This place didn’t look to good. The Shadow must have hit it somehow. I caught the name of it to be the Cistern. From what I could see, it was a very large circular shaped room that went up a long ways before an opening with a metal grate covering it that I could see light through but nothing else. There were pools of water covering most of the tiled floor and coming from the rubble that I saw. From the looks of it, there was a center piece in the middle of the room that rose up before connecting to another entrance to my left, right and behind me. But all that I saw from the bottom half up was rubble. At least the walls still looked good. Most of the pipes that I saw near the ground also still looked for the most part intact as well, though covered in bricks. The bridge connecting both the doorways behind me and to my left was demolished and laying about the floor. But the one to my right was different, it had its door and ledge before it was still intact and from the looks of it there were enough pieces of rubble and wood next to it so that I could climb and reach it. I started my way towards it before another flashback began.

”So you drain the sewers as a means of transport then?” It was me speaking this time.

“Yes, they were built to divert water from an underground spring and are quite spacious. It seemed only natural to incorporate it into the overall structure.”

“But we won’t be using it, will we?”

“No, not today. Now that the spring has dried and the sewers remain naturally drained it produces a very poisonous type of fungi. There is a vaccine but since we can avoid the sewers it won’t be necessary. Come, through this door. We’re almost there now.”

And, of course, when I had checked the said door it wouldn’t budge. I could never get a damned break in this place. I also found myself to be swearing more under my breath than usual. But I figured that who wouldn’t in this type of situation. It would seem completely hopeless to anyone else, but I’m different. I’ve come this far, giving up now would be a waste and a disappointment, to me and my past self. I pushed away from the door and looked around. I could only hear the sounds of dripping water from the various pipes in the wall. There was no possible way to reach the two doors to my right and the one that use to be behind me but was now in front of me. The only thing that I could see is a door in the wall and nothing below it. Another heavy sigh escaped me as I thought of what to do next. The only option was the sewers by this point but if Alexander was right the only way through the sewers now was a vaccine. I didn’t know where I could get this.

“Charcoal? What are you doing?”

I gasped and jumped back, looking around. That was no flashback, something had spoken to me. But, there was no pony else in the room with me. Though I did recognize it to be Alexander’s voice. Was it…telepathy? No, it couldn’t be. Telepathy is something that has been researched but never proven to be able to work, even with magic. Was I just starting to hear things now?

I didn’t want to believe it, but Alexander was otherworldly, this I’ve come to accept by now. There was no explanation for half of the things that I have read or heard from him. His knowledge vastly outgrows even the smartest minds that I’ve learned of in my time. Telepathy for him may be a possibility, but I could be going insane all the same. I really didn’t care; my one goal for right now was survival.

I went down the hallway that was to my left near the one door entrance up above that I could reach and found that it was as it said; the sewer entrance. It went through a flight of stairs before reaching door lay at the end of the hallway and I dare not go any further for fear of these fungi spoken of. My last remaining option now was through the door that I could actually reach. The rubble around it should make it easy enough to climb and reach.

I went back and started at the rubble’s base to the left of the door and started to climb up. I was surprised at how well this loose amount of brick and wood was keeping me up. The door itself wasn’t raised very high off the ground, but it was a rather steep climb up and I had to put all of my effort in to keep balance as I climbed. I finally reached the actual ledge before the door and with a last jump and the sound of a few falling rocks below me where I pushed off from I reached up and grabbed a hold of it before hoisting myself up and over onto the ledge. The ledge actually didn’t collapse as I had feared when I had first begun to climb it. I stood up and moved a bit towards the door and froze as I saw the name of this area next to it.

The Morgue.

I felt my breathing becoming heavier as I seriously contemplated whether I wanted to enter or not. The Morgue was clear enough what was going to be inside, yet, if there was any remote chance of a vaccine, it would be in there. I didn’t want to go in, I didn’t, but I had to. My only other alternative was to simply stay put and die horribly by the Shadow. I steeled myself and pulled open the door.

__________________________________________________________________________

It was as creepy as the name had implied. The stonework walls were very narrow around me and I got the same sense of the world closing in on me. There wasn’t any light as well so I had to use my lantern. The hallway went down a ways but I couldn’t see if it ended or split so I just had to keep going. I began alright, but not before another flashback had placed itself within my mind and vision again.

The first voice to speak was Alexander’s. “Do you see Charcoal? It has yielded.”

“What’s yielded?”

“The Shadow.”

“It…has?”

“Indeed, for now at least. Come, let’s get this out of here so that we can get some peace.”

“Yes, where to?”

“Just down the corridor, to the Morgue.”

“Are there more…dead in there?”

“Don’t worry, you did well Charcoal. Let’s go.”

Did well? Did well at what? The only possibilities in my mind after hearing the flashback and seeing the place that I was in gave me chills and I continued on, trying to forget I heard that.

The path did indeed come to another split, to the right. I couldn’t see to the end of it though so I decided to continue going forwards. There was however one thing that was abundantly clear on the floors, blood. There were spots of blood all over the floors. It jarred me slightly but I’ve seen enough of this stuff before to not be phased by it all that much.

The path curved left slightly then back straight again. It then turned right two times rather quickly after a while and I came upon a door at the end of it. I couldn’t see inside so I took some caution as I neared it and listened closely for any sounds coming from inside. There were none besides the usual bugs and rodents. Finding no other reason not to, I opened the door and looked inside.

“Sweet mother of Celestia.”

I couldn’t hold it in this time. I turned over to the side and retched a few times before finally vomiting all over the wall. It was…everywhere. Death. So much death inside such a small room. There were countless skeletons and partially decayed corpses just piled on top of each other right in the middle of the room. Not to mention the near pond of blood that accompanied it. And the smell. Oh that smell. That was the most repugnant, disgusting smell ever. I also saw bloody indents all over the wooden walls that surrounded the room, as if they had beaten against it senselessly until they died.

After recovering from vomiting I took a longer look through the room, attempting to hold my breath and keep the horrid sight out my thoughts but it was impossible with how overpowering it was. The only thing that I found that made this room anything of worth to go through vomiting for was another journal entry on one of the overturned shelves in the room. I quickly took it and left the room before slamming the door and moving as fast as I could away from it so I could get that sight out of my mind. I finally made it back to the place where the path split originally and took a few heavy breaths of somewhat fresh air, at least fresher than in that room, before reading the entry.

7th of August, 839

Alexander is undeniably one of the best magicians that I have ever come across. His powers are present all over the castle and he does everything with relative ease. Magic to him seems like something that’s second nature with no effort required. Early one morning he had woken me up and told me that it was time to get started. He was clearly excited as he took me downstairs to the old dungeon where he preferred to perform his rituals. The most important area that he had shown me was the Inner Sanctum, a most hallowed ground which is where we will attempt to banish the Orb’s shadow permanently.

This only reinforced my assumption of what Alexander truly was. He must have hidden his true identity from my past self, but for what reason? I kept this in mind as I went down the hall towards whatever was at its end. It eventually came to a slight left turn and there was a door right there. Along with that, an extra-long and concentrated blood streak leading into the door to greet me. I braced myself and opened the door extra slowly after going through what happened last time.

It was slightly bigger than the other room, and can only be described as if a mad scientist were using it. Random assortments of jars and notes lined the table to the right of the room and on the left side was a stone table with a non-decayed corpse lying atop it. There was a very large excess of blood in the form of three streaks, one leading back into the door I came in and two leading to the other two closed doors within the room. Several large diagrams of pony anatomy were hung on the walls around the room as well.

I decided, against my better judgment, to see what was behind the two closed doors. I started with the one that was furthest away from me. I opened the door very slowly but as soon as I saw what was inside I instantly closed it. Corpses, lots more corpses in a giant pile in the middle of the room. I didn’t want anything more to do with the dead. My check of the other room revealed the same thing, except that this room was filled slightly with water, but there were still corpses in a giant pile inside.

I left the rooms alone and checked the rest of the room that I was inside. Moving closer and looking at the desk more clearly now, I saw one more stack of several journal entries lying on the desk.

8th of August, 839

I am now certain that I had chosen the right path by coming to Bridleburg. Using the orb I brought, Alexander channeled its power into us and the Inner Sanctum flared with fiery blue light. It was no form of magic that I had ever seen before. I also began to felt the same feelings that I had felt when I first found the orb in that dark chamber from the Griffin Territory. It was terrifying, but Alexander remained completely calm as he tamed the storm.

Suddenly, the blue light became tainted with strains of red and the walls burst with pulsating tissue. Alexander quickly covered the orb and the horrible thing vanished. Alexander then told me that the Shadow was closer than he had thought and then told me that I should prepare for a warding ritual tomorrow. I have a bad feeling about all of this.

My heart was racing faster as I picked up the next entry and began to read.

9th of August, 839

It’s early in the morning, and Alexander is preparing for the warding ritual. Seeing him trying so hard to protect me makes me wonder why he’s doing all of this. What does he stand to gain from all of this? He must be interested in the orbs of course, but why go through all of this trouble without there being something more. I’ll admit though that when we were in the Inner sanctum yesterday, I realized that there is so much more power in the orbs than I could have ever imagined. This may in fact be the start of something truly extraordinary.

These were highly insightful, but ultimately a disappointment to me. I wanted to know what this warding ritual was. But now I knew what I had come to the castle in hope to achieve and what the Inner Sanctum was for. I had to reach it now by any means necessary and find Alexander there to finally get answers as to why everything was as it is right now.

