Knight of Equestria – Gabriel the Wanderer
Chapter 9: Inherit the Hate
(No Entries)
Another cold winter morning, another day Gabriel finds himself pondering as he stares off into the distance. Nearly a week had passed since he had began mentoring Amethyst on magic use. The pair had decided not to move on yet, Amethyst noting that they weren't hurting for money ever since the Timberwolf job.
Ever since the first day of helping the young mare improve, the mysterious, foul breath he emitted had disappeared. Part of him didn't even know if he had seen correctly that he was the source, another part of him fearful how such a thing would even be possible. Regardless, he hadn't yet informed his traveling companion of his concerns. He thought it best not to rattle her.
He sat on a fallen tree, his sword resting beside him. He knew better at this point than to assume the sword had no part in the alarming changes happening to him, but he still couldn't place how.
Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the sudden arrival of Amethyst, back from visiting the town they had set up camp nearby. She was sprinting madly, calling his name and looked incredibly distressed.
"Gabriel!" she called between breaths. "Gabriel, you need to come quick!" she said, stopping to catch her breath.
The human stood and sheathed his weapon. "Why, what happened? More wolves?"
While he at first thought her state somewhat comical, the terrified look in her eye quickly changed his mind.
…...
As they arrived in the small hamlet, the scope of the destruction was beyond what the man had imagined. As they rushed back to the village, Amethyst did her best to give him a rundown of what had happened.
"Half the place was burned to the ground! Thankfully not many ponies were injured, but they need help badly! I can only do so much by myself, but I want to help them."
Several small buildings rested as piles of ash, many of the townsfolk were congregating in the square.
"Hey, I'm back! I brought help!" Amethyst shouted, drawing attention to her and Gabriel.
Upon first glance, Gabriel received the stares he had assumed he would. But before long, the townsfolk had begun chattering among themselves. He would hear snippets of their conversations.
"Is that the one...?"
"It must be, it walks on two legs..."
"And it has that thing on it's back..."
Gabriel cleared his throat. "Something the matter?" he asked.
"Y-you're the one he was looking for..." he heard as a response.
"What? Whatever did this was looking for Gabriel?" Amethyst replied, clearly not knowing this beforehand.
The crowd's murmuring only intensified with no answer given.
"Is that...? It is! Young Miss Amethyst!" called an older male voice from within the crowd.
As the crowd parted, Gabriel saw what was unmistakably the same pony he saw in those pictures from the packages he and Amethyst saved a week ago, except much older.
"Thank goodness you're here!" he continued. "We're in quite the pickle..." he stopped approaching when he finally noticed the human at her side.
"Mr. Mist! I'm glad you're okay, can you tell us what happened?" Amethyst replied, noticing the older pony's attention locked firmly on her associate. "Oh, right. I should introduce you two. Gabriel, this is Blue Mist. He's the merchant we helped out with the Timberwolves."
The elder's expression lightened instantly. "Oh! You're her business partner?" Blue Mist said, resuming his approach and offering to shake the man's hand, which Gabriel reciprocated. "She's told me much about you! All good, of course! I can't thank you enough for what the two of you did for me."
"T-think nothing of it..." Gabriel responded, finding it bizarre to be treated so well by a complete stranger.
The older stallion redirected his attention again. "Now, as I was saying, we've got quite the predicament. Yesterday a white dragon fellow arrived at our village, saying he was looking for something, I don't recall what. When no one could help him find it, bolts of lightning suddenly struck a few homes and he said he'd return." Blue Mist explained.
"He shot lightning at you...?" Gabriel pondered openly.
"Indeed he did! I can easily help fund the repairs, but if he comes back and razes more homes to the ground, so many villagers will be without shelter, in winter. Whatever he's looking for must be important..." Blue Mist continued.
One of the still-wary villagers whispered into Blue Mist's ear, causing the stallion to go through a flurry of facial expressions. "Oh dear..." he said, facing the human. "Apparently he's looking for you, my boy."
"Me?" Gabriel asked, beginning to understand where this was probably headed.
"Him?" Amethyst asked also, more confused than anything.
"Well, he didn't call you by name, but he described a 'two legged animal lugging around a large piece of metal'."
Gabriel brought a palm to his face. "I don't even think we made it two weeks without something like this happening..." he muttered.
"Why is he on the hunt for you? Did you wrong him, in some way?" the merchant asked.
"I guess you could say that." Amethyst responded in Gabriel's place, noticing the uncomfortable look in his eyes. "Well, not him specifically, but a friend of his. Either way, we didn't think he'd stoop so low as to terrorize random villages..."
"That means what happened here is my fault..." Gabriel said, thinking aloud.
"Nonsense!" proclaimed Blue Mist, surprising the pair. "You seem like a good enough lad, whatever happened, this dragon must be overreacting."
Gabriel and Amethyst shared an awkward look.
"A-anyway..." Amethyst began. "What should we do about this? No doubt, he wants to hurt you, Gabriel. We should go."
