Before we started getting ready for the match, I took a moment to take in the sights, though there weren’t many. It was a pretty simple setup. Large open area, soft grass, pony-shaped training dummies, a few circles in the ground, presumably for close combat training, or maybe wrestling. There was also an obstacle course. Not bad, a little simple, but not bad. Started with a tall wooden wall with a single rope for climbing it.

Seriously? A rope climb? How are they supposed to use it? With their mouths?

Die was busy doing her regular routine before any sparring match, which consisted of checking her equipment, taking a few practice swings at the dummy targets, and of course, a silent prayer to our parents to watch over her. With her ritual complete, she looked to me expectantly. I nodded, my excitement growing. I hadn’t had a proper sparring match with Die for over a year, and that was a mandatory combat skill evaluation. We weren’t allowed to go all out in case we caused unnecessary property damage. Not a problem here. Here, we can fight with no limits, not so much to put on a show for the guards, but to test our new limits. I’ve been feeling stronger ever since I got here, probably since the materia had found their way ‘home’, but the same went for Akumu.

At least he’s not a problem anymore for now. And I don’t plan on giving him a chance to become one either. There’s no way I’ll let him hurt anyone else.

After making sure I had my ‘secret’ materia ready, I practiced with my blade for a while, swift stroked against the dummy, all vital spots. My specialty was being fast and precise with my attacks, after all.

Die can’t complain when I use these, I know for a fact she has her own with her, and I know for a fact she won’t have shown them to anyone, not even Celestia and Luna. If she has them ready, good. If not, this won’t be as fun, or as educational for the guards, but then aga-.

“Hey, Noctis!” Die’s voice shook me from my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“How about we make this more interesting?” She was grinning madly.

Yup, she brought her secret stash. She never wants to make things interesting otherwise.

“What’s the wager?”

She smirked. “How about if I win, you not only reveal your full name, ask Luna out on a date.”

Figures my full name would be part of the wager. Oh well, if she’s gonna make the wager interesting, I’ll have to make it just as interesting from my end.

“Fine, but if I win, you not only have to reveal your own full name, you have to ask Ven, out on a date.”

I knew I had turned the tables when she started blushing redder than a bomb, the monster, not the explosive weapon. “So, we got a bet?”

She huffed, but nodded reluctantly. “Fine. You’ve got yourself a bet.” She leaned in, whispering “I hope you’re prepared to go public with Luna when you two end up in love. Cause you know I’ll win.” and she walked to the opposite end of the grounds, smirking. I took a deep breath, and walked to the other end. We drew our blades, and recited the pact we had made not long after finding the materia. I went first.

“As long as we live,” Die continued, “And as long as we bear the eyes of the sun and moon,” and we finished it together “We shall protect the innocent, as the SOLDIERs of Night and Day.”

Our oath recited, I charged, resolving to give it everything I had...
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Die got off the first shot, letting loose a Firaga attack straight away. It was simple enough to dodge the three orbs of flame shot at me, but I didn’t expect what came next. Just as I swung my blade, a shield of pure light knocked me back, and Die took full advantage of my surprise to launch a flurry of strikes to counter me.

Damn, so she mastered light-based techniques. Oh well, now it gets interesting.

The strikes weren’t very accurate, and the wounds were shallow, but they were enough to force me back slightly. Die continued to press the attack, not letting up for a second, and I kept moving backwards to avoid her continued onslaught. Each strike came a little closer, so in a last-ditch effort to get some breathing room, I moved back to the far edge quickly. When she saw I couldn’t fall back anymore, she rushed towards me with the Icebreaker, the wheels of ice and flame contrasting each other in a display that could be described as breathtaking, if you’re not on the receiving end. I was ready for it though. Just as she was about to strike, I disappeared into the darkness using the Shadow Slide, warping right behind her and quickly putting as much distance as I could between us. My chest started to hurt, and I dropped to one knee for a few seconds, gasping.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Shouldn’t have tried the dark techniques, they’re too dangerous while Akumu’s still around.

When Die noticed me grasping my chest and the rapidly vanishing wisps of darkness, she started to run towards me, sheathing her blade. I noticed Luna out of the corner of my eyes, she was also rushing towards me, a look of fear on her face.

“NO!” Both Die and Luna almost stumbled, caught off guard by my forceful reply.

“Noctis, it’s not worth it if-”

“I can and will continue. You already know that I’m every bit as stubborn as you when I need to be.”

Die facepalmed, and Luna frowned, but returned to her position at the sidelines. “Fine, but don’t push too hard, and for the love of the Ancients, don’t use the darkness again!”

I smiled weakly, the pain in my chest mostly gone thanks to a quick use of Curaga, and I stood back up as the green light enveloped me, pain just disappearing. “Deal. Now, shall we continue?”

