss would do to a pony.
When the flames cleared enough for me to see, it was simply not what I wanted to see.
The shop was on fire, a mix of hellish green and blood red was all I could see. The items were melting into a black sludge and could swear that I was seeing demons dancing in the corners of my vision.
Worst of all, that creature was still standing there. Aria and Sonata unconscious at his feet.
"W-what are you." I tried to put an edge to my voice, it didn't work but I tried.
"I̷͔͘ ̷̥͊ȁ̵͈m̸̤̐ ̸͙̀Ǹ̶̡o̸͎͌x̴͉͑ ̸͈͊ţ̶̚ḥ̵͆e̴̗͘ ̸̟̈́U̶̙̅n̸̤̑f̵̬͗ȍ̴̱r̵͎̿ẗ̵̗ų̴̌n̷͎̈́a̸̯͌ẗ̸̝e̶͓͘" He said, his voice making me wish that we had never left Equestria.
"Please d-don't hurt them." Whatever edge I had was completely gone now, not even a hint of resistance in my voice.
I steeled my stature and eyes before I could make myself look even weaker, and said something I knew I would regret. "You can have my soul, demon. Just don't hurt them."
As I ended the spell I looked over to my 'sisters'. Faust these two are stupid.
They seriously think that Adagio taught me a spell. A spell that I already knew and used endlessly for that matter, why do you think I never stop talking?
I mean, we're not even related. I just planted that in their heads. I was going to make them into mind slaves, but their personality's proved to useful to be erased, so sisters loyal only to each other. It is cute how Adagio thinks she's in charge though.
This place, though? I recognize demon magic when I feel it, and there is without a doubt an archdemon of some kind here. The best part about this is the fact that demons of this power are arrogant and easy to manipulate. A simple deal stacked in my favor and I have another demon under my control.
'Shit' I turned around to find myself face to face a pitch black Abyssinian. His pricing slit green eyes were unusual in a way I just couldn't place thanks to the glow they emitted. "Well, now I don't demon."
He let out a huff of amusement and spoke. "Y̸̛̟̯̽ȍ̷̩̣̽ủ̷͚̲ ̶̩̥̑a̴͈̙̽̾r̷͖͕͛̈́e̷̗͍͌ ̴̳̜̍a̶͉̹͒͝n̴̥̍ ̵͓͇̑̅i̶̧̻͒n̷͈̊͌t̷͙̜̾͐ḙ̷̐̈́r̷͍̫̐͝e̷̦͆ś̶̭̽t̵̡̳͝ī̷͉n̴̤͒͜g̶̤͚̿̅ ̴͕̽o̴͉̖̓n̶͎͑e̵͎͎̋.̸̯̇͝ ̸̛̯̥̉Ş̵̹̽̓t̵̜̲̅͘ŗ̸͖͐ȍ̸͖̠ṅ̶̪͇͐g̶̪̪͌̚e̴̛͔̘̐r̶͉̙̈́ ̴̻̋̕t̷̢̑͠h̸̡̧̒͌â̷͙̟n̵̲̈̎ ̵̞̅̓t̴͖̠͆͗ḧ̶̡̻́̏e̸̫̎m̶̱̭͆ ̵̮̽̃f̵͕̚o̷̥̰͋̉r̸͈̎̚ ̴͙͌̚s̴͇͌u̵̢̫̒r̵̳̲͆è̷͈͛ͅ.̷̞̜̾" He gestured to Aria and Adagio, both collapsed on the ground murmuring to themselves with glowing green eyes.
"In terms of strength and cunning they can be quite useful. But when it comes to magic they are rather pathetic." I brought my eyes back to lock with his. "Maybe you would like to have them in order to make a deal, what do ya say."
'Damn cowards. I have almost no good options thanks to them.' "Alright, then how about this. You can take whatever deal they offer you, and I will work for you for... lets say five years. That means five years of doing whatever you want when you want it. And I do mean whatever you want." I made sure to tap into my bound succubus' magic to turn up the sex appeal as much as possible.
"D̷o̶ ̵y̶o̸u̵ ̸t̵r̷u̴l̸y̶ ̷b̸e̷l̸i̶e̷v̵e̷.̶.̶.̶" He trailed off in thought.
"Well?"
"Heh, heh, heh, alright. You have a deal, my little warlock."
She would dare to refer to me as such a pitiful being?
No, calm. I am calm.
When you think about it, it kind of makes sense. And yet, I find myself insulted on an instinctual level. Somehow being called an archdemon was even worse. I can only assume that my instinctual hate of being referred to as such means that the Nox from the game, and by extension myself, are something... different. And more powerful based on the fact I called demons pitiful.
I am rather confident that the only reason I didn't kill her on the spot was because of the strange dr-no, vision, that I had. I am meant to make something for the three of them.
I have already started the process, but I need a fitting punishment for the slight she caused me. Though I should mask it as punishment for the attempted theft, even if I don't actually care about that. I would correct them on the fact that I am not a demon, but such a misconception could be beneficial later on.
For now the three of them are staying at the tavern, I don't have room for them here. The blacksmith should be done with my molds the day after tomorrow, but I can get started on my project tomorrow. I need a proper material to make them out of however. "Hmmm..."
'Oooh, there's an idea. I wonder if it will work?'
At first light the next morning I grabbed the semi-aetherial scrolls that the three 'sisters' souls were signed to and gave them a mental pull to tell them to wake up and get here. I needed them for the last of the materials I need and I have their punishment ready.
Now I was expecting them to come running through the door a few minuets after I summoned them, I was not expecting them to pop into existence at waist level layed out as if they had just been pulled from their beds and falling to the ground with a thud for each.
