0 - Stars in the Deep
Stars in the Deep
His heart beat loud in his head, drowning out the rustle of his backpack and the squeak of his shoes. The rocky underground wasn't something he hadn't seen, and even when he was younger he never feared the darkness, but a nine year old, no matter how brave, reserves the right to fear beasts. Though the cramped corridors of the cave did not help his panic. His chest light bounced from wall to wall at the sway of his feet, illuminating the natural cave formations.
Behind him his father yelled out a sharp yell, more of a cry, calling him by name, but the boy could not hear his father over the panting of the cave wolves behind him. One of the beasts howled, echoing down the multiple twisting paths and channels. The sound reverberated off the cave walls and continued to echo throughout the cave far past the initial sound.
The child kept running, his own cries from the terror he felt amplifying the pain his ears had from the wolves howls. Taking a right turn the boy slid down a small but steep incline, scraping his right leg as he went. Wincing at the pain, but not slowing his dash, he chanced a glance behind him and regretted it instantly. they were still on him and gaining, their fogged eyes darting in every direction.
Thinking quick, the kid picked up a rock that was resting on a shelf of stone to his side. Running further down to an intersection he tossed the rock into one of the tunnels while he sharply turned down the other one, hoping beyond hope some of the wolves would follow the stone. He would not have that head start however, as the alpha wolf at the head of the pack stopped in the intersection, its overly large sized ears swiveling in the two directions before locking in on him. The pack darted at full speed down his tunnel, tracking him perfectly.
The kids dash became one of madness, desperately trying to gain ground away from his pursuers. He focused so intensely on his speed the shouts of his name became distant and muted. He turned once again to see what progress he made, and tripped over a sudden elevation change in the stone floor beneath him. As he fell to the ground, the angry, terrifying growls of the alpha came over him.
Before he was able to register the impact his face made with the ground, he was lifted back into the air by his backpack straps. The inhuman strength of the alpha shook the child, ripping the leather of the backpack while the child screamed in terror. He could feel the hot breath of the alpha on his back, and the smell of its gnarled teeth, coated in the remains of previous victims. With a quick snap, the backpack straps tore, flinging the child fifteen feet away from the alpha, his chest impacting with hard stalagmite. The breath was knocked out of him, and if it wasn't for the terror pumping through his veins, he may have lost consciousness from the impact alone.
The child fell to his knees, his body desperately fighting between the need for air and the necessity to escape. He could hear the alpha tearing into the backpack, the other cave wolves joining in on the leather bound feast. For some reason the alpha did not notice the absence of the child, a fact that became clear as the child looked back at the wolves feasting away at his bag, illuminated by the chest light still strapped into it. He crawled as much as he could, slowly letting in air and fighting his urge to cough. It was a pointless effort, as the moment he could breathe again he dislodged some stone accidentally with his hand.
The alpha's head shot up above the pack, a torn cotton doll dangling from its mouth. The rest of the pack stopped their feast, following the actions of the alpha. There was now no time for stealth as the child shot into a dead sprint once again. The alpha howled once more, followed by equally loud shouts of the other wolves as they gave chase. The child covered the sides of his head, blood dripping down his ears and from his nose. He could not see with the light now far behind him, trusting his delver instincts. He bumped and smacked into only a few walls, but mostly he could feel the natural inclines with his feat enough to evade a head on collision.
Still the wolves tailed him, once again closing the distance. With one final scream the child dashed, not caring if he hit a wall, at least if it happened he may be knocked out before they tore him apart. But no such thing happened. Instead the floor vanished beneath the child, and he began to fall, unwittingly throwing himself over the edge of a ravine. Time slowed as the descending sensation made his stomach flip. He reached out, desperately trying to grab onto anything, flailing wildly. luckily he managed to catch a withered root that protruded from the rocky walls of the ravine.
The root took the full weight of the child, bending and bowing from the downward force. It was pulled from the stone, the secondary roots snapping off of the primary, and the boys descent slowed as he clung for dear life onto the root. He then stopped suddenly, almost losing his grip, but pulled himself up higher on the root, gaining some purchase with his feet. He hung their, heart pounding, head racing, adrift in the endless dark.
He could hear somewhere above him the wolves reach the edge, and could feel the dust fall down onto his face. He heard them sniff about, before howling once again, making the child wince from his injured ears. Then they vanished, running back the way they came, or toward some other tunnel, the child did not know. All he knew is that he was alone for the moment. He stayed still, breathing slowly and quietly, whimpering to himself. Minutes passed by that seemed like years, and with every second he counted.
