Time seemed to pass instantly, as it always does when we sleep. It wasn't much longer that I would open my eyes and find myself still in the cave that I had taken shelter in with scarlet. We managed to survive the night, and I was able to keep scarlet warm and alive with some... Unorthodox methods. As I opened my eyes I found myself laying snugly right next to scarlet. The fire in front of me had died down considerable, In fact it was nothing more than charred black wood which glowed faintly with some embers still trapped inside the wood, there was still some hope of restoring it, if not the I can wrap some of those bandages around a couple new planks of wood and light those. I levitated some wood over to the fire pit but there was no hope of rekindling it this way, and I let out a sigh.
I used my magic to set up the wood in a teepee shape and then levitated a role of bandages over. We still hade quite a few roles of them, at least six or seven, but it only needed one. I used my magic to start unraveling the bandages and began to wrap them around the teepee of wooden planks. Once it was nicely covered in bandages I looked around to the box of matches that was lying around. I looked around and spotted it by the barrel of water by the fire. I used my magic to levitate it over. By this time I had gotten up and simply grabbed the box and pulled one out. There were several more matches left in the box. I closed it and struck the match head against the side of the box. It sparked to life and the tip burst into a small flame. I held the flame against the bandages which caught quickly and began to burn. I threw the match into the pit and soon the fire was back to life. I smiled and placed the matches by the side of our makeshift bed. I got up out of the small bed and walked over to the barrel of water. I stuck my head in and started to take a drink. It wasn't very refreshing... Since it was now room temperature water, but it was still water. I gulped down quite a bit and then returned to the bed.
As I sat down I couldn't help but look around. Nothing had changed, but for some reason I had expected it to. The two skeletons rested peacefully in the corner. I must have spent too much time around death because I feel like the two skeletons are smiling at me. I couldn't help but feel regret for them, even though there was nothing I could do for them. It's very poetic, it really is. Two ponies who died without knowing each other's embrace, now lay to rest peaceful laying in beside each other. I turned away from and looked down at scarlet who laid peacefully with her eyes loosely closed and gentle breaths blowing through her open mouth. I sat back down next to her on the blanket and as I did a deep rumbling sound emitted from my stomach... I was hungry. I let out a sigh and relaxed as my stomach churned and rumbled a little before finally settling down.
"I wish there was food..." I said to myself. I looked around some more and then turned my gaze over to the exit. I couldn't see the outside from here, but I figured I should go and check. I stood right back up and started walking out of the cave. I started making my way through until the rock was now covered by ice and the cold started to hit me. Walking into the cold now I could see how much energy I had now recovered. I walked out into the cold now and the snow. The storm that was raging overnight and yesterday was now gone. The winds were less harsh and a light snow fluttered from the sky to the ground. The air was cold and a thick fog settled all around the mountain. Even if there isn't a storm it's still impossible to see, I could still look out a fair distance though. The terrain was jagged and rough, but seeing as how the mountain towers around us I figured we were a fair distance to the bottom.
The sun barely managed to cut through the fog and lighten up the area around us. I looked around and fluttered my wings a bit. They weren't frozen anymore and strength had returned to them. I looked around and my eyes caught to wrecked hull of our ship, maybe there are supplies in there... Food even. Excited now I flapped my wings and took off kicking up a cloud of snow beneath me as I soared over a short distance to the large hull. I flew over and slowly descended and touched down on the snow. I quickly sunk deeply into the snow and involuntarily, the cold made me flap my wings and quickly fly back out of the snow. I wasn't numb anymore so the snow stung my skin. I gently floated back down and softly entered the snow by the hull. I shivered a little and settled into the snow. There was a large gaping hole in the hull where I could walk in.
I squeezed through the gap and entered the wrecked inside of the ship. Inside were tons of barrels and boxes, a ton of cannon balls scattered around and the accompanying cannon. Lying in the snow was also the frozen corpse of one of the Templars. I didn't even have to check the corpse, I knew he was dead. I said a small prayer in my head and moved past the body to the barrels of supplies. Many of the barrels and crates had been broken open and the contents spilled out and froze in the snow. A couple barrels that had spilled open had fruit and vegetables but had mixed in with the contents of a barrel of gunpowder. I walked over and tossed a couple of the boxes and barrels away. I shifted through and I found a box that was untouched. It was closed down with a latch and I was able to undo the latch. I opened up the box and it was full of clothes... This could be good.
I looked through some more and found a barrel. I pulled the box of clothes down from the piled mess of fruit, vegetables, and gunpowder. I tossed it down and it sunk into the snow. I looked back to the barrel I found which had a small wooden Handel on the top so you could pull it off like a lid. I did just that and grabbed the rope in my mouth and pulled the lid off. I spit it out and looked in the barrel. Before I could even see a somewhat foul stench hit my nose and I looked back to see what was causing it. To my surprise the barrel was full of fish and ice. It was the only food here... So what the hell, fish ain't that bad. It's been a while since I've had a good fish dinner. I put the lid back on the barrel and tossed it into the snow as well. I used my magic to cast a soul tether spell. Two magical ropes lashed out from my body and tied themselves around the barrel and crate. I pulled them slope to me and walked over to the gap in the hull. Once I got the gap I was already in a predicament. The gap was just barely large enough for me to squeeze through; the box and barrel aren't going to even have a chance of getting through that.
I quickly looked around for an alternate route and luckily I found a large gaping hole in the top of the hull. It was definitely big enough for me and the supplies to pass through. I flapped my wings and I started making my way over. I hovered by with the box and barrel dangling under me. I easily passed through the hole and tried pulling the supplies up. They both got stuck so I wasn't able to pull them up at the same time. So I lengthened the size of the rope holding the barrel and pulled the box up first then the barrel. Once I was out I even out the ropes and hovered over to the entrance of the cave. I set the containers on the ground and started to make my way into the cave dragging them behind me. I trotted my way back into the back of the cave where the fir stayed burning bright. I was greeted by the pleasant warmth and I let out a sigh of relief. I looked over to see scarlet still lying in the bed asleep. I quietly used my magic to dispel the soul tethers and levitate the box and barrel. I levitated the barrel of fish far away more towards the middle of the cave so that the smell of fish didn't stink up the place, and so the ice keeping them fresh didn't melt and the fish didn't rot. I placed the crate of clothing on the other side of the room near the other empty barrel.
I smiled at my success and once more my stomach began to rumble. I quickly started working out a plan for breakfast. I walked over to the barrel of fish and grabbed the lid of the barrel and opened it up. I was about to grab one of the fish when I realized I don't have an effective way of cooking it. I looked around for a way to cook the fish when my eyes rested upon the pile of wooden planks. I smiled and walked over to the fire where I placed down the lid of the barrel. I walked back to the barrel and grabbed two fish. I carried them in my mouth and placed them on the lid of the barrel which acted like a plate. I walked over to the pile of wooden planks from the destroyed box and started shifting through the pile. Most of the pieces were splintered and cracked. Soon I was lucky enough to find a rather pointy looking plank. I took It in my jaw and walked over to the barrel of water. I tossed the stick into the water and waited for a minute. I pulled it out and it was nice and soaking wet. Thinking of the water I got thirsty and stuck my head in the barrel for a drink. Once I was done I walked over to the fire, sat down next to scarlet with the two fish on the barrel lid, and started cooking.
I skewered the length of one of the fish with the sharp stick and held it over the roaring fire. I had to get the stick wet or it would catch fire as well. I kept the fish over the fire for a little while and watched it cook. It smelt not as bad as you would think really. The fish were already being kept fresh with salt and ice, which adds a nice flavor to it. Once the first fish was done I set it down next to the other raw one and made a little cut in it. The outside which was once a pale white was now a severed dark brown with a bit of black on some parts. The outside was crispy but not burnt and the inside was flakey and soft. I couldn't help but grab a small piece of the fish and take a bite... And it was pretty good. Not too bad for roasting fish over a fire like you would marshmallows. Soon I turned my attention to the next fish and started cooking that one as well. I sat there in silence as the flames licked up against the fish. It's scales began to sweat and gleam from the heat and within a few minutes the pale white outside was a tender crispy brown and black. I placed it down on the barrel lid and soaked in the culinary victory.
