The heavy wind blew celestia's mane more furiously than usual. The night was pitch black, and a new moon sat invisible in the sky, thanks to Luna. She sensed it, something she never hoped she would have to sense after Tyrek's escape. The bindings of Athura shattering.
Loud cracks thundered across the land. But it was not the thunderous sky. It was another aftershock from the earthquake yesterday. The earth had roared like thousands of manticores, and it broke apart like dry dirt. Massive thunderclaps of magma and earth arose from the cragged ground to the west, near ponyville, and gorges and sinkholes appeared left and right.
Citizens scurried about below the balcony of her castle, across the cracked streets and broken houses, saving the many that had been trapped in the debris. The hospitals and clinics were filled to the brim with the injured from the collasal earth- shattering event that had taken place. Guards had to keep the protesting citizens, the lower class of ponies in canterlot, from breaking through and ransacking the inner city. The nobles, the higher up's born into magic and magistrate, were surrounded by royal guard and mercenary alike, shivering and trembling in fear of the ever-rising swarm of paupers and peasants.
She heard hoofsteps behind her, and she sensed her sister's energy. It was dark as night, a blackened blob of shadow that surrounded her being like the edges of the moon. Her mane twinkled like a starry night, but also held many broken points in the pattern, like large storm clouds sweeping across a peaceful sky. She wore her armor, plates of hardened silver and steel shined and polished to the point of a silvery aura.
"Hello Luna, was my hypothesis true?"
"Yes sister, and what's worse is his energy is dissipating . He had left right after the earthquake had commenced", said Luna, "he could be anywhere."
"Well, could you track his energy?"
"I am sorry sister, but he is using some sort of mask, maybe an alchemical remedy or illusion spell."
Celestia sighed. "We cannot let him escape. He has obviously grown stronger, if he can mask his aura to such and extent. Think of the damage he could cause among the lower class if he could find his way to the Shadowskulkers."
Luna shook her head in a disappointing way, obviously not approving of her sisters Zealous ambition to capture Azurith. It was an unhealthy goal, for Azurith had obviously exceeded her hopeful expectations of power. Luna decided not to think of what a final encounter would end in.
"What, do you not approve?", her sister replied to her gesture irritably, "He is a pest, a rodent that must be exterminated. His kind had their chance, and they fell under our magic."
Luna ground her teeth. "He was innocent, just a babe when we found him, but despite this fact, you refused to speak to him until he had shown some aptitude with magic. And when it was black magic, the magic you knew flowed through his veins just as much as his very blood, you Despised him even more!"
"Black magic is evil!"
"Magic is not evil! It is a tool, a resource. A sword is not evil, is it? Only the caster can make such an accusation true or not. And Azurith was just Ten years when you cast him into the depths of Tartarus, never to be seen again! Is he the evil one, or does sense and sympathy allude you?"
Celestia stomped her hoof on the marble, her eyes blazing with anger. Her mane whipped around like it was stuck in a storm. "You have no right to say that! His kind was a menace, slavers and conquerors of the masses in Alasphar. Do you not remember Mother? Father? Atoshik and Mitaar? Their ashes spread across the land because of their sacrifice!"
"It was not sacrifice, but consequence for our people's ignorance. And father never would have wanted this."
With her final allegation, Luna spread her wings and flew to ponyville, to their old castle. Celestia stomped her hooves again in fury, and her horn glowed. The air began to smell of ozone and rain, and the beginning of a destructive tempest commenced. Clouds spread beyond the borders of Canterlot and ignited the air with sparks of white and yellow.
0 0 0
A Dark flurry of snow surrounded him, like a cloak of white. His energy emitted from him, melting the frost around him. A trail of frozen water followed him like a pathway, a pathway he had created.
His Dark hair and eyebrows swayed in the heavy wind, covering his eyes periodically and disrupting his vision. It did not bother him in the lightest. He could see without his eyes. Aura surrounded him. It was like a vision, or a dream, a shadowed hue of the magical world that existed within the life around him. Pathways thousands of years old, restless armies of spirits and demonic presences that rivalled Cerberus surrounded him in a soupy cloud.
The wind howled like an enraged wolf. His ears were clotted with the noise. He walked forward lazily, his black cloak swaying in the burning frost and wind, and his boots were caked with snow.
