> The God of Death
>  by TenebrisScholar
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alric, the Chosen Undead, had struck down the Lord of Cinder. He stood over the desiccated hollow corpse of the once great Lord Gwyn, holding Gwyn’s Lord Soul in his hand. The gold hemmed black robes — which he wore solely for their lightness and resistance against fire — flowed around him as he knelt before the broken body of the one almighty god he had just slain and prayed. He prayed to the only Goddess left in existence that was still alive and worthy of such veneration. Velka, the Goddess of Sin. He prayed to her that with his death, the Lord of Cinder’s sins may finally be forgiven. For now his sins would be forever undone and the world would be returned to its natural balance. The dark finally unbound by the curse, and the cycle of light and dark allowed to continue unabated as it was always intended.

After his death and subsequently being branded with the Dark Sign, Alric had spent what could have been and very likely was eons studying every facet of the curse in search of a cure. He studied how it functioned, its effects on the soul, its effects on humanity… its history… He learned it was the Gods, and specifically Lord Gwyn, that placed the curse on mankind as he Linked the Fire in a misguided attempt to unnaturally extend the Age of Fire and the reign of the Gods. Ironically dooming the Gods to extinction and damning humanity to eternal torment and suffering. It was the first and greatest sin ever committed and it was committed out of a desperation to cling to power, a misguided fear of the dark, and pure unadulterated pride and hubris on the part of Gwyn.

He had studied every possible avenue of undoing Gwyn’s machinations. Sorcery, pyromancy, miracles. He had read each and every last book within the Duke’s archives and learned all of the teachings Seath the Scaleless had to offer. He had traveled the world and found the Ringed City where he learned the secrets of hexes or abyssal sorcery from the Pygmy Lords themselves, including the time magic Manus had used to pull him back in time. After finding a way off the mountain top that was Priscilla’s home to further explore the painted world in search of secrets, he had accidentally found Velka living within and had learned miracles from the Goddess of Sin herself. Finally, he had even managed to convince Quelana of Izalith to teach him the secrets of the lost flame sorceries of Izalith by finding a method with which to truly cure the affliction her sister Quelaan was dying from.

Unfortunately he was unable to find a means of reversing the effects the chaos flame had on her that rendered Quelaan half demonic, but that was of little consequence. He would focus on curing the victims of the Witch of Izalith’s sin after he undid Gwyn’s curse.

He had tested and experimented developing his own spells and miracles based on all he had learned. While doing so, he had determined he was going to need all four of the Lord Souls to fully break the curse. Despite having only been made with a single Lord Soul, Gwyn’s Light Soul, it had grown in power since its inception and thus the power of all four of them would be required to undo it.

So he had spent centuries studying the door to the Kiln of the First Flame to find a way to open it without sacrificing the Lord Souls to the Lord Vessel. Eventually after nearly driving himself hollow trying to find a way to break that thrice damned lock, he found a method to simply trick the lock into thinking the vessel was filled with Lord Souls. However it cost countless trillions of more common souls. He had to make heavy use of time’s broken state and spend a truly hellish amount of time doing nothing but slaughtering entire armies of hollows and other beings to accumulate all the souls he needed.

However, just as important as having all four Lord Souls he would need the lord souls to be whole. He had already restored Nito’s Death soul to its former glory by merging it with countless other souls. He had also split the Dark Soul and merged it with its split pieces until it was on par with the other Lord Souls once more. Now the fragments of Gwyn’s soul held by the Four Kings and Seath the Scaleless would need to be merged with Gwyn’s soul once more.

To that end, once he finished his prayer for Velka to forgive Gwyn, he retrieved the fragments that were previously held by Seath and the Four Kings and began the process of merging them back with Gwyn’s soul. This took only a scant few moments. Less than nothing compared to the millennia he had spent working to get to this point.

When he was finished, he stood up and approached the First Fire. He placed the Dark Soul and the souls of Gwyn, Nito, and the Bed of Chaos around the fire then drew his Tin Crystallization Catalyst and Velka’s Talisman and set to work using the power of the Lord Souls along with his own soul and humanity not to relight the fire but to undo the Linking of the Fire and finally break Gwyn’s curse.

The three souls of fire began to glow brighter as he worked while the Dark Soul seemed to grow darker and darker until it seemed to be pulling in the light from around it.

By the time Alric noticed something was wrong, it was already too late.

His eyes widened in surprise as his spell became unstable as he accidentally triggered a trap cleverly hidden within the miracle Gwyn used to Link the Fire and cast his curse.

Acting fast he began shifting the spell and miracle in a desperate attempt to restabilize it and stop the trap he had triggered. However, it was completely futile. The trap was using his own magic, miracles, and the Lord Souls against him, feeding on their energy to fuel itself. He tried to mitigate the damage this trap would cause by stopping his sorcery and miracles, and had he had time to study and prepare, perhaps he may have been able to. However he had never in all his millenia encountered such a thing as this. The trap did not let him stop his casting. It forced him to continue against his will.

A moment later there was a blinding flash of light. He was being teleported somewhere. He barely had time to react in order to pull the Lord Souls to him so as to not leave them behind in the Kiln. He would not risk losing them. As long as he had them, he could try again. He would not lose so much as a single one!

The light faded and suddenly he found himself in the middle of an icy frozen wasteland somewhere. The sun was high in the sky, but he wasn’t anywhere he was familiar with.

He heard flapping, looked, and saw an unfamiliar fur covered pig-like creature running away from him. Presumably startled by his sudden appearance.

Looking down he saw that in his arms were all four Lord Souls. He had successfully managed to take them back before he could be teleported away. That was an immense relief to him. As long as he had the Lord Souls, he could always find his way back to the Kiln of the First Flame and continue where he left off.

The trap was rather pathetic, all things considered. Impotent even. Merely teleporting him away? Gwyn really should have had the trap destroy him entirely. It was a little worrying, honestly. After all, why would the King of the Gods resort to such a paltry trick to protect the First Flame? It didn’t make sense. It implied that there was something he wasn’t accounting for. Something more insidious. However, he lacked any information to work with. He had not had a chance to truly study the divine energies involved in his sudden relocation to determine how the miracle worked, after all.

So, he knelt in prayer and cast the homeward miracle, to bring himself back to the Fire Link Shrine. The divine light that was supposed to gather around him as he performed his miracle simply didn’t appear as the miracle completely failed.

He reeled in surprise. Frowning, he put away Velka’s Talisman and reached into his bottomless box. He retrieved a homeward bone and crushed it in his hand. Still nothing. Cursing he reached towards his chest where his dark sign was branded upon him. He didn’t want to do this. Using his Dark Sign was always unpleasant. However, he saw little choice.

His chest blazed with agony as he used his dark sign. He could feel his flesh rotting and his body desiccating as his humanity was consumed by the curse. However, this was all that happened. When it was over he was still within the icy wasteland.

With a ragged raspy sigh Alric withdrew a humanity sprite from his bottomless box and immediately restored his humanity. Through his research, he had long since learned how to do so without the aid of a bonfire.

Alric assumed this was part of Gwyn’s trap. The god had somehow found a way to prevent him from returning to the last bonfire he had rested at. It was much like the situation he had found himself in after the first time he was slain by Seath the Scaleless within the Duke’s Archives.

Frustrating but otherwise of little consequence. He just had to find out where he was and find his way back. If it was a situation like the Painted World of Ariamis, he just needed to find the exit. He would not, no… He could not allow this to stop him for long. All undead had a purpose that kept them from going Hollow. His purpose was ending Gwyn’s curse. So he would stop at nothing to fulfill his purpose.

Determined to overcome this newest challenge Alric set off in a random direction. 

He walked for several hours before eventually noticing something. The sun was going down. When Gwyn linked the fire, cast his curse, and broke time the cycle of day and night had completely ceased to be. Instead, time differed from area to area. The sun could be blazing in the sky in one place then you could walk a few feet in another direction and it could be the dead of night. The best example of this he could think of was the short walk from the Firelink Shrine to the Darkroot Garden. 

So the gradual shift in the light he had noticed should not have been a possibility. So he just stopped and stood there, staring up at the sky. He wanted to test to see if he was just coincidentally walking along a specific path that led along a particular stream of time that made it seem like the sun was moving or if it really was moving.

Time passed by and sure enough the sun went down fully and the moon began to rise.

“That’s concerning…” He muttered as he stared at the moon. If the sun and moon were operating in a normal cycle then that meant time wasn’t broken. If time wasn’t broken then that suggested something incredibly insidious of Gwyn’s trap. Either this was an illusion he would have to break out of, he was sent back in time to a point when time wasn’t broken, or… he was in another reality all together. He had long theorized other realities existed. An infinite number of them.

