Chapter 12:

Beast Within

Before I left, I had one last thing to do. I needed to make sure that there was something still in one piece in my home. Not just my supplies, no…there was something far more important there that needed to survive. An hour of searching through the rubble later, and I had found it:

Amber’s last piece. Her Summer Sun and Winter Moon portrait…the one she wanted to give to Celestia and Luna. I cradled the glass to my chest, feeling rage burn inside of my very soul. For now, I’d leave it here, where there wouldn’t be anyone who could touch it.

After salvaging my backpack, armor, and knuckle dusters from the wreckage of my house, I set out from Pine Halls. I didn’t stop to let anyone know where I was going, nor did I say goodbye to Scorch. She had suffered enough because of me. After checking my compass to make sure I was heading in the right direction, I was off, murder and vengeance echoing throughout my head.

I knew that I was doing exactly what Torrentican wanted. He was forcing me to confront him, to fight him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left that message. “Miles away” and “sun slowly sets…” It was obvious. Whatever Torrentican had in store for me was somewhere in the West.

So, I ran. I gave myself to my instincts, and mindlessly forged my path through the now sparse woods. Nothing distracted me, nothing got in my way, leaving me alone with my anger. With every step I took, all I could think about was, “He killed Amber. He killed my daughter.”

And every time that thought finished, I felt myself become stronger.

XHXHXHXHXHXXHX

Eventually, I found myself on the border of an enormous rainforest. Thick, lush plant life gathered all around a single line it seemed, as there was some invisible force keeping them from growing out any further. What really made me stop, however, wasn’t that. It was the blood red pedestal that did.

It was four feet high, and in the shape of a crucifix…and the body impaled upon it looked exactly like Amber.

Resting on the pedestal was a small statue of me in my human form, a look of great pain etched onto my face. Logic would say that this is definitely a trap. That I’m playing into Torrentican’s hand.

I grasped the statue without any hesitation…and was whisked away into a blazing red portal.

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I was in Hell.

At least, that’s what it looked like. Black stone, unholy shrieks that echoed off the cavernous room, the smell of brimstone that clogged the air…even the flames that leaked out of the cracks in the walls emphasized the darkness in the room.

And there, sitting at the edge of the room in a skull that was carved from solid, black granite, was a demonic, dragon-like figure, with sickly purple eyes, orange wings made of fire, with two sets of arms, its fingers tipped with razor sharp talons.

“TORRENTICAN! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!” I roared in anger, charging towards him. Torrentican simply smirked, and snapped his fingers. The shadows leapt from the wall, and attempted to pin me down. Shadow-Stalkers!

I shook them off of me, and started to tear at them with my claws. Every time I swung my arms, another one would disappear, only serving to fuel my rage. The Shadow-Stalkers kept coming, and coming, until I was overwhelmed. With nearly a mountain of them on top of me, I glared at Torrentican from my impromptu prison, hate in my eyes.

“Hello, Omnius,” the Traveler coolly said, reclining on his throne. “I take it you got my message?”

“I’ll kill you,” I snarled, struggling against the stalkers.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he chided, speaking to me as if I were an idiot child who needed to be taught a lesson. “It’s impolite to interrupt me when I’m talking.” He grinned at me. “I am surprised you took the bait. Now, here you are, in my castle, to claim revenge for a bastard child that isn’t even yours.”

A red haze started to fill my vision.

“Fifteen years you wasted on that child, trying to be a good daddy.” he laughed. “While you were off playing pretend, I actually did something productive. As you can see…” he gestured to the room before him. “I created my own castle, so that I may have a place to house my army. Yes, that’s right. For fifteen years, I have been creating Shadow-Stalkers, preparing myself for the war that is coming.” At my look of disbelief, he bellowed in laughter. “AND YOU STILL HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT WILL COME TO BE! Oh, that is rich!”

Fifteen years…if he had been making Shadow-Stalkers that entire time…Ye Gods. He must have had thousands by now! It explained why he hadn’t acted against me sooner. This entire time, he had been biding his strength.