I had finished just in time for scarlet who was now starting to wake up. Her loosely closed eyes tightened and she cringed from her escape to reality. Her eyes slowly opened up and looked forward. She slowly picked herself up and let out a yawn and stretched her hooves causing the blanket around her to fall off her back. She soon relaxed her muscles and placed her hooves back on the ground. She had her back to me and didn't notice I was up yet. It didn't take her long for her nose to flare up and she started to sniff the air intently. Soon her nose lead her to me and when she turned around to see me sitting there with freshly cooked fish she seemed surprised, like she was still in a dream. Her dumbfounded face was rather adorable and made me smile.
"Morning... Feeling better yet?" I asked.
"Uh... Yeah, I don't... I don't feel cold anymore." She said. "I think... You're uh... Methods, worked well..." She said.
"Glad to hear it..." I said in a melancholy tone. "Here... I've cooked us breakfast. I know its weird, fish in the morning, but it's the best I could do."
"Fish!?" She said strangely. "Where the hell did you get fish?" She asked.
"I went out not too long ago and scavenged it from the wrecked ship outside." is said.
"Oh yeah, that's right... The ship." She said. "The fish smells good, but I didn't know ponies ate fish."
"Me neither... But who cares... Food!" I exclaimed moving the wooden barrel top plate of fish between us. Went back to work on the one fish I had already taken a nibble from and scarlet just looked at hers.
"Oh, it's... The uh... WHOLE, fish... Lovely." She said.
"You don't have to eat the WHOLE fish... Just the sides and stuff... It's not like there are many bones, and you can just pick off the pieces around it." I said. She looked at the fish and shrugged and we both started eating. It wasn't long before we had completely devoured both our fish leaving only the body skeleton and the head. They were fairly big fish, so it was enough to eat.
"That was pretty good." Complimented scarlet.
"Thanks... Roasted it myself."
"What? Did you toast them like marshmallows?" She asked sarcastically.
"Actually that's exactly what I did." I said picking up the pointy stick I used and waving it around a bit. That made scarlet lose it and she started laughing. I began to laugh too and we both smiled and laughed.
"You know... This reminds me of camping with my father." She said.
"This reminds me of camping in Bolivia." I said. "Except there four less bodies here and I don't have to worry about any war driven guys with guns trying to slit my throat in my sleep."
"You were really into the war stuff when you were human weren't you..." Said scarlet.
"I used to eat, sleep, and breathe warfare." I said. "I was specially trained and a certified killer. I was one of those people who had to Cary a weapons license even if I didn't have a weapon. I had a license for my fists." I said.
"Yeah... Sure." She said.
"Oh yeah... Were pretty much the same, what did you do?" I asked.
"I wasn't into the full force stuff like you were." She said. "I was the governments top spy, I had contacts in the CIA, FBI, and even the M8." She said. "I was one of the people that would go and infiltrate enemy lines and get whatever I wanted."
"I feel that the womanly charm you have helped..." I said.
"Yeah, it did... Men can be very stupid whenever a woman flashes her stuff." She said.
"I'm not going to deny that." I said.
"This reminds me of the time I was in St. Petersburg getting intel for the MI6. The camping part, not so much... But the snow and the cold... Definitely. But back then I had skin, not fur, and clothes... Lots of thick clothes. That was during the biggest storm of the decade."
"Have you ever wanted to go back?" I asked.
"Yes... And no." She said.
"Explain."
"Well, I do want to go back... It's a homesick feeling, I'm sure you get it." She said to which I agreed by nodding my head. "I would want to go back, but it don't have anything to go back to now. My family got wasted by the nuclear meltdown of the dream arch along with the rest of Arizona. If I were to go back I would want to just visit, not stay there. This is my new life now, but going there... Just to live life like a human once again would be great."
"You know, I feel the same way." I said. "Just rent an apartment for a little bit. Go out to a bar, get wasted and be able to drive a car... And meat... It's been so long since I've ate any meat."
"A nice juicy steak does sound unbelievable now."
"I do wish that I could go back sometimes..." She said.
"Yeah... Me too." We both sat there reminiscing about our lives as humans for a while but the conversation died down and the only thing we could do was sit there and watch the fire burn away. Tucked away in this cave time seamed to completely stop, and there was no way of telling when the hours would pass by, or the minutes really, I could only count the seconds. I sat by the fire throwing in more pieces of wood from the scrap pile I made from one of the crates left in here. The pile was starting to get low and soon enough I'd have to break the empty barrel for wood. As I finished tossing in a few pieces of wood I soon sat down and relaxed next to scarlet. Suddenly something caught my ears and they perked up, scarlets did too and we both looked over to the entrance of the cave.
"Did you hear that?" She asked.
"Shhh..." I said hushing her so I could hear. It was very faint, not very clear, but it sounded like a voice. We kept listening and I could hear the voice starting to get a bit more clear. Soon I was able to tell that there were two voices. I kept listening closely and soon the voices became clear and audible. When I listened to them though, they didn't sound like familiar voices that I knew.
"Tell me again why we're back out here?" Asked one of the voices. It was very deep and very strong. It sounded like a giants voice, it definitely wasn't a pony. Me and scarlet looked at each other and nodded. We listened up to see what they were talking about and eavesdropped on their conversation.
"Supplies mostly... Ever since huge ships have been falling from the mountain it's been a good opportunity to get fresh supplies." Said another voice which was just as deep and powerful as the other.
"Hey, look... Tracks."
"And they're fresh..."
"The cave... Over there." Said one of them. "HEY!"shouted the voice "ARE YOU IN THERE?" It asked. I looked at scarlet and she nodded again.
"IS SOMEPONY OUT THERE!?" I shouted from inside the cave.
"Hah, there's more..." Said the voice. Soon two shadows figures began to enter the cave. It was nothing but shadows at first until the two figures rounded the corner and were now present. They weren't ponies... That's for sure, but instead, before us stood two large Minotaurs. Both were wearing thick fur clothing with large horns and rings and piercings. Their horns had gold circles around them and they carried large axes which have seen quite a few battles.
"Uhm..." Muttered scarlet.
"Look Gord, two more." Said the Minotaur on the left.
"Are the both of you okay?" Asked the other one.
"Uhm, yes... Were both fine." I said. "We could hear you outside, you mentioned others... Were there more?" I asked.
"Yes, I assume on the same ship as you." He said. "We were out here scavenging and the ship practically dropped right on us. We fled and came back and found a cluster of ponies in the snow... We brought them back to our village." Said one of the minotaurs.
"Y-you have a village?" Asked scarlet.
"Yes, not far from here... We can bring you there, you would be welcomed."
"That sounds great right about now..." I said.
"Same here..." Agreed scarlet.
"How long have you been in this cave?" Asked one of the Minotaurs.
"Not as long as them..." Said the other one pointing to the two corpses in the back of the cave. They both got a laugh out of that and I have to admit that I chuckled a bit as well.
"It's only been a day..."
"You must have been buried in the snow; it's amazing that you even survived." Said one of them.
"We didn't check to sift through the snow, there was not much time... A storm was coming and it could have been dangerous for us." Said the other.
"Can you take us to your village?" Asked scarlet.
"Yes we can... We should go now." Said one of the Minotaurs. He turned around and started making his way out of the cave. I followed after the two of them and scarlet followed right behind me. We walked through the cave and soon we were outside back in the snow. We walked out I to the deep snow and started to make our way through the snow.
"Are we walking there?" Asked scarlet.
"No, of course not... Village is too far, weather is too cold... We have a sled that will carry us, it's this way." Said one of the Minotaurs dredging through the snow with his axe slung over his shoulder. We followed them and soon enough through the thick fog I was able to see a sled. When we got closer I could see it was more than a sled. It was a huge wooden sleigh with crates and supplies tied down to it. In front of the sleigh was a team of six wolves. They were large wolves too, bigger than I was and covered in white fluffy fur. They laid in the snow but got right back up as we came by.