If it was true and this truly was an alternate reality getting back was going to be near impossible. That thought completely terrified him. He needed to get back. His entire purpose was ending Gwyn’s curse. If his purpose had become impossible to fulfill, going hollow was inevitable.

He shook his head. No… No, no, no. He wasn’t going to think like that. He could not think like that. If he did, it was over. Nothing was impossible, it just took time. And time was something he had plenty of. This was just a setback on his road to ending the curse, that was all.

He had to keep going. He needed to find a settlement and find out where he was.

Drawing his catalyst he cast a spell and created an orb of light above his head to illuminate his path before continuing on his way.

He heard a sound like something between the whinny of horses and the unholy shrieks of the lost souls within the depths of the catacombs or the ghosts of New Londo. It sounded like it came from directly above him.

Looking up he saw a stampede of spectral horses running through the sky in defiance of gravity. They almost resembled ghosts, which explained why they were able to fly as such.

Their souls felt only moderately powerful, so he was more than confident in his ability to slaughter them all if necessary. He prepared to grab a transient curse from his bottomless box, just in case they couldn’t be harmed physically. However they passed him by with seemingly no issue.

He raised an eyebrow at that. Did they simply not want to fight? Now that was a novel concept. In his experience unknown horrors from far off lands were always far too eager to attack whatever they laid their eyes upon, either unknowing or uncaring of the strength of their opponent compared to themselves.

He did notice the already arctic temperatures had dropped considerably as they passed him by.

As an undead cold could not kill him as it would the living, unless of course he was frozen solid and shattered, but it was quite uncomfortable. So he summoned his pyromancy flame and with a simple spell he warmed his ancient undead bones. He sighed in relief as the warmth spread through him. He had always preferred the heat of fire to the cold of ice, though the irony of that fact was not lost on him considering his ultimate goal.

He watched the equine specters gallop off through the air. With a shrug he decided to follow them. Why not? It wasn’t as though he knew where he was going anyway. If he was just going to keep walking aimlessly until he found something of note, that direction was as good as any.

He walked and walked, quickly losing sight of the creatures entirely as they were running and he was merely walking. He just kept walking in the direction he’d seen them heading.

Eventually he saw something other than endless fields and mountains of ice and snow. He saw a village. The spectral horses circled overhead and the buildings were covered in a layer of ice.

He sensed a few loose souls. It seemed everyone was dead. He momentarily considered consuming them but ultimately decided not to bother. He had consumed souls in the trillions, leveraging the broken time to consume certain souls repeatedly to gain as much power as possible. He had consumed enough that he was as powerful as any of the Lords at the very peak of their power. The souls of a single village of mortals meant less than nothing to him. It was like an arch dragon looking upon a few dozen ants and weighing whether or not to consume them. It just wasn’t worth it.

He could collect them to have some spare souls to purchase supplies with, as he had wasted all of those he had saved up when he tried to use his dark sign to return to the Lord Vessel outside the Kiln of the First Flame, but he wasn’t sure they accepted souls as currency in this world let alone this land. Besides, he still had plenty of souls stored in his bottomless box. He preferred to carry most of his currency that way since he had grown tired of losing his accumulated souls whenever he died more than once early on in his unlife.

So he just took out Nito’s Death Soul and cast them into whatever came next. He didn’t sense the curse of undeath upon them. It seemed they either weren’t human or Gwyn’s curse didn’t extend to the people of this world. Maybe both. So it was entirely possible they may have found their way to the afterlife or cycle of reincarnation or whatever was supposed to come after death on their own eventually. He had just sped up the process a bit.

Putting the Lord Soul away he realized he could still taste some souls within the village. Two. There were two that still clung desperately to life.

Curious, he approached the village, speeding up a bit. So many people he tried to help went hollow or worse. But he always tried regardless… Even if it always ended in tragedy, he always held onto some small hope that maybe this time he could make a difference. Maybe this time they wouldn’t be damned.

He’d only succeeded once. Maybe twice. Quelaan. Curing her was his ultimate achievement thus far. She was the only one he’d saved who hadn’t suffered some terrible fate. She’d even been reunited with her only uncorrupted sister.

One success out of hundreds of failures he could remember…

He half expected the souls to give out and die before he could reach them. It would certainly be just his luck if they did.

But somehow, miraculously, they survived until he managed to find them.

Interestingly there were no corpses outside as he had expected. It seemed everyone had rushed inside to await death. Perhaps these cold specteres were known to these people and they’d done everything they could to save themselves, but ended up succumbing regardless of their best efforts.

Alric reached the house where he sensed the two souls. He opened the door, walked inside, and quickly closed it behind him.

He looked around. Inside he saw the frozen corpses of two equine creatures with odd proportions and colors embracing each other desperately. They were next to a fireplace that had only a few struggling embers left on half charred wood. As if the cold itself had overwhelmed the heat of the fire and had somehow managed to snuff out the flames. Next to the corpses was a huge bundle of blankets. It was like they had gathered every blanket and scrap of fabric in the whole house and had bundled it around whatever was underneath the pile.

Alric suspected what he would find when he lifted the blankets away.

He summoned his pyromancy flame to his hand and lowered his hood, revealing his face. He had short messy black hair, almost ghostly pale skin, blue eyes, and a clean shaven face. Not a single scar or blemish marred his features. Despite appearing no older than his mid twenties, if one were to look in his eyes they would see the look of someone who had lived far too long and had seen far too much. Otherwise his features were quite unremarkable.

He started to approach the bundle.

“W-w-what’s th-that?” A muffle voice asked from under the pile. It sounded like a little girl, shivering in the unnatural cold.

“Shh! I-I-I d-don’t kn-know.” Another muffled voice whispered back urgently. It sounded like another little girl.

Alric paused, not wanting to make them panic. “I’m a friend. I’ve come to help. I have warmth. May I approach?”

There was silence for a moment.

“M-m-mommy? D-d-daddy?” One of the voices asked.

Alric sighed. “They’re gone, child. It’s only you and your sister here.”

“Wh-Wh-What d-do you m-mean? Wh-wh-where did they g-g-go?” The ever so slightly younger of the two voices asked.

“Ehem… To a better place, shall we say. Regardless, only you two are here so only you can answer me. May I approach? I would like to help you. I have magic that can warm you both.” Alric requested.

“P-pl-please… It’s… It’s so c-c-cold…” The slightly older voice pleaded.

“Very well… Just so you’re aware, I may not be the same species as you so don’t panic upon seeing me.” Alric told them as he finished approaching the bundle. He positioned himself so that the children wouldn’t be able to see the corpses of what he assumed were their parents as he lifted the bundle of blankets and held out his pyromancy flame. He had it radiate warmth enough to drive back the frost and cold, but did not allow it to set the blankets alight.

Just as he suspected, underneath the pile of fabric were two young fillies. They were both clinging to each other, shivering in the relentless supernatural cold. They looked at him in a mix of fear and desperate hope. One was ever so slightly larger than the other. She had pure white fur and a light rainbow mane and tail. The other was slightly smaller and had dark blue fur. Her mane and tail were lighter blue than her fur. Both had horns on their heads, like the unicorns in the myths of Catarina.

He tried to give them a warm comforting smile.

“A-are y-y-you a c-centaur?” The younger of the two asked.

“Centaur? No, child. I am a human. A sorcerer, to be specific. One who studies the arcane.” He told them, forgoing mentioning his curse. He didn’t want to scare them. Regardless, so Centaurs existed in this land as well? A myth of Carim. He’d seen first hand beings very much like centaurs. Quelaan and Quelaag both had the upper bodies of goddesses and the lower bodies of monstrous spider demons. Then there were other beings he’d met with the torsos  of men and the lower bodies of scorpions. But he had never met a true centaur. A man with the lower body of a horse. Even in his journeys through time he had never once encountered one. They simply didn’t exist outside of fairy tales. Nor did unicorns for that matter. The fact they apparently existed here was telling.

Gwyn had sent him to a world of myths.

“H-h-how are y-you n-not c-cold?” The older of the two asked.

“The same way I am warming the two of you. Through pyromancy. Speaking of, I would like to cast a spell to warm you two more directly. It would merely speed along this process a bit. May I?” Alric requested.

The older of the two nodded shakily.

Two lines of flame emerged from his pyromancy flame and touched the two fillies. Very quickly relief spread across their faces and their shivering began to ease.

“There we are. Is that better?” He asked.

“Mhm! This is amazing!” The younger of the two nodded happily.

“It’s like when mommy puts us in a nice warm bath after we run around outside in the winter!” The older one stated.

