Chapter 4: Shocking Truth
The air felt calm as the light breeze brushed against Grief's coat blew while gray clouds dimmed the bright sky above its folds. He was walking through the streets of his home city, staring ahead as if searching for whatever was unknown out there. The pony was clouded with confusion and questions to his betrayal from his wicked leader. Questions began arising in his head as he began to wonder about his family; feeling their reaction to this horrible truth to be too ridiculous to believe or for the fact their ignorance will be the stone wall to their reality. Though, he could not be so sure about his mother or little brother for they were not into his and his father's religion. Dream was young still and his mother saw such atrocities committed by the cult to be reckless and undeserved as well as falsely prejudiced.
The sound of foals laughing caught his attention for once he looked around for the source; he spotted a school's playground. Colts and fillies were enjoying their time, living out to their fullest potential, while he remained on the other side of the steel gate, separated from such naïve and reckless antics acted out with no second-thoughts to how the outcome might turn out. He softly smiled before feeling the wind pick up, blowing his mane around causing specks of hair to get in his face. Brushing it back lightly, he gasped seeing a green leaf pass by his face, being carried by the wind. The path the leaf flew through led home, but he could not go home for now. He had an objective to accomplish.
"Sorry, Dream, maybe next time we could play." He said, beginning to run down the sidewalk, passing by his house.
Dream sighed, bored from the long wait sitting next to the table on a soft pillow. His mother was busy washing dishes while his father was reading a large leather book with strange writing in the front cover and back. Looking out the window, the young colt was waiting for his brother, hoping that they could play like he said, but Grief's absence was too long. His father noticed his young son's expression and figured he was waiting for Grief, but the young colt was not aware his older brother was still on a mission. But the father did find it strange that Grief's absence took so long for it was a simple retrieving mission. He silently prayed his son did not have into any trouble and decided to spend little time with his other son.
"So, how was school, Dream?" He asked unaware of his wife's sudden pause from his question. She went back to cleaning the dishes, while glancing a bit back, paying attention to her husband and son.
Dream looks at his father and says, "It was alright, nothing special happen today, do you know when Grief is going to return?"
His father slightly frown, realizing how little his son was too interested in talking about his day. But he could not blame him for anything bad for he spent little time around him. The best he can do continue the conversation without any change in his tone or subject. "No, I don't, actually." He answered.
Dream frowns and looks out the window again and says, "Dang, when is he going to be back here?"
"Umm, Dream, so are you sure nothing interesting happen at school," His father asked, "Any improvements on your grades?"
Dream rubbed the back of his head while looking straight to the ground as if he was bothered by the question. "Yeah, I'm having a difficult time in math as well as history." He said causing his father to lift an eyebrow through his hood and smile softly, hoping he could advance further in the question while commenting on helping him out.
Behind him, his wife softly smiled finding her husband's pursuit to get to know his other son besides Grief to be remarkable. For so long, Dream was not noticed that much to him in the family due to Grief being the prodigy of the family. The young colt continuously struggle in getting his father's attention, but failed on many attempts. After giving up, he resorted to his mother and Grief for they were the only ones who gave him a lot of attention.
"Really, I'll have you know that I am very skillful in history while your mother is great in math." He said in a calm tone, "We used to be teachers for the small foals in the church."
"Really," Dream asked, staring at him surprised, "That would mean a lot, thank you, dad."
The last word caused Lucifer and his wife to feel good. To hear the last word exit out his son's mouth, directing towards him brought only happiness that he needed. His wife finished the last dish and turned around smiling at her husband who glanced back and nodded at her. He soon turned his attention to Dream and rest the book on top of the table before clapping his hooves together summoning a history book, but it looked too strange than the ones in Dream's school.
"W-what is that?" Dream asked in a shocked tone.
"Hey, what did I say about magic in the house?" Dream's mother yelled, causing his father to flinch and look back at her frighten while chuckling softly.
"Sorry, I thought I could use it to help out. He does need help in history." He said as his wife began to calm down and huff before walking out the kitchen, but before she exited, she turned around and glare at him.
"I will let that slide for now, but that is all you will be doing for today." She said.