"Are those wolves pulling the sled?" I asked.
"Yes, arctic great-wolves." Said one of the Minotaurs climbing onto the sled and taking the reins. The other one climbed on too and we both got onto the back and held onto something. "Mush!" Shouted the Minotaur whipping the reins. The dogs soon started to pull the sleigh, slowly at first, but they soon gathered speed and we began making our way down the mountain being pulled by the sleigh. As we grew closer to the bottom of the mountain and past the thick snow and rocky terrain the fog began to clear up until I could actually see more than a few feet in front of my face. Soon enough as we finally reached the bottom the fog had lifted up like a layer of clouds and everything was visible again. Smaller mountains peaked off in the distance and a large crevice cut through the ground up ahead. The sides were iced down and it seemed to fall endlessly into darkness.
The whole terrain was completely flat and covered in snow. Large mountains of ice and stone jetted up from the ground ahead. The two Minotaurs in front of us started whispering stuff to each other but I couldn't hear them over the treading of the sleigh. The team of six wolves carried the sleigh effortlessly through the thick snow which had grown somewhat thinner. We got to the bottom and evened out with the rest of the snow. The wind blowing against our faces was cold and the air was frigid, but me and scarlet could handle the cold a bit better now that we've returned to strength.
"Look..." Said one of the Minotaurs pointing off to a group of mountains in the distance.
"That's where the village is... Hidden in the mountains." Added the other one.
"You ponies have names, correct?" Asked the first one.
"Uh, yeah... I'm crimson blast."
"And I'm scarlet blaze..."
"Hmm, strange names... Could they be with the unicorns?" Asked one to the other.
"Possibly."
"What unicorns?" I asked.
"A group of four..." He said. "We carried them away the other day, there were more sleds then, five sleds. We brought back twelve ponies in all." He said.
"We brought back four ponies, some unconscious, only one was awake... An old pony at that too." He said.
"Was the old one wearing robes?" I asked.
"Yes..."
"And the other three, what were they like?" I asked.
"Two looked like brother and sister." Said one of the Minotaurs who was driving the sleigh. "A boy and girl. Both seemed the same, and were wearing the same robes as the old colt."
"The third one was a girl, a bit younger... Purple too, very purple."
"That must be twilight." I said. "Do you know if the purple one is safe?" I asked.
"Yes, we brought them back. They may be suffering from the cold, but are being warmed right now at the great hall."
"Good... We need to go and see them." I said.
"Sure..."
"Who else is there?" Asked scarlet.
"It's hard to say, I cannot know for sure since we have not brought them back on our sled, we did not stay an learn names either."
"There were two others who seemed to stay awake in the cold." Added the other Minotaur.
"Ah yes... Two mares." Confirmed the first one remembering now.
"Yes, one was in heavy armor with blonde hair and light grey fur."
"The other was a rather strange pony... She had blood red eyes, and leather armor with a face mask. She spoke in riddles and showed little emotion."
"That sounds like Rena... And the blonde mare sounds like the knight commander." I said.
"What are your names?" Asked scarlet.
"I am Gord..." Said the Minotaur driving the sleigh.
"And I am Rokk..." Said the other one. We stayed silent for a while and kept sleighing through the long frozen wasteland. There wasn't much now and we had reached the flat of the terrain. Everything seemed perfectly leveled and it was like a blank piece of paper on a white canvas.
"Rokk... Look." Said Gord leaning over to his friend and whispering while pointing up ahead.
"I see it..." He said.
" see what?" Asked scarlet.
"Wait... Scarlet do you feel that?" I asked sensing a strong presence.
"No...why?" She asked. I said nothing else and concentrated on the strong presence. It moved through the ground and soon I could feel it directly under us, and it began to get closer to the surface.
"Quickly, TURN!" I shouted. Gord whipped the reins of the sleigh and the wolves took a sharp turn left we jerked left just in time for a large creature to break out from the ground and kick snow and stone everywhere. The creature resembled a large worm with a spiraling vortex of teeth and an outer shell which seemed like it was made of ice. It sprung into the air and made a high pitched roar before collapsing on the ground and quickly digging itself back into the ground.
"That was close..." Said Rokk.
"What was that thing?" Asked scarlet.
"It was a worm..." Said Gord. "We should be fine now."
"How can you be so sure?" I asked.
"The ice worms are very lazy creatures. We saw it move from its hovel into the ground. You could tell by the shifting ground before it digs deep and gets ready to pounce."
"Most don't survive those attacks, luckily you told us to move at the right time and we dodged it." Said Rokk. "Since they are so lazy it will give up now and wait for another meal to pass... We'll have to warn the other riders once we get back to the village." We rode on for a few more seconds before a deep rumbling sound started to shake the ground.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Huh, I suppose you were right Gord."
"What do you mean by that?" Asked scarlet.
"It would seem that the moving earth wasn't the worm after all, the worm wasn't what we had seen earlier." Said Gord.
"So what did you see?" I asked. Before I got an answer a large creature suddenly burst from the ground and started running along side the sled. The creature looked like it was made completely of ice with a long slender body and four long sharp legs. The legs were more just like spears that it walked on and it's head was pointed in the back with a large mouth full of jagged teeth and deep blue eyes. In the inside of its body burned what looked like a little blue flame which you could see through the ice.
"Those..." Answered Rokk to my earlier question. Suddenly more of them started to pop out of the ground until there were about twenty of them. They ran alongside the sleigh and seemed to easily match our speed. One of them even ran past the sleigh itself and ran beside the dogs which growled and barked at it while they ran. The creature jumped forward at one of the dogs in lead and attacked it. This caused the other dogs to trip and get tangled up in the leashes and soon the whole sleigh had crashed. Me, scarlet and the Minotaurs were thrown off into the snow and supplies and food crashed around us. A large crate actually flew over and landed on top of me and buried me deeper in the snow.
From under the crate I could hear e sounds of whimpering a whining dogs making wails of pain along with strange gurgling sounds coming from the ice like creatures. I put all my might into my body and managed to throw the heavy crate off me. It flew through the air and I rose up from the snow. Rokk and Gord were not far from me with their axes in their hands. One of the things jumped at Gord but he swung his axe and cleaved the beast in two. One of them jumped at Rokk and clung to his back but he reached behind him and threw the beast as hard as he could into the others. I looked over to the sleigh wreckage and there was a wolf fighting one of them. The wolf attacked the creature but the beast overpowered the wolf and threw it to the ground. It jumped on the wolf and started stabbing it repeatedly with its long spear like legs. It thrashed the wolf viciously and without mercy. It must have stabbed the wolf a hundred times within ten seconds. I looked over and checked that scarlet was alright, and luckily she was. She too was getting up out of the snow.
"Crimson look out!" She shouted looking worriedly at me. I quickly looked behind me to see one of those things jumping at me. I quickly dodged away and rolled through the snow. I got back to my hooves but that thing was already advancing in me again. I mustered up my strength and flashed my wings. I flapped them hard and took off into the air and out of dangers way. That thing had jumped up after me and had enough air that it actually was able to scrape the side of my cheek with its razor sharp leg. Scarlet got the same idea and quickly flew up into the air after me. I looked over at Rokk and Gord who were holding off a hoard of at least twenty of them. The one that had come after me was now sneaking up on Gord. I quickly flew down with enough speed and intensity that I created a veil of energy around me. I smashed into the one sneaking up on them and is shattered into pieces from the impact. I flew back up into the air and turned around.
I took in a deep deep breath and imbued my breath with fire magic. I let out a quick breath of air which exited as a fast moving fire ball. The large ball of fire hurled towards the large cluster of creatures and made impact in the dead center creating a massive explosion of swirling fire and flames. Some of the creatures that got hit shattered and melted, others were thrown to the side. I flew back down and took another deep breath. I breathed out a stream of fire as I flew by a burnt everything in my path. I landed on the ground and turned around to see that I had the attention of those things now which were racing after me.
