Spike the Corrupter - CYOA
Chapter 13: History Lessons
Previous Chapter Next ChapterSpike hummed as he thought for a moment, furrowing his brow. He turned to Kisano, trying his best not to explicitly think his plans, and yet he still failed.
"What are you doing, Spike?" Domination asked. Spike ignored him, focusing his mind.
"I already told you, you can trust me and Punishment. How many times do I need to tell you that?" Domination responded, burning into his mind. "I didn't rewrite you when I got into your head, and I'm not going to be stealing control from you. We are in this fight together. Besides, I've already told you that you're probably the best wielder I've ever had."
Spike sighed, shaking his head. "Fine, fine, I suppose you're right." Spike groaned, shaking his head.
He stood up in his throne, knocking Thorax off his lap, who landed on all fours in between Ember and Smolder. Spike straightened his back as his three pets stared up at him in awe, before he cleared his throat.
"I'm going for a walk." He ordered, already formulating an extremely risky plan. It took all of his mental plans to keep said plan hidden from Domination and Punishment... yet he wasn't sure he managed to keep it all secret. He needed to know the truth about those gems, even if it killed him.
"Pharynx, Kisano, come with me, we need to plan my next conquest. Ishtar, return to your slaver base and await further orders. Ember, Smolder and Thorax?" He turned to his three pets who stared at him wide-eyed and dejectedly, they already knew what was coming next. "Wait here."
Ember merely sighed, while Smolder harumphed. "You're always leaving us alone. When are we going to get a chance to come with you on a conquest or something..."
Spike merely rolled his eyes as he looked to Thorax, who was staring up at him with a slight pout. The little cuddle-bug was almost tearing up at the idea of being away from his master again... how ironic considering what Spike had done to the three of them.
Spike gave Thorax a quick chin scratch before turning to Smolder and Ember. "One day my pets. One day. But for now, your master has important business to attend to."
And with that it was finalized. The three merely sat and waited by the throne as Spike straightened up, adjusted his posture and turned to leave. Ishtar waited for a moment, not wanting to pass her master in the hallway on her way back to her base as Pharynx and Kisano followed after Spike.
"So, which kingdom were you considering going after today Spike?" Domination asked darkly in his head.
"I'm unsure yet, remind me of them," Spike said aloud, hoping to distract Domination as he worked his plan.
Pharynx straightened up suddenly as he was consumed by fire, and in his place stood Domination's avatar.
"Well, there are three kingdoms left in the region before we can start going after bigger fish." Domination spoke simply, ignorant as Spike started gathering his will.
"There's the sheep first, who are capable of ancient dark magics and seem to be worshipping Grogar, though to be fair I don't actually know who that is. At current, they are the weakest of the three remaining kingdoms, though their dark magics could prove troublesome as I don't actually have a counter for it."
Domination continued, closing his eyes and rubbing his chin as Spike gathered more power. "Then you have the minotaurs of Minos, and their strange artifact, which I am convinced might be one of my brothers. Another gem for you would do wonders I think."
Spike made a mild mental note of that before Domination continued.
"And lastly there is Stagial. A very potent nation, though not as strong as Equestria or any of it's neighbors. We've managed to work enough strength that a head on confrontation with Stagial is not only possible but probable, as they will doubtlessly have started to notice our presence. I think it would be nice to see what the Deer have been up to since I-"
Domination was interrupted when Spike suddenly mentally pounced. He shoved all of his will directly into the gem on his forehead and the gem on his chest. There was a sudden screeching sound before the crystal spike following him suddenly shattered, revealing a very confused Pharynx, who quickly grabbed his head with a grunt. His gem had cracked. As had Kisano's. In fact, every single gem Spike owned suddenly cracked, though thankfully none of them broke.
Spike grimaced and held his head as he got the mother of all headaches, but he quickly came to realize that the presence in his head he'd had since the day he met Domination was gone. Though, he surmised, potentially not for long.
Quickly, Spike turned to Kisano, grabbing him by the shoulders. "You. Tell me everything you know about the gems. Now before they come back."
Kisano stared up at him, blinking twice before he steeled himself and spoke up. "Very well master."
He turned towards Pharynx, who was now writhing on the floor clutching his head like a spasmatic cat. Evidently he was hit much harder than everyone else when the gems cracked. "I was alive when the Perytons created the gems, master, though at the time I was a mere kit."
"You are two thousand years old?" Spike asked, raising an eyebrow. Kisano merely nodded in reply.
"Kitsune are immortal master, remember?" Kisano explained before he continued. "Back in those days, the Perytons were the rulers of the world, only really challenged by the Draconequi, Alicorns, Kitsune, and Centaurs. All other races were enslaved to the Peryton's will, though it wasn't enough for them. The Perytons were obsessed with absolute order and perfection. In order to achieve it, they created the crystals, which would allow their wielder unparalleled control over the creatures of the world."
Kisano continued even more; "The Perytons condensed pure unrestrained order magic into the form of five multicolored Crystals. So much order magic was used in their creation, that it's said that draconequis chaos magic cannot affect the wearer or his slaves in the slightest."
"Domination told me there were four." Spike hissed, clenching his fists.
Kisano merely nodded in response. "I assure you master there were five. Anyway, the gems by themselves weren't enough to achieve the Peryton's goals. They needed souls to use their powers."
Spike's eyes widened slightly. "You mean-"
"Yes master. Five creatures were selected. A deer, a dragon, a draconequis, an alicorn, and a kitsune. After a horrific series of experiments and brainwashing, their souls were ripped from their bodies and shoved into the gems. No one knows exactly what happened, only that the gems were left as completely blank slates for the Perytons to use... at first."
"After a while, the gems apparently regained parts of their initial personalities. And then they rebelled against the Perytons, shattering their gems and ripping their empire apart from the inside. And then the Peryton's enemies all pounced on them at once and finished them off."
Spike nodded along. "So the gems are capable of rebelling if I don't placate them?"
Kisano nodded. "And I predict that it won't end well for you if they did, master."
Spike looked to Pharynx whose writhing started getting worse. Domination was waking up. "And if I wanted to remove their personalities? Return them to blank slates?"
Kisano shook his head. "I wouldn't know, master. The only creature who might possibly know is the Peryton in the crystal."
Spike grimaced frowning deeply. And then the headache got worse for a moment, before Pharynx suddenly shot up, his eyes glowing a deep black. And they were angry.
"You little fuck." Pharynx said with a growl before he transformed with a burst of notably black fire. Back in his place was the crystalline form of Spike Domination loved to take, except it was massive, easily towering over the real Spike. With a single claw, the towering form of Domination slammed Spike onto his back.
"You are lucky I like you, otherwise I would've let Punishment leave you as a drooling shell," Domination ordered, pointing a finger at Spike's forehead. "Don't. Do. That. Again."
Spike nodded quickly. "I-I won't. I won't, I swear."
"Good." Domination ordered, before suddenly dropping his transformation, leaving behind a very stunned Pharynx.
Spike grunted, rubbing his neck. Domination hadn't been playing around when he'd been slammed. Spike got to his feet and turned to Kisano. Then he turned back to Pharynx, who was now on his knees holding his head.
"Ugh... My head..." Pharynx mumbled.
Spike chose to ignore him, turning back to the hall. He shivered slightly and started walking... a new threat to his rule just opened... and it was one that was going to be hard to balance.
Domination Affinity: -1