"But then he'd just take his frustrations out on this village..." the human said, trying his best to formulate a solution that could help both them and the town. He paced around, hand cupping his chin as he thought. A snap of his finger got the attention of the small crowd gathered around them. "I've got it. We'll pack up and move on..." he said.
"It took you that long to come up with that?" Amethyst replied.
"... and when he comes back, send him after our trail." Gabriel added. "We'll take care of it from there."
"No offense, son, but how? Don't know if you noticed, but he did take out a few buildings." Blue Mist inquired.
"'The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent.'." the man replied, earning still-confused looks from nearly everyone. "To put it simply; misdirection."
…...
Gabriel's plan was simple, but he thought it would at the very least buy some time. He and Amethyst headed out from the village and set-up his old and ragged tent in a clearing, leaving some empty containers to make the site look inhabited. The pair then headed in a parallel direction.
"So if everything goes smoothly, that dragon should stumble across the campsite with the directions the villagers give him and annihilate it." Gabriel said.
"And then he'll assume he got you, right?" Amethyst asked.
"Right. We're going to need to lay low for a bit until we can be certain he's gone. We should check on the decoy tomorrow and see if he has swung by." Gabriel elaborated. The day was already seeping into the afternoon. "We find some place to put the tent back up, maybe think of some way to disguise it. The last thing we'd want is to be noticed."
Suddenly, laughter filled the air around them, startling the two. "Too late for that..." said a higher pitched male voice, the source of which was unknown.
Gabriel gripped the handle of his sword and spun around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. "What the hell...?" he questioned openly.
"Y-you heard that too?" asked Amethyst nervously.
As they looked around, the laughter only grew louder, coming from somewhere among the trees that surrounded them. Neither could place the direction it cam from, it sounded as if it was right in front of them.
"Whatever you are, you're more clever than I thought you'd be." said the voice. "... but it's time I wrap this up, I've got things to do."
Gabriel finally noticed a glimmer in a nearby tree and as he did, it dropped to the forest floor. The air seemed to shimmer more and more in a larger area. As the light began to take form, the shape of a large reptile began to emerge. A pair of white wings curled up, finally exposing the somehow familiar form of an off-white dragon.
"You were already following us?" Gabriel asked, drawing his sword and taking a defensive stance.
"Was he just invisible?" Amethyst asked. "That's cheating..."
The dragon's face contorted into a grin. "You're not the first to think so." he cackled. "Now make my life just a bit easier and give it up."
"So you're the one who attacked the village..." Gabriel said, beginning to try and circle is adversary.
"I figured, if they knew anything about you, they'd sell you out. I kept a close eye on them regardless, should you happen to wander through." the dragon answered, licking his lips with a long blue tongue.
His foes' nonchalance had begun to anger Gabriel. For some reason the dragon's mannerisms seemed annoyingly familiar.
"Now I was told only to take out the two legged thing, so you'd best make yourself scarce, little pony." said the dragon, starting to mirror Gabriel's circling. Amethyst responded by shooting a small magical blast at the dragon's face, hitting his right eye.
This action surprised both the dragon and Gabriel, both of whom looked toward the young Unicorn.
"Fat chance. That's my partner you're talking about, threaten him and you threaten me." Amethyst said.
"How rude." the dragon replied, standing on his hind legs as a blue aura began sparking around him. "Then you can die together."
"Amethyst!" Gabriel shouted. "Don't forget he can control lightning, stay mobile." he said.
Almost as if on queue, the air around the pair had began to swirl with the same blue aura and they both dove in opposite directions, narrowly dodging blue bolts from the heavens. Amethyst and Gabriel kept dodging any time the aura appeared around them, using rocks and trees for cover until they ended up behind the same boulder and the bolts stopped.
"That was a bold choice you made back there." Gabriel said, pausing to catch his breathe. "Bold... and foolish."
"Hey, what I said is true! Besides, I'm tired of cowering away while you handle all the fighting. If there's a score to settle, we'll settle it together." she replied, huffing for air as she explained.
Gabriel smiled at her honesty and made a note to thank her later, before noticing the crackling sound of their foe getting louder, yet no aura was visible. He peaked from around the boulder to see the dragon back on all fours again, building what seemed to be a large amount of electricity in his maw. He could remember seeing something like this before, thinking back to the dream he had after he slew the large red dragon.
Vivid blue bolts of lightning, cutting through the clouds.
"Amethyst, move!" he shouted to his companion, as a bolt very much like the one is his dream split the boulder in two and clipped his leg.
He was launched away from the boulder, his sword landing nearby. As the electricity surged through his body, it caused him to convulse on the forest floor. He didn't see if Amethyst had dodged it completely and he couldn't see her from where he writhed.
"Wow, with one shot? Seriously?" the white dragon said with a laugh. "I must've weakened Thestalos more than I thought if you got the better of him."
As his body continued to squirm from the unnatural lightning within him, he felt a pain in his chest at the mention of that name. He was sure he had never heard it before, but he definitely knew it.