I slammed my front two hooves on the ground and blunt spikes of earth shot from the ground in a straight line not too far from me and completely destroyed a few of those things. The ones that didn't shatter on impact had jumped over them and kept racing towards me. It wasn't long before they got to me and I used my magic to summon my scythe at my side. I spun it it my wings and those things circled me. One of them kept at me but I dodged forward spinning my scythe above me which cut off the creatures legs and it fell to the ground shrieking in pain. Two more pounced and I dodged the first one and moved from the dodge to an attack.
He first one slid past me as I moved to the side of the second one and brought the beard of my scythe down on its back which ultimately cleaved the creature in half. I used that initial momentum to swing the scythe around and stab the tip of the scythe blade into the side of the first creatures head. I pulled the scythe out and the creature fell to the ground. I adjusted my stance and spun the scythe around me with enough energy to create a large wave of fire which cut through the air towards the remaining creatures. The flames hit against the beasts and some were cut apart others burnt of caught fire strangely. Others fled, and soon the danger was gone as what little creatures left fled away into the arctic wasteland. I let out a deep sigh of relieve and used my magic to summon the holster for my scythe and holstered it over my back.
"Something tells me that this one isn't much like the others Rokk..." Said Gord.
"I feel the same way."
"Crimson, are you alright?" Asked scarlet flying down from the sky towards me. She landed next to me in the snow and seeing that I was fine, smiled. "Oh, you got scratched..."she said placing her hoof near the small cut I got on my face. It was bleeding a little, but it was literally nothing compared to some of the wounds I've received in my time.
"It's nothing... I'm fine."
"You there... Pony... What are you?" Asked Rokk as he and Gord began walking over to me.
"You breathe fire like a dragon, but you are not." Said Gord
"And you use magic like a unicorn, though you haven't ah horn." Added Rokk.
"I'm a lot of things... But out of all those things, the one thing that I am the most is interesting." I said.
"Interesting is definitely the word for it." Said Rokk.
"The danger is gone... But we've lost our sled and supplies." Said Gord.
"More importantly we've lost our dog team." Said Rokk. We walked over to the sleigh wreckage and laying there was a bloody pile of furry bodies. All of the wolves were dead, torn to ribbons by those things. "Poor things, didn't stand a chance."
"Look Rokk..." Said Gord. The pile shifted and a whimper could be heard under the bodies. Gord and Rokk moved the dead bodies away to see an uninjured wolf laying beneath them all.
"It's frosty, she's alive." Said Rokk happily surprised.
"It's okay girl... You're going to be fine." Said Gord encouragingly as he and Rokk undid the harness of the wolf and pulled her out of the pile. They let her go and she landed on the ground and barked happily. She didn't run away or flee but stood there obediently wagging her tail.
"Good girl..." Said Rokk. The wolf looked over to us and walked over to sniff us. I wouldn't have a problem, that is, if the wolf wasn't actually bigger than I am. I can understand Rokk and Gord being much larger than us. They towered a good three or four feet above us, but this wolf was a good foot above me. It was kind of scary how tall the wolves were. She sniffed all over me and then licked me from the bottom of my chest to the tip of my head covering me in dog slime.
"Get off him girl..., said Gord.
"You'd better wipe that off you, it'll freeze." Added Rokk. I decided to take his advice and walked over to the wrecked sleigh. I grabbed the tarp laying on the ground and wiped the dog saliva off my face. I tossed the tarp back down on the ground and walked back over to the others. The snow here was definitely not as thick as it was on the mountain. It only came up a foot and a half now. The large snow wolf paced around panting. She looked completely unfazed by the fact that the other five wolves had been torn to ribbons.
"Well, were out of luck. The sleigh's wrecked. The cargo is spilled... Most of the wolves are dead." Said Gord
"Were lucky to just save one." Said Rokk
"So what now?" I asked.
"Well, were still alive... No major damage done, and it definitely could have been worse." Said Rokk.
"Now we walk." Said Gord.
"I guess there's no other way." I said.
"Can't we just fly there crimson?" Asked scarlet.
"Good luck getting through the gates without us. Even if you do come in peace, they still won't let you in without us." Said Rokk turning around as we started walking through the snow.
"There's no helping it." Said Gord. "We might have to take path through the ice gap."
"Gord, you know that's dangerous." Added Rokk.
"Everything's dangerous." Argued Gord. "At least in there we can limit the travel, and we won't be hunted by any creatures."
"If we aren't going to be hunted by creatures, then how is it still dangerous?" I asked.
"It's haunted..." Said Rokk
"It's... Haunted." I repeated.
"This isn't any rumor, the ghosts don't hesitate to make an appearance." Said Gord. "Wicked ice spirits haunt the frozen pass. If we can get through we'll be able to get to the village without much other trouble."
"And if we stay out here?" Asked scarlet.
"Then were liable to be attacked by anything that moves out here... And most things hunt under the snow, making for unseen dangers."
"Sounds like fun." I said.
"Remind me when we get back to the village to tell chief Thag about our newest arrival." Said Rokk to Gord. He turned back and we started making our way through the thick snow to the large mountains which now loomed above us. Way off in the distance, following the mountain range, a large gap could be seen where the entrance to the village most likely lays, but that was very... Very, far away. It didn't take much longer for us to get up to the base of the mountains. Once we were there Rokk pointed out a very obvious path up the mountain. "There it is, the path to the gap... It isn't dangerous, most creatures are wise enough to know not to come this way."
"The real danger is inside..." Added Gord. We bagel making the drudge up the mountain side. It wasn't very steep and the ground was solid ice, which makes it even better that it wasn't steep. I still had a hard time keeping my balance on the ice, and so did scarlet. The two Minotaurs seemed to walk along the ice and their boots gripped to it like rubber.
"What's on your boots that makes them cling to the ice?" I asked.
"They're lathered in the oil of an iceberg whelk. Large snails that cling to the undersides of large icebergs, this oil helps them cling to it... Very useful." Said Rokk.
"I take it the both of you aren't from this part of the world..." Said Gord turning back slightly to look at the two of us.
"It's strange how they haven't died from the cold." Said Rokk.
"Yes very... Where do you two come from?"
"Equestria..." Stated scarlet.
"That makes it even stranger." Said Rokk.
"What are the two of you doing out of the city?" Asked Gord.
"We're on a quest... But I guess you could call it civil service." I said.
"I take it this has to do with the horn disappearing." Said Gord.
"Yes... How did you know?" I asked.
"It explains why we found you on the mountain..." Said Rokk. "For some time ships have been falling down that mountain at random... We didn't know what the reason was, and we found it strange."
"Then we got a visit from a pony, a rather tall pony, both horns and wings, and hair that glowed like the midnight sky." Added Gord.
"That must be the prince." I said.
"Yes he visited the village and told us all about what was going on." He said. "Then he left, we do not know where... But the chief does, if this is your quest, then speaking with the chief would be a step in the right direction."
"How long ago did the prince arrive at your village?" Asked scarlet.
"Two months ago." Said Rokk. "He stayed for a month, then left without saying goodbye to anybody but the chief. We haven't seen him since."
"Oh..." I said. We kept on walking our way up the mountain until up ahead was a large cave opening with icicles hanging from the top of the cave, like teeth. We started to walk in and the cave was much taller than even the Minotaurs. She second I walked in I felt a chill run down my back. Pit wasn't because of the cold, but it was something else. The cave was indeed cold, but it was a strange kind of cold, like a desolate cold. There wasn't any breeze or noise or anything, just stillness. Even the sound of steps didn't seem to pass through the air. The cave was iced over everywhere and large jagged icicles hung precariously from the ceiling.
"Watch your steps... This place is evil." Said Rokk. Suddenly the wolf with us started to growl and bark at something ahead of us.