I searched among the notes and diagrams for anything of use relating to this vaccine. I found my goal under a large pile of scientific notes relating to the vaccine mentioned.

Vaccine Trials

The vaccine enabling movement through the fungal ridden sewers possible is a definite success. It is, however, difficult to extract and only a few can receive it at a time. This won’t be a problem though as I rarely need for it to be used in such a manner. An injection of vaccinated blood from anything, deceased or living, will provide a shield that will last long enough for passage through the sewers. This will be useful for prisoner transport when necessary.

Living...or deceased? My thoughts instantly turned towards the body lying on the table. Could it be? The thought of taking blood from the dead and injecting it into myself made me cringe. But I feared it would be the only way to fight the fungi in the sewers. First though, I went through the drawers of the desk as this one actually had some this time and found another laudanum. I also found another one of those canisters that gave me a memory upon touch, I did just that and another thought filled my mind.

My orb has broken; I knew I should have waited before proceeding with the final ritual. I feared greatly at first that I may never be able to leave now but an interesting letter arrived from someone named Charcoal far away asking about the orbs and that he had even obtained one. He agreed to come after I replied asking for him to do so and has been with me since trying to tame the orb and rid ourselves of the Shadow within it.

But I fear for him, for he is reckless. He has become tainted by the oncoming shadow and will not be able to pass through the gate. I wonder if he will be able to accept his fate.

My love, I see the evil within him. How am I to trust him with the truth. I don’t know how to tell him what he must ultimately do. I fear for the fast approaching time when I must face him with the truth.

I felt my anger rising.  ‘What I must ultimately do’? Is he really about to end my life to save his? Now I knew, now I knew why my past self must have hated him so much. And I was beginning to agree. I had my doubts at first, but this may have just set me over. Alexander will answer for this.

“Charcoal, I can hear you breathing. Can you hear me? Have you changed your mind?”

“I changed my mind alright,” I muttered. But it didn’t seem like Alexander heard me as I received no response. So I wasn’t imagining it all. He is somehow communicating with me then.

I turned away from the canister and focused myself once more on the task at hoof. I must create this vaccine if I am to safely pass through the sewers. I had to draw the blood out somehow and get it inside myself. I searched around the room and found a copper tube which gave me an idea. I pulled out the small hollow needle and attached it to the end of the copper tube. This will be my means of injecting the blood. I then found a small turning drill on the table that would serve as a way to open the flesh.

I started to pant heavily again as I began to drill a hole into the deceased’s head. After a few seconds of turning the drill finally penetrated the skull and blood began to well up around the hole. I had to lean to head off of the table slightly so that the blood would pour out. It began to do just that and dripped onto the floor, disgusting. I didn’t like anything that I was doing to desecrate this poor soul’s corpse but it was necessary. I quickly placed the non-needle end of the copper tube inside the hole and watched as the blood slowly filled it.

This was the most important step now. I had to inject the blood inside one of my legs for the vaccine to take effect. I hesitated for a while before finally gaining enough courage to finally do it. I put my right foreleg against the point of the needle and quickly pushed it against it. The needle instantly went through my leg and I felt my vision quickly darken around the edges as I did and I held it against the needle while the blood flowed inside. The pain was immense but I stood firm for as long as I needed. After a while that I didn’t bother keeping count of due to the pain, I pulled my leg out as quickly as I pushed it in and covered the bleeding wound with my other leg for a while so it would stop. But I was vaccinated now and could finally leave this death ridden place.

Oooeerrraaarrghh…

CRASH

It came from out of nowhere. I had only just recovered from the vaccination and the door just started to be bashed on by one of those monsters. It even took me a second to fully realize what was happening in the first place.

CRASH

I was panicking now; I had no idea where to hide. I could hide in one of the side rooms but it might go inside those. And the thought of hiding amongst a pile of corpses made me sick. I didn’t know where to go.

CRASH

The door came down. And my eyes locked on the thing behind it. This one was different though from the rest.

Its face…

It had no face.

It was literally a giant hole inside of its head with only an outline surrounding it. It had no face. Worse yet, instead of a claw on the end of its foreleg, it was just completely replaced with a giant blade. Enough to cut me right in half.

The thing somehow roared and began to charge at me, readying its blade to strike. I had to move. Every instinct within me was yelling to move. But I just stood, locked in place by the same unfathomable fear that I face in the storage and every other encounter that I’ve had with these things. I had to move.

I had to move.

It raised its blade and it came down.

The blade had only struck stone though as I had just regained enough control over my movements to quickly sidestep and avoid its attack. The thing recoiled for a bit and then growled again before turning for another attack. I was long out the door by that point though and running, completely terrified. As I neared the turn that would take me back to the Cistern, I heard it gaining ground as the sound of the skidding blade it was dragging against the ground became louder. I had to get out, the door was right there.

__________________________________________________________________________

The door to the Morgue slammed behind me and I pushed against it in case that thing would try to come further. And indeed it did as I heard something striking the door several times and more grunts of frustration from the monster before they ultimately stopped. I remained as I was for a few minutes before finally accepting that it was gone. I was thankful that these doors were much sturdier than those simple wooden ones.

I was still hyperventilating as I finally removed me weight from the door and descended down the rubble again. I reached the bottom and started to breathe deeply again to regain regular, steady breaths and calm myself once more. That thing, it was indescribably horrifying. I only thought there was the one that I had seen, but these were much, much worse.

There was nothing else left for me in the Cistern that I cared for. I was done with it and all the gruesome things that are contained within it. I returned back to the flight of stairs that led to the sewer door entrance and left without giving it a second thought.

__________________________________________________________________________

I was glad to be away from the Morgue, but now uneasy about the sewers. If it’s like any other area I’ve been in so far it’s more than likely that monsters are roaming about. I opened the gate that was immediately in front of me and came upon a ledge with a ladder leading down to a long tunnel that had a small pool of water in it. I would have to be extra careful about my movements in case I was heard. Looking further into the tunnel below from up top, I could only see a little due to a large pipe obstructing my view. I did however make out a spinning object at the far end of the tunnel. What it was exactly I couldn’t tell, so I would have to get closer.

The climb down the ladder was short enough. Though I didn’t like having my back turned to any potential danger. As I moved down I could quite clearly see the fungi referred to several times by Alexander and I assumed that since I wasn’t dead or showing signs of an infection that the vaccine worked. I finally made it onto the ground, or at least the tiny bit of water that covered it. I turned around and tried to get a better view of what was up ahead.

Oooooooaaaauuugggghhhhh…

I turned right back around and began to frantically climb the ladder again. I couldn’t tell exactly where that came from but it was definitely somewhere in front of me and I didn’t want to take that chance. I pulled up and over the ledge and sat there for a while, hoping those things couldn’t climb ladders. After that I looked over the ledge once more and found the tunnel to be empty. I had no choice but to go back down, seeing as it was my only way out.

I made it back down the ladder and onto the ground this time with nothing popping out at me. I began my way through the tunnel towards the spinning object at the end. For it being a sewer, it was surprisingly brighter that most of the other areas that I had been in. Though there was some heavy fog inside that made most of the things within hazy looking.

The tunnel ended inside a large room in which I assumed to be the center of the sewer system as I saw other tunnels to my left and right side. I could also now make out the spinning object at the end. It was merely a water wheel, but it was spinning rather fast. If I had tried to stop it in any way I was sure that would result in me losing a limb. It wasn’t spinning fast enough though for me to see through the wheel. All I could see through it was another large room that led to another tunnel. A flashback had returned to me as I concentrated through the spinning blades.

“No, please don’t take me! Nobody ever returns!”

It was another quick flashback, but very implicative. Return from what? I could only wonder now what was past this wheel and the sewers. I turned back and looked at my options. I could go through either a tunnel to my left or one to my right. With no logical reasoning as I didn’t even think there could be any, I decided to try going right first. It quickly came up to an intersection but the paths to my left and in front were both blocked by large bars running vertically across them. The one to my right though was broken in the middle and I could move through it, though I didn’t want to think about what the strength to break through them.

I easily made it through the bars and continued down the only path that was available to me. It eventually came to the point where there were rooms to either side of me. The one to my left was nearly full of large boulders so that wasn’t and option, the other though looked like it led to a ladder. I quickly moved inside and looked up. There was a ladder alright, but it was just too high for me to reach. I kicked at the water and swore again. This was worse than that small sliver of light that I saw in the prison ceiling. This was an actual plausible means of escape from the sewers and it just sat there, taunting and laughing at me. I kicked again at the water in anger and quickly decided to refrain from doing so lest I wanted to attract unwanted attention. I begrudgingly walked away from the broken ladder and returned to moving down the tunnel. I would just have to keep looking for something that might help me.

“Have to get out of here.”

I quickly clenched my mouth shut and moved faster now to forget that I just spoke without myself knowing again. I know I had to get out of here, but I didn’t have to start talking to myself about it. As I made more progress through the tunnel I was in, I began to hear a faint churning and I perked my ears to listen. It sounded like machine parts, gears more specifically. I suddenly got my hopes up and went faster now. The tunnel came to another barred barricade but also turned to the left and I climbed up the few stairs onto dry stone once more and through the door that was at the end of them.

It was just as I had expected. A machine room, presumably controlling the water wheel. I looked at the parts that controlled it. I saw two consoles with levers sticking out of them. Below them was a panel that had from left to right in order a small gear, a medium gear, and a large gear printed on it. Both right now were set on the middle gear setting and I guessed that I had to manipulate these to slow down the water wheel.

