The dead surrounded the town on all sides, clawing at the walls and crowding in on the gates, their groans echoing through the air as they laid siege to the town from every direction. They were not like Veliuona's minions, moving with their own minds and tenacious will, but rather, they were puppets: nothing but an army of husks, the pawns of some superior mastermind.
Sol wanted to blame Veliuona for this. But she knew that the blame rested with the leader of the cult... even if more and more, Sol suspected the dark goddess' hoof in these affairs. But she had no proof, and there was nothing she could say to convince Titan... and Morgan was in no shape to fight, or to even discuss the subject. She was simply in agony, trapped in bed, whimpering for the poison that had infected her veins.
Titan was gullible, and Morgan was... weak. She couldn't rely on either of them at this juncture. Titan would always give others chances they didn't deserve, and Morgan... couldn't make any decisions.
The Paladin pleaded with Sol, but Sol didn't care about his opinions, any more than she cared about the suggestions made by the Blood Seer. What she cared about was that they repelled this attack by the shambling pawns, found whatever was controlling them, and then preferably destroyed that source after extracting enough information from it to know who was the mastermind behind these orders.
She knew the walls wouldn't hold forever, and this town had no appreciable militia. All she could do was rally the ponies, get them to the largest and easiest-defended structures, and tell the families to watch out for one another while she and Titan and the Blood Seer went out to meet the ravening horde. Morgan they had no choice but to leave behind, with the Paladin looking after her, caught in the throes of agony.
The enemy was not strong, being a horde of puppeted corpses controlled by dark magic, but they were vast and many: they pressed in with weight of numbers, and there was little they could do to stop them. All the same, Titan and Sol fought onward, even with the odds against them, as they forced their foes into a bottleneck of barricades to try and give themselves the advantage.
Morgan wanted to help... but was helpless, consumed with pain, and need and desire. And her Paladin was weak, and her Paladin was afraid, and her Paladin heard her pleas and soon forgot the promises he had made to not give her the deadly stuff she needed. Instead, he stole into the room Sol had been using to research the cult and their poisons, and took from it a vial of the dragon's blood, ignoring the warnings and heedless of his own guilt as he hurried to his love's side.
Morgan drank it, deeply and greedily, and became consumed again by the fire of the dragon's blood. With it burning in her veins, she leapt up with newfound strength and vigor, but where she ran first was not to her siblings' side, but to Sol's study, to steal away more of the poison, to feed her need and hunger. Her Paladin she all but forgot in her ecstasy, as she fed upon the rest of the stolen dragon's blood, then leapt out a window, hungry for the battlefield.
She knew not what happened: Sol and Titan only saw Morgan descend in a blaze of burning glory into the ranks of the undead, cutting through the horde. She tore through their ranks, drawn onward by not the promise of glory, but the reek of the poison she so lusted for. For the cultists, too, kept themselves strong with the drink of dragon's blood, and they stank of it.
She killed them, each and every one, and so overcome with hunger she was, that the last she drank the blood of like fine wine. But when Sol and Titan found her there, she was calmly cleaning her weapons, smiling, proud of herself; unknowing that the proof of her sin was streaked across her own lips.
But Sol saw it. And Sol feared what her sister was becoming, and Sol blamed Veliuona for this atrocity, and swore that she would have her revenge.
Friday, 10 July 2015
Friday, 3 July 2015
The Legend of Sol, Titan, and Morgan: Deadly Assumptions
Morgan shivered, wracked with pain and need from the dragon's blood. She hungered for it, lusted for more: that brief taste had given her both pleasure and power beyond measure, and now, without it, her whole body hurt.
They had no choice but to lock her away in her room, her Paladin keeping her company, while Sol researched the cult further and Titan spent his time with the Blood Seer. The Seer had offered his help, but Sol didn't want to take that route yet: not simply because she did not trust the Seer, but also because she thought grimly that it might do Morgan some good to feel the pains of her own actions. She had saved them, certainly... but she had also put herself at great risk, and this was not an experience that Sol wanted to repeat.
Sol's instincts told her they had been betrayed, but she had no evidence, and the cult had vanished from the town. She thought they might be able to track them down... but it would be a waste of time and resources. No, better to find out what she could from the few witnesses to the cult's deeds, and then continue on their quest to discover the root of the Tyrant Wyrms. They couldn't be distracted.
Yet at the same time, something nibbled at her. Why would Veliuona betray them? That didn't make any sense, and Veliuona wasn't foolish. Was she just looking for an excuse to turn the tides of war onto the self-proclaimed goddess of undeath?
But wouldn't it be better to destroy Veliuona when they had the chance?
No, they needed each other to stem the tide of the Tyrant Wyrms. Perhaps this was simply the cunning ploy of another force of darkness and evil, seeking to turn all its enemies against each other so that it could take over Equestria once they had sufficiently weakened one-another...