Alric tilted his head up a bit and glanced at the two corpses for a moment before looking back at the foals, trying to decide how to handle this situation. “My name is Alric. As I said, I’m a human sorcerer from a land very far away. I sensed you two when I came across this village and I, of course, had to try and help you. What are your names?” He asked

“I’m Celestia. This is my sister Luna.” The older of the two informed him.

“Sissy’s six years old. I’m only four.” Luna stated.

“Ah… Well, I’ve been alive for a very long time and time doesn’t quite work the same where I’m from as some very mean people broke it for very selfish reasons. So I’m afraid I haven’t the faintest clue how old I am. I am, at the very least, tens of thousands of years old. Likely much older. I’m actually quite envious that you two know your ages!” He said, trying to be friendly.

The older of the two looked at him in confusion. “Broke time? How did they do that? And you don’t look all that old. Your mane isn’t white and you aren’t all wrinkly like old ponies.”

Alric sighed. “It's a long story… Regardless, I’m quite happy with my appearance. Imagine just how gray and shriveled I would be if I actually looked my age. Why, I’d put even the oldest driest raisins to shame!” He said with a smile.

The two giggled.

Then the older one looked at him in worry. “You said mommy and daddy are gone? Where are they? We didn’t hear them leave… Did they go get help?”

Alric winced. “Er… Not quite… I’ll explain in a bit… For now, can you tell me what happened here? What are those specters above the village? Why is it so cold?”

“Uh… Daddy said something about some earth ponies coming by with food, but there wasn’t as much as last year. So a lot of ponies started getting mad… Then we heard the windigos coming. Mommy and daddy said they were attracted by the hate between everypony else and those Earth Ponies. They said they should go away soon. But it’s been so long and they’re still outside…” Celestia explained.

“Ah… And I take it they’re the ones making it so cold?” He inquired.

“Mhm… Mommy and daddy say they bring cold and blizzards. They’re why everything is always so cold and snowy. The noises they make are really scary too…” Luna stated.

“I see… If I had known…” Alric muttered to himself. If he had known, he would have simply killed the beasts when he first saw them rather than letting them come here and destroy this village. But he couldn’t just say that to a couple of children who had just lost their parents. “Well… Do you have any family you can stay with in any other towns or villages? Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents?”

Celestia shook her head. “Mm-mm…”

Alric sighed. “Of course… Very well. Then, I suppose I have no choice but to let you stay with me. At least until we can find someone of your own kind to take care of you.”

“But… Where are mommy and daddy?” Luna asked, not understanding.

Celestia looked worried, and tears started welling in her eyes. Alric assumed she was starting to suspect the truth.

“We’ll discuss it once we’re somewhere safer… I’m going to get you both out of here. However, the uh… windigos, was it? They’re very scary and I don’t want the water in your eyes freezing once you’re out from under these blankets. So I’m going to need you to shut your eyes until I tell you it's safe. Can you two do that for me?”

“But…” Luna objected, only to be cut off by a hug from Celestia.

“It’s okay, Luna… He’s been really nice and made us warm, right? He’s a nice human… So let’s… Let’s just listen to him…” Celestia told her little sister.

“Okay…” The younger of the two muttered.

Both of them closed their eyes and Alric wrapped them in a smaller bundle of blankets he could easily carry and picked them up. As he stood up, he noticed Celestia open her eyes and look at her parents' corpses. She stiffened and stifled a gasp.

Alric leaned his head down and whispered into Celestia’s ear quietly enough that Luna couldn’t make out what he was saying, “Shh… Please just close your eyes, little one… You shouldn’t have to see this…”

Tears started running down Celestia’s face and she stifled a sob as she closed her eyes.

Alric gave her a gentle squeeze in an attempt to comfort her as he started walking out of the frozen house carrying the two orphaned fillies in his arms. The flame in his hand flickered in the wind of the blizzard as he used pyromancy to keep them and himself warm.

He trudged out into the ice and snow of the frozen tundra and kept walking away from the village. Leaving the bodies of the dead behind.

He saw a cloth covered cart outside the village and looked inside. Huddled together were the corpses of the “Earth Ponies” who had brought the food to this village. There were still a few crates and barrels inside. Possibly their supplies originally meant for their journey back to their own village, or possibly supplies meant for other villages.

Being undead, Alric had no need to eat or drink to survive. He did sometimes but unless whatever he was consuming was magical in some form, he got nothing from it. So he didn’t have anything in the way of food to feed these children. Save for some moss, green blossoms, and elizabeth mushrooms. And horses were herbivores so he couldn’t just go out and hunt for them unless it was an emergency and they’d starve to death otherwise.

“I’ve found something. It’s not anyone of your own kind, but we’ll be needing it for later. I’m going to set you down for a moment. The Windigos are still here, so keep your eyes closed. My pyromancy will last for a few minutes even without me holding you both so you’ll be alright. Just call out to me if you start getting cold again before I’m done.” He told them, setting them down at the side of the cart where they couldn’t see the corpses if they disobeyed him and they did open their eyes.

“O-okay… Uh… Is… Is it…?” Celestia asked nervously, still holding back her tears.

“Never you mind, Celestia. Just keep your eyes closed and stay here with your sister for a few moments while I work.” Alric told the filly.

“What did you find?” Luna asked curiously.

“It’s a few crates of supplies. I don’t have food to keep all of us fed so I’ll need to collect what I can. I’ll only be a moment.” Alric told the younger sister.

Luna gasped in shock and horror. “Are you gonna steal? But stealing’s bad! You’ll get in trouble!”

“No, no, it was abandoned. Trust me. If I thought it belonged to anyone, I’d just buy it. I have currency and plenty to trade. But none of this has an owner so there’s no one I can pay and no one to be stolen from. So taking it isn’t stealing.” Alric told the filly as he climbed into the cart and started shoving the crates and barrels into his bottomless box.

“Oh… Okay.”

It only took a few moments for Alric to clear out the cart. He considered tossing out the bodies and taking the cart too, but he didn’t want to have to pull the damn thing himself. He could also make shelter with the crystal sorceries he learned in the Duke’s Archives so he didn’t need it for that. So ultimately it just wasn’t worth it. Just carrying the children would be far less work than pulling the cart.

When he was done he came back to see Celestia and Luna leaning against each other, still bundled in their blankets. Both of them still had their eyes closed like he asked them.

He smiled. Despite the tragedy of their situation, he was glad they could find comfort in each other. An opportunity many never had.

“I’m done. I’ve collected all I can.” He told them, picking them back up.

“Alright… Uh… Alric…? Where are we going…?” Celestia asked, unable to fully keep the sadness from her voice.

“Away from here, for starters. Then I’ll make a shelter for us to stay in. After that, I’ll start searching for a place that can take you in.”

He walked for hours with the fillies in his arms. Eventually they both fell asleep. He wasn’t surprised. It was night in a world where time hadn’t broken and the cycle of day and night was still consistent. It was far past the time they should have been in bed.

He almost envied them. As an undead, he did not sleep. He could not. The realm of dreams was far beyond him. The closest he could get was the time between whenever he died and when he was resurrected at whatever bonfire he last rested at. Those fleeting few seconds of peace before he awoke again and had to throw himself back into the meat grinder to overcome whatever challenge he was facing.

He hadn’t even had that in the more recent centuries. Once he’d reached the strength of a Lord, nothing but other lords could challenge him. Even then Manus had been insane, Nito had sacrificed most of his power to death, and neither Seath nor the Four Kings had a full Lord Soul, just mere fragments bequeathed to them by Gwyn. Even Gwyn himself had been little more than a husk of the once great deity he used to be, the curse he cast turning him hollow just as surely as it did all of humanity.

The Bed of Chaos had been the only one with the strength to defeat him, and she had incinerated him hundreds of times. Thousands even, before he had figured out her weakness. He had been on the verge of going hollow before he managed to see a glimpse of the bug in her roots. Only then did he realize how to truly slay her. It had been hell… He never wanted to experience those fleeting moments of peace ever again. They weren’t worth the pain of death…

These children could enjoy their dreams all they wished. He would content himself with the waking world.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eventually the sun started to rise and Alric decided he had walked far enough. He’d been walking all night. They had to be miles from the dead village by now. This was as good a place as any to make a residence for himself while he was stuck in this world.

He would have liked to get permission from whatever king or lord owned the land before making his home so there wouldn’t be any disputes over land or some such nonsense but so be it. If there was a problem, he’d cross that bridge when he came to it

“Little ones, it is time to wake.” He said, shaking the fillies in his arms gently.

They both groaned and grumbled.

“Come now. I understand you didn’t get as much sleep as you should have during the night, but the sun has risen. It is time to awaken.” Alric told them.

Luna grumbled and stubbornly kept her eyes closed. It wasn’t long before she started snoring again.

Celestia yawned and groggily opened her eyes. She looked up at him in confusion then surprise then sadness. “O-oh… It… It wasn’t a bad dream…?” She asked, distraught.