It took several minutes of pushing the levers around and seeing which setting made the least noise, but I finally found the right one. I pushed the lever on the left to the smallest gear and the lever on the right to the largest gear and I could barely hear the churning sound of the gears by that point so I assumed that was as slow as it was going to get. Satisfied, I returned to the door and went through before continuing back down the tunnel towards the water wheel to see if indeed it was the water wheel that the machine controlled.

Ooooerrruuurargghh…

I just couldn’t get anything right without it resulting in one of these things finding me. I instantly turned right back around and through the door before closing it shut. I looked around for any spots to hide in but the best one I found was a small section of pipes near the door. Seeing no better alternative, I ducked under the set of pipes and remained silent while I heard the monster shuffling around in the water outside. It made it up onto the steps and the stone ground before the door as I could hear it. It must have been the same or similar one to the thing that was in the Morgue because I could hear the definite sounds of something large and metallic being dragged behind loud hoofsteps.

Clunk

Skeeeeeeee

Clunk

Skeeeeeeee

My heart was pounding by the time it had neared the door and I was absolutely sure that I was going to die by this point because if it came bashing in there was no chance I could escape it if it actually found me wedged in these pipes. It was still making the most horrifying and disgusting grunts and moans and it stood outside the door.

The sounds of the metal scraping suddenly became fainter as the thing began to head back away from the door. I just remained where I was, bewildered. It had actually left the door completely untouched. Usually those things knocked them down the second they saw one. Not that I should necessarily complain about it though.

Surprisingly, I made it back to the main room in the sewers with no encounters. Again, not that I should really complain about it. My assumption of the machine had also been true as the blades were now spinning at a much slower rate. But they were still spinning too fast to move through safely. I would have to block it with something. The only other potential place to find something to block it was through that last tunnel. I would find something to use one way or another so I started down that way.

A few turns and frustrating blocked paths later, I found my prize, a small pipe. From the looks of it, the pipe had fallen off of the other piece that was sticking out of the wall. I picked it up and brought it back to the main room. Once there I found the wheel to be the same as it were before. I could easily stop it if I placed the pipe inside it at just the right time. I watched it carefully for about thirty seconds and predicted its movements so I could place the pipe inside at the right time.

Now.

In a single, quick motion I pushed the pipe in the way of the blades against the ground and just after one of the blades hit against it and after a few second of resistance it finally stopped. I did it. I could now pass under and through the wheel into the next room.

The area through the wheel was just another large room with a few waterfalls of water spilling inside the pool from the ceiling. Other than that the only other thing was the next tunnel at the far end of the room. The tunnel, after a short distance, came to another barred blockade, but a few of the bars in the middle were broken in the middle, though just enough to stick a leg through and nothing more. I pushed as hard as I could against the bottom half of the broken bar but it was of no use, these things were impossible to move.

My only other alternative was another set of stairs that went up much higher than the ones that led to the machine room up to a door at the top. I ascended these stairs and pushed open the door before recoiling at the macabre inside. Not only was the small room almost completely filled with the red organic substance, but there was also a cut up corpse of a monster. I was fairly certain these things were the gatherers described in that ponylore article that I found in the Archives so long ago, but ‘monster’ or ‘thing’ seemed to fit something as horrible looking as this better. The body itself was cut up by limbs: legs, torso, and head. It seemed that only the Shadow could actually kill these things too.

I closed the door and turned to go back down the stairs to avoid looking at such a sight any longer. My head was hung low as I reached the bottom of the stairs and returned into the water once more. What was I to do now? Both of these led to a dead end and the only way that looked like it had potential was impossible to move.

CRASH

The sound of metal ripping and breaking apart shot through my ears from beside me. I was so deep in thought I didn’t even notice the damned monster come up and start breaking down the gate. It was another blade wielding one too. This was bad. I didn’t look at it directly for fear that it would cause me to freeze again and turned back towards the large room before breaking into a full gallop.

CRASH.

The gate had been demolished as the monster was now charging at me. I had to make it past the water wheel and remove the pipe to stop it from getting closer. The room was very large and that wasn’t helping as I could hear the blade wielding fiend closing in on me and growling more and more.

“Charcoal, turn around this instant! You are carrying the Shadow with you,” Alexander's voice quickly spoke to me.

Turn around? The last thing that I wanted to do right now was turn around. I felt a whoosh of air as the thing swung at me with its blade and missed by near centimeters. I gave a quick gasp and moved faster as it growled loudly again and started to regain the speed it had lost during its attack. But it was too late now. I slid under the first blade of the wheel and as I went under the second one I kicked the pipe and knocked it out of position before barely escaping the now turning wheel. The monster too had reached the wheel and growled furiously again before slashing at the wheel a few times before realizing that its efforts were in vain. Clearly unhappy, it gave up and turned around before trudging back out of the room and through the bars that it had just cut down.

I slumped down and sighed with relief through short and quick breaths. I was certain my heart was going to explode from the fear and movement, just like with the water monster. Hopefully that thing will be gone now and I can continue searching past the gate and maybe I’ll even find a way out of here. I blocked the wheel the same way that I did last time and went back into the large room as I had done before.

The monster had really done a piece of work on that gate, only a few segments at the far end of the walls remained by this point. I moved very slowly and cautiously now, out of both fear and the fact that moving slower reduced the sound the water made. The tunnel past the gate eventually came to a right turn and I could see another place where the path split up ahead. I came to the place where the path split and looked down to the left and saw another path leading to the right. Suddenly getting an idea about what this was, I began to move straight again towards the end where it turned left. I reached the corner and looked around it. The path eventually turned left, I was right. This was a large, square tunnel that looped around the brick center piece.

I moved down the path I was already going and neared the corner that turned left before peaking around the corner. I just as quickly pulled my head away. Right in the middle of the hallway was the same monster just standing there, like it was guarding something. Taking another quick glance I guessed that it was the hallway that was directly in front of it. That must be my way out then. Taking a few minutes to think about it, I got an extremely risky plan in my head.

I took one of the loose rocks from the corner at the further end of the square tunnel and moved back over to where I was. If I could throw this past him just far enough and make a large sound at the far end of tunnel it might be just enough to draw it away so I could sneak by. The thing didn’t look like it was about to move any time soon so I had to act fast and do this now. Plus being right within the vicinity of one of those things made me extremely uneasy.

I positioned myself just around the corner of the tunnel next to the monster and took aim for the far end past it. I took three very long, very deep breaths and held the last one in as I reared back and hurled the rock as hard as I could away from me. It landed right at the end of the tunnel where I wanted it to. As soon as I saw it land in the water I moved back out of sight and peaked around again.

It worked.

The monster was moving toward where the rock landed and was now even moving down the opposite hall back towards where I was when I first entered the square tunnel. This was my only chance. I moved swiftly but quietly through the water as I crouched low. I made it to where the hallway started and moved up the few stairs that were there onto dry stone once more. I didn’t bother about stealth by this point, I booked it as fast as I could down the hall.

By this point I was sure the monster realized that it had been tricked as I heard a loud grow from behind me followed by something moving fast through the water. The hallway turned left and I immediately came upon a door. I threw it open and ran through before turning to shut it.

Erraaggh…

I had no idea how, but that thing had just rounded the corner and was now barreling towards me. It didn’t want to let me escape a second time. I denied it and slammed the door to buy myself a few seconds as I moved again. I heard the familiar sound of something breaking the door down as I rounded another corner to the right and found another door. I repeated the same process but behind this door was a ladder. I took no time in getting up to it and starting to climb for my life. The ladder went into a dark hole but I could see the smallest bit of light at the top. I pushed up as fast as I could with all of my remaining energy. I didn’t know if the monster was climbing up too or not but I didn’t care. I just kept going even with my now aching muscles screaming at me, not stopping for anything.

__________________________________________________________________________

It was a small room with four doors, one in the middle of each wall. I had made it up the ladder and into this room but remained where I was. For how long though, I couldn’t tell. Time was something that had become completely irrelevant to me by this point. My only concerns lie in surviving and the Inner Sanctum. The only thing I could do now was put the sewers and all the previous areas I’ve been in out of my mind while keeping all the memories I’ve gathered thus far with me.

I began trying each door separately. The first one I tried wouldn’t even open, the second led to a cave-in, but the third led to a small room with another barrel full of oil that I used to refill my lantern and another journal entry. I quickly picked this up and began to read as I was hoping that this was the one that would answer the question about the warding ritual spoken of.

9th of August, 839

I’m still sweating and shaking, even after all this time. The warding ritual was nothing that I had expected. Only those not of a sound mine would think of something so barbaric. I hadn’t even realized that the dungeon was still in use. Alexander had one of the prisoners, a murderer he told me, taken down to the dungeon and told me that I had to perform the ritual in the right order to have the right effect. The Shadow, he said, could be confused and delayed if the blood of another had been spilt. Killing this prisoner would buy us precious time. What else could I do? Alexander told me it was what I must do. He was saving my life, and I didn’t have any room to argue.

What sort of mad pony would devise such a horrible means of warding the Shadow?

Alexander.

I could feel my anger rising towards him once more. Killing another, even if they did commit a crime, just to save oneself was completely absurd. Murder was also a very rare crime, but things could also be different this far east. Still, this was something very disturbing to think about. I turned away and left, attempting to erase what I had just read, but it had already seared my mind and was forever imprinted there. It all was there, ever horrible memory of this place that I’ve found so far, clearer than ever. The more I attempted to forget the more clear it became too.