"Look. There..." Said Gord immediately stopping us all. I looked forward and surprisingly there was a small child sitting on a large rock in front of us. She was just a little filly and was wearing rags with a teddy bear. She sat there with dark, sullen eyes. Her body was tinted blue and transparent. She didn't even seem to sit on the rock more or less float a few centimeters above it.
"Is that one of the ghosts?" Asked scarlet.
"Yes..." Said Gord. "Most likely telling us to turn back, or run away."
"You shouldn't have come here..." Said the small ghost who's voice was faded and shifted through the air. It sounded like it came from all directions. She didn't even move her mouth to speak, the sound just protruded from her being.
"I suppose you're going to tell us to turn back..." Said Rokk trying to make a smart remark.
"No... You shouldn't have come here... But." She said taking a pause. "Now that you're here... It's too late." She said. Suddenly there was a shifting sound behind us as the entrance to the cave all of a sudden shut closed, like the cave itself had closed its mouth and eaten us. Everything was dark, and the only light came from the small illuminated ghost girl. Then suddenly the whole cave lit up with eerie blue lights as the figures of hundreds of ponies appeared all around us giving off faint blue light. They all wore rags and dirty clothes and they stared at the four of us with soulless black eyes. They wavered in the air and seemed not to overlap each other. They stood there and just watched. The small little filly stood up on the rocks and floated into the air above us. The wolf had stopped barking and now whimpered with her tail between her legs and her ears dropped back.
"Uh... Crimson." Said scarlet as the ghosts soon started to close in on us.
"Ah, shit... Well, it's been fun." Said Rokk pulling out his axe.
"I don't think you can cut ghosts." Added Gord who pulled his axe out regardless.
"That isn't going to stop me from trying." Added Rokk.
"Crimson, can you do something?" Asked scarlet. I started trying to think of something to do as the ghosts grew closer and closer. You can't electrocute them, or burn them, or freeze them, can't poison them... Or touch them for that fact. There is a spirit spell that I know that will keep them away. "Don't you have a spell or something?" She asked,
"I do... Just, give me a sec." I said. "It's a verbal spell ,give me a sec to figure out the words." I said. The ghosts started closing in faster and faster.
"I don't mean to derail your train of thought... But that spell would be really nice about now." Added Gord.
"Uhm... Alright." I said thinking back. "Uh... Lillicum, zeska... Uh, uh..."
"Crimson hurry." Said scarlet, the ghosts were practically on top of us now.
"SPIRITUM..." I shouted as a sudden rush of power filled my body and my eyes began to glow a bright blue. Suddenly bright blue waves of energy began emitting from the air around me and they pushed the spirits backwards and even caused some of them to start fading. Soon the waves of energy had started to push the spirits away and soon they fled, fading through the walls to get away. Once they were gone I relaxed and the waves of energy stopped and my eyes ceased to glow. I let out a deep sigh along with the others.
"What evil magic is that?" Asked a voice above us. We looked up to see the ghost girl floating above us with her hooves covering her ears. She looked down at us and shrieked at us with a very high pitched scream as she bolted towards me growing more fierce looking.
"Tetrias, monoco, spiritum!" I shouted out as power rushed through my body and glowing blue chains broke out from the ground around me and wrapped themselves around the ghost girl binding her. They pulled her to the ground and held her In place. She struggled to get free but it was of no use.
"When did you learn spells like that?" Asked scarlet.
"I read about spirit magic in a book on gypsy magic... Most of their spells can be used by anypony, but requires a lot of spiritual energy to use, and they're verbally activated, so they aren't as fast as I would like them to be, but I don't know spirit magic otherwise, and it seems to have done the trick."
"Please, let me go... Please, I'm... I-I'm sorry." Wailed the ghost girl who now seemed to be crying.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to banish your soul, but I can't really absolve you either... There's something that's binding you and the others to this place." I said walking over to the small ghost filly.
"Something binding them?" Asked scarlet.
"Ah, that makes sense..." Added Rokk,
"When somebody or somepony is killed o they meet an untimely demise their anguished souls might bind to the place where they died."
"Once bound they cannot find peace until the problem is solved." I added. "So, do you remember how you all died?" I asked the small ghost.
"No... I, I don't." She said. "We were supposed to be wanderers, out a long time ago, trying to settle and make a town as an extension of the city... We entered this cave to escape a storm... And that's all I remember. The only other thing I've been able to remember was blood... Lots of blood." She said.
"Blood huh?" Scarlet murmured.
"I never meant any harm, but I thought that if I could posses one of you I would be free." She said.
"That never would have worked." Said Rokk.
"Is there anything else you can tell us?" I asked.
"Well... There's a door down the cave, but it's closed, and it's been sealed off with paper runes, we can't pass it."
"Paper rune!?" I said surprisingly. "I can assume that you aren't the ones who placed those there." I said.
"No..." Said the small ghost. I stood there for a second and looked at the little ghost girl. I looked over to scarlet and the Minotaurs. I let out a sigh and looked back at the ghost.
"Release..." I commanded and suddenly the chains binding her to the ground vanished. She quickly got up and flew away through a wall. I turned back around and looked at the others. "You know that feeling you get when you can tell that something is going to go wrong?" I asked them.
"Definitely." They all answered in unison.
"So, were going to keep going?" Asked scarlet.
"Might as well... We've come this far, I don't see how we can stop now." I started walking forward and soon the others agreed and followed behind me. Rokk and Gord tried to get the wolf to come with us, but it was majorly spooked and wouldn't even budge, we had to leave her behind. We started making our way through the caves, still getting the feeling that we were being watched, probably because we were. The cave had began to get larger and larger. The walls became wider and the cave roof towered up high like a rift in the earth.
Strange roots began to pert rude from the walls of the cave, I have no idea what they could possibly be the roots of, but they were thick and hairy. Soon small glowing mushrooms began cluttering the walls and the ground too. Long hanging moss dripped down from the ceiling and pockets of toadstool began popping up soon under our hooves. The whole place started to wreak of death, which might explain the fungi everywhere. We kept moving along until eventually we had come across the door that the ghost had spoken of. At first I had expected something a little small, but this door was anything but small.
It was a massive door that reached the height of the cave, a good twenty or thirty feet in length. It was just as wide as the cave too, large enough to fit a caravan through. The whole door was made of stone with strange markings carved into it, overlapping the markings were small pieces of paper that had strange symbols and markings on them. They overlapped each other and covered the door. They had glyphs on them and strange circles and symbols. There was definitely a strong presence emanating from the room. Just when I thought it couldn't get any creepier I suddenly felt an incredible cold rush over my body, and a voice started calling our from behind the door.
"AH... Fresh...souls." Said a faded and raspy voice. It sounded like a ghosts voice, except a bit more real.
"Did you hear that?" I asked.
"Hear what... The cave is silent." Said scarlet.
"No, I heard that... A voice, there's something behind this door." I said.
"Break...the seal... Open... My domain." Said the voice again. I knew the voice wasn't good, but I suddenly started to feel very light, and I began to loose control of my body now. I raised a hoof up and placed it on the stone door. I could feel myself loosing control, it was a strangely familiar feeling, but I've learned how to fight it. My eyes soon started to fade and loose color as something took control of my body.
"Crimson... What are you doing?" Asked scarlet. I couldn't answer. But I focused my energy and soon I forced myself back into control. Once I was back I. Control for a mere second I cast a mind lock on myself to keep from being controlled again. I took my hoof away from the door and placed it back down.
"That was close." I said.
"What happened?" Asked Rokk.
"There's something sinister on the other side of this door." I said. "Just then I felt it calling out to me, commanding my body. It wants us to go through."
"What do we do?" Asked scarlet.
"You don't think..." Said Rokk looking to Gord with a serious expression.
"It couldn't be... That's just an old tale and you know it."
"What?" Asked scarlet.
"There's an old tale that says, buried somewhere in the cold and ice lives a Lich, a powerful being with control over ice and souls." Said Rokk.