Alric shook his head. “Sadly not… It was all quite real. And with your sister still struggling to awaken, let me just say, I am most impressed. You kept your composure well despite the tragic circumstance. You are quite strong for one so young.”

Celestia sniffled and tears started rolling down her face. Alric could tell she was barely managing to stop herself from crying and waking her sister up.

“Shh… It’ll be alright, child. The times may indeed be dark, however you still have your sister. And whilst you are within my care, I guarantee nothing shall happen to either of you. You shan’t lose anyone else, I swear it…” He tightened his arm around her a bit.

She nuzzled her face into his chest, still trying not to cry too loudly.

“I shall inform your sister in as gentle terms as possible what happened to your parents after you both have breakfast. So you needn’t hold back your tears much longer. However, I need to make a temporary shelter so that I might fix your breakfast for you. It shouldn’t be long.” Alric told her. He then knelt down and set her on the ground.

“Luna, wake up. I realize it's early, but I need to set you down.” Alric said a bit louder this time, shaking her a little more to make her wake up.

She whined and reluctantly opened her eyes. “Huh…? Where are we…?” She yawned.

“Quite a long ways away from your village. Since the sun has risen, I have decided to stop here and make a shelter so that I might fix breakfast for you and your sister.”

“Sleepy…” Luna muttered.

Alric smiled at her. “You’ll have a chance to nap after I have finished. I simply need you to stay awake for a few minutes so that I may work.”

“Okay…” She sighed groggily.

Alric set her down next to Celestia who was still managing to stay strong for her younger sister. He then stood up and drew his tin crystallization catalyst. He preferred the power and precision this catalyst offered him over normal catalysts, even if it drained him more to use it. At least when it came to general use and crystal sorceries. He had other catalysts that were better with other forms of sorcery.

Holding the catalyst in one hand he summoned his pyromancy flame with the other. With a massive stream of fire that made the fillies squeak in surprise and fear, he melted a large patch of snow revealing the ground underneath.

He looked back at them and dispelled his pyromancy flame. He gave them an apologetic smile. “My sincerest apologies, little ones. I did not intend to startle you. I should have warned you I was going to cast such a spell. I simply needed to clear out a space to lay a proper foundation and that was the quickest and simplest way to do so. Just so you are not caught off guard again, next I am going to create a thick floor of crystal as well as walls and a roof. Nothing to be afraid of, I assure you.”

He then looked at the clear patch of ground and raised his catalyst. Using the same magic as Seath used to create the crystal caverns behind the archives, Alric covered the ground in a solid slab of opaque blue crystal creating the foundation. He then stepped up onto the foundation and started constructing what he decided was going to be a guest house rather than his permanent residence. The girls watched from outside with their blankets still wrapped around them to keep them warm as he worked.

He started with the outside walls, making them a foot thick so they could be good insulation in their own right without needing anything else done to them. Though he did have ideas for enchantments to make the building immune to the cold of the Windigos. He didn’t want his charges dying simply because a visitor got angry for whatever reason and attracted those spectral death beasts.

Those abominations would have been hunted to utter extinction back in his world. Either by the Gods during or after the war with the dragons, or by kings who grew tired of their villages and cities being frozen. All because the tax man came to collect and there just so happened to be a bad harvest that year so the peasants got angry and their anger and hatred attracted the beasts. The Windigos were simply antithetical to how men and gods functioned and they would have died for it. A few might have been kept as pets by eccentric gods or kings, or as exhibits and test subjects within the halls of the College of Vinheim. However, those would be the very last of their kind. Not nearly enough to repopulate, let alone cause serious destruction on any scale.

Regardless, that was all hypothetical and of no real consequence as they didn’t exist in his world. The thick outer walls would help retain heat in these arctic temperatures as long as the Windigos didn’t come. He would make extra preparations later for that potential threat, but it wasn’t something he needed to worry about right this second.

In some of the walls he made thick panes of invisible crystal, much like the invisible pillars of crystal he had to walk across in the caverns. This provided an excellent view of the outside, and since the panes were almost as thick as the opaque parts of the walls, heat would not escape through them.

He moved on to making the inner walls, creating rooms and doors. The doors were thick and heavy being made of crystal but they were the best he could do on short notice without taking time to make them from wood.

He made a large sitting room with a fireplace, then a kitchen, a pantry, a storage room, and a study on the opposite side of the fireplace so that it would be heated by the thick crystal being warmed by the fire on the other side. Then he made stairs and worked on the upper floors. He made a couple bedrooms around the chimney so they too would be heated. The bedrooms were large enough to have multiple beds and hold several people at once since this was supposed to be a guest house. He also made a second smaller chimney for the crystal oven in the kitchen but he didn’t bother doing anything special with it since it wouldn’t be quite as useful for heating. Finally he made the roof.

Shards of Crystal were sheared off as the slabs of the walls and roof rubbed against each other leaving broken pieces and crystal dust all over the place. He was going to have to clean that up so the fillies wouldn’t cut themselves on sharp bits of crystal but he could do that later.

He went back downstairs and found the girls already inside and looking around a mix of awe and curiosity in their eyes.

He walked over to the fireplace and started putting wooden clubs he had taken from corpses inside, which he subsequently lit on fire with a simple pyromancy. The clubs were the best firewood he had and he did have hundreds of them due to the bad habit of hoarding he developed early in his unlife due to paranoia he had developed after losing his weapons in battle on several occasions. He’d long since gotten over that particular issue but hadn’t bothered to clear out most of the useless junk from his bottomless box.

“I take it you have not witnessed crystal sorceries like this before?” He asked them as he started the fire, already knowing the answer. Of course they hadn’t. Sorcery wasn’t something most common folk ever saw. Crystal sorcery even less so.

Sorcery was something only the rich and highly educated learned, or those fortunate enough to be born into a family within the Dragon School of Vinheim as he had been. And crystal sorcery in particular was something Seath the Scaleless had invented. And Alric had stolen everything Seath had ever written after Big Hat Logan went mad after fulfilling his purpose and Alric had finally slain the great albino dragon. So the only ones who knew Seath’s crystal sorcery were himself and the handful of people he had taught.

Celestia shook her head. “Uh-uh. Daddy was really good at magic but even he couldn’t make a house out of nothing.”

“I wanna make pretty crystals! Can you teach me, please?” Luna requested excitedly.

“Perhaps, little one. Crystal sorcery is quite advanced but I may consider it, should you have the talent and patience for it… Your father was able to use magic? He was a sorcerer?” Alric asked, surprised. A sorcerer living as a commoner? That was practically unheard of. The skills of a sorcerer were incredibly valuable so they would almost always end up in the military or in the courts of kings and nobility.

Celestia shook her head. “Daddy wasn’t a wizard like you. He was really strong though! He had the strongest magic in our village! He even got an invitation from the city to join the group that control the sun and moon! We were supposed to go there next month…”

“So knowledge of magic was common in your village?” He asked.

“All unicorns can do magic. Mommy and daddy even taught us some! Watch!” Luna said. She closed her eyes and her horn started glowing with dark blue energy. A similar energy enveloped a particularly large chunk of crystal that was on the ground and suddenly it started levitating up. Luna had a look of intense concentration on her face as if lifting that chunk of crystal was incredibly difficult. She then opened her eyes, the aura around her horn vanished, and the crystal clattered to the ground. She panted tiredly for a moment then smiled at him proudly as if what she’d just done was impressive.

Alric smiled at her and nodded. “Ah, I see. Very impressive, little one. Very impressive indeed for one so young… So those horns on your head serve an actual purpose. They act sort of like a sorcerer’s catalyst. How fascinating. To be born with a part that allows you to cast magic naturally… I shall admit, I’m almost envious. However, I do have one more question. What did you mean when you said your father was invited to join the group that raises the sun? Is there not a god or gods who control the cycle of day and night?” Alric asked, curious. In his world Gwyn raised the sun. And after Gwyndolin was born, he controlled the moon. Gwynevere was supposed to take over managing the sun after Gwyn left to link the fire, but time was shattered and the cycle of day and night was forever destroyed.

Celestia shook her head. “Nuh-uh… A bunch of unicorns in the city work together to raise and lower the sun and moon every day, just like pegasi control the weather, and Earth Ponies grow food. The unicorns who control the sun and moon work for King Bullion and Princess Platinum, and only the strongest unicorns get invited! Daddy was so happy when he got the letter…”

He raised a hand to his chin. “Hm… So, this place has no equivalent deity to Gwyn or Gwyndolin. Fascinating… Regardless, it's time I start fixing your breakfast. Be careful with the shards of crystal on the ground, they’re quite sharp. I shall have to clean them up but I shall get around to that in a bit.”