“And I’m still creating more…” he said, interrupting my thoughts. “Now, to ensure that my Shadow-Stalkers are free to do what I command, there is a variable that must be accounted for...you.” He smiled wickedly at me. “Oh yes. I know that you would find some way of warning everyone of my power, or perhaps find something to simply inhibit my ability to make any more minions. But how could I stop you?”

“Amber…” I whispered.

“That’s right! The bastard child of your two friends.” He rolled his eyes in remembered ecstasy. “It was glorious. Her fear, her pain…do you want to know what her last words were, as I slowly drove my spear through her heart?”

My own heart started pumping then. All coherent thoughts were slowly being driven away, replaced with rage, anger. I was beyond angry now.

“She screamed, ‘Daddy, help me’…and your dragon tried to-”

I was FURIOUS.

[Right now, I’d suggest listening to “Cannonball – Mythos”]

I roared, and the Shadow-Stalkers piled on top of me were suddenly launched against the side of the walls, exploding into black mist. More stalkers flew at me, trying to stop me from reaching their master, but nothing seemed to faze me. Savagely, I grabbed the nearest one in my claws, and started whirling around with my arms outstretched, using it as a club to bat away any of them that tried to get near me.

Another Stalker leaped above the others to hack away at my face, but I hurled my improvised club at him, destroying both of them. Again, and again, I hacked away at the minions, beating a path to Torrentican’s throne. Finally, I ended up grabbing yet another Stalker, and hurled him through the air, parting the horde for just a moment. Before they could react, I shot forward like a bullet, crushing all of the Stalkers unfortunate enough to avoid my first attacks.

Torrentican summoned three different swords to each of his hands, leaving his upper left hand free to cast some sort of spell. Just as I jumped into the air to slam my fists on his skull, a blinding violet light flashed. I felt myself get pulled into another portal spell, and we were suddenly hundreds of feet above the field where his pedestal had teleported me to his new castle.

As I began falling, Torrentican summoned one more katana to fill his fourth hand, and he charged at me. I flailed wildly with my fists, catching as many of the blows as I could on my knuckle dusters. He still managed to tear open a few good gashes along my arms, but none of them were lethal hits.

The ground was coming up fast. If I didn’t act soon, Torrentican wouldn’t need to finish me off. An idea formed in my head, born completely out of desperation and anger. As he stabbed forward with his lower arms, I grabbed his upper arms with my own, and pulled him towards me. He was taken by surprise, allowing me to turn the tide.

With a mighty tug, I swung him around so that now he was the one closer to the ground. As he struggled in my grasp, I started kicking, the metal spikes doing little damage against his scales, but disorienting him all the same. He stabbed at me again, and I reached down to grip his wings. Just before he could stab at me again, we crashed into the ground.

The momentum launched me away from him, forcing me to land in a tight roll. As I started to get up, four blades started swishing and hacking in front of me. I narrowly avoided them again, this time letting my chainmail catch a couple of the attacks. The blows were strong enough to nearly break bones, and if I didn’t go back on the offensive soon, I would be done for.

I reached back with my fists one more time, and focused as much of my strength as I could into it. All of my rage, my anger, my hatred for Torrentican, and what he had done…all of it was set free in one, crashing sucker punch that caught the monster right in his stomach. It didn’t stop there. I kept stretching my arm, gaining more and more speed, until he collided with the side of a massive tree that sat on the border of the rainforest.

[Music Over]

His wings shattered against the tree, and he howled in pain. Torrentican pushed himself into a standing position, and spat out, “You…you fool…you think that killing me will bring your precious daughter back? That it will make everything better?!”

I slowly prowled towards him, a low growl building up in my throat. “Torrentican…you’ve gone too far. You murdered an innocent child. Not only that, but you’re raising an army to destroy this world.”

“You could say that…”

“There was one mistake you made though.” I grabbed him by the throat, and shook him until he dropped his weapons. Slamming him against the tree, I said in deathly quiet growl, “This form…it gets power from my anger. And you…you took away my daughter. You KILLED an innocent girl. And now you’re trying to start a war.”