She nodded, and we took our stances again. Once again, I rushed her, but this time I didn’t give her a chance to even put up her shield. I slammed my elbow into her gut, and when she doubled over, I used her back as a springboard, propelling myself into the air. I knew my body felt lighter here, but I honestly didn’t think I could jump as high as I did. I was at least twenty feet in the air. I ignored the feeling of anxiousness at not knowing exactly what my new limits were, and loosed a Triple Plasma towards the ground. Of course, Die and her Light Shield managed to stop all three of the lightning orbs, but as soon as she blocked them, I tossed my blade right at her. She could only keep the shield up for a few seconds at a time, and unfortunately for her, the blade would hit after the shield went down and before she could bring it back up. Though, through some amount of luck, she managed to move enough so that it only tore her shirt, leaving her unwounded and me at a disadvantage. I was unarmed, while she still had her own sword, and the only way to get to mine, was through her.

Well, I wanted it to be interesting...

She smiled, thinking it would be a simple matter to beat me now that I had no weapon. She thought wrong. The second she charged, I knocked her blade aside, grabbed her arm, and twisted around, knocking her front foot backwards with one leg and using my momentum to throw her over my shoulder. I ran back and grabbed my blade just in time to block a strike that came out of nowhere. It wasn’t Die, she was only just getting back up. Someone had attacked me while we were sparring. I was pissed, not because someone had the gall to attack me while I was unarmed, but because they interrupted one of the few opportunities I had to see how much I’d improved compared to Die. I turned to see a cloaked figure disappear behind the wall on the far-side of the grounds. Not bothering to wait for anyone else, I ran towards, and jumped over, the wall, and I gave chase...
__________________________________________________________________

Whoever, or whatever this is, they’re fast. It’s seriously pissing me off.

I’d been chasing the mysterious figure for the past ten minutes, and they’d been trying very hard to lose me. I probably could’ve ended the chase a lot sooner if I used my materia or even if I used my pony form, but I couldn’t use the materia without there being a risk of civilian casualties, and I still wasn’t completely used to my pony form yet, so I didn’t want to risk losing them due to being unfamiliar with my limits.

Anyway, the figure tried a few different tricks. It moved through crowds, which were easy to navigate, though I probably have to apologise later for using those ponies as stepping stones to avoid getting swept up in the group, and tore through alleys, knocking over trash cans. It was easy to dodge them with the parkour skills I picked up. Growing up with Die, you learn to traverse obstacles of all shapes and sizes. They definitely came in handy when hands made of darkness suddenly appeared and nearly grabbed both of us. We both managed to dodge them, but as we came to the city limits, a huge wall of darkness appeared in front of us. The cloaked figure scaled it like a pro, but just as I came to the wall, it just disappeared, and Lumos landed in front of us both, wearing black chainmail armour, and two balls of light in both hands. The figure froze, and I took the opportunity to jump them, and rip off the cloak.

It was humanoid, but it’s ears were pointed. It was clearly male. He wore a green shirt, with some sort of a brownish red scale-mail shoulder pad on the left shoulder, and on his back was a great-sword, a quiver, and a bow that was longer than him. His shirt had no sleeves, and he wore dark brown fingerless leather gauntlets. There was also leather armor of the same color around his waist, and it went all the way up to his lower chest. His pants were made of slightly thinner, but just as strong, brown leather, like the gloves, and he wore boots of even thicker material. There was also more of the brown-red armor on the outside of his left leg, and all of his clothes were badly ripped up. He was about as tall as me, had short hair that looked rust colored. His eyes were sky-blue, and his eyebrows were thin. He had a pointed jaw, and a hateful look covering his face. The last thing I noticed was the scar on his neck. It was like the symbol on Lumos’ chest.

“Alright, I’m only gonna ask once,” I said as I circled him, drawing Tsuki no me, and charging up the lunar orb, pointing both at him, “Who, or what, are you, and why did you attack me?”

He glared at me with all the hate he could muster, saying nothing, and slowly reaching behind him for his bow. I sighed with disappointment and let off a small blast towards his feet. He just stared at me, dumbstruck.

“How?”

“Excuse me?”

“HOW!? How can a human wield magic!? It’s impossible” he spat.

I finally came to stand beside Lumos, who was watching my assailant.

“So, suggestions?” I whispered. He just cleared his throat and spoke directly to our opponent.

"So, how was Mirrodin, last you were there? Or should I call it by its new name, 'New Phyrexia'?" The elf's eyes widened, then narrowed with hatred.

Ok, what?

"How do you know about that?" He spat out. Lumos sighed in frustration, and pointed at his mark.

"Your neck, you've been marked by them, haven't you?" He pulled off the top of his chainmail and pointed at his chest. "You're not the only one. I didn't even know what I was fighting until I was marked, stabbed right through the chest, thank god for light magic. Now, if you would kindly NOT attack my good friend here, I would be happy to explain."

