Wielding her axe that floated beside her, she approached a door. It was made of iron bars, allowing her to see through it. On the other side, her fear made manifest. It was the knight, but he had not seen her, and was marching stoically past. She held her breath a moment as the knight descended the same stairs she had ascended to meet him the last time. He was past.

Slowly, she pushed the door open, only for movement to catch her attention from the right. A hollow was rising to his feet at the base of the small steps she was about to descend, and he was armed with a sword. She did not ask if he was friendly. Leaping down at him, she brought her new dark weapon to bear, cleaving into the dead flesh and quickly sending it staggering back to the ground it had barely had a chance to rise from.

It had been quick and quiet, which was ideal. Twilight looked up and around nervously, but the knight had not returned. She hurried forward towards the next tower, its doorway little more than an open arch with nothing in her way. As she hurried as quietly as she could, she heard it. The knight. He was returning. Metal footfalls rang on the stairs heading back up towards the platform she was on.

In a panic, she broke into a run, bursting into the dimmer interior of the tower, practically black before her eyes adjusted. Pain exploded through her side as a spry hollow barreled into her from the side, interrupting her attempt to flee. She could feel its dagger slip free of her flesh as it jumped back, looking ready to deliver greater agonies on her.

She could hear the knight, still approaching. She didn't have time to dance with the new menace. Her horn glowed an instant before she let loose a deadly bolt, but it never arrived at its target. The rogue dived aside and came dancing forward towards her. Fortunately, she had more where that had come from, but it nimbly wove around the strike. At least it was forced to leap backwards. The third strike caught it dead in the chest just as it landed. It shuddered before collapsing to a limp pile.

Twilight could hear those accursed steps. The Knight was just getting to the doorway. She took off through another archway that led back outside. There were stairs heading upwards. There was no time to think. She just ran. Cresting the top of the tower, she could see grisly spikes that held dead bodies. At least those seemed unable to attack her. She saw something else, something that called out to her. It was a coiled sword, much like the one she drove into the fire in the shrine. Like the one that rested in the fire at the top of the wall. Where there was a coiled sword, there was fire.

There was hope.

Twilight approached it, forgetting the knight for a blessed moment. Besides, she didn't hear his steps. He didn't seem to be following her. She held out a hoof towards it, imagining the comfort of the fire, and it came to her. With a great rush of heat, the sword and the bones it rested in combusted, becoming a small bonfire against the darkness of the world.

She sank to her haunches beside it, comforted by the warmth. She lost track of time a moment, her pains fading away entirely in that undetermined amount of time.

When she stirred, she stood back up. She was whole. Mostly. She spread out a tattered wing, lamenting the loss of her flight magic and the ease it would have afforded her. "It isn't fair..." But what in that broken world was?

She decided to look around. She wasn't being actively chased, so it seemed a fine time. Besides the grisly pikes and their morbid cargo, there was one body laying on the ground that held something clutched in a hand. She pulled it free and tilted her head at the lump of stone or metal. Its name came to her with some consideration. "Titanite? What is that for?" She shook her head. She had a feeling her smithing friend would know. At least he seemed like a nice person, straight forward and without duplicity.

He reminded her of Applejack at her best. Hard working, a good friend, ready to perform their duty without complaint.

Shame he wasn't a pony at all. Not that humans were bad per se, but they weren't ponies.

She descended the stairs just in time to see the knight walking out the front archway. Twilight tensed, but the knight proceeded out without a glance back. Past him, she could see the hollow that had slammed into her previously. It had returned...

Then it struck her. When she recovered herself, lost in the flames, so too did all the others, sharing in her recovery. She was the world's salvation, and its bringer of end. How did she become the centerpiece of the world? It wasn't even her world... The path she was set on seemed full of destiny. That much, at least, she could understand. She had been destiny's tool before. Why should another world be lenient on her? She was still destiny's plaything.