"But it is merely an old wives tale." Added Gord.
"Sometimes things that we don't believe in, are more real than we think." I said. "I know this from experience."
"I think that we ignore whatever this is and press on. We can't stay out here forever." Said Gord.
"Hold on a second." I said, but Gord ignored me and placed his hand on the door. "No, wait..." I said. He pushed against the door and it started to open up. As soon as the door creaked open slightly all of the paper seals on the door suddenly burst into a puff of green flames and vanished. The doors immediately shot right open and an echoing laughter emitted from the other side of the door and echoed through the cave. Chilling winds blew past us, and sent chills down my spine. The other side of the room was dark, but soon torches on the walls lit up with green flames and lit up what was on the other side, and what we saw was almost unbelievable. Instead of more caves, there was an entire throne room sitting there, collecting dust.
We walked in and looked around. The whole place was large and round. There was a large well in the center with green glowing fire burning deeply in the very center. At the back was a throne. On the throne sat a withered old skeleton who's bones have charred black and became decrepit with age. It had a black thorn crown resting on its head and it was draped in long dark cloth that had decayed and torn. It was the skeleton of a pony. It was bigger than all of us, and sat on a massive throne. All around us in the circular room were torches on the walls which burned green flames. Behind the throne was an uprising which was acces able by staircases on either side of the room which matched the circular curve of the room and ascended up to the uprising. Up there sat a door, which seemed like the way out. But the most noticeable feature in the room were the walls, which were packed in with corpses, skeletons and skulls. Bones piled up on bones and packed in to make a wall around the whole place. There was another echoing laugh that seemed to come from all directions. Curiously, we all walked a little fur the into the room.
"I don't like this... There's something wrong with this place." Said scarlet who had her ears pointed down and was in to scared, defensive stance. The two Minotaurs kept their axes in their hands and treated lightly, as did I. I had summoned my scythe and held it tightly in my wings and prepared for the worst. We slowly made our way in and stopped once we had gotten to the well of fire. I looked in at the swirling green flames, and it was almost mesmerizing.
"This...place." Said a ghostly voice behind me. We all quickly shot back to see that it was merely the ghost girl from before. She was standing past the doorway looking in and looking around with awe. "I...I remember this place." She said. Soon all the other pony ghosts had began walking out of the walls and walking into the room as well. They all walked into the room and looked around as well and started to eye the walls and the well in the middle. Suddenly there was another echoing laugh, this time it was stronger and more audible than before. Soon enough all of the ghosts in the room started sliding across the grounds they dug their hooves in the keep them from moving but the force pulling them was strong. They wailed and moaned as they began to slide towards the large skeleton on the throne. The ponies began spiraling and swirling around the large skeleton. They soon were absorbed into it and became a swirling mass of green energy within the skeleton. I looked back to see that the small filly ghost was the only one left, but she was still being pulled towards it. The look of fear and realization was very visible on her face,
"What's happening?" Asked scarlet. The force was even enough to affect us too and it blew against us like a strong breeze.
"I remember now..." Said the filly. "I remember everything, you mustn't stay here... Run, quickly,or he'll consume you." She said before being lifted off the ground and sucked into the large skeleton screaming and wailing. Once she was absorbed the green energy in the skeleton faded and the room began to quake. Soon rubble started falling from the ceiling as the room shook and evil laughter was heard once more. And then the skeleton on the throne began to shift and crack. One of the hooves suddenly jerked up from its rest on the throne. Then the other jerked up. The skeleton began moving as if it was stuck to the throne and it was prying itself free. It soon got up and landed on all four hooves. It's crown rested crookedly on its head and it's dark soulless eyes pierced through the room. It inched closer, and closer taking small steps towards us, and the well.
It let out a diabolical cackle and it's jaw opened up and closed as it laughed and inched closer. The flames in the well burned brighter and taller. The room began to grow frightfully cold as the walls began to ice over. The large skeleton took one more step and was at the foot of the well right in front of us. Then I moved forward again and walked right into the well. It placed one hoof in and the fire started to cling to his hoof and travel up his body. Then he placed the other hooves in and stood in the center. A large blast of green light and fire burst from the well and enveloped the skeleton in energy. The blast broke up through the ceiling and cut through the mountain. Soon it faded and standing before us was a skeleton of great power. He had large green glowing eyes and it radiated with green flames and energy that burned deep inside it. It's black tattered cloak waved around him like it was in water and a large cracked, double bladed axe appeared beside him. It had green veins running through it and its blades were lit with green fire. He cackled once more and spewed fire with his evil laugh.
"I...am alive." He shouted out letting out a deep roar of power. "One hundred THOUSAND YEARS!" He shouted out. "Sitting on that throne for such a time can be such a pain in the ass... You have my... Gratitude."
"What are you?" I asked.
"I...? What am I?" He asked chuckling right after. His laughter was soft but grew loud as flames burned around him then died off when he stopped laughing. "I A, THE LICH KING!" He shouted. "The ruler of lost souls, Barron on the ice and king of ghosts." He said. "You lesser being have my gratitude, for releasing the seals on the door,and bringing me fresh souls. Without that delicious snack of fresh souls I wouldn't have been able to reach my well of power. So I offer you this, stand by me... And together we will rule this world." He said extending his hoof out to us.
"No!" I said turning him down.
"Well, then you will die here." Said the Lich. "You will die here and I'll consume the power of your souls. And I sense you have such great power, it would taste delicious." He said. "Once I leave this place I will spread death and misery across the world, I'll shower the earth in cold and death. I'll rule the land and turn it into a land of forgotten souls. I will wipe out all existing life, until I have devoured this place... Then I will transcend to another world... With new souls, fresh bodies."
"You do realize that isn't going to happen." I said stepping into a ready stance and focusing all my energy into creating armor and glowing brightly. The Lich began laughing once again and stood up on his hind legs and held his axe with both front hooves. He swung his axe overhead and smashed it into the ground and we all dodged out of the way. I spun my scythe quickly and created a wave of energy that cut through the air and hit the Lich. It hit him dead on and made a harsh impact and he grunted from the force of the attack but seemed uninjured nonetheless. Scarlet had summoned her armor and spread her wings out wide. Bolts of light magic fired out from the glowing crest of her wings and spiraled through the air. The Lich lifted up his hoof and blocked some of them but most of them hit him directly, he grunted again but it didn't seem to do much to him. He looked over to me and swung his axe at me from the side. I didn't have time to dodge but I blocked it. The sharp blade of the axe hit the staff of my scythe and it pushed me back quite a bit, creating a trail of torn up earth in the ground. Once the dirt under me became stable I stopped being pushed back and held my place with my scythe blocking his giant axe. I had to pour lots of my strength into it just to keep myself from flying off the ground.
"What!?" Exclaimed the Lich at the strength of my block. I grunted and roared as I began to push back against his axe. The burning green flames were not far from my face, but they didn't burn. They were the flames of lost souls, not of fire. Even though it didn't burn, it was cold... Very cold. The Lich himself emanated a frosty veil around him and everything he touched seemed to get frozen over.
"Crimson...!" Shouted scarlet. I looked over to her to see what she wanted. "Your spirit magic... Use it on the Lich." She said shouting over to me from the other side of the room. She had a good point, spirit magic should work effectively on the Lich if he's the king of souls.
"Alright..." I said. I'm going to have to thank mystee later for letting me borrow that book, it's saving my ass big time. "Deus...Nebula... Spirituum!" I shouted as my body began to glow bright purple and purple and black flames began burning from my eyes. Runed covered over my body and they too began to emit purple and black flames. "Dema...Nozora...Spirituum." I shouted as my scythe began to glow with flames too and I pulled away from my block and quickly jumped high into the air. The lich's axe continued into one of the walls and I was already high In the air. I quickly spun and fired a large wave of purple flames from my scythe towards the Lich. The attack hit him and the flames burst around him and he howled out in pain and fell backwards. He hit the ground and Rokk had to dodge out of the way. The Lich howled in pain once more before getting back up.