But I made sure to school my expression when that did happen for two reasons. I did not want to give away the fact that I had almost no idea what I was doing, and they were fucking naked.
Two woke with start while the Earth mare just rolled over like nothing happened. The Pegasus had the decency to cover her self while the Unicorn instantly put on her clueless mask and act. "Oww, what? How did-"
She was cut off as I sent another burst through the scrolls to there heads. The two awake grabbed there heads while the heavy sleeper shot up and did the same. "Good, you're awake. I have two reasons for pulling you here." As I spoke all three went to cover themselves in a way that suggested a misunderstanding of what I meant.
Unsurprisingly it was the basic one that spoke first. "You can do as you wish to me but don't you touch them, we have a deal."
"You can keep your mortal desires and pleasures to yourselves. They are a distraction that I have no time for." I told them, making sure to put it across that I don't care for the interactions that they seem to be expecting. I pulled out three bowl's and placed them in front of them along with a knife for each. "I need the three of you to fill these with some of your blood. No mixing it with each others and a lock of hair from each of you." They all glanced at each other before following the instructions I gave them.
It took around a minuet or so but soon enough I had tree bowls of blood and a lock of hair in the bowls that matched who they came from.
"Now, you see this?" I asked pulling out a Wizard of Legend Chaos Gem from my cloak. All their eyes widened in shock and recognition, even the 'mastermind' couldn't hide her reaction. I then pulled out an altered version of the Graduation Cap that appeared more as a normal cap instead. "This will help you find more of these, and you will bring me fifteen for each of you. Forty-five total, to serve as your punishment for trying to steal from me and as payment for the items that I started making for you before you even arrived. Understood?"
They all nodded in affirmative. "Good, now leave." I turned to my gathered items as they left. 'Time to get to work.'
I closed my store for the the day and made my way to my forge area in the back. The three bowls of life and magic in tow and set on one of my enchanted craft tables.
I hovered my hands over the bowls and charged them with magic. The hair and blood mixed and dissolved to a glowing red-green liquid the consistency of tree sap.
I then flipped my hands and squeezed them as if crushing a melon between them. The essence began to compress and crystallize, the red and green separating from each other. Red becoming three assorted gems while the green gathered as a waxy substance at the bottom of the bowls.
I knew that I tended to lose track of time when crafting, it was a flaw is suffered from before I was sent here, but I was still surprised as Catrina silently arrived and placed three molds down in front of me that I recognized as the ones being made by the blacksmith. I nodded at her and she left.
'This process is going a lot slower than I thought it would. Unfortunate.'
I left the green wax for now and set the three red gems in three separate crucibles and brought them over to a blue burning foundry. Leaving the gems to melt I went over to work with my gold and silk. With the use of magic and tools I shaped the gold into a series clasps and decorations and the silk into three chokers.
Done with those for now I made my way to the forge to check the gems and was rather glad to see that they were melted in a way similar to heated metal. Which meant my idea worked and they were ready for the molds.
I proceeded to set up the molds in three holes filled with wet sand and a small tunnel to their tops. With that done I poured the contents of the crucibles into them left them to cool.
I made my way outside to wait and gaze that the alien night sky.
Without all the light pollution the sky is actually rather beautiful. I closed my eyes and simply stood there till the sun rose.
Back inside I went over the now formed and glowing gems. 'No cracks. No flaws. And attempting to pull magic from everything, well, every living thing that is.'
I finished the necklaces and made to inspect the green waxy residue from the forming of the gems. I decided to throw it into one of the crucibles and repeat the process, only with an unknown goal in mind this time.
I will give them a few days to gather the gems, maybe a week, before I call them back.
'Hmm, I wonder if I can do anything with the binders Succubus. I might, might, trade there souls to her for it. I'm sure actually going through the process of binding a demon to a weapon could be quite fun. Or maybe...' My thoughts trailed off as I turned back to my cursed foundry's blue flames and the green glow emitting from the crucible within.
A jagged smile cleaved its way across my face at a simply wonderful idea.
With the creation of the gems for these... lets call them Sirens because of how they use music. Anyway, with the creation of the gems for the Sirens I have been made aware of something that I can only assume I have been ignoring until now.
How, precisely, does magic work? Yes I understand that it is magic and therefor not something I should be capable of completely understanding, but I feel as if I should already know this.
Thankfully I was capable of trading a few items to a traveler in exchange for his literacy. So while I -for whatever reason- was capable of speaking the local language and several others that I am confident I had never heard before, I am now also capable of reading and writing in a few of these languages as well. I will continue to write this journal in the Hebrew Alef-Bet however.
I like the runic look it gives, and it will be far better encrypted as well. I have met very few others that were capable of reading Hebrew in my time, the fact I know it myself is simply from high school boredom.
I am getting off track however.
With my new found ability to read the local language I have procured several books on magic, unfortunately they were less then useful as none of there authors seemed to be Scholars researching magic itself and were filled with mostly useless, for me anyway, spells.
There was one however that mentioned Ley Lines and The World Weave. With something to focus on now I procured more books, well, scrolls to be precise.
A note for the future; most proper Scholars seem to use scrolls rather then books. And no, I will not say how I got them.
With my new material I was capable of doing a proper study... And felt as though I was reviewing something that I knew by heart. Curious.
Ley Lines are, to put it in a way any clever decoder might understand, the Veins and Arteries of the world. Only instead of blood they transfer magic in a constant cycle through the world and will not move unless impossibly powerful magic is involved. Most Unicorn and Abyssinian city's are built on top of them, usually on any cross sections they can find. Nothing I haven't heard of in my home world. Mostly in mythology, but still, nothing new to me.