With that he turned and headed to the pantry where he started unloading the crates and barrels from his bottomless box.

“Wow… How does all of that fit in that tiny box?” Luna asked, amazed.

Alric glanced behind him and saw the fillies had followed him to the pantry. “This is my bottomless box. It is capable of storing nigh limitless quantities of just about anything. Even things quite a bit larger than the box itself can fit inside, within certain limits. Such boxes are said to be the ultimate symbols of avarice by certain individuals. However, I find it quite convenient for carrying all of my possessions with me.” He explained as he searched through the supplies.

One of the crates was full of hay, another had potatoes, and others had other vegetables. A couple even had fruits. The last few had salt, flour, barley, and malt.

“I am unfamiliar with any dishes involving hay. Humans can’t digest it as your kind can. So I’m afraid I must make something else. And do forgive me if I am not the best cook. I know the fundamentals but I haven’t needed to cook in a very very long time.” He told them as he started gathering some ingredients to make a simple dish.

He set up in the kitchen. Having no cooking utensils as he had no need of them before now he had to make everything from the pot to the bowls and utensils with his crystal sorcery. Except the knife. He had plenty of knives and daggers. It was better than nothing.

He had to clean the oven of crystal shards and dust but that was done quickly. Not wanting to clean the ashes that would be left over if he used more wooden clubs he then summoned his pyromancy flame and made a simple fire in the burner for the stove top. Using some snow from outside for water, he decided to make a potato stew. It was simple enough and it would fill them up so it would work.

As he cooked, he noticed Celestia had laid out the blankets she and Luna had been bundled in and Luna laid down on them for a nap. While her little sister slept, Celestia started picking up the shards of crystal littering the ground with her magic and carrying them outside. She could only hold so many at once so she had to make multiple trips per-spot, but she was trying.

Already doing chores without even needing to be asked? That was far more than he had expected from a six year old child. She was surprisingly diligent. Her parents must have raised her well. Or… Perhaps she had too much responsibility thrust upon her from a young age? Either would make sense. He would have to tread carefully in case it was the latter rather than the former.

“Celestia, you needn’t carry the rubble all the way out. Simply gather it into a pile. As I lack cleaning implements to offer you, that should be a tad less effort on your part. I shall take care of the rest later.” Alric told her.

“Alright.” She called back.

If only he had a broom or a feather duster, he could just give her that and let her sweep instead. But he didn’t. He hadn’t had a proper home in tens of thousands of years if not longer, so why would he? Since he was going to have to research a way to return to his reality, he was going to be staying in one place for some time. So he would have to acquire cleaning implements or make them himself. He did have feathers he had collected to make fletchings for arrows, so he could use those to make a duster. One thing at a time, however.

As he continued to cook he thought to himself. He would also have to study their horns and learn how they functioned. If he could replicate that effect in himself, perhaps turning his arms or hands into catalysts. That would be incredibly convenient. He could just cast sorceries with a flick of his wrist as he could with pyromancies. All he would need then would be to find a way to accomplish the same with talismans and he would have access to all three magics at a whim. Four, technically, if one counted abyssal magics as their own separate category.

Of course he could just consume the Lord Souls to cast miracles without a talisman just as the Gods could. Even just one of the souls would work. But no. He needed to keep them separate from himself. If he ended up going hollow, he didn’t want to have assimilated one or more of the Lord Souls before his fall. Because if he did, he would become nigh unstoppable. He was already as powerful as a Lord. So if he had even one of the Lord Souls and went hollow it would be a disaster of apocalyptic proportions. The power of two or more lords in a singular being. He would be the most powerful creature to have ever existed and he would be an utter nightmare of a hollow. It was not something he was willing to risk. That was the exact reason why he hadn’t done so up until this point. He had merely borrowed their power while keeping them separate from himself.

When he was finished cooking the stew he made a slab of crystal supported by four smaller pillars of crystal for something like a table the girls could sit at so they wouldn’t have to eat off the floor. He couldn’t make it too large as he didn’t know how chairs would work for them so all three of them would have to settle for sitting on the ground for now.

The three of them sat down and had breakfast. Though he didn’t need to eat, Alric joined them to make them more comfortable as it would seem quite odd if he was the only one not eating. It was quite interesting watching the two fillies use telekinesis to use their spoons. Telekinesis was a fairly simple spell but most sorcerers favored their hands, not wanting to waste the mental resources on maintaining the spell. But for a species without hands it made sense that they would rely quite heavily on it. And as a result it seemed their kind had refined the magic to be significantly more efficient than the telekinetic spells he knew. It was almost as efficient for them as using hands was for a human.

“I’ve never heard of humans before. Where are you from?” Luna asked.

“You wish to hear of my homeland?” Alric inquired, as he took a bite of the potato stew. It was a little over cooked but it wasn’t bad for his first time attempting to cook in centuries.

“Mhm… It used to be warmer here before the Windigos showed up. What’s it like where you’re from?” 

“Hm… Well, to be honest I’ve been away from my homeland for so long I can’t remember much about it. As I told you both last night I am old. Very old. Far, far older than I look. It has been so very long that I can’t even remember the names or faces of my parents or my siblings… I spent most of my life traveling, searching for a cure for a curse cast upon my people. I can tell you all about so many different places. Lordran, Anor Londo, New Londo, the Ringed City, Thorolund, Astora, Carim, Lost Izalith, even ancient Oolacile. But my home… Vinheim…” He sighed and shook his head, the memories of his time in Vinheim far beyond his grasp. 

Realizing he was about to go off and drag them down speaking of his own issues when they were already suffering from their own, he stopped himself. Instead he gave them a big smile. “So how about I tell you some stories of my travels instead? Perhaps the story of how I met my blood-sisters?”

“Blood sisters? What’s that?” Luna asked, curiously.

“Didn’t you just say you didn’t remember your family?” Celestia inquired, confused.

“Well, their parents are not mine. I was not raised with them. I saved Quelaan from a terrible affliction and reunited her with her real sister Quelana. We each cut our palms and held each other's hands to mix our blood. Ceremonially declaring ourselves siblings through right of blood oath.” Alric explained, mimicking the cutting of his hand with his finger and then clasping his hands together to try and show them what he meant.

They both seemed somewhat scared and disgusted by that. He smiled at them. “Hahaha! It’s not that bad, little ones. We had healing magics at our disposal and it was a symbol of our bond. You could say we were such close friends Quelana and Quelaan both agreed to accept me as their brother! But that explains very little. So please allow me to start from the beginning… Ah, but you need context for who Quelana and Quelaan are… So allow me to start with this.”

He cleared his throat. “In the Age of Ancients, the world was unformed. Shrouded by fog… A land of Gray Crags, Arch Trees, and Everlasting Dragons… But then there was fire and with fire came disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, and of course light and dark… Then from the dark they came and found the souls of Lords within the flame. Nito, the First of the Dead and God of Death. The Witch of Izalith and her daughters of Chaos, the Goddess of Life. Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight and his faithful Knights, the God of Light. And the Furtive Pygmy, Manus the God of the Dark, so easily forgotten.”

The girls were listening intently. He had their attention.

Smiling he continued, “With the strength of Lords they challenged the dragons. Gwyn’s mighty bolts of lightning peeled apart their stone scales. The Witches weaved great fire storms. Nito unleashed a miasma of death and disease. And Seath the Scaleless betrayed his own. And the dragons were no more.”

“But… Mommy and Daddy told us the dragons live somewhere in the east in a volcano?” Luna asked, confused.

“I believe I may be from a different world. I was sent to this world through arcane means, but that is another story. In my world, the dragons have been all but eradicated. Save a few that were strong, clever, or lucky enough to survive the war. Regardless, they aren’t quite relevant. My blood sisters are part of this story. They are two of the daughters of the Witch of Izalith. Quelana and Quelaan. Ancient goddesses who waged war against the evil everlasting dragons alongside their mother and other sisters.” He told them.

“Your sisters are goddesses?” Celestia asked curiously.

“Indeed. Daughters of the Witch of Izalith. Their flame sorceries are truly astonishing. Far different than any traditional sorcery as derived from the arcane works of Seath. Ah, but I digress. I was telling you the story of how I met them. Well, it all started when I was exploring a building in a land called Lordran, where I met a man by the name Laurentius. A bunch of cannibals had captured him and stuck him in a barrel! I slew the cannibals and freed him, of course. We became fast friends. He taught me the art of pyromancy.”