"Insolence... I'll devour your soul twice for this." He shouted angrily.
"Crimson it worked." Shouted scarlet happily.
"If you want to play with fire... Then let's okay with fire!" Shouted the Lich. He opened his mouth and green flames burst out from his gaping and boney maw. The flames covered me and chilled me to the core, so much that it actually began to cut my skin and burn. I quickly flapped my wings and shot out of the torrent of fire and smashed right into the ground in pain. I grunted in pain but got right back onto my hooves. The Lich laughed and closed his mouth. There were open wounds on my body, and parts of me had become frostburned. The armor I wore did a good job of protecting me, but if I enchant it with spirit magic it might help even more.
"Amora...zasca...Spirituum!" I shouted as the my old on my armor shifted and changed shape and began glowing purple. Even the energy around my wings changed and they began glowing and burning with black and purple flames. Even when I opened my mouth purple and black flames shot out like tongues of fire.
"What insolent magic is this!?" Shouted the Lich. "Do you think that there is hope?"
"Nebula...mana... Spirituum!" I shouted as I spread my wings and much like scarlet had done, winding bolts of black and purple flames shot out from the crest of my wings and spiraled towards the Lich. He blocked with his axe by placing it in front of by him but a few of them still got through and blasted hill he cried out and lifted his axe. He thruster it down at me with relentless force. I quickly brought my scythe up and blocked the attack again, the impact forced the ground around me to shatter and I formed a crater, but held the block successfully. The Lich growled and brought his axe back up. Once the weight was off me I quickly shot off the ground and rocketed towards the Lich. I zoomed past him and sliced my blade across the left side of his head leaving a cut across it which leaked green flames. He let out a moan of pain and quickly swiped his hoof across the air and hit.
He hit me right out of the air and I crashed into the wall. I fell down from the hole I made into the wall as large chunks of gravel and skulls fell down on top of me. I grunted in pain for a second then got back up on my hooves. He swung his large axe once more towards me and I dodged out of the way. I realized that I wouldn't be able to defeat him normally, so I'll have to seal him away, like he had been before. I quickly got to work and stamped the ground under me and a magic circle carved itself into the ground under me and started glowing faint green. In order to seal him I'll need something strong, I think a six point seal will do the trick.
The Lich swung his axe at me and I dodged out of the way and landed on the next spot. I stamped on the ground and another magic circle carved itself into the ground and started glowing. That's the second point of the grand circle. The Lich swung his axe one more time and I dodged once more and flew over to the third point. I stomped another circle into the ground and it started glowing. Suddenly a blast of fire blew up against the Lich and knocked his to the side slightly. He looked over and it was scarlet who had shot the blast. That gave me enough time to jump over to the next spot and lay down the fourth point.
The Lich swung at scarlet and she dodged out of the way and spread her wings out. She fired several winding bolts of light at the Lich and they all made impact since his guard was down. The missiles of light hit the Lich and forced him back. I quickly moved to the fifth spot and laid down the next point. Then I quickly moved to the last spot and laid down the final point. I stayed on the final point a forced a large amount of magic through my body and into the six circles. Lines of magic carved through the ground and connected the six points together. Soon the six points formed a larger circle. Symbols began carving into the ground and the circle began to glow brightly. I took a deep breath and started shouting out the incantation.
"Six point seal!" I said. "Une za spiritum..." I said and the first circle began glowing brightly and a large beam of green light fired up from the circle. The Lich was startled by that and then turned his attention towards me. "Zuo za spiritum... Treka za spiritum." I said and the second and third circles began glowing and shot bright beams of green light into the air. The Lich swung his axe at me, but the force of the magic I was using was already preventing him from leaving the circle, and he couldn't strike me. I could feel the circle starting to sap the energy from my body and I was starting to feel weak now. "Quanta za spiritum..." I said as the fourth circle glowed brightly and a green pillar fired into the air. I felt even more energy being sucked from my body and I fell on one knee trying to keep myself up.
"Crimson... Are you alright?" Asked scarlet.
"I'm fine..." I said responding quickly and getting back up. I turned my attention back to the spell. I took another deep breath and started the fifth incantation. "Sensa za spiritum..." The fifth circle began blowing brightly and a blast of breen energy shot up from the ground just like the others. Not her rush passed through me and I felt myself becoming even weaker. This seal is becoming very demanding, I'll probably completely exhaust myself after this. Nevertheless I carried on and focused all of my energy on the sixth circle, which I was standing on. "Xexa za spiritum!" I chanted as the circle under me began glowing even brighter and soon I was engulfed by a whole pilar of light. "Dominum...azernoth...solus a nimbus dictum... VOLA A SPIRITUM!" I shouted as a green barrier encircled the Lich king.
Soon it started to suck all of the energy from his body as he writhed and slashed trying to break the seal. The ground cracked and energy leaked from the cracks of the ground. The energy from the Lich was being sucked out as a green aura and was being absorbed by the six circles. The ground rumbled and shook and the cave around us began cracking and shattering, but luckily it all held. The Lich began to holler as the fire inside of him soon died out and his bones became blackened once again. Once there was no more energy to be sucked up by the circles, the green glow started to fade and the circles stopped glowing as well. Soon the seal was just a carving in the rock ground with me standing on one of the circle. With the sealing process complete and the energy had stopped being sapped from my body I then collapsed from exhaustion.
"Crimson!" Shouted scarlet who ran over. She bolted over and sat down beside me and propped my head up. I just looked at her and laughed. A small smile managed to spread across her face and she giggled too. Then the two Minotaurs who we traveled with walked over with smiles on their faces.
"This isn't how I expected the trip to go..." Said Rokk. "But it sure was an interesting journey."
"We don't get paid enough for this." Said Gord to Rokk. The both of them laughed and so did we.
"Crimson are you going to be alright?" Asked scarlet.
"Yeah...but I can't feel my limbs, I used up too much energy to seal away the Lich." I said still chuckling a little bit. "Whoa!?" I exclaimed as Rokk reached down and picked me up in his hand. He slung me over his shouted and smiled.
"Don't worry, we'll get you outa here." He said. "Now... Where's the exit?"
"That looks like one to me." Said Gord pointing to the doorway up on the high rise at the end of the room resting above the throne the Lich sat on. We all agreed and continued on that way. We got up the stairs and passed through the doorway and we were lead into more caves. Rokk carried me through the caves on his shoulder since I couldn't move. We walked through the caves until up ahead was a bright light. The sight of the light filled us all with hope and suddenly Gord had scooped up scarlet to her own surprise and the two Minotaurs started bolting it towards the light. The heaviness of their footsteps caused the earth to tremble after every step and the light ahead became brighter and brighter. Soon the light engulfed us, and so did the cold. Once the light faded and I could see clearly, I saw that we were outside, and just ahead was a rather large looking town with huge wooden fencing surrounding it. There were huts and tundra cotton farms on the outskirts, but the real town was surrounded by the huge log walls. Rokk and Gord smiled and started carrying us through the snow.
"Welcome, to the Minotaur town of Snowforge." Said Rokk as the two of them casually carried us through the snow towards the town.
"Our town is famous for its steel. Since the mountains that surround this town are rich with all kinds of precious metals and gems." Added Gord.
"How do you transport all your goods?" Asked scarlet which was a pretty good question.
"Dragons..." Said Rokk bluntly.
"Dragons?" I asked.
"Dragons..." Said Gord. "We send carrier dragons across seas to Equestria, where we transport the Snowforge weapons to other Minotaurs, who then usually send back money."
"Then they sell the weapons for themselves." Added Rokk. "It's a rather large shipping basin. But recently, we haven't been getting much trade."
"How come?" I asked.
"Something has spooked the dragons." Said Gord. "Can you believe that? What spooks a dragon? No matter what it is, the dragons refuse to leave the city. They just nap around all day. We though it was a problem with our dragons, but we haven't been getting any orders or payments from equestrian dragons either, so it must have something to do with the strange events that the prince had told our leader about."