As he watch his mother leave, Dream looked at his father with an odd expression, confuse to why he became so frighten from her. "Dad, what happen?" He asked.
"Well, you're mother has a strict policy in magic since she wants us all to use our hooves; manual labor, pretty much." He said, chuckling lightly.
"Manual…labor," Dream muttered as he began to think carefully about the word, "Cool."
A circle of light surrounded Grief as he stood in the center of the arena where four columns stood at each end symbolizing north, south, east, and west. Beneath his hooves were engraved stone for which if one was a Pegasus and floated up to the ceiling where darkness concealed, they would see the marking of Azazel. Outside the arena and around the columns was pitch black for observers to watch and not be recognized by any fighters within the sacred arena. Eventually, Archbishop Julius walked out from the shadows, smiling softy at Grief who stood there glaring angrily at him.
"Grief, I have gained word from my shadow that you fail your mission, any reason why that happened?" Julius asked calmly as his smile remained on his face, glaring at Grief who grabbed the handle of his blade and slowly unsheathed it.
"You…better tell me who you are really working for, or…" He pointed his sword at him, "I will not hold back in killing you."
"Funny, Father Abbadon was suspicious, always one step ahead of you, only to sprawl himself in a trap as if he was taking one for the team, but sadly there are no teams to take one for, for you see no pony trusted him." Julius said beginning to chuckle.
"Y-you kill, Father Abbadon?!" He gasped.
"Yes, he figured out about the body of Beezlebub and wanted it left where it was, he also became suspicious of my strange connection to the body and Canterlot for you see I came from there, as well as rose. The old fool had it coming, getting his nose into my business only brought upon his death that was well-deserved." He laughed causing Grief to get even angrier.
"How dare you laugh, that man brought this group together! Without him, we would have been lost! Father Abbadon showed us the true meaning of a family and what you shown us was violence. Family and Violence don't fit well together, you know?!" He yelled ceasing the traitor's mocking laughter.
"It does not matter; you worthless rats are all the same. Quick to believe anything once you feel the world ending when the end was never close to from the beginning." Julius said pressing his hooves together, causing Grief to become cautious, ready for whatever trick the traitor had under his sleeve.
"You…I believe in you!" Grief yelled dashing forward before swinging his blade, but it was caught by large wooden roots that sprouted around the traitor before more roots shot out from the large wood smacking him back. He rebounded his fall and leaped back readying his blade while looking at Julius shock as the roots returned back to the large roots that shielded him.
Julius' smirk widened once he spotted the shock expression upon Grief's face. "Ah, shock now, hmm? Let me give you a heads up, Grief; this special kind of wood is made from the toughest wood found only in the caves located in Talos. It is said that Earth ponies seeking power wielded by their great-great-great ancestors, way before Alicorns existed, managed to manipulate such power by devouring the seed that sprouted out such trees within caves. The tree is called Terramaga (Earth's Magma) Tree."
"So, you basically devour a seed that gave you the ability to manipulate this kind of wood, but it does not matter…I will slice through it and take you down, traitor!" He yelled dashing towards him before dodging to the right from a sprouting root the burst out from the ground. Grief leaped from left to right, before sliding under roots that sprouted out from the massive wooden strong tendrils.
"You can say that all you want, nothing can slice through this wood! This is the ultimate defense; THE POWER OF TERRA!" Julius yelled, before laughing at Grief's attempts to get close to him, only to be dodging, leaping backwards from his endless assault.
'Damn it, those things don't know how to quit. How am I going to take him down if he continues hiding behind that damn wooden barrier? He manipulates the wood without moving, using it as a defense while switching it quickly to an offense.' Grief thought as he struggle gaining his ground and avoiding the tough wooden tendrils that drilled out from the grounds, heading towards him in helix shapes.
Grief landed on the wall of a column directed south and glare at Julius, but he soon noticed the wooden tendrils from the floor wrapping around the column. Gritting his teeth angrily, he leaped off and landed on top of a root and ran forward towards the traitor with his blade ready in his mouth. Julius narrowed his eyes and clicked his teeth together as fire burst out from the sides catching Grief off guard.