The World Weave, however, is something that should be new to me and yet it is not. The World Weave is the bleed off of Ley Lines. It is similar to the ocean or high altitude wind, moving in currents and tides but changing at the slightest provocation. It is where most living beings pull their natural magic from, and those extremely sensitive to or pulling large amounts of magic from it can even feel an aethereal wind. A wind that will most oftenly make hair move in a direction the wind is not blowing, possibly even the opposite direction, or in a windless environment.
And with the... review done I began to search any studies on Primordial Void Magic, or Chaos Arcana as Master Sura would put it. But the only thing I found was a warning.
Beware the cold unpredictable grip of The Void.
A warning worth warrant? Or the mad ramblings of Grogar? The only being that was willing or insane enough to study the void for the creation of his monsters.
Only one way to find out. Studying the Void Gems that the Sirens bring me should prove of use.
Farewell til I write again,
Nox The Unfortunate
Freezing Sun and Burning Moon, The world moves for you. Delusional and Terrified, The God fearing Crusade. Rise and Fall, Collapse it all. The End? Or New Beginning? Triumph and Doom, I̴̼͆ ̵̈̚͜w̷̮̭͐̿i̴̺͛l̷̲̆l̴͍̻̿ ̸̠͎̌́s̵̻̽͋ẽ̷̳͍e̷̲̓ ̶̗͍̓ÿ̴̫̇o̷͎͉̊u̷̩̿ ̴͙̄͜ŝ̴̲ǒ̵͈̓ͅó̶̜̉n̴̼̭̓....
In a field she stood, a hooded figure across from her his eyes aglow with green light.
It turned and walked away, she knew that she had to stop it.
But why?
The figure only walked, while she ran, but he still was getting further away.
Guards and heroes ran with her joining and leaving do to causes of age and combat.
The scenery changed from waist high grass to towering buildings of glass and metal, stone villages, and mage towers.
But she never ceased to chase the figure, not till he stopped.
He stood upon a stone platform, a army of black insectile creatures between them.
At her side stood her Sister, the Pillars, an army and unknown wielders of powerful artifacts.
The Abyssinian turned to face her and her's, in his hands an orb of black magic that warped reality around it.
Only it all faded as the battle commenced and a single name was said.
Nox
Celestia awoke with a start. Her Mother, Father, Sister, and Mentor stood around her in the dining hall. The nobles had backed off to watch from a distance, many whispering that Grogar had put a spell on her.
"What did you see, Celestia?" Starswirl asked her.
A pegasus bandit fell from the sky, now capable of taking on the title of alicorn as an arrow sprouted from his head.
'Repeat.'
Such was the thought process of Hisan Mutal as he aimed his bow at a new target in the bandit encampment, only to switch targets again as an ax embedded its self in the head of the bandit and froze the Horse over. Not a second later Nairda, the Minotaur that owns the ax, charged through the frozen bandit and shattered him before grabbing her ax as it flew back to her hand and striking another down.
On the other side of the battle two more outlaws were bisected at the waist by an unseen force. From their bodies charged the creature responsible, shadows slowly peeling off of it to reveal the small from of Cal Vampir and her Flamberge as she impaled another bandit. The Pony-Thestral warrior having used her kinds size and natural ability to turn invisible to flank the enemy.
From the bushes behind Cal came a griffon at a slightly more leisurely pace. The Griffon, Gwyneth, gave a small hop with her wings as a Centaur charged her. She turned midair, grappled onto the Centaur's back, and with swift precision snapped the his neck before kicking off as he fell to the ground.
And last, but not (most definitely) least, was Rikhes’m. The mage was right behind Nairda fighting with both magic and sword, an unusual form of combat for most magic users.
Clearing the Bandit Encampment proceeded with little issue and it was not long before the five were sifting through the bodies and tents for valuables. Unfortunately, thanks to the new merchant in the small town of Trinity, there was very little for them to loot. They would get the reward for clearing them out from the Guild if nothing else at least.
Two incredibly boring weeks of nothing. That's how long it took them to get all forty-five Chaos Gems, and they weren't even of good quality. The largest was only half the size of the one that I showed them and that was their standard size, in the game at least. They all had the appearance of unrefined gems as well.
Well, they did do as I asked. And this does tell me that Chaos Gems can be found in this world, they are just small and of low quality. 'Shame... Still useful though. Might as well put my plan into action.'
"Well done. Here, take these." I handed them the necklaces. With that done I used the same magic as when they first arrived to distract the Pegasus and Earth pony with an explanation on how the chokers work.
"Is there a reason you found it necessary to do that?" The Unicorn queried, bringing my attention to her.
"Well I doubt that you want them to know that you have been lying to them." The look on her face turned to one of confused worry. "Now, now friend. I just want to make a deal."
"And what kind of deal would that be?" Caution, good. She's not entirely stupid.
"Simple, you and your 'sisters' souls for the Succubus that you have bound to you." I said, making sure to keep my voice light and inviting. "Easy, right?"
"This seems to good too be true. What's the catch?"
"I already told you that. You give me ownership of your Succubus and you get three souls and freedom in return." Insolent child. "Now do we have a deal, or not?"
She stood there in thoughtful silence for maybe half a minute. She then extended her hand and spoke. "Very well, I agree to your deal."
"Happy to do business with you, friend." I smiled and traded the contracts with her. It is nice to make others think that they came out on top when in actuality I do.