Voices surrounded him, spirits of ancient crystalline citizens muttering in olden languages he barely understood. Their muffled, wary voices grew to voices of awe and happiness. A spirit of great power approached, shooing off dark presences with a burning solar light. The spirit realm, the Thukrask, cleared into a shimmering cloud. The grey alicorn that stood before his humanoid form cracked the ground and burned the dormant grass with a scent of fire. Tattoos of angelic beauty adorned her jeweled neck and face, and her horn was carved into a helix.
Her presence was a visitation of curiosity. Her voice echoed through the Thukrask like a war horn. "Why, traveler, why do you come here to the land of my progeny? Do you come to gloat of your survival, maybe to lay waste to this frozen hell scape, or is it for a reason that is more intimate?" She looked him into his eyes, a look of sadness. Her lapis pupils glowed.
Azurith shook his head. "I cannot commute with a stranger of your power without knowing your name. Why not tell me? I wish to know of my potential attacker."
She chuckled in a bitter way. "Names hold power, young Taurika, and the same can be said for mine. And a name of power would not be trusted with one so... aggressive."
"My aggressive nature is well founded, but your curiosity is not. I ask only for your name. You are among the spirits, among the ones powerful enough not to enter the maw of Cerberus. What makes you think I can't hurt you?"
"Taurikai are enveloped in powers beyond my understanding. I wish not to expose myself to the very creature that can enslave the dead and enthrall the elements, and maybe do so much more."
She looked at him woefully. "But if you wish to know my identity, I will tell you about myself. I ruled this land, long ago, when the frost was not a menace, but a boon, to my peoples. Our great scholars and mages and alchemists worked their arts in my very city. The people still hold me in a position of power among their afterlives due to my prosperous-"
"It was not your fault, Tishfavuer, It wasn't your fault, but your brethren. The scrolls speak of your hatred for the plan for the spell of Thraxcius and his queens and kin in the seat of Skyholme."
A look of fear spread across her face, a look of horror and sorrow. Her peoples shivered within the darkness, refugees stuck in the limbo of the passing. Their muttering grew to shouts and curses, their centuries of pain, sorrow, and misery expelled upon him. His crimson eyes looked down upon the snow, and into the swirling lapis tempests of her eyes. He felt her pain.
"You brethren at the summit of Kalkris did not heed you, your warnings and caring words. They left their posts as peacekeepers and sat upon the throne of the executioner and felled the world with their axe of insolence."
The crowds of spirits swirled into dark crystalline demons of shadow. Their eyes were glowing red and they bore fangs of obsidian. they screamed in rage.
"And even though your peoples spoke out against you, you held your ground and tended your flock. If anyone deserves justice, it is you. You were the Shepard among wolves. I send you to the afterlife!"
Her body began to dissipate into starlight. She muttered two words before she disappeared completely. "Thank you."
The spirits, now turned into monstrosities of shadow and hatred swirled into a single, hulking mass. It was fifteen feet tall, with the lower body of a decomposing dragon, bulky legs of rotting flesh and scales, and the upper body of a rotting Cerberus, a hybrid of hatred and bloodlust.
An Ithapokt.
It's three heads snarled and snapped like hungry street dogs, lusting the taste for blood. They stared at him, the whispers of hateful spirits enveloping their vision.
Sadist. Murderer. Ghoul.
Azure's hand enveloped in a coat of inky shadow that quickly ignited into fire. He unsheathed a dagger with his other hand. His eyes burned with silent rage. These people had betrayed their benevolent ruler for promises of gold and jewels. They would pay.
He extended his inky magic into a lance of fire. It was almost like an extension of his arm, an extended limb. The Ithapokt charged towards him, claws in a sweeping motion. Azure easily dodged and landed behind the Monster after a graceful front flip. The Demon stumbled into the snow and pulled itself back up, but Azure was quicker. He swung his lance and shoved it into the back of the demon, piercing it's heart. It shook him off, and clenched the hole where he had pierced it's chest.
Without hesitation, he snapped apart his lance with a nimble slash and sent shards of solid shadow into the body of the beast. All three heads were pierced, and it's body was shredded apart, reminiscent to a hunk of mince meat.
It boiled away into a bubbling pool of inky blood. It sank into the dirt, seeking Tartarus, Seeking Cerberus's maw. The storm had dissipated, revealing a view of the crystal empire, a glorious citadel awaiting his arrival. He pulled his fallen cloak over his head and trudged toward the tower.