I tried the last door in the main room and after a brief hallway it led to a dark ledge. Looking over I saw that it was actually a large set of spiraling stairs that began to my right and went down a long ways. I began down the stairs, lighting each torch I saw on the way in case I ever needed to find my way back up. After a while the stairs finally came to a stop and I could see a small section to my left that ran under the stairs and in front of me was another door.

Through the door was another hallway that went to either the left or right, but the right path was blocked by another cave-in. Down to the left was another barred gate  like the ones in the prison and as I moved toward it I could see a fairly well lit room behind it. I opened the gate and after moving only four steps in I gave a shocked gasp.

This was definitely a torture room. I was standing on a ledge overlooking a fairly large room with various torture devices scattered throughout it. Chains, metal spikes, superfluous amounts of blood, there was no mistaking it. I descended the stairs to my left and immediately began on trying to find a way out of this room. I had no intention of staying in such a maddening place. Torture was something completely chimera and very rare in this nation. The only ones who really practiced such things were races outside of Equestria. I do remember hearing tales of horrible and disgusting things about those who had the misfortune of being subject to such things. But most of that even was insane ramblings from husks of former ponies that had experienced them.

There was a small note on one of the few tables at the far edge of the room that wasn’t covered in blood that talked about the other orb mentioned by Alexander. The one that had supposedly broken before he found mine.

Use of Orbs in Torture

While the destruction of my orb was major setback, I found that the properties of the orb can change very much while it is in pieces. More specifically, how they can be used during torture. I’ve found that if one of the orb pieces is present while a prisoner is being tortured, its effects are enhanced greatly. It would seem that while the orb is broken the individual pieces almost leak insanity. Having this will amplify all who are subject to torture and the collection of the vitae has increased substantially. I will place the six pieces in several of the separate rooms in the Transept and Choir for further study.

Transept and Choir? Those didn’t exactly sound like horrible rooms of torture. The more I thought about it thought the worse the names actually seemed. Almost sadistical irony must have influenced the naming of those places. I looked around and saw the only way out of the room looked like it was to my right. I walked over to the end and found two large doors blocking my way to go left or right. The way directly in front of me though was clear, and I could see some light at the end.

The room had channeled into a small hallway that eventually led to another gate at the end and I looked inside. I could see a door at the very end of the room but nothing else due to the lighting, or lack thereof, and my vision was cut off by the two sides of the hallway. I pulled open the gate and moved inside to see what was along the sides of the walls.

A sudden barrage of noises hit me as the ground shook. I could hear multiple screams and moans of pain coming from all directions, hooves desperately beating against walls, and could even feel the pain of many suffering all at once. I fell to my knees and hyperventilated as the sounds of the suffering continued on before escaping me.

What just happened to me?

I had fully regained my senses and stood straight once more. I could still hear the occasional moan or cry coming from a different direction. I moved towards and edge and realized what this room was, holding cells. But these were no ordinary cells from what I could tell as I neared one and opened it. The sight inside told the story all in its own. It was near covered in blood and the grimy paneled stone gave it the most eerie look. As I peered inside, another memory came to me.

“I know this…I’ve been here already. This taste, it is of the stuff that they give you to forget. And while I don’t remember what’s happened in my mind, my body does. The cuts speak volumes. They will be back though.”

That was not my memory either. But it was still incredibly disturbing none the less. From the sounds of it, they would torture prisoners, then make then forget and repeat the process. Alexander was cruel indeed. Subjecting others to this. But it couldn’t be helped now. They were all more than likely dead. I decided to see what the door was at the end of the room.

“The Shadow…It’s getting closer.”

I almost hit myself that time. I had to stop this. But how could I stop myself from doing something that I didn’t even know that I was doing it? I only moved faster now and made it to the door before reading “Chancel” on it. I went through while trying to keep myself from speaking again.

__________________________________________________________________________

The door led up a set of stairs that went straight and then left before coming to a door. I pushed it open and immediately noticed the two large doors that made up a massive single one to my left and up in front of me slightly. It wasn’t the door that caught my eye though; it was the two large torches next to it. They glowed with a brilliant blue light that was probably brighter than any source of light that I’ve seen in the entire castle thus far.

I moved toward the light and found myself to be directly under it, absorbing its brightness. I had already tried the doors; it was useless, as most were.

I then turned around and beheld something magnificent.

It was probably the most massive chamber that I had ever seen since waking. It went for hundreds of meters both in front of me and to my sides. There was no floor either, only a narrow stone bridge connecting all four sides together at a circular platform in the middle. The same blue light from the torches shone from various fires placed on the rails at the edges of the bridges. I walked forwards towards the bridge and looked over the rail. It went down a far ways before reaching a large pool of water that spanned the entire length of the chamber.

I walked out onto the bridge itself and found it to be remarkably sturdy. I moved across it with ease and eventually found my way to the center platform. It wasn’t anything that special, just the crossroads connecting the four bridges. I looked at each of them, both of the ones to my left and straight in front of me were fine but the one to my right was broken and the entire middle section of the bridge was gone. I was slightly disappointed that I couldn’t see what was down there but I kept going straight towards the very end.

I reached the door with no problems and found it to be slightly ajar. Inside it I could see a small sliver of jumping light and a crackling sound. I pushed it open and found a long tunnel at the end of a small room before it filled with lightning. Or at least what looked like lightning. It danced and jumped across the mysterious looking tunnel  many times. I dared not go near it though as it also looked very deadly. I looked around the rest of the room and found another pedestal with a hemispheric depression in it and many candles surrounding it, an orb pedestal. It was empty. This now gave me the reason why I needed to find those orb pieces and put it back together. This must be my way into what I could only assume to be the Inner Sanctum. I was finally here. I had reached my goal, but it was still just out of reach.

I turned and left the room as it was seeing that there was nothing else I could do. I made it back to the center platform and turned right to see what was at the end of that bridge. From the center platform I could tell that it was another door, but I couldn’t see inside of it. I made it to this door too with no problems, it was almost beginning to unsettle me how monster free this area was. But the fact that it was next to the Inner Sanctum might have explained it.

Through the door was a small room with shelves of various work tools. On one of the shelves I noticed a small bucket of tar. I suddenly remembered one of the journal entries I read about reassembling the orb by using tar. If I were to assemble mine in the pedestal, I was going to need this. I took it and began the rest of my search of the room. Inside to my right were more stairs that led down to a room which held only what I could assume to be another machine as I could hear it working quite loudly. I made it down the stairs but was quickly stopped by a locked gate with a padlock that was in perfect condition, rendering my hammer and chipper useless against it. I could see that it was indeed a large machine though. What purpose it served though was beyond me.

I returned back up to the room and began to leave until I noticed another journal entry that had escaped my view when I first entered lying on a small bench. Worried yet unable to control my desire to know what it was about, I began to read it.

12th of August, 839

The ritual to banish the Shadow is taking longer than expected and we have to do what is needed to keep it at bay. I spend my time helping out with the prisoners. Being around these degenerates sickens me. None of them even try to face their punishment with any sort of dignity. They taunt me with their lies of innocence and their cowardly pleas of mercy. What could make them fall so far from the grace of civilized existence? They are all evil and wicked and I constantly remind myself of it. I only thank whomever is sending these wretches to us to serve as instruments of my salvation. I’m trying to study the different tools in the torture chamber and learning to use them effectively. Last time I tried it ended up being messy, and affected the results. When the next warding is performed, I will be ready.

The journal entry fell to the ground. My eyes were sprung wide open with disbelief, mouth agape. I was finding everything I’ve believed about my old self now to be either gone or seriously questioned. Was this what I became? A soulless torturer who believed that the prisoners were only tools for his…my use?

I couldn’t handle that.

I ran from the room. Ran as fast as I could back towards the exit. I didn’t want to believe it. I wasn’t like that. I wasn’t.

Or was I?

“No don’t kill her!” Another utterance had escaped me.

“Argh!” I screamed.

I fell to the ground once more. I was back at the large doors and right next to the smaller door that led to the stairs and back into the torture area. I thrashed about, almost fighting with myself. My eyes were tearing with a mixture of pain and confusion. The ringing returned to my ears and all noise ceased besides that.

I had to get a hold of myself.

After a few struggled attempts and the intervention of laudanum I regained my hearing and proper sight once more as I got back up and remained still, silent. I didn’t know what to believe anymore. I kept returning to the question of my sanity, but left it where it was. I didn’t care anymore. Sane or not, I was going to get into the Inner Sanctum as it was my only drive to live anymore. I was going to end this battle between myself.

__________________________________________________________________________

I returned to the torture area in silence and began my way back towards the main room. As I entered the middle of the holding room I received another flashback.

The first voice to speak was Alexander’s. “These cells are meant to hold prisoners under treatment. The ones you sent for will end up here. Remember that the confinement is a prelude to the torture and that you should pace yourself. Don’t take anyone before they’re ready.”

“Understood,” I replied in a completely lifeless way.

“The sounds from each cell are channeled through these pipes that lead to the cell next to it. It will ensure that one prisoner’s pain will be the terror of the other.”

After checking another cell I confirmed what was spoken about the pipes. My eyes jarred at the sight and thought of what happened in here. It was just, so much suffering. I kept asking myself the entire time who could be so cruel as to do something like this but I already knew the answer.