"One.... Two..... Three...."
Thirty minutes passed with no further sound other then the small echos of the child's labored breaths, and the soft counting he continued to keep. While he swung from the vine he prodded with his feet, looking for ground, walls, anything other then the root. But he was never able to reach far enough without the root shuttering with his movement. The ground for that matter could be ten feet down or a hundred, there was nothing for him to tell. If only he still had his backpack and the light that guided him before.
Without warning, the root began to slip, cutting off the child's counting, and he prayed for someone to help him. He whimpered in the dark, the shadows of death swirling around him like swarms of hungry buzzards. Visions played before his clenched eyes, visions of his father, the warmth of his mother who died many years ago. He saw the story of his life play before him, though short it was. He was going to die, and now he knew it was up to him when.
"Ball'sheppay Moray, Ignitious"
A strange voice called out in the dark, a voice the boy did not recognize. It came from somewhere below him, though it sounded as if it was right next to him. He opened his eyes and instantly winced them shut as a ball of red glowing light appeared next to his root by about twenty feet. it was slightly lower then himself and when his eyes adjusted he could not believe what he saw. Below him was a flame covered sphere that floated in the air, and far below the sphere was what looked like a small horse with a tall hat, blue coat, and bushy white mane, tail, and beard.
"What hath the gods delivered from the murky shadow?" Asked the horse, squinting in the direction of the root. Its eyes widened as he locked eyes with the child. "Tis but a child, why, what world hath thy visioned to succumb yee to such a fate?"
The child was speechless, shocked by the oddity of his current situation. In his heart mixed confusion, fear, and strangest of all, wonderment at seeing a talking animal. His mouth moved wordlessly, and reflexively he clung tighter to his lifeline. The horse noticed his reaction and the hat atop its head floated off of it, revealing a glowing horn underneath. Its glow intensified marginally as the child's body began to share a similar glow.
"Now now, yee of purity and innocence, thy hath no need to anguish amidst the presence of a true sorcerer." It said, lifting its head up a little higher. In response to the tilt of the horses head, the child felt a pressure pull him from the root, and even with all the strength on both his arms and legs, he could not hold onto the root. He screamed, expecting a quick descent into the void below, but found that he slowly descended towards the platform the unicorn stood. The child was unsure if this was a good thing, but decided it was good since it meant not having an unfortunate end at the bottom of a ravine.
He was gently placed onto the stony alcove, mere feet away from the blue unicorn. Being closer to it, he noticed it also wore a cloak across its back that had little dangling bells along its edge, and on its flank was a swirling constellation of stars.
With his butt on the floor now, the unicorn gave a small smile at the child's safety, and the horn's glow faded slightly. The glow around the child's body faded, and he could feel his weight come back under his own power. The ball of flame descended and came ten feet above them, while the unicorn looked over the boy. It gasped slightly as it saw the blood leaking from the boys nose and ears, as well as the bleeding wound that ran the length of the boys right leg.
"Oh heavens be so grand, yee hath seen terror most true." exclaimed the unicorn, examining the various lacerations. "Pray tell, what drove yee into such a state?"
The boy, still in shock, could not make a sound, opting to stare wide eyed at the talking horse. The unicorn waited, and saw the apprehension clearly displayed by the child at its hooves. Its eye twitched with annoyance and inpatients as it clomped a hoof onto the hard stone.
"Well? out with it!" The unicorn commanded, eliciting a small yelp of surprise from the child, who merely said, "Horse.."
The unicorn stood still, blinking at the response, looking down at his appearance and calculating something in his mind.
"Thou sayith horse? Does yee refer to mine visage?" The unicorn asked, puzzled by the conclusion it came to, but with a hint of knowing behind his eyes. The child shook his head, scared of the authoritative unicorn before him. The unicorn's features relaxed, and a warm smile formed on its lips. "Oh, so thy hast the sight of discernment, it has been well a time since one of thy's kind could see beyond thine's veil."
The unicorn nodded, turning his body away from the child and headed down a staircase etched into the side of the ravine. It looked back at the boy, still stunned in place, following the unicorn with its head. The unicorn nodded its head in the direction it was heading, continuing to walk down the stairs. The boy could not grasp what had happened, simply sitting and listening to the clips and clops of the unicorns hooves hitting the stone beneath them.