Unfortunately the residual green wax from making the necklaces wouldn't solidify into a gem or artificial metal of any kind. Instead it just remained liquified in some kind of green honey like substance.
I summoned the Succubus. It happened in the same fashion as summoning the 'sisters' only she, or it rather as it appeared androgynous in from with hardly any defining characteristics, seemed to be annoyed. "What is it this ti-... You're new."
"And you don't have the appearance I expected of a Succubus. The only thing provocative about you is that you're naked, and considering the lack of genitalia that means little to nothing anyway."
"Wait, what? You don't see me as beautiful woman or a handsom-"
"No, I don't."
"Not even an icon of lust?"
"Hardly. Now, you see this vial?" I asked as I held up the green substance.
"I... Yes, what about it?"
"Drink it, and so long as you don't interfere with my plans you will be free to do as you wish. No matter what it is, I couldn't care less."
"And who are you to command me, hmm?"
"The owner of your contract." I said as I showed it to her, "And trust me, I am more of a threat to you than that binder ever will be. S̷o̵ ̸I̴ ̶s̴u̶g̶g̴e̸s̶t̸ ̸n̶̖̚ọ̷̿t̸̘̍ ̸̨̃ć̶̲ŕ̷̻o̸̜͐s̵̥̿s̵̠͌i̵̯̿n̴͓͌g̶̗̈ ̴͕̇m̴͈͘ê̷͈,̵̖̃ ̷͎͌ũ̸͓n̷̻̈́͝d̴̡̙̍̏́ͅě̵̢̯̤̐r̶̖͙̣̓͒ș̷̎ť̸̖̬͗͗ơ̵̝̣͂̑ö̶͍͈̹̑͝d̸̬̫̥̂̾?" And finished with a show of power.
"I-I was curious how you could see my true form, but I see that you are something far worse than anything found in the pits of Tartarus." Said the succubus as it took the vial and proceeded to down it. "There, now if you'll excuse m-a-ahrg!"
The demon collapsed to the ground clutching its chest as a green glow began to resonate inside and pulse through its body. Not long after the room was filled with the sound of snapping bones and tearing flesh as the demons body changed in a grisly metamorphosis.
A horn sprouted in a jagged, unnatural way from its head and chitin began to grow over her now obviously female form. Thin, geometrical, and seemingly damaged wings sprouted from her back as holes began to form in her limbs.
And last but possibly least, aquamarine hair and antenna began to sprout from her head. The antenna oddly taking the form of a crown. 'A familiar one at that. In fact both the horn and the crown seem familiar.'
"So, how do you feel?" A simple question to start.
"So.. oh so hungry~."
"That is fair, your entire from has changed after all." I said, my eyes locked in her horn as she rose as I tried to place where I had seen it before. And with a flash of memory it clicked, someone had payed me to make a sword based on the photo of some bug like creature they had sent me and I had used the horn as a base for it. "I need to check something, you may leave. Just make sure that you are out of my town before you feed on anyone."
The look that flashed through her eyes was of obvious annoyance, but she said nothing. She simply turned to the door and was consumed in a green fire that dissipated to reveal a blue and green Saddle Arabian Horse, still entirely naked, as she walked out the door.
With her gone I headed to the backroom to look for that sword, something told that it and her would cross paths in one way or another. Which means I have to put it on display so that it can be sold.
It has been a while since I have wrote in here. Well that and I have lost a few pages to thieves and a 'Crusade oof the Rightuos'. Yes it is misspelled. Yes it is on purpose. Yes it bothers me. But I refuse to fix it.
Moving on.
'A Crusade?' I here you ask.
Yes, something about purging the infidels and praising the Faist given Sun. At least I think that's what they were on about, I didn't really pay attention as I slaughtered them.
Anyway, why I am opening this book again is that I have begun to here rumors of Sirens stealing the souls of the weary and a shape shifting horde of magic eaters.
My work in all its glory. If I actually cared I would say that they have made me proud.
I was looking at a group of items that I had forgotten I had even made. Specifically one of each of DC's Lantern Corps rings and a lantern to go with them. Mostly I was wondering what curses they could bear. The Red, Orange, and Black rings were rather obvious in what they would be. In fact they would most likely remain unchanged from there comic book counter parts, probably.
But the Green, Indigo, Violet, Blue, Yellow, and White rings I was unsure of. They didn't have any true downsides in their lore that I was aware of, I mean, Indigo forced it’s wearer to feel immense compassion and nothing but compassion, but that didn’t really feel like much of a curse unless forced on someone immensely evil, so the rings would end up being wild cards in the end.
Maybe I could make an item to reveal what they are capable of, though everything I make is cursed in some way so it would likely lie or come with some heavy price for learning the truth. Though if everything I make is cursed then perhaps the other rings already have a curse on them? I wasn’t stupid enough to give away one of the rings or put it on myself to try, so I would either need to sell it to a customer or devise a way to reveal the curse held within the item.
I threw a glance at the many cursed items of my shop, the most terrifying items were covered in a thin layer of dust, many customers being smart enough to not take the obviously evil items. Throughout the years I was able to accumulate a wide variety of cursed items, some of which held curses that I wasn’t even aware of, an issue I’d have to address at some point. If I make something to see the truth of the curses and turned it into a mirror than I could get the benefit of using it on customers as well, revealing all of their deepest and darkest sins. 'Heh, that could be entertaining.' I had to break off my inspection of the items in my store room as I heard the bell over the door ring, time to deal with another customer.