She would have to research. She would have to figure things out, before she allowed herself to make any moves. Her passion drove her towards revenge, but... no. She couldn't always follow her passions. Sometimes, she had to repress them.
But one thing she knew was that a foe who had worked so hard to kill them would not simply give up the fight because they had failed once. Sol couldn't let this experience repeat itself, though: they had to be ready for when their enemies rose up against them again.
For now, she thought they could afford a few days' rest here in the town. It was unlikely the enemy could return, and Morgan needed to get the dragon's blood out of her system. It had made her powerful, certainly, but a poison was still a poison for all its pleasant effects, and a maddened Morgan was not something Sol could see a use for in the future. If she wanted a hunting dog, she would buy one from a trader.
No, they would wait, that would be safest, Sol thought.
But as it turned out, Sol thought very wrong indeed.
They had no choice but to lock her away in her room, her Paladin keeping her company, while Sol researched the cult further and Titan spent his time with the Blood Seer. The Seer had offered his help, but Sol didn't want to take that route yet: not simply because she did not trust the Seer, but also because she thought grimly that it might do Morgan some good to feel the pains of her own actions. She had saved them, certainly... but she had also put herself at great risk, and this was not an experience that Sol wanted to repeat.
Sol's instincts told her they had been betrayed, but she had no evidence, and the cult had vanished from the town. She thought they might be able to track them down... but it would be a waste of time and resources. No, better to find out what she could from the few witnesses to the cult's deeds, and then continue on their quest to discover the root of the Tyrant Wyrms. They couldn't be distracted.
Yet at the same time, something nibbled at her. Why would Veliuona betray them? That didn't make any sense, and Veliuona wasn't foolish. Was she just looking for an excuse to turn the tides of war onto the self-proclaimed goddess of undeath?
But wouldn't it be better to destroy Veliuona when they had the chance?
No, they needed each other to stem the tide of the Tyrant Wyrms. Perhaps this was simply the cunning ploy of another force of darkness and evil, seeking to turn all its enemies against each other so that it could take over Equestria once they had sufficiently weakened one-another...
She would have to research. She would have to figure things out, before she allowed herself to make any moves. Her passion drove her towards revenge, but... no. She couldn't always follow her passions. Sometimes, she had to repress them.
But one thing she knew was that a foe who had worked so hard to kill them would not simply give up the fight because they had failed once. Sol couldn't let this experience repeat itself, though: they had to be ready for when their enemies rose up against them again.
For now, she thought they could afford a few days' rest here in the town. It was unlikely the enemy could return, and Morgan needed to get the dragon's blood out of her system. It had made her powerful, certainly, but a poison was still a poison for all its pleasant effects, and a maddened Morgan was not something Sol could see a use for in the future. If she wanted a hunting dog, she would buy one from a trader.
No, they would wait, that would be safest, Sol thought.
But as it turned out, Sol thought very wrong indeed.
Saturday, 27 June 2015
The Legend of Sol, Titan, and Morgan: Dragon's Blood
The cult was well-prepared for them: too well prepared, Sol thought. The foe had both numbers and strength, and the captured Blood Seer was helpless to assist them, caged by both iron bars and magic. Sol would have been impressed, were they not providing so much frustration and distraction when their circumstances were already dire.
They fought, but the enemies were prepared for them: they dispelled Sol's magic and tried to keep her from pressing past the antimagic-secured hall of their home, to keep her from wreaking devastation upon them. Titan they kept back with deadly, barbed spears and weapons wreathed in cruel flames of necromantic magic, trying to pin him and keep him helpless. And the chargers attacked Morgan with all their strength and fury: her Paladin had already cut the battle, leaving her trying to fend off cultists, raging and empowered by dragon's blood, as the master of the cult shouted threats and recriminations at them.
The cult had been well-prepared for them, and seemed to be interested in them and them alone: even when the Paladin cut and run, he drew little attention, as the Blood Seer left hanging above the hall in his iron cage was of no interest to the cultists as anything but bait, now forgotten in the chaos of battle.
No, something, or someone, had betrayed them, knowing the rumors of a cult that worshiped the Wyrms would draw in Sol's attention. And now, this cult was throwing everything they had into savaging and destroying them, into taking their lives and bringing them low. Sol's first thought was Veliuona... but she had no time to figure out why, or how, at this juncture, with the enemy pressing ever harder on them.
Titan was cornered. Her magic was being negated. They were both wounded and there was no retreat, no exit, with the enemies so close on them, so eager for their blood. Hacking and slashing, drunk on the battle and dragon's blood, they were forcing them steadily further and further into a corner.