He looked at me, and said, "I'll explain it to you as well, as you don't seem to have ever seen an elf before." He turned back to the elf. "Do we have a deal? My explanation will include how I know of the Phyrexian invasion of Mirrodin, as well as how the human can use magic."

The elf, dropped the bow, and Lumos picked it up. I placed Tsuki no me on my back, and allowed the energy in the Lunar orb to dissipate.

“So, introductions. I’m Noctis, this is Lumos. You are...”

“Erahaor Bonegleam. And I’m not interested in speaking to you, only to the marked one.”

Great, he’ll speak to him because of his mark?

"Very well, Erahaor, now, to start my explanation, how I know of Mirrodin:" Noctis created a ball of light, and shaped it like some sort of card, and began.

"On my home world, there is a card game, known as magic the gathering, in which you collect cards to create decks of 60 of them, these cards are split into many types and subtypes, as well as what we call 'sets,' the invasion of your world was a full 3 sets of cards."

He became serious, and his expression hardened. "This is the part I regret to inform you of, your world, has been corrupted beyond recovery, one of the cards, is this one," He slowly turned the card to show its other side.

"This is what has happened to the very core, of your world. I know this is a lot to take in, but there is more," Erahaor looked at him with sad eyes. I wasn’t surprised, hearing that your home was lost is never easy to take.

"There is still a group of pure people of Mirrodin, they are few, but when the sets of the Mirran/Phyrexian war was over, they still lived. They probably won't live much longer, though, you're lucky though, you escaped with only a curse mark, and the only Phyrexian for miles here has been turned to stone." Erahaor just stared at him warily. "He was the one to give me this guy, and with it came my wings, and a large amount of power, since I... absorbed him a bit."

"Next subject, why Noctis can use magic, in a sense of the word," He faced me, "Do you mind if I borrow a materia, to explain. Elves have a... connection with magic, so to speak, it's really hard to explain."

I sighed and shook my head. “Sorry Lumos, I can’t let you use them.” I let a small smile escape me. “I can, however, give a small demonstration and explanation, if you’re interested.”

Lumos just shrugged. "It wouldn't help, I could explain them decently, and he's already seen what one can. I was hoping you could only let him touch it, even lightly, most beings with ties to magic can recognise an enchantment, but if we can't use them as an example, perhaps I could try an idea I've been forming since I saw them in battle when Akumu broke free," He turned to Erahaor, "Give me a moment,"

Lumos suddenly created two metal spheres out of nowhere, and, sighing heavily, said "Now for the hard part." He began to create a ball of chaos, barely around the tip of his finger. At the same time, he created a somewhat larger ball of light, and tried to place them both into a single orb. The orb let out a large magical aura before dying down. It shone a pure white, and had a circle embed upon it. He looked to me, and said, "Can you keep Akumu under control if I use a large amount of darkness for this one?"

I shook my head. “No, but in about a week it won’t matter.”

Lumos raised his eyebrows questioningly, but didn’t pry.

He began the process for the darkness, and created an ebony orb along with the white one. Inside it, was another circle. He tossed me the white one and asked "Does this seem like an accurate copy?"

I focused on probing the orb, searching for any similarities and differences between the orb and a normal materia. It was a perfect copy, other than one thing: it didn’t embed itself in my arm.

Interesting.

“As far as I can tell, the only difference is that it didn’t embed itself in my arm. And I know you’re itching to ask, ‘what did I mean by it won’t matter in a week.’ I can see it in your eyes. So go ahead. Ask. I won’t lie. Honestly, lying about it will just put others in danger.” Erahaor looked to Lumos, who just shrugged and gave him a look that said ‘Don’t ask’, before turning back to me, stroking his chin.

"Lets see, from what you said after I drained your darkness, and the wisps of it I saw earlier, it probably has something to do with what you said about fighting Akumu in the sealed zone, right? Speaking of which, I need to examine the seal later, I think you may have broke it."

I just smiled. "It's not broken, but in a week, it will be, whether or not you fix it. At that point, instead of just taking over, Akumu's gonna make a game of it. He'll challenge me for control, and if he wins, he'll let my consciousness exist just long enough to let me see him kill the one I care about most. And I'm guessing you know who I'm talking about." I stared at him for a few seconds, then Erahaor spoke up.

"Um, excuse me humans, but I don't appreciate being left out of the conversation like this. Who is this Akumu?"