The dragon approached him slowly, seeming to revel in his pain. "I see that whatever you are doesn't agree with my special brand of electricity, hahaha..." he raised a sharp claw, ready to bring it down on the defenseless human as half of the boulder he had split was catapulted into his face, leaving a mark across it.
Gabriel's writhing had finally ceased, but his body was still mostly paralyzed. From the direction the rock half had flown in from, he could see the winded form of Amethyst, untouched by the bolt that had hit him. It had more than likely taken all the magic energy she had to throw that rock, leaving her also defenseless.
The dragon recovered from the blow, whipping around in her direction angrily. "Fine! You first!" he exclaimed, taking off to capture his attacker.
As Gabriel lay there, helpless, the pain in his chest began to ache more and more. His arm reached for the only weapon he could hope to use to save himself and Amethyst. As his fingers made contact with the handle of the blade, time seemed to stop. His chest felt as if it had exploded, white hot with a feeling he found somewhat familiar. His anger and pain had mixed to create a lust for revenge and destruction. These feelings had started to trap and devour him, like an all consuming flame.
Blood began to flow freely from his right eye. He knew what this feeling was.
Hatred.
Meanwhile, the dragon had pinned Amethyst to the ground, intent on finished her off for what she did to his face.
Suddenly, a firestorm erupted out so seemingly nowhere. A swirling inferno from where he left Gabriel lay startled him and his captive. His grip on the young Unicorn loosened as she wiggled free, her captor far too bewildered with the sudden blaze.
"Raiza!" he heard called from within the flames.
The dragon's expression twisted from astonished to uncomfortable.
"... that is your name, right?" called the voice again.
The firestorm began to calm down as Raiza could make out a piercing red light from within. As the flames died down, the form of the human, standing once again, stood before him.
"How do you know my name?" the white dragon asked.
Gabriel raised his blade and pointed it at him. "Let's say I heard it from a 'friend' of yours."
In an instant, the human was suddenly in front of Raiza, a trail of red light darting straight at him. Raiza reflexively flew into the air to gain some distance.
Seeing himself at a clear advantage in the air, Raiza let out a laugh. "Is this your second wind, or a dying gasp?" he said charging up another blast of lightning from his mouth. He expected the human to scramble and try to dodge, be he stood steadfast in place. Raiza knew the effects of his bolts on this creature, so if the human wanted to stand and take it, Raiza would deliver.
As the bolt was let loose at the human, he did something unexpected. He held out his sword in an attempt to block it. The lightning coursed into the blade and into Gabriel's arm as the human swung into the air towards the white dragon, discharging the blast right back at him.
Raiza had not expected this, only barely managing to dodge to the left and not take the full blow. He felt the bolt rip through the webbing of his right wing, forcing him to land. His landing was sloppy and rough, during which he lost sight of his foe.
He felt a tight grip on his tail and upon facing his attacker, found the human there, grinning ear to ear, the crimson light in his eye still glowing ominously.
With some effort, Gabriel had swung the dragon over his head, slamming him into the earth below and knocking the air out of Raiza. Before the dragon could react, he felt himself lifted and slammed again.
"You're the reason I... that he was bested so easily. You should've known your place!" Gabriel shouted, drawing his sword again and severing the white dragon's tail, causing him to howl in pain. "I never liked you, Raiza... always too much of an upstart..."
Raiza, fearful of the sudden power being displayed by the mysterious human and enraged he was of the defensive, was confused as to what Gabriel was ranting about. He decided not to give his foe any more openings and swung his claws to try and kill him as quick as he could, but finding his attacks blocked.
Sparks danced in the air as blade clashed against claw. Raiza was decidedly not amused with the turn of events, contrast to the wide grin plastered on Gabriel's face.
Gabriel wasn't quick enough to intercept all of the dragon's attacks, Raiza landing a punishing blow to the human's chest. Raiza watched as Gabriel stumbled back, stabbing his sword into the earth next to him and bringing his hand to his wound. As the blood coated his hand, Gabriel locked eyes with the dragon again and picked his sword back up as the wound began to close in a most unnatural way.
"What is the meaning of this?! What are you?!" Raiza questioned openly.
Instead of a reply, Gabriel inhaled deeply before expelling a vile cloud of green breath and continuing his attack. The sparks from their impacts caused a crackling in the air. Upon noticing this, Gabriel hopped back as quickly as he could before a small explosion erupted where they were fighting.
Raiza's right foreleg took most of the blast, shattering several of his claws and causing him more pain. With the gap between them, Raiza saw the opening he had been desperate for and took off into the sky, torn webbing of his right wing making flight incredibly painful, but necessary.
As he prepared to chase after the wounded dragon, Gabriel felt the power that surged within him begin to recede. The crimson light from his eye subsided, the burning in his chest began to calm itself, and he felt his body collapse.
As his vision began to fade, he saw Amethyst run to his side.
"You alright?" she asked the heavily breathing human. "What was that all about?"
Gabriel did not respond vocally, instead doing his best to shrug.