Before leaving into the small hallway, I noticed something that I hadn’t the first time being in here, a lever, two actually, one on each side of the gate that I used to enter into the room. With no good reason not to, I pulled both and heard the sound of something being lifted a distance away and I knew instantly what it was, the doors.

I hurried back into the main room and found that I was correct. Both doors were now open, and completely dark. I decided to try to one on my right first and found a larger hallway than the one that led to the holding rooms. It was mostly uninteresting and only served to get my to the door after going straight then a left turn followed by a right. “Transept” this one read. It at least didn’t sound bad.

__________________________________________________________________________

It was a massive room. Not nearly as massive as the large chamber in the Chancel, but still very large. Though it was very creepy as the walls were nearly covered in pointed windows on all sides towards the top, shining in a light that lit the cages that hung from the ceiling. In the center of the large room was a small spiraling staircase leading all the way up to the top of the room and disappearing. At the end of the room on all three sides was a door leading to somewhere unknown.

I went with the staircase first as it looked too interesting to ignore. But before I made it halfway to it another flashback came to my mind.

“How much more am I supposed to take Alexander? Kill me already! Just kill me!” An unknown yet clearly traumatized voice spoke.

“This one. Prepare him,” Alexander spoke.

Sickening. Waiting for them to be at a breaking point and then torturing them? I was at a loss for thought on this. I did make it to the staircase though and began to climb up. It went up rather quickly and after a short time I made it to the top of the rom and went a little further until a came to a rather good looking wood paneled room at the top. It was very small but there was a door near the ledge of the stairs. Looking around quick though I noticed a large painting. It was the same one of Alexander that I had first seen when I woke but this one looked wrong. His face was all distorted and instead of eyes all he had were two large black holes formed. The same thing with his mouth. I turned away from the disturbing thing and opened the door. Inside was what looked like a small study with a desk in the center and a few bookshelves along the wall. There was another note on the table and I went to go to read it.

Notes on Torture

There are quite a few interesting things that I have learned about torture. I had always assumed that the reaction I would get from each prisoner would be highly individual. But this is not the case. These ponies all seem to have a similar approach to dealing with physical pain and the terror of anticipation.

I can’t stress enough the importance of restraining the victims before proceeding. Even the most timid of these creatures can break out into fits of violence where their strength becomes dramatically increased beyond what they seem capable of. The proper steps to take are to: restrain the victim while they are still dazed, proceed to present the form of torture you are about to apply, and then continue with the actual act.

The point of presenting the form of torture is to instill terror. The minds of these creatures is surprisingly efficient and will produce a greater fear by just imagining it. While applying pain, make sure to avoid large amounts of damage at a time and attempt to sustain the process. Apply the pain in doses and if possible with breaks to let the body settle. If you are whipping or cutting the victim, strike once, then let pain stop before continuing again.

As long as the body suffers it will continue to produce the vitae and saturate the blood with its properties. But if the victim behaves differently than expected, this will not happen. If this is the case, feed them the amnesia drink before attempting the process again.

This…this was…unspeakably evil. It’s as if he studied torture as a science and a means to further its effects. I could barely finish reading it I was so disgusted by it. Only a true monster, even worse than those that I have faced until this point, could do something like this. Only the worst.

I rifled through the desk drawers and found another memory canister in the large drawer to the right. I activated it as I did all the other ones and let the memory fill my mind.

Is it you, my love, that I miss the most, or myself? I know what I’ve become, I’m not blind. I’m a monster to them. An evil ruler perched on a mountain overlooking the town below, just waiting for someone to act outside of normality so that they may never be seen again. They have all grown distrustful of me, and the only reason I still remain is their fear of me. But I know not for how long it will be before that changes. If I can’t return home now, I shall perish.

I didn’t know what to think of Alexander or myself anymore. Clearly he realizes what he’s doing is wrong, but does that make it right?

No.

No it doesn’t. I don’t care how much he wishes to return to his home or his love. All of this death, all of this horror, it excuses no one’s crimes of this magnitude. He tortured and killed so many. And for all I knew they could have been innocent and merely a victim of his whim. No, I would make sure that Alexander would answer of all of this.

I gratefully left the room and exited back down the spiraling stairs before stopping in the middle of the three potential doors to open. I was more than likely going to end up going in every one in search of orb pieces anyway so I started with the door on my left. I opened it and revealed a somewhat narrow hallway with various pipes running along the walls and ceiling. It was too dark to see and I saw no torches along the walls due to the pipes so I had to use my lantern the whole way. I moved down the hall silently, it turned left before turning right once more and right up to a door. The closer I got to it though, the more uneasy I became. My legs started shaking involuntarily and I almost considered just walking away from the door for a moment. But that thought was in vain as I found myself pulling the door open out of too much curiosity.

The ringing. It was the strangest ringing filling my ears. It sounded almost like large bells from a bell tower all ringing together with a constant high pitched wail. I found my vision to be almost slowing as it blurred and I moved in near slow motion as I went inside. I swung me head over to the right and the ringing got louder. The only thing to my right was a large cabinet with one of its doors ajar. I moved over to it and flung the door open as my sense of control was beginning to deteriorate. Inside was one of the orb pieces. I stared at it for a long time, unsure of what to do. It was keeping me in some strange trance of drowsiness as I looked at it. After a few second I managed to reach out and touch it.

It all stopped.

All of my senses returned to me in a second and I took a gasping breath. The orb had done something strange to me, and I didn’t know what. But from now on I knew that I had to be cautious around these things. I put the orb away and looked to the rest of the room that I had ignored due to the orb. I saw a single chair with two chains hanging from the ceiling and a large stone block with rope attached to it on the floor beside it. A table full of knives, hammers, and other bloodied instruments sat near it. Looking closer at it, another memory came to me, but this one was different. It was like I was actually seeing what was happening without it actually happening.

I was standing near the right wall of the room next to a large crank. Alexander stood next to me, watching. A terrified mare sat in the chair with the stone attached to her back legs and the chains clamped to her forelegs. I actually started to turn the crank and she began to lift in the air. Eventually she was completely suspended from the ground and the rock pulled at her from her legs while she hung from the chains. She began to scream hysterically as she felt herself being split in half by the opposing forces pulling on her. I then turned to Alexander and began to speak to him about our next move.

“No!” I screamed.

But then I remembered that it was all a memory. A very vivid memory. I could just see the look of pure terror in her eyes and could even feel the nothingness in mine and Alexander’s. No sympathy, no remorse, nothing. It all seemed so real, because it was now that I thought about it. I did this. I brought unimaginable pain to this prisoner and felt nothing. I had to get out of this room.

I eventually made it back to the main room and took a minute to try and collect myself.

“Don’t let her escape, do whatever it takes!”

“Damn it!”

I turned away towards the left and hurried toward the door that was at the furthest edge from where I first entered the Transept and opened to door to find a similar hallway with pipes from the first one. I moved in and felt another flashback, this time a normal one, come to me.

“Let me go you brutes!” A strange yet familiar voice yelled.

“The cradle is ready,” I spoke in my now disconnected tone that I heard earlier.

“Good.” Said Alexander.

The stranger spoke once more, I was assuming to myself. “You…you’re just a normal pony. How can you partake in this?”

“Is he alright?” I asked.

“He is one of the wicked. Don’t pay any attention to his lies.”

“I’m not bad though. It was an accident!” The prisoner said back.

“He set someone on fire, Charcoal.”

“It wasn’t my fault! Please, why won’t anyone listen?”

“That’s horrible.” I said.

“Yes indeed. Remember that we are dealing with monsters here.”

That voice. I remembered it now. It was the same voice that I heard in the prison about someone rambling about the burning house and again in the sewers about no one returning. And now here at the Transept.

He was innocent. Now that I think about it, they were probably all innocent. I’ve been torturing and murdering the innocent. What did I become while I was here?

The hallway went straight back and stretched on nearly forever before finally coming to a door. I hesitated slightly before entering but ultimately did. Inside at the far end of the room was a small stand with a small pyramid shaped object attached to the top of it. Another flashback appeared.

“No, no, please. I’ll do anything you want, just don’t do this.”

He was clearly completely broken by this point as he hysterically cried “I’m innocent!”

I returned from the flashback, but also to the ringing once more. I swayed as I turned to my right and found the orb piece behind several cloth bags. The same thing happened before and as I picked it up the ringing and disorientation stopped. I looked back at the object before once again being subject to another involuntary vivid memory.

I was watching from the back of the room as the one who had been accused of arson was being lowered onto and off of the impaler. He was already mentally broken but it didn’t matter as they meant for him to die as he was one of the few that the amnesia drink wouldn’t work on. The torturing was working beyond their expectations though.

As soon as the memory ended I bolted out of the door and left that sight as fast as I could. As soon as I made it back into the main hall of the Transept I gasped again. In one of the cages suspended from the ceiling sat a rotting corpse. That was definitely now there when I first came in. I turned away and entered quickly through the last room of the Transept. The hallway went straight then turned right then left again quickly. As I moved through though, I could hear a faint sound that kept growing. It was a saw… sawing. But at the same time I could also hear the sound of some pony whimpering and crying as the sawing continued. As I got closer the two kept getting worse and responded to each other too well and I realized what I was hearing. The pony whimpering was the one being sawed. I almost turned and left right there but I never wanted to return here again and this room must have had an orb piece in it.