Alric proceeded to explain how he eventually surpassed Laurentius, met Quelana, and became her apprentice. He of course left out how the Pyromancer went hollow. Then he explained the fall of Izalith and how the inhabitants were all turned into demons except for Quelana while Quelaag and Quelaan escaped only half corrupted. He skipped over how he slew Quelaag, simply saying she met an unfortunate end. He then explained how he met Quelaan and how she sacrificed her own wellbeing to help others who were suffering, so boundless was her kindness and generosity. Finally he explained how he joined her covenant and did everything within his power to ease her pain and prolong her life before he eventually cured her

“It was then, after her sickness ailed her no more that she finally recognized that I was not her sister Quelaag. She was distraught when I informed her of the ill fate that befell Quelaag… But I managed to calm her by informing her that one of her sisters persisted, uncorrupted by the fires of chaos and with her sanity intact. It took quite a bit of persuasion on my part as Quelana was most reluctant but I managed to convince her to speak with Quelaan. And thus the two sisters separated by tragedy were once again reunited and their bond rekindled.” Alric finished his tale.

“Yay!” Luna cheered happily.

Even Celestia was smiling.

Alric was glad. That was, of course, his goal. To cheer them up. “Though I acted altruistically without any intent or desire for a reward, I did indeed receive one. Perhaps the best I could have been given. A family. Though none of us held any romantic interest in each other and thus marriage was not even to be considered, we made a blood oath and solidified our bond as siblings. They accepted me as their brother as if I too had been born of the Witch of Izalith.”

His smile grew and he leaned in a bit. “So, little ones, heed this well. Even in times where all seems lost, never give up hope. For just as with Quelaan’s sickness, there is always a solution. Quelaan inspired me with her kindness and generosity, and thus I strove to emulate her and cure her illness by any means necessary with no thought of a reward anywhere within my mind. I merely knew I could not allow such a virtuous being to suffer so. And so too should you strive to be like her. For with those two key virtues, kindness and generosity, you shall always be able to find friends and those who shall love and cherish you forevermore. Just as Eingyi and Kirk the Knight of Thorns love and cherish Quelaan.”

“Um… Could you tell us another story? I really want to hear more about Quelaan.” Celestia requested shyly.

“Of course! I’d be more than happy to! But you two have hardly touched your stew since I started telling my story. It’s gotten cold. Worry not, I can warm it for you quite easily, but I wouldn’t want it getting cold again. So let’s make a deal, shall we? I shall tell you more tales of Quelaan and you shall finish your breakfast. What say you?” Alric offered,

Both Celestia and Luna nodded enthusiastically.

“Delightful! Oh, but what story to tell… Perhaps something a bit more humorous? Ah! I know. How about I tell you the story of the time I accidentally walked in on Quelaan and Kirk having a romantic moment and ended up being chased halfway across the swamp? Oh she was quite cross with me. Ended up hanging me in a web for what must have been three days! Hahaha!”

They continued to talk until after the fillies had finished their breakfast. Then Alric prepared himself, knowing it was time. He waited until after he finished the next story he was telling them

“So… Little ones, now that you have warmth, shelter, and food in your bellies I believe it’s time. Celestia, you saw the truth last night as you looked when I had asked you to shut your eyes.”

Celestia slumped a bit and her eyes started welling with tears. Luna noticed this and looked at her older sister in confusion. “Sissy? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Alric paused for a moment and took a deep breath before continuing. “Luna, you were a very good child and kept your eyes closed so you did not have to see it. So I will tell you now, my reason for asking you to close your eyes was a deception, and I sincerely apologize for my lie. However, know that my reason for lying was ultimately to protect you. Now that you are safe, I will be honest with you. Last night when I came to your village, everyone else in your village had already frozen to death. You two were the only survivors. I told you to keep your eyes closed so that you would not have to see the frozen corpses.”

Luna’s eyes started to widen. She looked at Alric then at Celestia who had started crying. “Wh-what…? B-but… Mommy… Daddy… Where are mommy and daddy…?”

“They were by your side when I found you. Both were already dead. There was nothing I could do. I was able to save you two only because the blankets piled upon you had kept you alive long enough for me to arrive. It is practically a miracle you two survived.” He explained.

Luna shook her head, tears streaming from her eyes. “N-no! You… You’re lying! You big meanie! You said mommy and daddy left! Where are they?!” The filly demanded.

“No. I only told you that they were gone, child. That they were in a better place. Celestia asked me if they went to get help, and I said no. I lied about why I wanted you to close your eyes as I didn’t want you to have to see the corpses, but I never lied about them being alive.”

“No! Give them back! Give Mommy and Daddy back!” Luna shouted, throwing her now empty bowl at him.

He let it hit him. He barely felt it.

He reached across the table and grabbed the crying filly. She thrashed in his grip and screamed and cried.

Then he pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her in an embrace. “I’m sorry, little one. But they are gone. I’m so sorry…”

Luna continued to thrash and yell in his grip, not wanting to believe him.

Holding Luna in a hug with one arm, Alric looked over at Celestia and held open his other arm for her offering her a hug as well.

Celestia, knowing the truth, walked around the table of her own volition and accepted the embrace, crying into Alric’s robe.

The chosen undead held the two distressed fillies for a long while. Whispering to them and trying to comfort them. Eventually Luna’s anger and denial started to calm down and she just started crying.

He continued to hold them until Luna had cried herself to sleep and Celestia eventually started to calm down and regain her composure.

At that point Alric laid Luna’s sleeping form down on the blankets she had been napping on and started cleaning while Celestia laid down cuddled up with her little sister.
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While the fillies napped, Alric cleaned the house and made a pair of bed frames for them. He didn’t have straw and he didn’t want to waste the hay in their supplies since that was food they could eat, if necessary. So he had to pile up layers of fabric and old clothes he had to make comfortable spots for them to lay at night. He liked to carry fabrics as that was something he could actually trade with the living before he had to move on. The same reason he carried common weapons and armor he had stripped from corpses since a good sword or suit of armor could be worth something to a mortal even if they were so weak as to be useless to him. It was a useful habit now as he couldn’t force them to continue sleeping on the floor as they were now.

He had thousands of feathers taken from birds he had hunted to make fletchings for arrows. Such was the nature of gathering resources over thousands of years, sometimes from the same bird repeatedly, without even really thinking about it as he went along his daily business. But making a feather bed would take time and effort. He hoped they wouldn’t stay long enough for him to need to make feather beds for them. They belonged with their own kind. And he knew they would probably detest staying around a monster like him if they knew what he really was. And why wouldn’t they? He was a cursed soul consuming walking corpse who may one day go mad after all.

The Undead were persecuted by the living and for good reason.

When the beds were done, Alric went outside and made an outhouse. The living required such things. Hopefully it would suffice in lieu of a proper sewage system.

When that was done, he started working on what would be his permanent home whilst he researched a way to return to his own world. He started building a castle out of crystal.

It would be a two or three day project since he was going to have to stop and take care of the fillies every so often until he was finished. However, he was going to need a proper lab to conduct his experiments and a grand library on par with, if not far surpassing, the Duke’s Archives. Perhaps a greenhouse to grow various medicinal mosses, Green Blossoms and Elizabeth Mushrooms so he would have products to trade with the ponies once he got in contact with them, so that he might purchase parchment and empty books from them for all the notes he would have to take.  His little guest house was not going to suffice for that.

Perhaps he should also build a chapel where he could keep the Lord Souls separate from himself whenever he didn’t need them. Keeping the souls in his bottomless box where he had easy access to them was a risk he had no choice but to take in his world. In this world, why would he do such a thing? He needed to keep them safe, no doubt. Both from others and from himself in the event he started to go hollow. The biggest issue would be security to keep the souls safe but he had ideas for that. Nito’s miasma of death and disease could lay low even the other Lords at the height of his power and with Nito’s death soul restored to its former strength, Alric could use it to set up the Miasma as a trap for those foolish enough to try.

As he was working on the entrance hall he sensed the souls of Celestia and Luna moving once more. They had woken up from their nap. He kept track of them but continued working. He wanted to give them some time to themselves to grieve. And for Celestia to convince Luna of the truth assuming the filly believed he was still at fault for their deaths or “disappearance”.

He just started working on the library connected to the main entrance hall when he sensed their souls getting closer. 

Putting his catalyst away, he turned and headed back to meet them in the entrance.

He saw them looking up at the two massive open doors in awe. They must have never seen a building so large before. The doors by themselves were taller than an average two story building after all. That also meant they would be almost impossible for anyone else to open due to their incredible weight as they were made of crystal, but he could make a simple golem for that.

“Hello, little ones… How are you two feeling?” He asked in a gentle tone.

“Sad… We miss mommy and daddy…” Celestia said glumly. Both of them looked as though they had just been crying.

Alric nodded. “I know it must be hard, especially for ones so young. You have my deepest sympathies. If there is anything I can do to ease thy burden, simply inform me and I shall endeavor to do all I can to support you.”