If my calculations are correct it’s been about three years since I got here, and word of my shop had spread far faster than I would have expected, or liked for that matter. The amount of times my shop was attacked by some religious group doing, “God’s work.” caused me to have a great disdain towards any religious deity of this world. It had been a while since the last “crusade” so I expected one of those religious nut jobs to be at the door talking about some Goddess named Celestia and her divine light. Hence the surprise I felt when when I saw a race I was unfamiliar with browsing some items. From what I know of this world I would guess that this is a Hippogriff.
"Greetings, anything catch your eye friend?" I asked. Oh, he's definitely heard of me, the look he gave me after that was full of suspicion, fear, and my favorite of all, desperation. Everyone who entered my shop willingly knew that my items came with some curse attached to them, so my customers were usually stupid, arrogant, or desperate for a weapon or item to turn their fortune around.
“I hear that you accept trades for items, yes?” He asked.
“Yes, but how much you get depends on the item.” I said, prompting the Hippogriff to pull out a peculiar item. It was a small lead ring box that had a green glowing crystal like ring sitting on a red bed.
“I’ve taken this thing to several geologists, and none of them have any idea what the heck this thing is made of. Here, take a closer look.” He told me as he held out the box to me. A frown crossed my features as I brought the box up to inspect it, I didn’t see what was so special about a—
My free hand flew to my head as a strange presence invaded my mind, carrying with it an odd message.
"Bizarro am here to help! Bizarro am punch baddies in face and save trees from kittens. If you am need help to save innocent, me am be there to do it! Me Pinkie Promise. Cross me heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in Bizarro eye."
The powerful sounding voice said. Once it was finished, whatever presence I felt vanished and I couldn’t feel any more pain. My eyes glanced up to see the horrified expression on my customer’s face. He probably didn’t expect that to happen to me, and if he did, then he probably expected whatever it was to kill me. But, I chose to believe the former since the odd voice only offered help and didn’t try to eat my brain.
“That… I’ll admit, that was interesting. Alright sir, you have yourself a deal. What can I get you?” I said happily.
He cast his gaze at a few items, but the ones that got my attention were The Blade of Olympus and The Queen Slayer. "As interesting as this ring is, I am afraid that it would only cover the price of one of those blades.” The Hippogriff wilted at that, but seemed to perk up when I made a suggestion. “You know, you still have something that might cover the price of another sword.~” I said as I grabbed a quill from behind my desk. A Hippogriff soul would definitely be an interesting thing to experiment with.
I stared at the lead box for a while after the customer left with The Queen Slayer and a few smaller items, apparently he was desperate but not stupid. Something about heaven and pearly white gates, yada yadda yada. I didn’t care, I was too busy pondering the strange message the ring box delivered. I wasn’t familiar with any cursed items like this one, and the only Bizarro I knew of was from the DC universe comics, but there was no way it could have meant that Bizarro.
I paused as that thought came to me and I looked at myself. Ok it could be him, but it is unlikely.
I also wasn’t entirely sure what a Pinkie Promise was, but it sounded like a gushed up version of the Needle in My Eye promise from Earth. Perhaps it was an oath of some sort? I had heard stranger oaths here.
If it was, then what end would it serve. For all I knew it could be some form of binding contract or marriage proposal. Would I be married to them if I called them? What benefit would they give me? The message made it rather obvious that whoever this is wants to help, but if they speak like Bizarro they could mean the opposite of what they said. I guess it is more of a question of if I can handle a possible hostile that might or might not have the powers of opposite Superman… 'Yes, yes I can.'
“Alright, I, Nox the Unfortunate, accept your offer. Come to me, Bizarro.” I said as I held out the box. The candles of my shop flickered momentarily as a blue portal opened up and displaced the air that was once there.
The portal state there for a few moments that threatened to turn into minutes. I was almost tempted to go through the portal myself before a large human figure emerged from the portal. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and worn overalls that were a similar shade to my dark maroon cloak, on the front pocket of his overalls was a symbol recognizable to anyone back on Earth. It was the infamous Superman symbol, but flipped in the opposite direction. 'Huh, it is Bizarro. Weird.'
“Hello, I am Nox The Unfortunate. Merchant of... unique items." I told the large white skinned man. His focus immediately drew onto me after I spoke. A wide smile was present on his face, but for some reason it morphed into a frown as soon as he saw me. ‘what? Not a cat person?’
“Hello, me am Bizarro, from Equis.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Bizarro. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you do that portal thing?” I asked as I gestured to the spot where the portal once was. Bizarro looked over his shoulder to look at the now non-existent portal before looking back at me.
“Because you call Bizarro with Token and make contract.” He said as he pointed to the ring box in my paws.
“Token?”
“Yes, Displaced am make Tokens to go to other worlds and make contracts.”
“Displaced?” I asked with curiosity clear in my voice. ‘other worlds huh. Look out universe, Nox the Unfortunate might be expanding his business.’ “Yes, Dimensional Misplaced. We humans turned into characters and sent to other worlds. Seller man am do this to us, make us hurt and go to other world.”
'Hmm, that seems like something that I will have to look into at some point in the future.' “Great. By the way, you seemed a little disheartened when you saw me. Any particular reason?” I commented idly.
"Oh, me just thought Bizarro be summoned to Earth."
"Earth?" I asked Bizarro. 'What did he mean by that? He... He does know, right?'
"Well, it me fault for expecting first time to work. Me sure it am work good soon though. Me just need hope." He said happily.
"But who's left to summon us back, Earth's..." I paused momentarily, as I inwardly debated the best way to break the news to Bizarro.
"Earth what?"