The child shook his head, holding his arm that seemed to have been overexerted catching the root that saved his life. With his good leg, the boy warily stood on the cold stone, limping slightly on his wounded leg. When his weight stabilized, he saw the fire covered orb blink out of existence and the world once again was consumed in darkness. It was only temporary though as a blue glowing bar of light stretched across the opening of the alcove, creating a railing down the stairs. The boy hopped to the start of the stairs and could see the unicorn thirty feet away.
It called to him, "yee whilst not need worry or care as yee descendith mine stair. Mine bar of magic whilst hold yee if thee needeth." said the unicorn as it entered a separate tunnel entrance within the side of the ravine. The boy watched it disappear, still shocked, but a little more compliant then he had been before. He looked at the railing and back to his left arm he held.
He tried to extend it to the bar, but the pain he received from the act told him he wont be grabbing it with that arm. Holding his arm close to his chest he got his right arm under his shirt and used the right side to help leverage his left arm, creating a crude sling. Part of the sling had to be held by his left hand, that worked mostly. The boy then reached out with his right arm towards the railing, grasping onto the light. It was warm to the touch, and solid as if it were made of metal. He tested its capability to hold him, pressing down on the bar.
Once satisfied that the bar would hold, he held onto it with his right hand, slowly going down the stairs. It took him a couple minutes but eventually he reached the landing that ended the stairs. He looked past the stalagmites and stalactites into the tunnel the unicorn went through, seeing a wall with a door a small ways into it. He took a deep breath, and pressed forward past the obstructing stone pillars.
As he approached the wall he saw it was made of wood, bark on the exterior, with pieces of exposed wood carved from the bark. The carvings were in a language he could not understand, and they formed a semi circle around the door. The door itself was smooth wood, and very simple, with two small circular windows, one at the top and a second near the middle. The lower one seemed to be at the height of the unicorn, and the child could barely see its tail swishing from the outside.
He approached the door, raising his right arm to knock, but before his fist made contact the door opened on its own, the handle having a slight blue glow. Looking in past the door the child couldn't hold a gasp of amazement as multiple books floated from various shelves etched into the stone, opening mid air as the unicorn looked in their direction. Beyond the flying books there were many more stacked about the room, some opened and other sealed with some kind of hide the child could not understand. The unicorn itself was working at a counter stacked with various glass tubes and vials. Cabinets above the counter opened bringing out various materials, most of them bottles containing liquids. The unicorn spared a side glance at the boy, the smile once again appearing on its face.
"Come yee," it said in a soft, almost tired voice that portrayed an age for the unicorn that the child hadn't considered. "Come yee into mine home, set yee onto mine bed and be at rest."
The child looked to the side of the room and saw a small bed made with quilts of blue and purple hues, feathers plucked from chicken and duck alike, and crisp hay. As the child caught sight of the bed the covers over top of it lifted and folded by the foot board. The child complied and entered into the space, limping over to the bed and taking a seat. He watched the unicorn work, magically lifting many vials containing different liquids of colors rarely seen. They swished, swirled, and drained into one another, mixing into new colors. Smells began to waft into the air, and the child could smell fruits, baked goods, and flowers ruminating through the air. The chaotic swirl of magic and potion came to a conclusion as the vials condensed into two, and then finally into one, glowing a dull red.
"Now, there beist what yee needs." Said the unicorn, turning to the child who sat nervously on the bed. "Come yee, thoust not need worry, We are but a friend to thee." The child still looked nervous, not sure about what to do, but compliant none the less. "Tisk Tisk, how about I bid thee mine own name?"
The unicorn set the vial on a stack of books near the bed, standing straight in front of the boy. It's hoof emerged from under the cloak and rose to its head, then lowered as did its body, gesturing outwards in a polite bow. "The name mine own procreator gavith was Starswirl Merlane, but yee can call me by Merlin. Surely the name is familiar to yee?"
The child shook his head, and the unicorn deflated slightly, "Yee meaneth to say thy neverest heard the name? what beist the year naive? How oldest is thee?" The child tensed and relaxed, the unicorn had been nothing but nice to him since he encountered the wolves. he may be dumbfounded by the situation, but nothing told him he could not trust this creature before him.