"Art of Terua and Rednla: Exploding Wood Annihilation!" Julius yelled as the root Grief was on top of exploded, sending the swordspony to the side that quickly caught his own fall. Fire started scattering around, trailing towards the empty sidelines the darkness hid from a fighter's view.
Grief gritted his teeth in pain as he glanced at his right foreleg, spotting a small size burnt mark on it. "W-what was that?" He asked beginning to breathe heavily.
"That, Grief, was black powder found inside the cracks of the wood." Julius said as more wooden tendrils sprouted out from the ground. A few smack Grief side to side before another extending out, reaching high to the ceiling and soon came crashing down. Grief quickly used his sword to block it, but it managed to save his life from a fatal blow, while returning a painful plummet to the ground that dented the stone surface, cracking some parts near the small crater.
'Damn it, not only it is hard to slice through, it can explode!' Grief thought as he began struggling to get up from the ground.
"Is that all you can do, Grief? Sad, you are going to be defeated by a Sasora member. Hmm, how interesting, if a Sword is defeated in battle, the winner is allowed to take away their weapon and rank, how amazing, don't you think?!" Julius yelled, beginning to laugh.
"Tell me, why…why did you betray us?" Grief asked as he finally stood on his fours, biting down hard on the handle of his blade.
"Okay, I will share you the truth. The Sasora Family's head leader assigned three ponies to spy and manipulate the cult of Azazel. One of the ponies was me, and my real name is Ter'amor! It was easier than we imagine, but during the coursing years of our mission to manipulate your actions and give you missions that the cult of Sasora assigned, you came along, reaching our interests beyond imagination; one of the second strongest swordspony in the world under our control." He explained.
"Who are the other two?" Grief asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Their real names is Sanity Cell and Lienl, or you may as know him being, Daniel." He said, beginning to widen his grin, enjoying the shocked expression on Grief's face.
"D-Daniel?" He muttered.
"Yes, him, the one you saw worthy enough to be a true leader of this wretched cult; a prophet, martyr, whatever the hell you want to call him!"
Narrowing his eyes, Grief went into a drawing stance, arching his back forward while keeping his blade pointed in a 34 degree angle. Julius eyes narrowed as he started laughing again, launching out more of his powerful explosive wooden roots. But suddenly, they all stop as the mad pony traitor eyes widened, slowly looking to his right, finding Grief inside of his barrier with the side of the blade touching his neck. All he was staring into were empty daemon eyes that spoke of unspeakable horrors.
"H-how did you…do that?" Julius asked as he began trembling, frightened by the monster eyes that stared down his soul.
"The second you underestimated my power, betray me and my family, and gave me information of the people behind this operation the Sasora family created. Your death will let them know that I am not going to be use anymore. Now, Shitsunen V1, know true grief." He said in a cold tone as the wooden roots, plus the columns were sliced into pieces, before Julius' head gets decapitated. Grief sheathed his blade back in his scabbard while the wooden barrier falls apart around him.
Julius head rolled towards the fire, while his body is caught by the spreading flames. As Grief was making his way out, he stopped and turned around gasping after hearing the dark chuckle from headless traitor.
"What the, "Hahahahahahehaahahaa, you thought that was capable of killing me, please! Now, I am going to show you the ultimate power of the seed; my ultimate move that will make this place collapse, burying you in the dirt where you belong!" Julius yelled as smoke escaped his mouth.
Grief quickly ran, heading down the path that led to the surface. Looking back, he could still hear Julius' laughter echoing in the darkness before a loud explosion disrupted his maniacal laugh. Fire from the darkness, started chasing the swordspony who looked ahead, hoping he found the exit before the fire caught him. His prayers were answer luckily for the surface was spotted just a minute away. Picking up his pace, Grief did not stop running or even look back.
Leaping out to the surface, he quickly ducked his head as the flames flew over and once it died down, the passage to the arena was blocked up by debris while dust slowly came out. Grief gasped once he spotted a large door sliding down, preventing any entrance or exit to the devastated arena, before it started sinking down to the ground with two columns by its side, too.
"Daniel, why," Grief muttered as he slowly got up, brushing off the dirt, "Why did you betray me?" He slowly frowned.
-To Be Continued-