"It... I... It's gone." I had never actually thought about the ramifications of what I did to Earth, even if it was an accident. And yet, I don't feel as bad about it as I should. I lost friends and family and feel nothing. I need to look into how becoming Nox has truly changed me, before I came here I would be wallowing in grief.
"Gone? N-no. No, it no gone. It were—“ Bizarro pulled me out of my thoughts and I felt the need to hammer my point home.
"It's all gone." This time I put more force into my voice. "I saw it on the news before the Resident Evil cosplayer sent me here. The world was literally breaking apart after I sold him a cursed book. I didn’t expect it to actually do anything, but apparently it worked, and now the world is gone.“ I admitted.
As soon as those words left my mouth, my eyes widened as my paw flew to my face. My eyes fell on the impulsive lasso of truth that I had been meaning to sell to the guard, for a steep price obviously. I must have just barely touched it, and it made me reveal a secret I would have never exposed to any creature, especially to a human that gained the powers of Superman's opposite.
“You….” Bizarro said quietly as he clenched his fists in rage. 'Oh fuck.'
"YOU KILL LILLY!" He shouted in rage as he rushed at me. I opened a Chaotic Rift and hopped through it into my storage room before he could get me. Of course he had to have the same powers as the real Bizarro and he smashed his way through the wall between us and scattered items everywhere effortlessly.
“Bizarro, I didn’t—“
“LIVE!” He shouted as he rocketed towards me, no reasoning my way out of this one it seems. I was able to dodge his attack again but had a thought come to me that had me slightly worried as he crashed trough another wall. A fair portion of these items had some kind of requirement to be met in order to use, and the ones I was inspecting earlier today had a bad habit of choosing their own wielders.
Since some cursed items needed the wielder to be “worthy” to wield them, such as having a large kill count or possessing enough bloodlust to feed them, I kept those items locked away until buyers who I thought could use them came along. I desperately hoped none of the things in there deemed him worthy. But, a red glow told me that the one I was worried about already found him worthy. 'Ah fuck. He found them...'
The sound of Bizarro vomiting something was accompanied by the scent of boiling blood. Fire and blood mixed in an un-holy combination as they left his mouth before a dark laughter echoed from the room. The blood curdling sound of a monster’s joy was quickly followed by an explosion of red energy that burned through the wall. The entire foundation of my shop started to shake violently a new version of Bizarro clawed his was out of the room.
“With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so freshly dead. Together with me hellish hate, Bizarro am burn you all. That am your fate!” He said before he rocketed towards me in a red lantern suit.
“Fuck! Our contract is complete! Leave my world!” I shouted out as I hoped the universe itself to send him away, I did not want to deal with the powers of any of the lantern corps right now. With my luck and the rings being of my make they would likely be able to fight me on equal footing, not to mention the over powered annoyance of opposite Superman. My hopes were thankfully answered when a portal opened up right in front of him, swallowing the new Red Lantern whole instantly.
A sigh escaped my lungs as I rubbed my eyes and the portal closed behind Bizarro signaling the end of his destructive path, in this world at least. While I could have probably survived whatever attacks he used on me, I didn’t think my world could survive a Red Lantern Bizarro, let alone the town or my shop. I almost felt some remorse for wherever he was sent to, but there was nothing more I could have done. I couldn’t snap my fingers and bring all the humans back or send us back to that destroyed world.
I walked into the room through the wall and gave the remaining rings an accusing glare only to see the red lantern charger still there, and a new ring materializing in front of it. 'Well shit, I can only hope that he didn't get a lantern as well.'
I turned away from the room and summoned up a checklist of things to do.
“Number one, get carpenter to fix damages. Two, don’t call Bizarro again. Three, make my own Token later.” And with that, I prepared myself for a hopefully easy rest of the day.
Even with that rather poor ending to my... guest's little visit, it brought me knowledge worth knowing. To not be restricted this plane would be rather g̸̤͗ĺ̶̟o̷̤̿r̷͈̀i̶͓͗o̵̻͊ṵ̸̓s̶͈̉. Granted I might be capable of doing so without one of these 'Tokens,' but the thought of doing so has never occurred to me.
Let's do this the safe way for now, it will serve me no good if I end up trapped between dimensions.
"What to use, what to use..." I mumbled to myself while going over my raw materials. "Gold is cheap and easy to get but far too useful for making magic items. Iron is not as cheap and slightly harder to get but strong and annoyingly magic resistant. I could use crystal, but getting or making worthy crystal takes too long for my liking. Hmm..."
"I have some platinum, it is rare and valuable but also rather useless in terms of making any magic items as it has property's similar to Iron if slightly less resistant. Hmm, platinum it is."
I lifted the small chunk of Platinum that I had and I did whatever felt natural to make this unique item of power.
As I channeled my magic the small hunk of precious metal did not begin to float till I was outputting far more magic than should have been required to do so. Once it was steadily floating over one hand I brought the other over channel from the top side.
With a rotation of my hands the metal warped and changed, all the while I began what I could only assume to be what my message and summoning phrase would be.
A coin of quarter size One side smiles, while the other beguiles A flip to see your fate Be it doom or a trick of mind Summon I, N̸̖̕o̸͕̍ẍ̷̡́ , but only when you have something to offer Or be befouled by ĉ̷̖ů̴͚ŕ̴͎s̶̤͘e̷̻͝d̴͓̍ ̴̘̅l̸̛̫u̸̻̒c̵̻͗k̴͓̅
As the final word left my mouth I felt an uncomfortable and unnatural binding fall over me and the newly formed token. Taking the coin back in hand I looked over both sides of it. On one it had a devious smile, while the other had what I could only assume to be a cake with five candles.
