I groan as I hold my head and sit up, the area around me feels cold and blink my eyes open to find myself back in the Hall of the Aspects place.

"Adrian..." I hear Gaia say to my left, so I turn to face her.

"Gaia, what's going on?" I ask her as I try to stand up, only to fall flat on my ass. "Huh?" I mumble as I try again, only to fall a second time.

"Stay down, Adrian... You've damaged your mana's core when you revived those guards one after the other which put too much strain on it," she tells me.

I groan and just lie back down. "I guess you're going to heal it like last time?" I ask her.

She frowns and shakes her head. "I only stopped your mana from fluctuating last time. This time your core has been damaged. I can heal physical wounds, but wounds and damage to one's mana is different," She explains.

I sigh and rub my eyes. "So how do we fix it?" I ask. If I can't fix it, does that mean I can't use my magic anymore?

"Only two Aspects could help you recover... Aquaria, and Arcanum. Aquaria is currently busy stopping a cult of Aquarians from conjuring a tsunami and so cannot help us. But Arcanum has agreed to help you," she tells me and looks to my right.

I follow her gaze and see Arcanum Mortis standing there.

"Greetings, Adrian," he says in his emotionless tone.

"Hello again. How are you doing?" I ask him as he just stares at me.

"As well as I can be. I will repair the damage done to your core, in exchange for forming a contract with me," he tells me, making me go wide eyed.

"Why do you want a contract now?" I ask as he kneels down and places a bony hand on my chest.

He chuckles dryly. "I want you to use my element for good, instead of evil, I want you to show all that my element is not just for death and suffering, and to finally put an end to Grogar and his corruption," he replies and I see red and black energy flow from his arm and into me. "Besides, you have an affinity for the arcane and shadow elements. I have been told by Gaia that she has witnessed your eyes change when you're angry, the red and black eyes are indicators of a strong arcane mage, the shadow mist that the eyes emit are those who can wield the shadows well," he explains and I grunt as he starts doing something to my mana.

I cry out in pain as something feels like it's being pulled out and then placed back in my chest.

"Do you accept my contract?" he asks me, holding something in place waiting for my answer.

"I was planning... Nnngh.. to anyway..." I reply.

He chuckles again and pushes his mana into me. "Discord has already placed my orb in your body's hand, so with that as our vow, I form a contract with you," he says and I gasp as my breath leaves me and I can no longer breathe.

I watch as my skin and muscle flake off and fade away leaving just my bones left, I now feel strong enough to stand and a tattered but ornate black robes with red trim replaces my clothes and armour. I just stare at my hands and wiggle my bony fingers.

"This is disturbing," I say in a hollow tone, a slight duality to it. The chains lightly tapping against each other as I move.

"This is your magical arcane form," Arcanum informs me. "Hold out your right hand and gather our mana without casting anything," he instructs me.

I do so and watch as a staff slowly forms. the wood a polished ebony black with a bleached wyvern skull on the end.

"The staff of Var'guul, it was a staff made by Grogar himself, but he discarded it once he betrayed me, It amplifies arcane magic but you may not use any other element with it as the staff rejects them," Acarnum tells me.

"I see..." I hold out the staff and stare into the eye sockets, only for them to glow with arcane magic and stare back at me.

"The soul of the Wyvern that skull belonged to is what amplifies the magic," Acarnum informs me, making me look at the staff in horror. The staff is a soul cage?

"Is there a way to free the soul?" I ask him.

He chuckles and shakes his head. "I had a feeling you would ask that, simply break the skull and the soul is free," he replies.

I don't hesitate and slam the skull into the stone floor, shattering it and watch as a small ghostly Wyvern forms and starts hovering in front of me, only to cry out as a skeletal structure forms within it, the shattered skull reforms and attaches to the forming skeleton. The ghostly form is absorbed into the skeleton and it drops to the ground with a clatter of bones, after a few seconds of twitching, the small Wyvern shudders and stands up, arcane magic flowing freely from its eyes.

We just stare at each other for a few seconds before it cries out with a similar tone to mine and flies over to me and latches onto my back with its head over my left shoulder and just looks at me. I shudder as I now have control over the Wyvern's wings and I look back and flap them lightly, a thin skin like layer of arcane magic acts as the membrane of the wings.

"Var'guul has accepted you as his master. Look after him and he will protect you," Arcanum tells me.

I look back to Var'guul and scratch the top of his head between his horns with my bony fingers, getting a happy chirp as he nuzzles back.