Other people might find such a revelation unsettling or disheartening, but Twilight gave a little smile. If Destiny itself wanted her there, then she was in the right place. If she pushed ever onwards, and never gave up, she could not lose. Destiny did not allow for it. She just... had to never give up. The dull ache of death casually interrupted her moment of hope. Death had come for her, twice. Each time it had snatched away some vital piece of her. She might win, but at what cost? What would be left of her?

Would she arrive at the finishing line, little more than a hollow, staggering forward on her hooves having long ago forgotten why she was doing what she was doing? Would she even remember her own name? Was that actually winning?

Twilight clenched her jaw. She just had to stop... dying. That was all... She let out a broken laugh, hysterical edges echoing around it. Just don't die. It was so simple...

All her thoughts had given enough time for the knight to return. He marched in that proper way, unchanging. How long had he been there, marching, ever marching? Was he also hollow? It was hard to tell with the helmet in the way, but she decided it was very likely. He was more functional than many, but still hollow, still dead.

She set her hooves squarely on the ground and lowered her horn. She let her power gather with a brightening light. She would not run from it again.

The knight was oblivious, so focused on his patrol. He only took notice when the great beam of arcane might slammed into him. He collapsed, strings cut. Twilight was left heaving for breath. That had taken a lot out of her. She pulled out the blue-glowing flask she had. With a pull, her mouth filled with chilled ashes, but the ache in her horn faded and her mind cleared. She was renewed. The flask, alas, looked emptied. She would not be able to rely on such devastating attacks.

The knight had held a shield, a very nice looking one she wanted. She was tired of being stabbed.

Speaking of that, there was the rogue, sitting, waiting for the right time to pounce her. Twilight brought her axe in as a makeshift shield, held up at the ready as she stalked forward.

The rogue jumped towards her in a smooth and sudden motion. His dagger danced against the metal of the axe as she wrestled to keep it from plunging into her delicate body. With a mighty shove, she heaved the rogue back and swung the axe in a wide arc, but he jumped free, then back in, but she hadn't stopped swinging. The axe caught him on the arm and he staggered back from the blow. With a determined cry she brought it across his front. Darkness flowed across his form and he fell forward, dead, for a moment.

Twilight let out her breath before she sat down, panting in recovery. She could reach the shield, so she grabbed it. She couldn't put all her focus on the axe if she held a shield, but it meant she wouldn't be stabbed as easily, and that seemed well-worth the price. A fine shield it was at that. Despite the age of everything else, it gleamed even in the dim light. It was solid and nicely painted. Twilight ran a hoof over its triangular surface. It was a clear symbol of a prosperous kingdom. "What did you look like before all this happened?" she asked no one.

She decided she had to press onwards. Axe and shield at the ready, she descended the curved ramp that led further into darkness. She heard the faint sound of agile feet approaching. It was a rogue, and it flung a dagger at her with great speed. She brought her shield up between her and the rogue and it bounced off the thick metal with a loud ring of steel on steel.

The agile hollow jumped towards her, waving his dagger somewhat haphazardly in a series of rapid small strikes that could not penetrate the shield, but did draw on her stamina, keeping her grip sure on the metal as it was battered mercilessly. She brought down the axe and it bit satisfyingly into her attacker's shoulder, forcing him to back up a step.

Catching her breath, Twilight circled to the left, but had barely a moment before the fast dead came at her, dagger positioned to plunge into her. She dived, rolling away from the strike and coming up with a swinging axe. She planted it in his back squarely and the two fell to the ground in a pile. She wrenched her axe free and noticed a pouch laying beside the form. It held a collection of those throwing daggers. "Might be useful," she murmured to herself, pocketing them.

She could see another archway heading outside to a place she had not been before, but she could also see a ladder heading downwards. Both seemed equally intriguing options, and she wasn't sure which to take. Next Chapter: 10 - Friends in Low Places Estimated time remaining: 33 Minutes