But as the tides began to crash down upon them, Sol saw Morgan, in desperation, attack one of the cultists, driving him down and snatching away a vial from him. She guzzled its contents, and with a roar, leapt into the fray with a rage and violence Sol had rarely seen.
Morgan tore through the cultists, fueled by the dragon's blood she had sipped: strong enough to make a normal pony into a fearless warrior, it turned Morgan into a true force of devastation. With fury and violence, she ripped and tore her way through the masses of foes, roaring and uncontrollable. In her rage, she tore through the enemy, devastating their forces with such a show of strength that it terrified those who had not also been driven berserk by the dragon's blood.
And with the cultists suddenly scattered and distracted, the berserks broken and bloodied, and Morgan wounded grievously yet unfeeling, unflinching in blood-burning rage, Titan and Sol were able to press the advantage, destroying the foes trying to hold them back, and sending the leader fleeing with his few remaining disciples.
Morgan wanted to give chase: perhaps it was better to say that she tried to pursue them like a blood-maddened huntbeast. But even her rage and fury could not overcome the wounds of her body, and it was only moments before she fell into unconsciousness.
And to Sol, this did not feel like a victory.
They fought, but the enemies were prepared for them: they dispelled Sol's magic and tried to keep her from pressing past the antimagic-secured hall of their home, to keep her from wreaking devastation upon them. Titan they kept back with deadly, barbed spears and weapons wreathed in cruel flames of necromantic magic, trying to pin him and keep him helpless. And the chargers attacked Morgan with all their strength and fury: her Paladin had already cut the battle, leaving her trying to fend off cultists, raging and empowered by dragon's blood, as the master of the cult shouted threats and recriminations at them.
The cult had been well-prepared for them, and seemed to be interested in them and them alone: even when the Paladin cut and run, he drew little attention, as the Blood Seer left hanging above the hall in his iron cage was of no interest to the cultists as anything but bait, now forgotten in the chaos of battle.
No, something, or someone, had betrayed them, knowing the rumors of a cult that worshiped the Wyrms would draw in Sol's attention. And now, this cult was throwing everything they had into savaging and destroying them, into taking their lives and bringing them low. Sol's first thought was Veliuona... but she had no time to figure out why, or how, at this juncture, with the enemy pressing ever harder on them.
Titan was cornered. Her magic was being negated. They were both wounded and there was no retreat, no exit, with the enemies so close on them, so eager for their blood. Hacking and slashing, drunk on the battle and dragon's blood, they were forcing them steadily further and further into a corner.
But as the tides began to crash down upon them, Sol saw Morgan, in desperation, attack one of the cultists, driving him down and snatching away a vial from him. She guzzled its contents, and with a roar, leapt into the fray with a rage and violence Sol had rarely seen.
Morgan tore through the cultists, fueled by the dragon's blood she had sipped: strong enough to make a normal pony into a fearless warrior, it turned Morgan into a true force of devastation. With fury and violence, she ripped and tore her way through the masses of foes, roaring and uncontrollable. In her rage, she tore through the enemy, devastating their forces with such a show of strength that it terrified those who had not also been driven berserk by the dragon's blood.
And with the cultists suddenly scattered and distracted, the berserks broken and bloodied, and Morgan wounded grievously yet unfeeling, unflinching in blood-burning rage, Titan and Sol were able to press the advantage, destroying the foes trying to hold them back, and sending the leader fleeing with his few remaining disciples.
Morgan wanted to give chase: perhaps it was better to say that she tried to pursue them like a blood-maddened huntbeast. But even her rage and fury could not overcome the wounds of her body, and it was only moments before she fell into unconsciousness.
And to Sol, this did not feel like a victory.
Friday, 19 June 2015
The Legend of Sol, Titan, and Morgan: Wyrmsbane
As with all things great and powerful, it was not long before Sol heard rumors of a cult that worshiped the Tyrant Wyrms. This drew her attention: not because of the fact that they worshiped a great and terrible evil that would undoubtedly devour them instead of granting their wishes, but because the cult's master claimed to be able to speak with the Wyrms, and his claim was backed up by the fact that he had thralls of the Wyrms at his beck and call.
So Sol led the way onward to find this cult: Titan was unsure, and Morgan was ready to do battle, while her paladin loitered along with them and the Blood Seer who had joined them on their quest followed at a distance. Morgan did not like the Seer, and Sol was even less fond of him, but Titan saw much good in the stallion and often praised how he worked to turn his powers, powers that were capable of such great evil, into a weapon in the service of good.
And it was by the Blood Seer that Sol devised a way to meet with the cult, for she knew they would want more who would be able to commune with the Wyrm, and she knew that they would take an interest in a mage with powers such as their companion's. Titan frowned upon Sol using the Blood Seer as bait, but the mage himself seemed pleased only to be included, and to be given the chance to show the other ponies - and in particular, the grating Paladin - that he was here to help, not hinder their journey.