"It must." I said. "Once we get inside I'll need to speak with your leader."
"It's not as simple as that." Said Rokk. "We are a very welcoming village, and will take you in, but not all outsiders can speak with the chief."
"You have to be strong and brave." Said Gord. "Only those who are strong can speak with the chief."
"But you needn't fear." Added Rokk. "When we let the chief know that you're here we'll be sure to let him know about what happened today. No doubt he will request and audience with you."
"Thanks..." I said. Rokk and Gord carried the two of us through the snow and to the outer area of the town. Once we were there we saw large buildings with Minotaurs walking around the streets and looking over at us. There were farms growing red berries and tundra cotton, and there were stables, not for horses, but large arctic wolves. Most of the Minotaurs seemed to recognize Rokk and Gord, but gave us awkward looks. Once we had passed all the houses and farmland we got to a large gap in the wooden fence which allowed us to enter. Once we were there everything changed and there were rows and rows of houses and shops. The town was huge, and most of it was because we were looking at Minotaur sized houses, so, put to scale, were like small dogs running around a town, everything was bigger.
"Where are we going?" Asked scarlet.
"We can bring you to your other friends resting in one of the banquet halls." Said Rokk, in fact, if I'm not mistaken, it should be this one over here." He said pointing to a gigantic building which seemed like it could house several Minotaurs tend their families. We walked over and Gord pushed open the huge wooden doors and light cracked through and warmth greeted us as we were carried in. We walked in and Rokk closed the doors behind us, we looked in and suddenly heard a great noise. Like a bunch of Minotaurs cheering. When I looked over I had seen that it was in fact a bunch of Minotaurs cheering. In front of is was a large table with tons of food on it and a bunch of Minotaurs holding up flagons of ale into the air and smiling at us.
"Rokk, Gord... Welcome back, how went it?" Asked a Minotaur.
"Not too well." Said Rokk as he walked over with Gord. They sat down on the table and Gord set down scarlet.
"What happened? Who are these ponies?" Asked another Minotaur.
"Well, we went back up to the peak to find anything else from the recent avalanche, and it turns out we had completely missed these two who managed to survive in a cave and keep warm." Said Gord.
"You mean to tell me that two ponies... These two." Said one Minotaur specifying his statement by pointing at us. "They survived that storm last night?"
"It gets better, listen here." Said Rokk. We were back on our way here, then suddenly the ground shifts and out of nowhere an arctic worm jumps and almost destroys the sled, we thought it was after us. But it figures that it was just running from a huge pack of snow stalkers. So the snow stalkers are after us now, and they lept at the dogs and took the sled down."
"You lost your sled out there?" Asked another one.
"Just wait..." Said Gord. "So, we loose the sled and all the dogs, then they attack us, me and Rokk try and hold them off for as long as we can, until suddenly this pony right here leaps out of nowhere and starts taking on all the stalkers with magic... You should see him, it's unbelievable." Said Gord.
"Magic...?" Questioned one of the Minotaurs.
"Prove it." Demanded another.
"Go ahead crimson, show them." Said Rokk turning his head to talk to me.
"I'd love to... But that six point seal I preformed not too long ago left me magically exhausted, and physically too, I can barely even stand." I said getting back up on my hooves. I leapt down from rocks shoulder and almost crashed into the floor if I hadn't just caught myself. Rokk reached down and picked me up only to place me on the table which was big and sturdy enough for me to stand on.
"There has to be something." Said Rokk.
"You don't understand. But Minotaurs are very stubborn. If they don't think that you can do magic then there's no hope of them believing our story, and that makes the chief less likely to believe your story."
"There must be something left." Said Gord.
"Nope, nothing... Sorry." I said.
"Well... Just you wait, I'll prove it to you." Said Rokk.
"I should start regaining energy if I just rest, I should be fairly rejuvenated by tomorrow." I said.
"Then tomorrow it shall be." Said Gord. "We'll inform the chief of what's happened, then he'll want to have proof. So we'll find some way of having you prove it."
"That's great and all... But I don't think you understand how close to falling on my face I am right now." I said lazily. My legs were shaking from exhaustion. Gord reached over and picked me up and got up from the table. He grabbed scarlet two and placed us over his shoulder.
"There's a room over here where your friends have been staying." He said walking over to a large door to a new room. He reached out and opened up the door. He swung the door open and we were carried in. I looked around the room which was huge and it was full of sleeping mats and blankets, as well as a nice roaring fire in the back. I looked in and saw all of my friends. Most of them were asleep. Twilight, thunder, Merideth, ergo, snowbelle, and the two mages were asleep and covered in bandages. There were also three Templars who had been injured and were resting too. The only two ponies up were Rena and Runestar. They looked over to see us and they smiled.
"Well, if it isn't crimson and scarlet." Said Runestar who was sitting beside his two students by the fire. "I was wondering what had become of the two of you."
"Good, you're all friends..." Said Gord. He walked over and placed us down. Scarlet got down on her own, but Gord had to place me down. I made it in my hooves, but they were so weak that they were shaking terribly. It wasn't long before they have out under me and I fell on my butt. "You should all still get some rest... There's still plenty of food for when you get hungry, now rest." He said walking back and closing the door behind him.
"So it seems that your blood does not turn to stone at the bitter cold." Said Rena who walked over to me.
"No, were fine." I said.
"Your very weak crimson. It looks like you've used up all your magical energy." Said Runestar.
"I didn't have much to use up, but I used it all up." I said.
"And for what reason is this?" Asked Rena.
"It's a long story." Said scarlet.
"Ah yes, scarlet... You seem well." Said Runestar.
"Yes, I'm fine." She said. "Is everypony alright?" She asked looking around the room at all the sleeping and bandaged ponies.
"Yes, they should be fine... It's just a few early cases of frostbite and hypothermia." Said Runestar.
"Yes, the cold has taken a taste of their flesh, and spread its poison through them." Said Rena.
"With a bit of rest they should all be fine." Said Runestar. "A few of them were up earlier but now that it's gotten late they've all gone to rest." He said. "I'd suggest the same for you too crimson."
"Yeah, I was just about to get right on that." I said looking around and finding an empty bedroll. I managed to get up and walk over to it before collapsing again right on top of it. I placed my head on the pillow and closed my eyes.
"There are some extra blankets if you need them." Said Runestar.
"No thanks... I'm done being cold, now I'm tired and I just want to rest."
"Me too, I'm going to get some rest too." Said scarlet walking over to an empty bed and laying down on it. She laid there too and closed her eyes. Even though I was physically exhausted, I still wasn't tired, I didn't feel like I needed to sleep, I just felt like I needed to lay down and just stop for a while. I opened my eyes again and saw Rena walking over here. I wondered why but then noticed a bedroll right next to me that was empty, beside that slept ergo who laid peacefully with bandages around her neck and waist. Rena walked over and sat down behind me and smiled. I tried to get comfortable and rolled onto my stomach trying to relax.
"I see that you need your body to be soothed... I can help." She said.
"Uhh... Rena?" I said. She leaned forward and placed both of her hooves on my back and gently pressed down. She began rubbing and massaging my back which felt AMAZING.
"I'm I helpful?" She asked.
"Yes, that feels great." I said as I began to relax and unwind. I felt like I was literally melting on the floor.
"Careful crimson." Said Runestar calling out from the fireplace. "One thing about Malkavians is that they're savants at seducing others."
"I think I'll be fine." I said.
"I cannot argue that the white wizards words ring truth of my past." Said Rena. "I may have made attempts at your heart before, but I haven't the time for such things now." She said pressing her hooves against my back gently. The gentle warmth of the fire and the pleasure of Rena's massage was starting to put me to sleep. ,y eyes started to grow heavy and now I was starting to feel very sleepy. I closed my eyes and slowly started to slip away into deep sleep. It wasn't much longer before I was completely out and sleeping soundly in my little bedroll. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be feeling much better and I should be completely rejuvenated by that time.
We'll just have to see...