After inspecting it I continued to do as felt natural to do and gave it a flip. As it spun into the air a swirling vortex of green and violet opened and caught it for me. 'Interesting.' I went to bring my hand to my chin in think only to notice a light weight in it. Looking I saw the same coin, only now the light reflecting off of it was tinted violet.
Luna, Princess of the moon, slowly walked behind her sister to the conference room of the world council. Their Mother and Father had spent neatly a century building relations with the other nations to establish said council.
This meeting however would be different. For one it would be the first meeting that she would be present for. And secondly, the Joint Nation Adventurers Guild have supposedly caught the leader of the strange magic eating monsters that have recently made themselves known.
They entered the room from a door behind to large chairs that had been made for their parents. As the two Princesses took their seats Starswirl cast a spell to make so that they could more easily see over the table made for Alicorn's at least twice their age. Both Celestia and Luna where currently the youngest Rulers Equestria had ever had, with Celestia at fifteen years of age and Luna only at twelve.
Around the table where the other world leaders. The Minotaur King, Minos XI, sat with his ceremonial ax resting at his shoulder. The Usurper of the Griffin Kingdom throne, King Grover Kng, sat with a blacksmiths hammer at his side. Two members of the Abyssinian Oligarchy sat side by side, though Luna would be hard pressed to name which ones. As well as several smaller or less social nations Rulers that Luna just didn't know the names of yet.
In the center of the circle table was a small group of eight. Six adventurers, the Guild Master of the J.N.A.G., and the supposed leader of the vile Magic stealing insects bound in chains. The adventurers were a Centaur in wizard's robes, a Night Chosen Pegasus with a sword larger then she was, a Minotaur with a frost coated ax, a Griffin missing one of her arms and in Monk robes, a Horse with an elegant bow, and a Hippogriff with a black sword that was the same basic shape as the insects horn. The Guild Master, a Aviion named Celaeno, was dressed in a rather fancy suit and top hat.
Celestia silenced the idle chatter of the other rulers with the bang of a gavel and pulled out a scroll to read from. "Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings. You stand before the council accused of theft of territory, theft of the magic of other living creatures, and conspiring to commit mass genocide. How plead you?"
The now named Chrysalis chuckled before she answered. "Oh? Based on who's word?"
"The word of the adventures currently acting as guards around you and Prophetic visions."
"Really? So this is all based on the word of a few mercenary's that would do nearly anything for a bit and the imagination of a child?"
"We also have the countless victims of your kin's supposed hunger." Grover said.
"Ohoho ahaha-"
"Silence." Celestia's young but firm voice said. "The council will decide your fate."
"Oh I think he would care to disagree with you on that."
"An' jus 'ho is 'e, Eh?" Minos asked her.
"The former demon would be referring to me." A voice that seemed to crawl along the spine said as a figure made itself known by stepping out of Celaeno's shadow. "I see you've chosen a name for yourself. Chrysalis, was it?"
"Good to see you, Master." Chrysalis hissed out the final part as if it was an impolite word.
"The feeling is not mutual. Now then, this will be the only time I save you. Understand, slave? I have experiments to do and relics to make." The Queen merely let out a low growl at the maroon robed figures words.
"Nox!?" The Griffin King let out a shocked squawk.
"Ah, Grover. It's been a while and while I would love to catch up with you, I have important things to do."
"GUARDS! SEIZE HIM! HE IS THE ONE FROM THE PROPHECY!" With Celestia's shout guards swarmed from the doors to surround the robed cat.
"Hmm, so you're the Celestia I've heard so much about from those crusaders. Honestly I expected someone taller, and older, for that matter."Nox{Do it right}Nox said rather calmly as he was surrounded.
"Surrender peacefully and you will not be harmed." Insignificant "guard" one said.
"Hmm, no." As he said those simple words no less than six spears where rammed through his gut, only for him to turn as if they did not exist and walk up to Chrysalis and the Adventurer's. You lot look familiar. Ah, the Leviathan Ax and the Queen Slayer. Two of my best weapons, so that's why you look familiar."
"Wait, you made a sword specifically to kill me?!"
"Actually, I made the sword several hundred years before I made you. Children these days have no manners."
Celestia was the first to recover from the shock of the guards spears having no effect on the creature and brought forth her Alicorn might in a magical blast that would be capable of leveling several mountains aimed at Nox and his Demon, only for him to raise his hand and dissipate the magic as if it was nothing more than a gust of wind in a tornado.
Scootaloo stood outside the abandoned Everfree Shack. It stood just outside the forest and a fair bit out of the town of Ponyville. She tossed a nervous look over her shoulder at her fellow Crusaders and the two bullies that would always pick on them. "What's the matter? I thought that you said you weren't afraid of anything." Diamond Tiara taunted her.
"Yeah, all you got'a do is spend five minutes in there. Or are ya' scared?" Silver Spoon continued the taunt.
"I ain't scared of an old house." Scootaloo said as she turned back towards the house silhouetted against the night sky and began her march into the old house.
The inside was... disappointingly dull all things considered. Or at least that was Scootaloo thought when she first entered, but she quickly realized that the inside was far larger and far nicer than the outside would suggest. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact she would lose the dare if she did, she would go back outside to check how big the outside was.
The place looked like some rich persons mansion. Scootaloo would have thought that it was nothing more than a one room shack, but it had two large staircases going up three or so floors. If she could just make out a chandelier hanging in the darkness above her.
CLANG
"What was that?" She thought looking towards the area the sound had come from. A long dark hallway between the stairs sat before her.