"I.." The child coughed out, some blood spraying onto the stone floor. The unicorn raised a hoof to stop the child. he approached closer, its horn glowing, the glow appearing on a rag on the counter, and the rag flew to the spray of blood on the floor and then to the head of the child. It mopped some of the fresh blood and then the unicorn's horn glowed slightly brighter, his mouth whispering some words, as a bowl of water materialized, floating beside the unicorn. The rag made many passes between the bowl of water and the boys face, cleaning much of the grime and caked blood. Then a cup of water appeared before the boy, and the boy drank from the cool liquid greedily, the cup emptying in mere seconds.
After a moment to take in the liquid, the boy tried to talk again, "I am nine, Merlin," his voice was raspy and it still hurt to talk. "I don't know the year, i've never been told. What are you, and why do you talk so funny?"
The unicorn looked at the boy with understanding, and just a bit of annoyance at his manner of speaking being called funny. Merlin raised his head once again, muttering something the child could not hear, and a light shot out of his horn. It curved down to his throat, impacting and causing his neck to glow before fading back to normal.
The unicorn breathed a sigh of relief and looked back down to the child, "How does this sound? a little better yes?" The child gaped at the change in the unicorns words, "Yes, that makes more sense."
The unicorn confidently nodded, taking the vial of red liquid again in his magic, levitating it in front of the boy. "This will make you feel better, and as for what I am that will take some time to say. But don't worry, that red stuff is medicine." The unicorn sat beside the boy as the child took the vial in his hands. "You see child, I am from a place very far away. So far in fact, you would never be able to find it on a map. I am from a land known only as Equestria, a land of ponies such as myself. Though there were more then just ponies there. There were kingdoms of griffons, of dragons, of zebra, and many many more all across the equestrian lands."
The boy sipped the potion, his eyes watching intently on the unicorn. He was about to speak when Merlin once again rose a hoof, "No questions until the end please." The child nodded acceptance as he continued to drink from the vial. It had a very pleasant taste that the child could not place. It almost tasted like the fancy pies in the city from what he remembered. The unicorn cleared his throat coming back to where he was explaining.
"Even though there are many other species there," Merlin continued, his eyes drifting off to some place far beyond the eyes sight. "Many of them would contest that all the lands of our planet were not equestrian. Taking some for themselves, which is a noble ask of them to define their peoples lands. Regardless the largest country, as it were, was Equestria. I suppose in the later years of my presence there, the planet was called earth, but that would be confusing because this place also calls its planet earth."
"Anyhow, in the lands of my youth I was know not as Merlin, but as Starswirl the bearded, and I created many spells for my people before journeying beyond. Oh, and i must not forget the rulers of my world. Another reason I find it ridiculous that we were relegated to a simple country. They were two princesses, Celestia and Luna, Sun and Moon respectively. Oh how glorious Celestia was, her beauty boundless and without end. Luna was quite a catch as well, but not my type of person. She always seemed angry that one."
"Eventually my skills became known to our rulers, and i was quickly apprenticed. I spent many long years under their tutelage, but I could sense something dark and terrible was coming. In desperation to find a solution, well, I found myself here. Well not quite, I found myself in what is now known, or I hope it is known, as the fifth century. I've jumped many times across your universes branch, which is where many started to call me Merlin, for my last name, altered slightly. in those times I exerted an appearance similar to your kinds, maintaining my beard, my hat, and my cape. I even levitated a stick wherever I went to maintain the image. I could have sworn though that I jumped forwards past those days, well past, but you say you never heard of me?"
the boy nodded again, setting the vial down to his side. He stretched his left arm out of the sling, it felt perfectly fine, and looking down at his right leg he could see that the gash there had sealed up, leaving a decent scar. "I haven't heard of you, maybe my papa has, but I've never."
The unicorn's gaze took on concern, pressing his lips together in thought. "Have you been in school child?"
The boy lowered his head, hands clasping together on his lap. The unicorn studied with a knowing softness. "Oh I see, that is quite alright child. How long have you been in this cave?"
The child looked at the unicorn confused, "All my life Merlin. What else is there?"
The unicorn's face became one of shock at the child's question, startled by the meaning behind the words. His eyes darted from side to side, making multiple calculations in his head. He then rose from the bed and levitated several books to him, quickly reading whole passages in mere moments. Merlin then slammed the books shut, his features resolute, and the books flew back to their shelves. He then turned back around to face the child.
"Say, child, what is your name?"