After a few more turns the hallway came up to the door that led to the room. Just before I reached it the sawing had stopped. I opened the door to find two large wooden beams on each side of the room with another that connected them on top and on two sides of the top beam were more chains than hung from it. Below the beams were a drain for the blood and a large saw. I noticed the orb resting near some rope to the left of the beams and I quickly moved closer and took it before the disorientation set it. Then just as quickly I moved away from it after being so close to that saw. Before I managed to leave the room the vivid memories returned with the last room of the Transept.

He hung upside down from the top beam. Alexander and I stood on either side of him, saw in hand, and beginning near the legs down through the body. After a while the saw became lodged in one of the lower bones and wouldn’t move any further. The prisoner had ceased crying at some point as it had hurt too much to do so. We stepped away from him to let the fluids from his body drain.

I was sitting in the corner of the room, shaking. Forelegs covering my face and sobbing quietly. It was too much. I just couldn’t take this much suffering and pain. My mind was tearing itself apart from everything that I had just witnessed. It was all just too much for me to handle. I took out a laudanum bottle and poured its contents into my mouth and let myself ease slightly, but not enough. I wanted nothing more to do with it. No more of this pain. This whole damned area sickened and disgusted me beyond belief.

I stumbled out of the doorway and eventually lumbered my way back to the main room. All while trying to keep myself focused. But it was so hard considering the pain of the memories flooding my mind. I saw the door that led out of the Transept and I hurried as fast as I could towards it. The entire room began to shake as I heard the faint rumbling of the shadow all around. Dust filled the room but I didn’t stop. I had to get out of this demented place.

__________________________________________________________________________

I was glad to be out of there. I would much rather be in this torture area than that one. But both were still very bad. I made it back into the main room that connected all the others and only one more area stood in my way of the Inner Sanctum, the Choir. The last of the two doors that I had opened earlier still remained that way, just as darkened too. I raised my lantern and began my way though. I felt slightly empowered from a lot of different things: the laudanum, finally getting out of the Transept, and knowing how close I was to ending my journey.

The hallway went straight for a while before turning left and then right. After going straight from there some more I finally arrived at the door with the sign that said “Choir”. This sounded innocuous as well, but so did the Transept, so I trusted nothing as I began to push open the door and head inside.

__________________________________________________________________________

It was a very long, yet very well lit hall. A long, single row of candles placed on a small indent in the middle of the walls went all the way down to the end. But stopped in the middle for a bit as two door were there. I made my way to the two wooden doors and looked at the one to the left before opening it. Inside was odd looking room with an altar like table in the middle of it and below it was a circular symbol inscribed in the stone floor. All around the walls were candles as well as a few tables with more various bloodied tools. On the large table in the center too was another journal entry. I moved over and began to pick it up to read it, but as soon as I had touched it I gasped as a similar overwhelming force like the one from the Archives attacked me and I blacked out.

"15th of August, 839"

“The blood wards are failing. The Shadow beckons and its cry disarms my actions.”

I opened my eyes. Lying on the once recently vacant table was now an actual living pony, but lying flat on his back and bound to the table, a cloth bag over his head. He tried to move but couldn’t, a faint whimpering escaped him but he couldn’t speak due to the bag.

“There’s no time to spare. You’ll have to kill another. Alexander produces a knife. He wants me to cut the flesh.”

I turned to my right, almost involuntarily and saw a wickedly shaped knife appear on the table. My heart began to pump faster as I realized what was occurring.

“Do it. Save yourself, Charcoal. He’s evil, a cold blooded murderer. Hurry!”

I didn’t want to do it. I stood where I was, trying to find a way out of this. I turned around and found the door closed and locked. Suddenly I felt some strange force take a hold of me and it forced me to turn around. I walked over to the table with the knife on it and began to reach out. I fought against this mysterious force as much as I could but it was a losing battle. I picked up the knife.

“Alexander, you must let me be. I have to concentrate.”

The prisoner began to squirm more as I saw lines beginning to form across his midsection in a strange pattern.

“Paint the pony. Cut the lines. Cut the flesh. Watch the blood spill. Let it come!”

I felt my leg moving once more as I brought the dagger closer to his body. My entire body began to tremble and I shut my eyes as I began to do the unthinkable. The sound of something slicing and cutting flesh rang through my ears and I felt a liquid, presumably blood, splash against my hoof as I heard myself begin to speak again.

“Pleeeeassee, I didn’t do anything, nah nah nah.” I heard myself say mockingly. Then I began to sound more hysterical as I chanted.

“Paint the pony. Cut the lines. Paint the pony. Cut the lines.”

“Please, they all cry.”

The sound of the struggling prisoner began to die away as I then heard myself speak again. “Hush, hush. Now you sleep.”

I opened my eyes and found the table to be gone, but blood still remained all over it and on my hoof. The knife too was gone.

“I did well. One life for another. You hear me, guardian of the orb? I did this all for you. Now withdraw your shadow from my domain once more.”

The door behind me opened. I quickly got out of it as fast as I could. But before returning to my regular state, I heard one last thing.

“Alexander, there isn’t much time. I can feel it, we must act swiftly. I’m ready to do whatever it takes.”

Charcoal, I believed in you. I had thought that there were other reasons for forgetting. But no. You were just an insane pony caught in a bloodlust to help yourself. You are not me. I refuse to believe that that was ever me. I’m better than that.

Or was I?

Of course I was. That part of my life is over. He did this so that he would have another chance. I was, as he said, his last chance to make things right. I had to do just that. To redeem both of us.

I actually returned back in the same room where I saw the blood ritual. I then noticed that the blood was still on my hoof. I frantically wiped it against one of the tables and got as much off as I could but some of it had dried and still remained. I stifled another round of vomiting and turned back around and exited. As soon as I made it into the hallway, I found a body, the same body that I had just witnessed and involuntarily killed, hanging from the ceiling. No, there were actually two of them; as soon as I swung my head over to the right I saw another down a bit. I tried not to be completely disturbed but it was impossible. I thought that by now things like this wouldn’t get to me, but they’ve only become worse. I opened the room directly across that I neglected when I first entered and found it to be another room identical to the one I was just in.

I didn’t even bother going in lest I murder without consent again, so I turned to my left and began down the hallway towards the rest of the Choir. There had to be more, since I found no orb pieces in either room. The hall eventually came to a gradual yet long set of stairs that led down to the door that entered the main Choir. There was only one way to find out if they were in there or not.

__________________________________________________________________________

This was bad. Really bad. I could instantly tell. I couldn’t see any more than five meters ahead of me and everything had a slight tinge of red to it. The room itself was massive. I couldn’t even see the ends of it to any of my sides nor the ceiling. Large pillars also lined the room, disappearing above into the same red mist. Plant life also grew freely around the room, long vines stretching across the floor and up the pillars.

“It is curiosity in league with your selfishness that is killing us both.” It was Alexander speaking to me again. I didn’t want to hear anything he had to say to me.

I didn’t really feel like going forwards as I could hear what sounded like monsters growling from somewhere ahead of me so I decided to stay as close as I could to the wall and start by heading to my left. I honestly didn’t feel like using my lantern in here either. There was enough light for me to see clearly immediately around me but still dark in the sense of the entire atmosphere of this room. The wall seemed to stretch on forever as more was being revealed as I moved forwards. After walking for about a minute I came up to another wall that connected to the one that I was following and blocked any further movement forwards and went to the right so I just decided to follow this wall as far as it would take me.

The wall then turned left and opened a bigger area. I followed the wall still and after it ended once more there was a door at the end. Two small torches glowed around it but their light was completely futile in such a dense place. I pushed the door open and saw more candles inside. From the looks of it the door led to a small hallway before entering into a larger room.

This was the case as I made it to the last set of candles at the end before a large room revealed itself. In the middle of it was a slightly raised platform with something in the center of it. I moved closer and the shape revealed itself to be a large metallic pony. After looking at it for a few second I realized that it was an Iron Mare. I had only heard about these things. Apparently they’re filled with spikes and it encases you inside and forces you to stand inside of it until you eventually tire from standing and die from impaling yourself. A horrible way to die. I could begin to hear the familiar ringing of the orb coming from somewhere ahead. I walked onto the platform, trying to look behind the sectioned walls at the sides of the room to see if it was over there.

My heart nearly shot out from my body as the contraption of torture suddenly flung open. It opened by splitting down the middle and swinging each side open, one to the right and the other to the left. It was indeed filled with bloodied spikes too. There was no way I was going any closer to that evil thing.

The ringing became louder as I moved to my left and eventually found my way to a smaller section of the room and lying on the floor was another piece of the orb. That made four, only two left. I left to room as fast as I could after seeing something like that happen.

“Shimmering…blue…light.”

I didn’t even care anymore. I was getting too close now to. I followed the wall to my left further still and eventually came to a bridge. The bridge went over a moat looking crevice that I couldn’t see the bottom of, even when I took out my lantern for a second. I made a note not to fall in. I crossed the bridge and heard a monster moaning from a distance to my right so I continued forwards against the wall quicker now.

The wall continued on for a much longer time that before but did eventually come to another door all the way at the end. Along the way I saw another way to my right that I could have gone into but I decided to keep going forwards. The door went into another small hallway before leading into a larger room, smaller than the previous but still big. It was a center platform with water surrounding it from all sides. And in the center lay another metallic pony shaped device. This one was, if I remembered correctly, called the Brazen Colt. It would open in half and the victim would be forced inside and they were unable to move once the lid came down. A fire would be started beneath it and they would be burned to death. Cruel, sickening fates indeed.