CLANG
Scootaloo and her friends weren't known for making the smartest of decisions, she knew that. She also knew that going to investigate strange sounds in what was supposed to be a haunted old shack on the edge of the Everfree was not a smart choice, that didn't stop her from going to do just that though.
CLANG
The rhythmic clanging got louder as she made her way down the hall. "It sounds like someone is something with a hammer." The thought passed through her head as a door that had a blue light leaking out from under it came into sight at the end of the hall.
CLANG
Scootaloo hesitated at the door. She wanted to push it open and see who or what was there, but this place was supposed to have been abandoned for almost as long as Ponyville had been here. But this place was also supposed to be a small shack and that was definitely not the case. Stealing her resolve Scootaloo slowly pushed the door open a crack so that she could just barely see through.
CLANG
She nearly jumped out of her feathers as the sound suddenly sounded so much louder than it had before. She took a second to calm herself before going back the crack that she had opened in the door. In the room on the other side of the door appeared to be an old-fashioned forge of some kind. She started to open the door further before a figure took her attention. At first she thought that it was another pony, but whoever it was was too tall to be a pony.
The figure brought their hammer down one final time before lifting up whatever it was they were working on and turned to place it in the fires of the forge. "Whoa, how did they get blue fire?" With the figure turned like they were she could see that it seemed to be some kind of cat. "Hmm, isn't there a country of cat people down in the south somewhere?"
CRAC--THUD
Scootaloo froze, she had attempted to push the door further open but the door had instead popped off its hinges and fell to the ground. Danger, that's what her instincts were screaming at her as the blue light cast off by the flames became a sickly vibrant green. Looking up she saw that the figure was now nothing more than a silhouette surrounded by green flames, green flames that were slowly spreading along the floor, walls, and the ceiling. The flames seemed to spread faster as the cat ever so slowly turned its head to look at her with glowing green eyes that seemed to eat into her soul.
As the cats' eyes landed on her the flames surged toward her.
Without even thinking she ran. She ran as fast as she could, the flames licking at the back of her hooves urged her to run faster. Finding herself back in the entrance area she didn't even try for the door, instead leaping out one of the windows that faced out to where her friends were. The flames were not far behind her as she hit the ground, but just as quickly as she hit the ground, she felt several pairs of hands grab and pull her away from the fire.
Looking up she saw both of her friends and, surprisingly, both of her bullies pulling her. Once they had gotten a fair distance away they stopped and staired at the burning building. The green flames were all along the walls and roof of the unnaturally small shack. Before the fires could spread beyond to the surrounding grass and trees rain began to fall as Ponyvilles' weather team showed just how quick they were, and they heard the pop of a teleportation spell that they all had gotten used to since Twilight had moved to town. They heard Twilight start to say something but stopped as the flames began to spin as if in a tornado before then collapsing down in an implosion.
They all staired, five fillies, Twilight, and roughly nine or so weather ponies. Where once stood a burning building now lay a blank lot of concrete with rain falling upon it being the only sound that was heard.
(000)
I looked up toward the entrance to my forge. I could have sworn that I had heard someone come in but the door was firmly shut just as I had left it. "Hmm, curious." I said as I turned back to my forge and pulled the metal bone I was forging from the fire. "Well, metal might not be the proper term for it considering it was made from the Chaos Gems the pony girls had brought me." I thought to myself as I looked it over for any imperfections. Seeing none I stepped through a portal I had set up that went to the void between. Just inside my portal was a table with a patchwork body on it. The body was sewn together from the pieces of many different creatures and one of its thighs had a large gash cut down to where the bone would normally be.
I adjusted the body just enough that I could work with it as I inserted the last piece that was needed into its thigh and began to sew it shut. I had made the entirety of the cadavers' skeleton out of the same material. Chaos Gems made surprisingly good replacements for bone, and they are far more magical as well.
I sat and watched the creature I made as it interacted with its surroundings. I moved it- him out of the void but not yet to the material realm, mostly because I was not sure what he was capable of yet. As such we're on the spiritual plane, a place between the material and immaterial. Not an afterlife or anything like that, I doubt that any god or demon would allow me or my creations near their hordes of souls. Not that I would care.
I will say that the spirit plane is odd, you can see the material plane from it but not interact with it directly. I should visit it more often however as there are quite a few lost souls here that would make for good ingredients.
Anyway, back to the unnamed being. He was floating around and observing the things going on around him on the material plane. In terms of where we are located in comparison puts us deep in the territory of the Sun and Moon. One of their precious pony villages. It was a calm village, but I could tell something about it was bothering him. He kept trying to interact with the villagers in such a way that would likely cause some minor mischief if he could actually touch them.
"Well, what do think?" My question seemed to fall on deaf ears at first as he didn't respond or acknowledge that he had even heard me.
"It's dull..." He said after a few minutes. "How can they live like this? It's all so predictable and boring." His voice reminds me of someone, but I just can't remember who.
"It can be a bit boring at times yes, but that is just the way they are..." I trailed of as I studied him, a devious little plot coming to mind. "Would you like to change that for them?" His head snaped to look at me, the excitement he felt at the prospect quiet literally gleaming in his eyes. "You have a fair amount of magic at your command, I'm sure you could come up with some way to use it and make their lives more entertaining. Wouldn't you agree?" As I finished speaking I opened a rift that would let him into the material plane and gave a welcoming gesture towards it with a smile.
He let out a giggle like that of an excited child and dove for it at a speed that most would consider impossible. The reactions were almost immediate as he came out of the other side. The ponies looking on him more with confusion than anything else at first. And then the entertainment began.
