Eric opened the conjured beverage with an audible hiss, before consuming it as he walked toward the menacing monster. Welp, if I die, at least I’ll die caffeinated. he thought before resuming the mantra in his head. Where is this beast anyways?

That was a question that proved self-answering, as a creature that looked like a great wolf prowled out from the darkness of the cave, perfectly visible to Eric. Darkness clung to it and flowed around its massive paws and drooling teeth. It looked at him and sniffed softly before moving to pass him by, uninterested in the fellow creature of shadow.

Eric couldn’t help a surge of nervousness at the sight of the fell creature, but tried to suppress it. He asked himself What would GlaDOS do? That proved enough to set sanity aside for the moment, and reach out for the creature, moving to bar its path while trying to lay a hand on its muzzle and bid it stop.

The wolf snarled at the touch, but didn't lash out. The command to stop came with a rush of dark energy. The wolf didn't try to move past him, instead choosing to stare directly at him, as if challenging silently for him to command it further.

Footnote managed to get enough space to wriggle through and vanished through the rocks to the outside world, almost instantly lost to the still raging storm.

After a quick swig of his carbonated crutch, Eric commanded the beast loudly. “Sit!” he said with all the force he could muster, willing his power into a downward pressure on the beast. He glared into its eyes, absolutely terrified of the idea of losing the contest of wills, the fear driving him to greater determination.

Darkness swirled around the new shadowmancer's fingers as the void pressed at the wolf. It growled angrily, wrenching away, then bursting down the tunnel suddenly, losing the battle of wills, but apparently choosing to get away rather than bowing down to a new master.

Lost stopped moving. Her eyes were fixed on the wolf as it came into view, and she just stopped. Her breath stopped, and perhaps her heart did as well. She was living death, waiting to be tortured by the creature of nightmares as it charged towards her.

Wave gave an ancient explicative, not even known to modern Equestrian, but no equally ancient magic was hers to control against the shadow beast. She rose her hooves, rearing up as best she could on her powerful tail.

Eric gave a guttural roar from where he stood behind the beast, his drink clattering to the ground, forgotten. With all his will he bid the void wrap around the beast’s neck and yanked, dragging it back toward him for all he could manage.

Tom noticed that shadow beast, and that Lost had never quite made it to him. With a loud curse of his own he rushed to her, intending to knock her, and himself in the process too, out of harm’s way. Somehow, he kept his footing as he broke out into a dead sprint, arms outstretched, her barrel the target.

Lost provided little resistance, save for her crystalline and stout form. Crashed into, she collapsed under the sudden tackle, and they both fell out of the way of the wolf as it pushed through the room, only for a faintly visible collar that pulled and yanked at it, but it seemed more like a tough rubber band than a firm length. It slowed the beast rather than actually stopping it.

I said I’d buy them time, but this isn’t enough, Eric thought, shifting plans. He focused on the shadowy wisps coming off the wolf and tried to tear at them with his will, seeing if he could somehow rip the beast’s own dark magic away from it.

Tom struggled to get back to his feet, pausing as he caught sight of what Eric was doing. “What in god’s name is going on?” he muttered, before remembering that he had a catatonic pony he needed to shove through a small hole to get her away from the beast. Struggling, he did his best to pick her up, or at least push her, to that hole.

Wave shook her head. "None of my gods are involved with this," she said with utter certainty. She held her battle-ready posture, as awkward as it could be for a sea creature that was on land.

Lost wasn't too heavy, well, that was a lie. She was pretty heavy, at about four hundred pounds of dead weight, but picking her up got her to move. Fresh panic flowed through her and she lashed out with her hooves, breaking away and dashing for the exit. A great crash of stones filled the cave as she exploded through the debris with all the force her body could produce, and she was gone.

The wolf tried to get to that exit, taking a slow step towards it before a guttural yelp escaped instead. The shadow around its paws were snuffed a moment, apparently in great pain. The wolf turned back on Eric and roared at him loud and fierce enough to blow spit at him, baring its massive canines at the human.

“I said ‘Sit!’” he shouted back at the defiant canine, pointing accusingly at its eyeball while continuing to rip viciously at its power. Wondering if it would be any more effective, he tried ripping from between the wolf’s legs, attempting to ‘fix’ the problematic beasty.

As it turned out, fell shadow beasts didn't like having their sensitive bits abused anymore than any other being. The wolf yelped and cried before collapsing before Eric, ears folded and a little whimper building in its throat, will shattered for the moment.

Tom’s jaw just about hit the floor as he watched… whatever it was Eric did to that shadow beast, a sympathetic wince coming from him unbidden at what was most definitely a painful act. “You, but, how?!”

Eric put his hand on its muzzle again, this time focusing a downward pressure around its neck to keep it pinned down. He was sorely tempted to try to end the beast, not liking the idea of sparing something the shadows called ‘hard to control’. But it was hard to favor pushing the beast to the edge and risking a ‘cornered animal’ situation over the influence of those poor, sad, puppy dog eyes. Even if they were on a hellish shadow-beast. “Now, are you going to be a good puppy? Are you?” he asked, willing the question into its mind, hoping it was somehow able to answer the inquiry.