I found the orb to be nestled in a few plants that were growing to the left of the device. Only one left now. I took a long look at the thing in the room. I couldn’t imagine such a fate as that. A fire suddenly started beneath the thing and I could hear pounding coming from inside and something terrified screaming for its life. I turned before running as fast as I could from the room.

My only option now was to go down the one large hallway that was to my right when I had first gone down this one. I left the room and started to follow the wall that was to the left as I exited this time instead of the other one that brought me here. I had to navigate around several pillars that were right next to the wall before finally coming up to the point that I was looking for. The wall turned left and opened up into another large hallway that continued further than I could see again. But I could see both of the walls that were to my left and right, unlike before when I had first entered into the large room.

This place only got more uneasy the longer I stayed. It was mainly because I could hear those things roaming around everywhere but couldn’t see them. I eventually came up to another crevice with no bride going over it and almost turned around before seeing the broken pillar spanning it and got an idea. I jumped up onto the pillar and began to slowly make my way across it. It was hard to keep my balance with my mental and physical states being so deprived but the pillar was wide enough for me to not have to worry too much.

After a few arduous steps I reached the other side of the crevice and jumped off onto the ground as soon as I got the chance. The large hallway continued on further so I moved against the left wall again and gradual moved forwards as the sounds of the monsters were becoming more audible now.

Oooeerrraaarrghh…

That one was much closer, too close. I ducked inside the small space between the pillar and the wall as I heard one of those things begin to make its way over to my from another hallway that I noticed was to my right. I could tell it was another one of those ones with the giant blade as I could hear the sound of it being dragged across the stone floor as I had before. I peeked out from behind the pillar and saw the thing now heading down towards the way I came from. It made the same disgusting sounds as I lumbered by my and I could feel my heart begin to beat slightly faster as I heard it pass next to me just behind the pillar. I had to avoid looking at it directly elsewise I would freeze from shock as I have done before.

It continued on and began to disappear into the red mist back down the way I came from. I waited longer to see if it was actually gone though. I was shocked and disappointed as it suddenly reappeared once more through the mist and started to move back down the same hallway that it had come from. It was starting to only go back and forth between where it came from and where I came from, that wasn’t good. For all I know it was going to keep patrolling here forever. I would have to take a chance and run for it once it passes by me again, or wait until it finally notices and kills me.

It disappeared once again into the mist where I came from. I instantly moved out from behind my cover and kept moving as fast as I could forwards, hoping that the mist would give me enough cover to not be seen. Eventually the sounds of it began to fade and I could see another door appear at the end of the hallway through the mist. I didn’t care what was inside so long as it hid me from that thing. I pulled the door open and just as quickly closed it as I made it inside. I turned away from closing it and had just enough time to look down the hallway before I felt a flashback starting.

I could hear a large wooden wheel turning before Alexander began to speak. “The wheel is good for keeping your victim still during the procedure. They can be bound around the circumference or simply stretched across, tying limbs to the spokes and rim. By this point, all tools are useful and you may administer the torture in any way you like. But the forte of the wheel is the gaps. When you have decided that the victim shall die, you can smash their limbs with a hammer, making them fold between the frame.”

“But they’ll die…too quickly, I mean.”

“No, don’t worry Charcoal. The body is much more resilient than you may think. They could last days before finally succumbing.”

This must be were the last orb piece was. I almost didn’t care about the flashback by this point. I was getting so close to the last orb piece and the Inner Sanctum. Of course it disturbed me as most did, but that was overshadowed by my desire to find the last orb piece. I followed the smaller hallway down a right turn before coming up to the door that must have led into the torture room. As soon as I had opened it I immediately began to feel the disorientation and ringing coming on by the orb. I knew it, it must be here.

Inside the room itself was the usual tools of torture and chains along the walls. At the end though was a small platform with a large wheel sitting on top. Lying next to it was a very large and bloody hammer. I searched around the wheel as that was the area of the room where I felt the effects the greatest and eventually found it in the far left corner of the room. I reached out and quickly took it. This was it. This was the final orb piece that I needed to breach the Inner Sanctum. I took one last look at the wheel before finally turning and leaving. I didn’t want to think of the pain it had caused to others. All I wanted to do now was leave this horrible place.

I made it to the end of the small hallway and out of the door before following the left wall towards the next large hallway that the one monster came from. I no longer heard it around so I assumed it must have left. I turned the corner leading down that hallway and began my system of moving around the pillars along the hallway and sticking close to the wall. It went on for a time that I didn’t even know, all I knew is that it was another long hallway. I had made it almost to the end where the hallway emptied out into the main large room of the Choir. I knew that if I just crossed the crevice and kept going, I would finally be out of here.

Oooeerrraaarrghh…

This one was to my left. That made me burst out into running. There was no way that I was going to be stuck behind another pillar by one of those things while I was so close to getting out. I crossed the bridge over the crevice and made it to the large area full of pillars and vines  that I was in when I first entered and only sped up now that I knew I was so close. The monster must have heard me to as I heard a loud growl from behind me and the sound of metal and hooves striking the ground as it rushed towards me from behind.

It only made me go faster. I was locked in the same survival state as my heart rate climbed with each second that I drew closer to the door. I could still hear the sounds of that thing behind me only getting closer by the increasingly loud sound of metal striking the ground even at my top speed.

Clang, clang, clang, clang.

Rrraaaeerrghh…

The door had finally come into view, I was so close now. I ran straight up to it and in the same moment began to pull it open the monsters blade had apparently come down from overhead because I heard the sound of it striking the door and veering off to the side, only barely missing me. The door must have opened enough just in time to get in the way and deflect its attack. I had to time to think about it though as I took the opportunity while it recoiled to run through the door and quickly shut it behind me.

__________________________________________________________________________

I didn’t hear any more sounds come from behind the door. Or if there was I didn’t hear them. I was still holding the door in case it had tried to somehow open it but it never did. I was panting pretty heavily from running for my life still as I reluctantly turned from the door and began to make my way up the stairs and towards the main torture room. The bodies that were hanging in the hallway were now gone as well. I was a little taken aback by it but ultimately not too worried as I saw no need to want them back there.

“Quite frankly Charcoal, I’m not so sure what to do with you. I hold no grudge against you. We are very much the same, you and I. Did you really drink the amnesia mixture? Well, that would explain your actions. But you never did finish what you set out to do. You talked about redemption, about how you would stand against the orb’s Shadow to save our work, and me. I will grant you one last chance to redeem yourself. Stay where you are and wait for the Shadow to come to you so that you can finally stop it. Thank you, friend.”

You’re wrong Alexander. We are nothing alike. Not me anyways. I know of all the terrible things that you have done, to both me and everyone else in this world. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to end up dying for him. I will redeem myself, by finding you and ending your life. As he talked, I was still making my way towards the door that led out of the Choir. I made there as soon as he had finished speaking and went through the door. Ready to start my way towards the Chancel and the Inner Sanctum.

__________________________________________________________________________

It was everywhere. The red flesh like substance. I had no idea how it came this quickly, but it was now almost completely covering the walls and ceiling. I moved as fast as I could back down the hall and into the main torture room. It was just as bad in here. Back down the narrow hallway towards the holding cells and inside. Same thing. The Shadow was very close now. I had to move as quick as possible if I wanted to get into the Inner Sanctum in time. I made it past all of the holding cells, navigating around the flesh before hurrying into the Chancel.

__________________________________________________________________________

The Chancel was no better off. I continued on with increased haste up the stairs and into the main chamber. The vibrant blue light was now dulled from the Shadows presence near it. I turned to my right and set off on the bridge straight down towards the entrance to the Inner Sanctum. It disheartened me to see such a beautiful chamber like this corrupted by the Shadow but I had to press on in any case. I had to take careful measures to avoid some of the substance that was on the bridge but I eventually made it back to the room. It remained the same as ever, without the Shadow’s corruption too. I moved over to the orb pedestal and took out the tar. I dumped it into the depression in the pedestal and saw it spread across the entire area of the depression. It was time to reconstruct the orb.

Slowly, piece by piece, I started to reassemble the orb to its former glory. They pieces fit together perfectly as I placed them into the pedestal, molding together with each other as I set them in. I attached the third piece, then the fourth, the fifth, and finally, I took out the final piece of the orb and with trembling legs set it onto the last area of the orb that remained empty and saw a brief flash before the orb molded completely together to its former glory.

It was done.

As soon as the orb reformed I saw out of the corner of me eye something happening with the lightning that filled the tunnel. It began to arc towards the room and formed a barrier-like formation with all of the arcs meeting at a center point. After a few seconds a blue haze began to slowly pull out of the center point and I moved out of its way as it connected to the orb. Both the orb and the haze glowed brightly but after a minute nothing had changed. The barrier in front of the tunnel remained and when I tried to touch it I got shocked slightly. Something else needed to be done to finally close this thing. Something…

I ran out of the room, having an idea of what I needed to do now. I made it to the center platform of the bridges and turned right once more before heading down the bridge leading into the room with the tools in it. It must have something to do with that machinery that I saw in the room. I made it inside and quickly descended the stairs to find the door open due to the red substance. I wasted no time and went inside the steamy room. There was a series of pipes going all around the room and into the machine at the end of it. A center console lay to the left of another panel with two large gears spinning.