“Trying to start one?” he laughed, looking at me with contempt. “Open your eyes, Omnius! There’s a war coming already. Nothing you can do will stop that. Face it, ‘Battleclaw’. When that war starts, I will make sure that I’m on the winning side. And do you know where you will be? You’ll be on the other side, watching your friends burn!”

His laughter became insane, and echoed hauntingly in my ears.

“WHAT WILL YOU BE THEN?! JUST A SIMPLE PAWN IN A CHESS GAME, SURROUNDED ON ALL SIDES!”

I squeezed his throat tighter in my hand, cutting off his laughter. “You’re wrong…you wanna know what I am?”

My free hand reached back one more time.

“I am one. Angry. Sunuvabitch.”

I shot my fist forward, only to collide with an empty spot on the tree. Torrentican had vanished, leaving me standing there alone in the field. His laughter echoed mockingly in his wake.

He had left before I could deal the final blow...

So be it.

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It took me a couple of weeks to make it back to Pine Falls. Partly because I wasn’t running, and partly because I was still trying to wrap my head around everything that had happened. I had lost my daughter, been told by my immortal enemy that he’s raising an army, never learned where his base of operations is, and nearly killed him in a fit of rage. The only thing I knew for certain was that his castle was somewhere on Equestria.

“What will you do now, Traveler?” a voice suddenly asked from behind me, just before I reached the hill that overlooked the town.

Startled, I whirled around to see a beautiful woman with long, flowing blue hair, and sapphire colored eyes. Her very presence betrayed her vast wisdom and knowledge, while her body seemed to have a sort of timeless quality.

“Who are you?” I asked, readying myself for another battle.

“Peace, Traveler. You need not fear me,” she said calmly, holding a placating hand out. “It was Gaia who gave you that form, but only as a favor from me. She did not bring you to this world.”

“Wait…” I muttered in awe. “You’re…you’re another Goddess, aren’t you?”

She nodded, and gave me a little bow. “I am Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom and Time. And you are Omnius, The Eternal Traveler of Good…and my piece, in the games to come.”

“Games, games, games!” I half shouted in frustration. “What does everyone mean by that!? What’s going on!?”

Nayru sighed mournfully. “I am sorry, Omnius. I cannot say anything more. For now, there are only two things I can do for you.”

“Oh? And what would that be?” I asked, on my guard once again. For some reason, I’ve always been paranoid of Gods and gifts. I know I should be able to trust the Good ones, but…well, I trusted Silver Bars. Look what happened because of that.

The Goddess waved her hand, and said, “I can tell you that Amber no longer suffers. She rests in her world’s heaven now, and has eternal peace.” I felt a mixture of relief and sorrow in my heart. “My other gift to you…is Scorch. Her wounds have all been healed, and she will join you on your Travels through this world.”

I would’ve argued, but…well, it’s never wise to argue against a Goddess of Wisdom. Seriously. Bad idea, right there. So instead, I just bowed to her, and said, “Thank you, Nayru.”

“Now…what will you do from here?” she asked me. “Will you gather an army to defeat Torrentican’s? Will you go to the North, where the slaves are, and free them? Or will you set out to explore the world?”

Those were some pretty big thoughts…but I knew what my answer was. I looked Nayru straight in the the eye, and told her, “My lady…I don’t know. All I know is that wherever I go, I’ll always be haunted by the memory of my own failure to protect my child. That thought will always be on my mind…I’ll use that though. If I see anyone in trouble, or about to be hurt, I will make sure that they never have to suffer like I am suffering now.”

Nayru nodded in approval.

“And…there’s one more thing I need to do anyways, before I set out.”

The Goddess smiled at that, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Yeah. Thanks for the cryptic questions and whatnot. Could’ve saved me a walk and just poofed me into town, but nooooo. Oh well. Like I said, I can complain about that later.

There’s just one more ghost that needs to be dealt with.

Next Chapter: 13) Amber's Final Wish Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 12 Minutes