"Two things: one, I'm not human, at least, not anymore, now I'm more of a strange cross between an angel and daemon. Second, Akumu is a being of darkness that resides within Noctis' mind. He is stronger, than the Phyrexian, who ran a blade of pure energy through me. I have fought him, alongside Noctis' sister, Die, and a couple other humans." Era was now eying me suspiciously, until Lumos continued. "I removed all darkness from him, and strengthened the barriar between the two personalities"

"Anyway, on with my demonstration." Lumos picked up the dark orb, and tossed it in the air, it was about one and a half times the size of his fist. He aimed the orb straight up, and muttered, "Umbra Blaster," and a huge black beam shot out of it. Lumos nodded in satisfaction, and put it down. "These orbs are known as Materia, they are a condensed form of magic, where Noctis is from, it's made using the life force of the planet itself, I, however, simply infused my own brand of chaos into it with some of my own power. Apparently, the combination worked well, as it at least works, these orbs could hold many different powers, but only one general spell per orb, with the occasional exception, examples of basic ones are fire, thunder, Ice, and wind materia, as well as healing ones. There are also-" I interrupted him.

"Non-elemental offensive, defensive, support, command and summoning materia. The only ones that don't fall under any one category are the Lunar and Solar orbs, since they're not really materia. They're also the reason your assassination attempt wouldn't have worked even if you had hit me. They made Die and I immortal." I waited to see how he'd react. Lumos shrugged.

"It's as he says. Now, any questions?" Era looked deep in thought for a moment, before responding.

"So, they are just rocks that hold magic?"

"Exactly, though I prefer Infusing weapons and items for specific uses personally, like... like this." He said, pulling out a blade from out of nowhere "This blade I haven't named yet, but it is enchanted with fire, so I can do, say... This." He pointed the blade up, and a small whirlwind of fire came out the top. I was actually pretty shocked, and so was Era.

"Interesting. You ever used it to perform the Fire Cross?" I asked.

He chose to answer my question with a question, "... The what?"

Era jumped at the new voice that appeared behind him. We definitely weren't expecting her to show up. "It's a unique fire wielder's technique. The user slashes vertically, leaving a vertical trail of flame and then across at the center of the vertical slash, leaving another trail of flame. Then, the two trails combine into a cross of pure flame, and the user propels the cross with energy. How far it can go before the flames disperse depends on how much energy you put into it. The more energy, the further they go."

Lumos turned toward Princess Celestia, surprise obvious on his face, "Hello princess, when did you get here?"

She chuckled. "I've been here for a while, you just weren't paying attention. Also, Noctis," She turned to me, and her expression was stern. "You do realise that both Luna and Die are going to have a talk with you regarding this, don't you?"

Oh, crap.

I was trying, but failing, to keep from shaking. "I am so dead..."

Era gave me a confused look. "I thought you said you were immortal?"

"Yeah, except I'm dead in the sense that Die's 'talks' always result in grievous bodily harm, so pray that she never wants to 'talk' to either of you. The princesses are exempt, not because they're royalty, but because Die doesn't 'talk', to girls."

Lumos let off a small chuckle, before putting his shirt back on, though I didn't actually notice him take it off, and grabbing the artificial materia. "Well, good luck, my friend." He turned to Celestia, and asked, "Is there anything else, princess."

She let her stern expression fade, and re-donned her motherly smile. "Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you more about the Equestria you came from. If I know more about it, it may help get you home sooner. Remember, nothing is insignificant."

I sighed. "Well, if you guys need me, I'm gonna get my scolding over with. I'd like to hear a little more about your Equestria myself. Oh, and Lumos?"

"Yes?"

I smirked, knowing full well the consequences if the next sentence was ever relayed my sister. "If I can't beat Akumu, do me a favour, and look out for Die for me. In case you hadn't noticed, she and Ven are crushing on each other, so be sure to try and create some awkward situations for them. Try and put them in a situation where they have to admit they like each other."

Lumos laughed, "I was already planning on it." He turned back to the princess, "I will gladly tell you about 'my' world, but I'd rather talk back in the palace, where less would overhear it."

Celestia nodded, her smile never faltering. "Agreed. So, let's get to it, shall we?"

I took a deep breath and started walking back to the palace with Lumos, Erahaor, and Celestia, who had cast a portable soundproof spell around us so we could all listen to Lumos' descriptions of the Equestria he came from and the adventures he'd been on since he first arrived there. All too soon, I had to separate and walk towards my doom...
__________________________________________________________________

I won't bore you with every last detail of Luna and Die's 'talk' with me, but I'd never been in so much physical pain. Luckily, Luna was in a forgiving mood, and she healed my wounds not long afterwards, but only after I swore that I wouldn't, and I quote, 'Be such a stupid flankhole, charging off and almost getting myself killed'. Die then reminded me of our wager, and that since I had left during the fight, I had lost by default, and as such, had to reveal my full name and ask Luna on a date. When she said as much, Luna just blushed, and said she was very busy for the next few weeks, but maybe once the training of the guards was finished and she had some free time, she could take me up on it. I just nodded with my cheeks reddening as I realised she was basically saying I had a chance with her. Die just started laughing as she walked off leaving Luna and me alone, until she too left for her chambers. I waited a while, letting my blush fade, before I went off to my own room for sleep...