I went over to the console and checked around it to see if there was any way of shutting the thing off. There wasn’t. I sighed and looked over at the gears. After thinking for a minute I thought of a strange idea. What if I could get something large enough and jam the wheels? That would essentially stop it. It was risky, as I didn’t know what would happen if I just stuck something large in moving machine parts, but I had to. The Inner Sanctum lay just beyond that tunnel.

I searched around the room. There were a few small things, a couple of metal plates, a hammer or two, but nothing quite large enough to jam the wheels. I gave up on this part of the room and went back up into the tool room for anything in there. None of the tools in here looked good enough to jam it either. There was however a rather large rock sitting amongst a pile of rocks in the corner of the room due to a section of the wall collapsing. This had to be what I needed. I lifted the large rock and returned back down to the machine room. If I aimed it right, I could throw it from a distance and still stop the wheels from spinning. I moved behind one of the small pillars in front of the wheels and reared back slightly before heaving the rock towards the wheels.

It worked well. A little too well. The rock landed right on its mark and the wheels instantly stopped. But the thing actually turning them kept going, so the one wheel on the right flew off, striking my in the shoulder and knocking me over. I writhed in pain as I heard the rest of the machinery shutting down and the entire Chancel shaking. The majority of the pain subsided after a few minutes and I got back up but felt a sharp pain in my let shoulder as I settled on it. I don’t think it was broken, but it was injured fairly badly. I consumed my last laudanum and within a few minutes of its affects taking hold I started my way back up towards the Inner Sanctum.

I managed to make my way back to the room with the tunnel in it with relative ease, with only the now slight pain in my shouldering hindering me. As I moved inside the room I instantly noticed that the barrier was now gone, but so was the orb. All the candles as well that were around the pedestal were out too. I cared little though as my path was now clear. I passed into the tunnel with no problems now and could feel my excitement rising as I neared the end of it. I heard the Shadows roar coming from the Chancel behind me but I paid no mind to it as I reached the most bizarre looking door. Strange symbols were engraved into its metal surface and looked nothing like any of the other doors thus far. This must be it.

The Inner Sanctum awaited me.

__________________________________________________________________________

The Inner Sanctum. I made it. After all this time, all the horrible places I’ve been through. Just to make it to here. It was the most well lit room out of all the others too that I have seen so far. I was right now in a narrow hall that led down a long set of stairs but the way down was clearly lit. I descended the stairs with great pride as there was only one challenge left, Alexander. Halfway down the stairs the Shadow’s roar came suddenly from behind and a large bang came from the door that led inside here. I looked back and saw the red substance beginning to grow out form the door. I didn’t wait any longer and moved as fast as I could down the remaining set of stairs before entering a large, circular room with four pillars around it in the middle. I saw a lever on the one closest to me and I didn’t hesitate to pull it. A large door came down and blocked the way I just came in and I noticed that two other door on either side of me then opened up.

I heard the Shadow’s noises reach the door that just shut before abruptly stopping. This would give me precious time now. In front of me were two large doors that looked like they led into the actual Inner Sanctum area described in the journal entries. I moved over and found that they wouldn’t budge. It must have something to do with the two side room that opened up. I walked over to one and through a very narrow hall I came upon the oddest looking room. The walls were not stonework like the rest of this part of the Inner Sanctum, but looked more like sandstone. There were more pillars on the edges of the wall with the same strange symbols engraved into them. To my left was another one of those circular patters with two candle stands next to them and to my right was a stone table with an odd looking device in it with more candles surrounding it. I ignored this for a moment and went over to read the journal entry that was on the table in front of me.

19th of August, 839

It’s not fair! I’m not the one to blame. I was manipulated by that demon. He played my guilty conscience and duped me into facing the shadow alone. That vile pony. He expects me to meet my death whilst he steals powers beyond imagination? Alexander, I will kill you for what you have done. You made me a murderer, a monster! And now, I can only wait here and await my death. I am too weak to keep going. I can barely manage stand as my knees fail me. I cannot see as my eyes are covered in tears. I am as broken as those that I’ve tortured. If only I could erase my fear away and forget, as we had done with them.

This must have been the last page before the one that I had first found after waking up. All that my previous self had done. It seemed to have hurt him as much in the end. Which is why, as he said to me, he chose to forget. He didn’t want to deal with the memories of his past so he began anew. I will redeem us. Both of us.

I turned and walked over to the stone table that was at the right end of the strange room. The device that I had saw was a large prick over a small pool of water. Looking down at it, I suddenly remembered what this was. I was required to give some of my own blood and then I had to stand in the circle in both rooms to enter the Inner Sanctum. I was no longer hesitant anymore due to being so close to my goal and the Shadow banging on the closed door to the room. I quickly stuck out my hoof and pushed it against the prick. A sharp pain arose from it and a small trickle of blood escaped and landed into the water. All of the candles in the room died out and I quickly moved over to the circle. As I crossed inside of it the entire thing glowed red and another large bang on the door from the Shadow came. This one was finished. Only one more now.

I moved swiftly through the room connecting to the other stone room and as I entered I moved over to the stone table. Both room were completely identical so I repeated the same process. I drew the blood and the candles went out, as expected. I turned and made my way over to the circle and crossed through it. The same red glow appeared beneath me and at the same time I heard the two large doors of the Inner Sanctum opening as well as the Shadow finally breaking down the door.

I went back into the connecting room. It was as I thought, the red tissue now invaded in here as well. I looked over and the doors were indeed opened. Through them was a long tunnel that stretched on, only lit by torches that lined the sides. I wasted no time in starting my way through. I could barely even see the sides of the walls in the hallway as I moved through it. But I could feel it, a sensation overflowing through my body. This was it. This was where it was all going to end. The tunnel ended at a massive door that pointed came to a point at the top. Three large circles, two on each side, and one above and between them with more symbols were placed on it. The Shadow roared and I pushed on the door, slowly moving it open.

It was time to finish this.

__________________________________________________________________________

I gasped as the large door finally revealed what was behind it. It was the most stunning chamber that I had ever seen, even more so than the Chancel. It was circular shaped with three slim pylons with a light at the top all channeling into a center piece. That must have been where the orb was. Above me, it looked like the chamber stretched on endlessly. All throughout it floated several rocks in suspension. I moved around the pillars and looked into the back of the room. On a raised platform in levitated Alexander. But something was wrong. He looked nothing like a pony.

He was an odd looking creature, akin to an ape. But he stood completely upright and was only flesh. He looked like the statutes that some of the journal entries had been described as. This must be his true form, he spoke of changing his appearance from one of the old pieces of parchment I found in the study.

“I was wondering if you would show up,” His voice echoed throughout the room. “Is everything nice and clear now that you see my true form? Am I the villain? Good and evil, such comforting concepts, but hardly applicable. Are you so blind that you so no good in me whatsoever?”

I wanted to get to him so badly, but a wall of blue fire and the raised platform cut me off from him. A large bang on the door reminded me that if I were to do something, I would have to do it soon. I looked around hopelessly. There had to be something that I could do to stop him. Looking around again, I only saw one potential thing that I could change.

The pylons.

I rushed over to the closest one and began to push on it with all my strength. My shoulder that got hit became inflamed with pain but I continued to push. This was probably my only chance at stopping him. I heaved as hard as I could and finally the pylon gave and I pushed upwards and over as the pylon came crashing down.

“No! Don’t do that!” Alexander yelled. That was it; I knew that I was on the right track.

“I realize that you doubt my intentions. Why would I take extreme measures to save your life?”

I was done listening to him. I had told myself that I would get the answers that I sought from him before, but I had all the information that I needed from everything else that I have seen getting to this point. I only wished to put an end to this thing before me now. I moved over to the next one and heaved. This one came down quicker and easier than the last one. As the pylon crashed onto the floor Alexander stopped whatever else he was trying to say and yelled again. “Stop it Charcoal, you are ruining everything! We are so close, I beg you.”

I moved to the last pylon as my blood began to flow more and the anticipation grew. I heaved with the rest of my remaining strength on the last pylon.

“I’m just like you, Charcoal. A prisoner of circumstance. Trapped in a worl- No you fool!”

The last pylon came down. It must have also broken whatever force was keeping the Shadow back as the room was now being flooded with the red substance.

“You’ve killed us. You’ve killed us both!”

The red stuff must have reached Alexander first, for as soon as he finished speaking he suddenly began to scream with agony as the stuff swarmed around him. He curled up before he suddenly began to dissolve right before my eyes. Within a few seconds, Alexander of Birdleburg was no more.

I merely stood there, waiting for the same fate. Now that I had exacted my revenge against Alexander, I felt that I had finally redeemed myself. If the Shadow still required my life, then so be it. I would allow it to take it. I had finally ended my journey. After several minutes of waiting, I was still alive. How was that possible?

I was still alive.

The red flesh had eventually dissipated and an overwhelming sense of peace, for the first time ever since I had woken, finally settled. I looked over towards the door; it was gone from there too. The orb that was on the center piece of the room was gone as well. The guardian must have finally reclaimed its orb and returned it to its rightful place once more. Light had flooded the room, and I could see clearly for the first time. Everything seemed…right.

I was alive.

__________________________________________________________________________

It was my greatest triumph. And I never looked back.

You think I was afraid, fleeing Bridleburg? Quite the contrary.

I knew it was my purgatory. Hellfire made to wash away my sins.

There’s no denying the things that I’ve done. But I have paid my tribute. I gave them that awful…thing.

…I did the right thing.