“I’m sorry…” Luna sniffled.

“Whatever for?” Alric asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I yelled at you… I threw things at you and hit you… I was bad… I’m sorry…” Luna explained, looking at the ground.

Alric walked over to her, knelt down, and lifted her into a hug. “You had just learned of your parents’ fate and were understandably distraught. I would advise against lashing out like that in the future as violence is the wrong way to cope with grief, but I understand your pain and of course I forgive you.”

He set the filly back down and stood back up. “Is there anything either of you need? I’ve made an outhouse if you need to relieve yourselves, and I do have a tea set if you’re thirsty. I like to make tea out of a plant called a Green Blossom. It’s quite good and Green Blossom has arcane properties that will restore stamina. I oft consume it raw which is… unpleasant… but the tea is quite good in my opinion. Or perhaps you require something to entertain yourselves? I have a wonderful chess set that has been tragically underused in recent centuries. Perhaps I could teach you how to play. I would offer books to read, if your parents taught you to read, except I doubt I have any tomes written in languages you might be familiar with.”

“Um… Tea might be nice… But, what is this? This place is huge! What about the house you already built?” Celestia asked.

“This shall be my permanent residence. I require a significant amount of space for my research. A sizable library to store my books, a lab for research and experimentation, a study for reading through my books and penning hypotheses and theories, a garden to grow medicinal plants I might sell, among other amenities for you two and any other guests I might have in the future. So I am constructing a castle to meet all of my needs. It should be complete in two, maybe four days. The smaller house I made was a temporary measure so we would have shelter whilst I construct the castle and later it shall serve as a guest house for travelers and the like.” Alric explained.”

“That seems like a lot to clean…” Celestia muttered.

Alric waved his hand dismissively. “You needn’t concern yourself with that. I shall simply make some simple golems to clean and maintain the castle. You two are my wards, not my maids and I shan’t put you to work as such. I am not so cruel as to force children to clean a castle of the size I shall build.”

If Seath could make Crystal golems to kidnap maidens for his unethical experimentation and to fight intruders or those who would save the maidens they kidnapped, Alric could make golems to do something so simple as cleaning. Searching out candidates with the qualities Seath sought and being capable of fighting required a great deal more complexity than simply cleaning, dusting, and patching chips or cracks.

“What’s a golem?” Luna asked.

“A magical construct of sorts. I shall show you once I have made one. For now, let’s return and I shall set the tea to boil over the fire.” He led the fillies back to the house and started making some green blossom tea.

In the coming days, Alric would teach the fillies how to play chess, would tell them stories of his past that he thought had a pleasant ending, were humorous, or had a good lesson they could learn from. Celestia seemed to really enjoy stories of Quelaan and Big Hat Logan, and seemed to have an affinity for Gwyn, Gwynevere, and Gwyn’s first born. At least with the more positive tales he told of the deities, leaving out their various misdeeds. Luna on the other hand linked his more humorous stories and enjoyed the legends of Artorias and the Four Knights of Gwyn. As opposed to her sister, Luna seemed to have an affinity with Gwyndolin.

Alric actually began to wonder if their names had something to do with it. Celestia held an affinity for the deities with a connection to the sun whilst Luna had affinities with the god of the moon. He eventually dismissed it as pure coincidence but it was an interesting coincidence at the very least.

Eventually his castle was completed and Alric had made the golems to open and close the doors and clean the castle.

The front doors had heavy knockers and a pulley system to ring a bell that was enchanted to be heard throughout the entire castle. The entrance halls had enchanted braziers for both lighting and warmth. The flames would easily burn for hundreds of years before they needed to be reignited and as with most magical flames they produced no smoke.

His library was practically a castle in its own right, easily double the size of the Duke’s Archives and thus capable of storing countless books. His study was connected to the second floor of the library and was actually about the size of a typical study. His lab was larger than most houses and had five floors each connected by two spiral staircases.

What would become his garden was a massive domed building supported by thick arches. The roof of the dome was semi-opaque. The plants Alric wanted to grow preferred darker places but the dome would let in just a bit of natural sunlight in case he decided to grow more than just his mosses, green blossoms, and elizabeth mushrooms which he very well might. The whole building was about five hundred feet in diameter and had crystals enchanted to maintain a specific temperature so it couldn’t get cold enough to kill the plants. He could even make a small artificial lake within the garden to maintain the humidity and keep the plants watered if he so chose.

His chapel was in the very back of his castle and was larger than his garden, supported by thick pillars of crystal and lit by braziers like the one in the entrance hall. Along the walls were four massive statues the size of the Iron Golem of Sen’s Fortress. They were designed to resemble the four Lords. There were dozens of smaller crystal statues that resembled knights. Each of the statues would eventually be golems, but it would take time to enchant them all.

When they were finally animated, the four larger statues would each have a tiny fraction of the power of the souls that originally belonged to the Lords they represented, and thus they would each individually be as powerful as Seath or the Four Kings and could thus challenge gods and win. Whereas the smaller golems would be strong enough to match Gwyn’s Black Knights. Alric was taking the security of the Lord souls very seriously.

At the back of the chapel were four pedestals for the Lord Souls. He was debating if they needed much more protection than this considering this was a different world and presumably no one else would even know they existed let alone how powerful they were.

He would put some cursory enchantments around the pedestals to make him aware of anyone getting too close to them, casting spells on them, or even merely using magic to observe them remotely. If he noticed any interest in them from anything in this world, he would put in place defenses that would make Lord Gwyn himself pale at the thought of trying to break in to Alric’s Chapel. Entire armies wouldn’t be able to siege it and gods as powerful as Gwyn’s First Born or Velka would wither and die long before they could get anywhere near the souls.

But that was only if it proved necessary.

Alric also made a kitchen, a pantry, guest rooms, a sitting room, a ball room, and an infirmary just in case he ever had visitors and the guest house proved insufficient.

It was the day after Alric had finished his castle and he was trudging through the icy wasteland again. Celestia and Luna were back at his castle, safe and warm, likely playing chess as they had both taken to the game after they had both learned how the pieces moved. He, on the other hand, was looking for this ‘city’ the girls kept mentioning. As much as he enjoyed the company, he wanted to get them back amongst their own people as soon as possible.

Having changed out of his gold hemmed black robes, Alric was currently wearing the uniform of the Pardoners of Velka, minus the helmet. It was the most regular attire he owned and it was considerably more comfortable to wear than armor. On his hand were several rings. The Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, Lingering Dragon Crest Ring, the Ring of The Sun’s First Born, and his Old Witch’s ring. They were the rings he always wore for everyday use. And he had learned the Old Witch’s ring was the only reason he could understand Celestia and Luna in the first place. He was going to make an effort to learn their language eventually, just as he had learned the language of Izalith, but for now he needed the ring to translate for him. Especially once he found this ‘city’.

He tried asking Celestia for directions but she only knew general cardinal directions from her village, not an exact distance or location. So she wasn’t very helpful in that regard. Still he went in the cardinal direction she said the city was in.

To speed things along and cover more ground, Alric would cast a spell to teleport ahead several miles. And to make sure he wasn’t passing anything by he would teleport ten miles to the left and right of his primary path.

It didn’t take him terribly long to spot a village.

He teleported relatively close to the village, put his catalyst back in his bottomless box, and made the rest of the way on foot.

The village had a bunch of what appeared to be fruit trees around it but the leaves were sparse and they only had a few struggling buds. There were also a couple of fields with a few struggling crops. The fact the trees had any leaves or flowers and that the crops were growing at all shocked him, considering how cold it was. It had to have been the work of some kind of magic. Something like pyromancy perhaps, considering Pyromancy worked through a connection with nature. He had no idea how that would work as he’d never heard of nor seen such a spell, but he may have been able to do something vaguely similar as a miracle with the Life Soul. He wasn’t fully certain as he’d never done something like that before but maybe?

He reached the edge of the village and saw it was full of ponies going about their daily business, bundled in layers of clothes to resist the cold. Some seemed to tough it out and walk around with nothing but their own fur.

They were all Earth Ponies, he realized. None of them had horns like Celestia or Luna and none of them had wings like the pegasi who the fillies claimed controlled the weather.

The ponies noticed him and bolted, running back into their houses. Slamming their doors and shutting their curtains. 

The village cleared as he passed through it until everyone was hiding inside.

He sighed. It was just like passing through a village with his hollowed form exposed. He was a pariah here just as much as he was back in his own world. Oh well. It wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to. At least these ponies were less likely to chase him with torches, pitchforks, scythes, and whatever else, or call the Undead Hunters of the Church to try and capture him and drag him back to the Undead Asylum.

He knocked on a door. “Excuse me, I do not mean to intrude, I simply need directions elsewhere. If you could be so kind as to help me, I shall be off immediately.”