When they found the town frequented by the cult, Sol, Titan, and Morgan found their lodgings, and Sol made the Blood Seer forge a charm for her. Through it, he would be able to call for help once he had been taken to the cult's temple: a simple enough plan, and one that Sol hoped would work, as she sent the Seer out to search the markets and the taverns for any sign of the cult.
The Seer did not return that night, and nor was the charm activated. Yet Sol was not surprised: neither that the Blood Seer had failed, nor when assassins attacked them in their own rooms. They failed miserably in the assault: only the paladin suffered a wound, and even that was but a minor scratch. They were all surprised, however, by the ferocity of the attackers, but as soon as Sol saw the corpses of the ponies when they pulled back their tattered robes, she understood: they had taken dragon's blood, in order to strengthen themselves. And this was the first clue for Sol that perhaps this cult leader was speaking to a wyrm, but not the kind of wyrm it thought.
Titan was eager to move: he hungered for the battle and was anxious to save his friend. Morgan looked to her sister for advice, but she too wanted to protect the Seer, out of obligation more than friendship, for she felt that they had let him fall into this trap and thus they were responsible for his life, whether she liked him or not. She too, longed to fight... and Sol agreed there. The Paladin was cautious and worried, but Sol knew that even empowered, their foes would be no match for them with the strength of dragon's blood alone.
Yet she knew too, in her heart, that it was unlikely this was all that waited for them... but still, she was determined to press onward, to pierce the heart of this cult, and get the answers she so sought, no matter what the cost.
So Sol led the way onward to find this cult: Titan was unsure, and Morgan was ready to do battle, while her paladin loitered along with them and the Blood Seer who had joined them on their quest followed at a distance. Morgan did not like the Seer, and Sol was even less fond of him, but Titan saw much good in the stallion and often praised how he worked to turn his powers, powers that were capable of such great evil, into a weapon in the service of good.
And it was by the Blood Seer that Sol devised a way to meet with the cult, for she knew they would want more who would be able to commune with the Wyrm, and she knew that they would take an interest in a mage with powers such as their companion's. Titan frowned upon Sol using the Blood Seer as bait, but the mage himself seemed pleased only to be included, and to be given the chance to show the other ponies - and in particular, the grating Paladin - that he was here to help, not hinder their journey.
When they found the town frequented by the cult, Sol, Titan, and Morgan found their lodgings, and Sol made the Blood Seer forge a charm for her. Through it, he would be able to call for help once he had been taken to the cult's temple: a simple enough plan, and one that Sol hoped would work, as she sent the Seer out to search the markets and the taverns for any sign of the cult.
The Seer did not return that night, and nor was the charm activated. Yet Sol was not surprised: neither that the Blood Seer had failed, nor when assassins attacked them in their own rooms. They failed miserably in the assault: only the paladin suffered a wound, and even that was but a minor scratch. They were all surprised, however, by the ferocity of the attackers, but as soon as Sol saw the corpses of the ponies when they pulled back their tattered robes, she understood: they had taken dragon's blood, in order to strengthen themselves. And this was the first clue for Sol that perhaps this cult leader was speaking to a wyrm, but not the kind of wyrm it thought.
Titan was eager to move: he hungered for the battle and was anxious to save his friend. Morgan looked to her sister for advice, but she too wanted to protect the Seer, out of obligation more than friendship, for she felt that they had let him fall into this trap and thus they were responsible for his life, whether she liked him or not. She too, longed to fight... and Sol agreed there. The Paladin was cautious and worried, but Sol knew that even empowered, their foes would be no match for them with the strength of dragon's blood alone.
Yet she knew too, in her heart, that it was unlikely this was all that waited for them... but still, she was determined to press onward, to pierce the heart of this cult, and get the answers she so sought, no matter what the cost.
Friday, 5 June 2015
Brief Break
I've only experienced writer's block once or twice, where I couldn't write at all, no matter how hard I tried. Other times, I've much more precisely experienced that feeling that I don't want to write at all, because there are other things distracting me, or I've lost interest in a project, or I just "don't feel like it." These things aren't actually writer's block but I think people call it that because, you know. It's easier. And it's more "acceptable" to say "I can't write" instead of "I don't want to write" when you're supposed to be a writer, whether as a hobby or professionally.
But sometimes we do need or deserve a break, for whatever reason, so I'm going to take a few days for a short break and I'll get back to this next week. Been crazy here with Luna, after all, and even I only have so much energy to give.
~Scrivener Blooms
But sometimes we do need or deserve a break, for whatever reason, so I'm going to take a few days for a short break and I'll get back to this next week. Been crazy here with Luna, after all, and even I only have so much energy to give.
~Scrivener Blooms
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