I look back to Arcanum while still petting the Wyvern. "Did you know this would happen?" I ask him in surprise.

"Yes. Starswirl enchanted the staff to put Var'guul's soul in a state of stasis. This was a test, not by me, but by your ancestor, to see if you would make the right choice," he replies and I chuckle.

"I see... So how will Var'guul reach me?" I ask.

Gaia keeps her distance from me. "Come to Terra and he will come to you, just make sure you inform Vortigan about him beforehand so you and Var'guul won't be attacked on site," she warns me.

"Okay. So, Arcanum, what is your physical form and your Champion like?" I ask him and stop petting Var'guul.

"My physical form uses arcane chains to bind and harm their targets with arcane mana, my champion, Larion... his form fell as did mine, he was the very depiction of pure magical might, the most powerful of mages. But now... he is a vision of death and destruction as an elder lich," Arcanum says sadly with the first bit of emotion I've heard from him.

I glance down with a frown in thought before looking back at him. "But if we kill Grogar and get your power back from him, your champion will be restored as well right?" I ask him.

"He will, which is why I wish to aid you in ending Grogar's treachery," he says and my head throbs lightly.

Gaia sighs and shakes her head. "It seems your wives are trying to wake you up. We will continue this tonight," she says as my vision fades to black.

My vision returns and I find myself lying on a medical bed in the castle's infirmary. The room is coloured white but empty except for some medical equipment attached to me. I look down to see I'm still in my magical arcane form.

"Adrian?" I hear Luna's voice coming from my left, but it sounds a bit distorted.

Glancing to my left, I see a large mirror covering most of the wall. "Luna?" I reply in my hollow tone.

"Adrian... how do you feel?" she asks me with worry.

"I feel fine," I reply and cancel my aspect form, return to normal. Though the feeling of my organs, muscle, and skin reforming makes me shudder. The medical equipment attached to me pops off and slides off the bed.

I try to sit up, only to find I've been strapped down. The doors quickly open and doctors along with Luna and Discord enter the room.

Discord quickly speaks up before anyone else could. "Told you he was fine," he says in a matter of fact tone to Luna.

"Well excuse us for worrying about our husband!" she sternly replies before placing her hand on my chest. "Dost thou have any inclination to attack anypony?" she asks me.

I raise an eyebrow and look at Discord who is facepalming. "He's fine! Now unstrap him so he can get some rest before he begins practising his new aspect's power. Believe it or not, his arcane aspect will be the most useful against Grogar's magic," he says and snaps his talon hand, making the straps all come off.

Sitting up, I rub my wrists with a wince. "How long was I out for?" I ask them, my whole body feels stiff and sore.

A doctor speaks up holding a clipboard while others use magic detectors on me. "A week. The first six days we've been doing our best to stabilise your magic, but an hour ago Discord placed an orb in your hand and your magic returned to normal, before your skin, muscle, and organs flaked off while your body emitted tremendous amounts of dark magic," he replies.

"Dark magic?" I say confused. "You mean Arcane magic?" I ask.

Discord interrupts the doctor before he could reply. "Yup, it's just ponies and other races just see Arcane magic as dark magic due to Grogar's undead," he tells me. "But as you're now fine, I'm off back to Terra to help Twilight continue her studies, she's really making better progress than even ol' Beardy on some of his projects," he says and snaps his lion paw, disappearing in a puff of pink smoke.

Looking at Luna, I ask her. "Where's Celestia and Solaris? Are they back yet?"

She nods her head and sighs. "They returned two days ago-" she replies as the doors burst open and Celestia rushes over and without warning or hesitation, kisses me hard, forcing me back onto the bed.

"Thank the sun and moon you're alright... No more reviving people until you have better control over it!" she demands and kisses me again.

She pulls back and I stare at her wide eyed. "So you'd rather I just let them die!?" I ask her, shocked.

She glares at me before a doctor steps forward. "We may have a solution to that. Twilight Sparkle has reluctantly discovered a way of trapping a soul within a crystal using elven magic from Starswirl's old research notes. We can then use cryo or stasis magic to freeze the victim's body and thaw it out when you're ready to try reviving them. This way, you won't have to risk damaging your manas core again," he tells me, holding up a clear light blue crystal.

"Although only Miss Sparkle can trap souls as she's the only one who can use elven magic," he finishes and pockets the crystal in his coat.