He heard muttering inside. “Buck off! We ain’t got no directions for no freak like you!” A voice called back.

Alric pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and took a deep breath. “Very well, I shall try another house… Perhaps someone in this village shall be a bit more reasonable.” He muttered under his breath.

And so he did. He tried another house, then another, and another. Eventually he realized no one here was going to help him.

He decided to try his luck amongst the orchard and fields. Perhaps he could find someone who was working and ask them directions. Otherwise, he had an experiment he could try.

He saw a deep red almost purple-ish earth pony with what appeared to be a tattoo of an apple on its haunches. It was bucking an apple tree. Only a meager few apples fell out of the tree and into baskets set up to catch them.

“Excuse me. Might I have but a moment of your time?” Alric asked, approaching the pony.

It looked at him and upon seeing him it immediately glowered at him. “I ain’t got nuthin’ to say to a varmint like you! Ya better get on outta here before I make ya!” It sounded male. Looking at it Alric could make out signs of sexual dimorphism based on what he had seen of the ponies so far. This one was a male, so the males were slightly taller and bulkier than the females and their facial structures were slightly different too.

“I would love nothing more than to leave. I simply need directions. Please, would you be so kind as to tell me which direction I might go to reach a city? I know not its name but I believe it’s the capital.” Alric requested.

The pony’s glare intensified. “No! Just told ya I ain’t got nuthin’ to say ta ya. Now get, ya varmint! This is the last time I’m gonna tell ya!”

Alric sighed and turned. “Very well… However, before I go…” With his bottomless box on the opposite side of his body from the pony, he reached in and grabbed the Life Soul. With the golems not currently enchanted he didn’t want to risk leaving the souls completely unguarded. So they were all still in his bottomless box.

With the Life Soul he began channeling its power and cast a spell. The soul glowed brighter and what looked like tendrils of fire began to spread out from it in all directions like roots.

The pony looked at him in confusion as it noticed the soul in his hand and the tendrils of fire. “What in blue blazes are ya doin’ dagnabbit?!” He exclaimed in shock and some amount of fear.

“Helping.” Alric said simply.

The light got brighter to the point the pony had to protect his eyes with its forelimb and more tendrils emerged from the soul spreading significantly faster.

Around them the orchard practically sprang to life. Leaves grew in an instant, flowers bloomed and became fruit, the fruit expanded and grew. The ice and snow on the ground melted giving way to soil which sprouted grass. The effect wasn’t limited to the orchard either. It spread to the fields where crops started to grow in seconds and grow to significant size at that. When the light finally began to fade along with the tendrils of flame, it looked very much as though the orchard and crops had been blessed by a god.

“That’s it! I don’t know what the buck ya just did with yer fancy magic but I’ma kick... your… f-flank?” The pony started to say furiously but trailed off as he saw the state of the orchard.

While the pony was distracted Alric quickly stowed the life soul back in his box. He would prefer if the pony thought he had done this with pyromancy rather than letting him realize the existence of the life soul. “As I said, I was helping. I cannot imagine your crops were doing well in this cold so I thought I might assist as best I could. Please enjoy the bounty of this harvest. Take it as my apology for the disturbance I caused. I never meant to upset anyone with my presence. Now I shall take my leave and darken this land with my presence no longer.” Alric bowed politely and started to walk off.

“Now hold on there partner!” The pony ran over to him and blocked his path. He gave Alric an apologetic look. “Look, uh… I’m sorry about how I treated ya. It’s just…”

Alric smiled at the pony. “I’m a foreign creature who you are not familiar with and don’t know if you can trust. I completely understand and I do not hold it against you. Especially in times such as these with the windigos about. As I said, this is my own apology. I intended no discomfort yet I have caused much and the discomfort I caused risked bringing those horrid beasts upon this village. I was careless and it shames me.”

“Nah, it ain’t no big thing… I treated ya unfairly and I’m guessin’ the folks in the village did too… Tell ya what! We got a big harvest ahead of us thanks to you and a long day’s work ahead of us. I’m gonna go round up some ponies to help harvest all this and we’ll have a big celebration to make it up to ya!” The pony told him with a big smile on his face.

“Oh no that really isn’t necessary. All I need are direct—”

Alric was cut off by the pony who started pushing him back towards the village. “Nope! We gotta do somethin’ to thank ya for all this. We’ll give ya whatever directions ya need later but before that we’re gonna show ya some good ol’ earth pony hospitality!”

Alric was somewhat caught off guard by this. He thought there was a small chance they might be willing to give him directions if he helped them like this but he had truly been planning on leaving after using the life soul to make their crops grow. He hadn’t been counting on any sort of reward, even his directions, he had simply wanted to help despite how they treated him. He most certainly hadn’t been expecting a celebration or feast in his honor.

He chuckled to himself and shook his head. “Very well. I shall oblige. However, you must allow me to go collect my wards.”

“Wards? Ya mean like some fancy schmancy protective magic like the unicorns use? Whaddya need that for?” The Earth pony asked confused.

“No, no. Wards as in children… er, foals who I recently rescued from a rather tragic situation. Sisters. I’m currently caring for them until I can find a proper home for them.” Alric explained.

“Ooooh… Sorry, with that whole light show and the plants growin’ I really thought you were talkin’ about magic… Sure! You go get them fillies and come right on back, ya hear?” The pony told him.

“They’re unicorns. I rescued them from a village that was frozen by windigos. Will their race be an issue?” Alric asked.

“Unicorns? Hm… Well, so long as they’re well behaved it should be fine. First, come on. We gotta go tell everypony this is yer doin’.” The Earth pony started pushing Alric back towards the village again.

Alric chuckled and started walking back. “Haha! Very well. Just so you are aware, my name is Alric. What’s yours, good sir?”

“I’m Crimson Crisp! Nice to meet ya, Alric!” The pony introduced himself.

Crimson Crisp led Alric out of the orchard and back towards the village. Once they reached the edge of the orchard they saw a small crowd of ponies gathered looking at the fields and orchard.

As they exited the orchard Crimson Crisp ran ahead and explained the situation to everyone. As he talked, the ponies' demeanor towards Alric started to change. They started smiling at him and were much more open. When Crimson Crisp finished talking several ponies came up and apologized to him while others headed to the orchard or fields to start working immediately.

It was a massive change of pace for him. He was used to being hated and ostracized due to his status as an undead. This was a nice change of pace for him. Even if the only reason these ponies liked him at all was because he had made their crops grow and they might want him to do it more.

He eventually managed to get past the ponies to set up a marker to make it just a bit easier to teleport back to this village for a few days. When that was done he drew Velka’s talisman and cast the homeward miracle. He ended up back in the entrance hall of his castle.

Smelling the souls of Celestia and Luna, he made his way towards them.

He found them in the midst of a game of chess.

“Check mate, I win!” Luna cheered happily.

Celestia smiled and knocked over her own king. “Good job, Luna! I didn’t notice your knight until it was too late.”

“Still playing chess? Ha! I’m glad you two have taken such a liking to the game. I quite enjoy it myself.” Alric said as he entered the sitting room where they were playing.

“Alric! Did you find the City already?” Celestia asked him. She almost seemed somewhat nervous as she asked him that.

He shook his head. “No, but I did find a village of Earth Ponies. They agreed to give me directions, but first I assisted them in growing their crops and thus there is going to be a feast. I couldn’t simply leave you two here whilst I attend by myself. So I’m here to collect you.”

“Earth Ponies…?” Luna asked uncertainly.

It was then Alric remembered the Windigos only came to their village after the Earth Ponies came with less food than usual. He winced at his oversight. “Ah… Right… They assured me there would be no trouble despite the fact you two are unicorns. However, you needn’t attend if you believe the situation will be too uncomfortable for you.”

Celestia and Luna looked at each other for a moment.

“Sissy?” Luna asked, looking to her sister for a decision.

Celestia bit her lower lip before looking back at Alric. “Are you sure it’ll be okay…?”

“You have my word. And even if there were to be an incident, I would keep you and everyone else safe. No ill shall befall you or those around you whilst you remain within my care.”

Celestia thought to herself in silence for a moment. Eventually she nodded. “Okay… We’ll come…”

“Are you certain? Please, you needn’t feel pressured. If you don’t wish to attend I can fix your lunch and dinner for you before returning on my own.” Alric asked, worried for them.

“Mhm. I’m sure… You said it’ll be okay. We trust you, Alric.” Celestia stated.

Alric gave her a gentle smile. “Very well. If you’re certain, then come. Let’s not keep them waiting.” He drew his catalyst, knelt down, and held out his hand to the fillies.

They came over to him and he teleported all three of them to the Earth Pony village.