The wolf licked Eric with a pitch black tongue and panted a little. Its tail even wagged a little bit, like an adorable little hellspawn it was.

Wave tilted her head, dumbfounded. "Could he always do that? Is this a human trick?"

“Eric…” Tom slowly began, voice extremely low as he peered out that hole where Lost and Footnote had both disappeared through… and who knew where they were now? “Just what the fuck did you do? There’s no way you picked that up on Earth, that’d be fucking impossible!” Tom asked, slowly walking to that hole and uttering a curse, as not hide or hair could be seen of the crystal ponies, just snow, and a lot of it still blowing.

“Tom, I have a confession,” Eric began, while petting the shadow beast’s head gently. “I didn’t actually pack a diet coke.”

The wind gusted harshly, some of the cold leaking into the cave that no longer held heat terribly well with a crystal pony having smashed through the obstruction in a mad dash for safety and freedom.

Wave pushed herself up against the closest wall, her eyes darting between the wolf and the human that seemed to control it. "So, what's the story?"

Tom was just as leery, glancing between that hole in the rubble and Wave and Eric, trying to see if there was any sign of Lost or Footnote around, but the driving snow was doing a good job keeping visibility low. Giving up, he slowly inched over to Wave, looking at Eric. “Explain.”

Eric petted the shadow beast’s head gently a moment before trying to will it to sleep. It worked well enough on himself, he hoped it would work here too. “I will, I promise, but did you want to look for the ponies first? The longer we wait, the harder it will be to find them. And they deserve the explanation as much as you do, even if it may be harder for them to hear.”

The great wolf sagged to the ground, eyes drifting shut and peace overtaking its form. It seemed far less menacing, as even shadow beasts kind of looked harmless while catching some sleep.

“Eric,” Tom started, pointing at the shadow beast. “That thing there is part of what enslaved them. Lost was catatonic, completely unresponsive. Do you seriously think they’ll want to be within sight of it, if they didn’t just take off until they couldn’t move anymore?” he asked rather incredulously, resting a hand on Wave. “Add in the blizzard, and how Lost blends in well with the snow, and Footnote can fly… I have no clue how to go about finding them without freezing to death!”

“I… I was going to kill it. I couldn’t bring myself to, though, once it surrendered. And what now? I still wonder if it’s the best thing to do. ‘Put it to sleep’. Like a rabid dog. Appropriate enough analogy?” Eric rambled. “It’s sleeping now… maybe I should just start at the beginning.”

Wave flopped back to the ground with the wolf asleep again. "Why don't you tell it to just go away? We don't need a whatever that is." She snorted softly and rubbed over her snout with a fetlock. "How did you start doing that anyway?"

“That’s also what I’d like to know, from what Lost said, you managed to, well, do…” Tom trailed off, frustrated as he tried to find the right words. “Whatever it was you did. The thing is definitely bad business, and that you were able to control it? How did that happen?” Tom kept glancing towards that hole, but was pretty certain they’d lost their guides to the Crystal Empire now.

“Magic. It’s magic… dark magic, I guess? It started just… coming to me. Shortly after we met the ponies. I’m stilling learning what all it can do, and starting to hit my limits. I’m hoping it will allow me to return home, but I’m far from ready to even attempt anything like that. I should have said something sooner, maybe I would have made fewer stupid mistakes if I wasn’t trying to hide it,” Eric said, ripping the hat off his head. “I was just so afraid of what you would say, all of you. It’s stupid… I was more afraid of that then the ravening shadow beast.”

Tom slowly took a seat, motioning for Eric to do the same as he wrapped an arm around Wave, sighing. “Eric… magic just doesn’t start coming to you, least I don’t think so? I don’t really know, so I guess anything could happen?” Tom admitted, looking at Eric with apprehension.

Wave shrugged softly. "The gods just kind of recruited me for the guardian job. I was pretty happy as part of a concert of sirens before then. I wonder how the other girls are doing." She looked thoughtful for a moment, considering her likely long-dead friends.

Eric sat down, still resting his hand on the wolf’s head fur, instinctively drawing comfort from the softness. “It started as a whisper. It said it was the darkness, of the space between worlds. That it just wanted to exist as something more than a whisper… it offered the power to cross between worlds, and I… I couldn’t excuse myself for not trying. My wife and son deserve to have a father who at least tries to come home to them. I don’t trust it. I probably never will. I’ve never caught it in a lie, but it… says such horrible things sometimes. But as much as I disagree with it, it still gave me the power to stop this beast, and protect you from it. And if I’d been less afraid to admit the truth, I might have even stopped it from awakening in the first place.”

Relaxing a little bit, Tom nodded slightly. “I see… can’t really fault you for that, I wasn’t really attached to anyone back home. I just would like to get someplace that isn’t so damned cold, I haven’t really thought of anything long term myself… these make it a bit hard to go back at the moment, obviously,” Tom remarked as he pointed at his hooves. “Still, it sounds like a pretty bad deal, Eric.”

Wave rolled a hoof. "See, at least I was already a creature of the sea, water, all that, so hooking up with some water gods? It just made sense." She squeezed Tom gently. "But who belongs to shadow off the bat? Sounds kind of brooding at best and kind of awful at worst."

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