"I see... So am I fit to leave now?" I ask as my stomach gurgles. "I could use a bite to eat," I say, rubbing my stomach.

Celestia sighs and helps me off the bed. "Fine, but we're not done talking about this yet," she tells me and holds me up as we walk to the door.

I just groan as we make our way to the dining hall.

Luna follows behind us and speaks up. "Today is also the day we release Hagriff and his daughter from the dungeons as they've fulfilled their part of our agreement," she tells me.

"I guess we can do that after we've had something to eat," I say and grunt as I try to get feeling back into my limbs.

I sigh as I finish writing down the next set of runes needed for the teleportation network. Tapping the quill to my chin as I try to think over what is needed for the next set.

A popping sound to my right makes me jump as Discord reappears. "Discord! Stop doing that!" I yell at him and sigh.

He chuckles and floats over the table. "Oops, anyway, let me see Harmony's Orb," he tells me. I put down my quill and hold out my right hand, which Discord grasps with his left and places his right over the orb.

He hums for a bit and smiles. "Well, it took longer than I thought, but she's now back to normal. You can use your magic again, but first, tap the orb," he tells me.

I tap Harmony's orb and gasp as it lights up with a mild golden colour.

"Thank you for helping me, Twilight Sparkle. As agreed with our contract, for healing and feeding me, I will in turn provide you with my power and knowledge of the elves," I hear Harmony say in my head.

I smile and squeal a bit in excitement. "I can't wait to learn more!"

She chuckles lightly for a few seconds before speaking. "I've noticed from the last week of observing your behaviour, whilst learning all you can is all well and good, you need to take time to relax and go over what you've learnt. Over the next month I will be teaching you how to access my power as well as teach you all about your new race. While the books Discord gave you teaches you about their magic, they do not detail their history or achievements, or their transgressions," she tells me in a motherly tone that is similar to how Celestia spoke to me when I was a foal.

My smile doesn't fade as I go back to completing the teleportation network.

Celestia, Luna, and I stand in front of Hagriff's cell in the Dungeons, the elves we caught restrained and Discord had their magic sealed in another cell. Celestia is currently telling him of their conditions. "So, you both will have a guard watching over you unseen. If you harm anyone, they'll report it and there will be no second chances, although self-defence will be allowed. You'll be given enough bits to live comfortably, and a supply of either fish, or imported meat from Terra. A house will be provided for you close to the Castle as well."

Hagriff nods his head to her. "We understand, my daughter wanted to be an artist, but such a profession wasn't exactly... welcome with other gryphons... Although, with Aires Peak now in ruin, Gryphons have two options. One, adapt and coexist, or two, resort to banditry or go feral," he replies with a sigh as he stands up and a guard removes his shackles.

"Well let's hope it's option one then, if they choose number two, they'll receive no mercy from us," I tell him with a frown. Speaking of Bandits, I'll have to remember to ask Discord what happened to the bandits that attacked my home and took my parents.

He grunts and shakes his head. "So do I, our numbers have been crippled due to this event and we can't afford to make more enemies than we already have," he says and steps out of the cell, Venna is standing right beside him.

"So what dost thou plan to do now?" Luna asks him.

He hums in thought before sighing again. "I'm a soldier and a hunter, that's all I know, so if you'd allow it, I would like to request permission to join your military. Starting from the bottom of course," he replies to her.

Celestia and Luna look at each other for a few seconds before nodding. "Very well, you'll report to Shining Armour for your enrolment test tomorrow morning. For now, you'll be escorted to your new home with a small amount of bits to allow you to furnish it," Celestia says.

Both Hagriff and Venna bow to her. "We thank you for your kindness and generosity, we shall not betray your trust and compassion," he says as a guard tells them to follow her, we watch as they leave before looking at each other.

I cough and scratch my head. "So... how do you feel about a gryphon joining the guard?" I ask them both.

Luna looks like she swallowed a whole lemon. "It will take some getting used to at first... but should he keep to his word, he would be a great boon against dangerous predators like manticores and cragodiles," she says.

We're silent for a few seconds before I speak up. "Well then, I'm off to the training room to start practising with my arcane aspect's magical form. I'll also need to go to Terra to inform Vortigan of Var'guul and not to attack him or I when I bring him here," I say, making them both look at me confused.

"Whom is this Var'guul?" Luna asks me.

"Oh.. right, I met him within the Hall of the Aspects," I say and begin explaining what happened.