Beyond the Borderlands Preview! · 11:24pm Feb 5th, 2015
Colony is DONE! Done, done, done, done, DONE! Or, well, the first draft is. Time to send it out to the Alpha Readers!
And now, dear readers, I can finally start working full time on a project I've been wanting to for a while. Which means ... that as promised, here's your preview of the opening of the soon to be released "Beyond the Borderlands."*
*Preview edition only. The final product may differ, as this version has not been edited or adjusted in any way.
The Ocean of Endless Ice - Two weeks before the ERS Incident
It was cold around the Pinnacle.
Pinnacle. Subtle Eye scoffed under his breath as he watched the moonlight play over the gigantic tooth of rock. He’d heard the folk of the Ocean had a new name for it now. The Bloody Tip.
It was a fitting name, he had to admit. As the skiff he’d commandeered drew closer to the massive stone monolith, he tilted his head back, running his eyes up the sides until he was staring almost straight up, his eyes fixed on the distant tip. The pale moonlight wasn’t enough to make out the color of the stone, but he could picture it in his mind well enough. Once a despondent, desolate grey that so well-fitted its surroundings, the tip of the Pinnacle was now a brilliant, bloody red that was slowly flowing downwards under the watchful eye of the Order. It would take time; months, perhaps even years, but eventually the entire piece of jagged stone would be a seamless, unbroken red.
He smiled, clutching his heavy cloak closer around his body as his breath formed a heavy mist in the air. He’d almost forgotten how cold the night could be, this close to the northern reaches. Part of him worried that perhaps he’d gotten soft during his stay in Equestria, but he dismissed the idea almost immediately. He’d been forced to conceal his identity, true, even strip the bands from his horn, but he’d never forgotten who he was. Never forgotten his purpose.A purpose he was now fulfilling. Near the back of the skiff, one of the pilots, a minotaur, muttered something in his guttural tongue to his partner. The beast’s partner, a hulking earth pony with a wretched scar across his face, muttered something back. The boat let out a creaking wail as the minotaur tugged the rudder to one side, changing the skiff’s course. Ice crackled all around them as the vessel shuddered violently, and the earth pony gave a sharp rebuke, smacking the minotaur across the shoulder.
Idiots, Subtle thought, sparing them a single glance that ceased any attempts the minotaur was making at a retort. I still can hardly believe we’re working with these … impure cretins. He turned his attention back towards the front of the vessel, eyeing the lights that had been lit across the docks to guide their arrival. He could make out several hooded ponies waiting for his arrival, each as heavily wrapped as he was against the cold chill of the night.
Initiates, or perhaps chosen, he thought as the dock drew closer. A welcoming party, or just workers tending to the docks like dutiful brethren?
“Uh, sir?” the earth pony asked, and he turned to fix his gaze on the dark yellow stallion. “We’re approaching the docks.”
“I can see that,” Subtle said, his voice sounding raspy in his ears. Blast the cold, he truly had gone soft. He felt as if he was speaking with ice cubes in his chest. The earth pony navigator—one of the unlucky pirates who’d been rousted from his sleep to help bring the skiff in to deliver him—scowled.
“Yeah, well unless you step out of the way and let me tend to the sails, you’re going to be there a bit quicker than you’d like, too.”
Subtle glared at the pony, but he didn’t quiver. Apparently he’d been pushed to his limit for intimidation already that day.
Or perhaps I’ve gone soft, he thought as he stepped back, his horn carefully lighting with a dull-blue glow as he pulled his package with him, leaving room for the pirate to go about his duty. Maybe they don’t respect me as much because I have not earned it. He would have to do something about that before the trip was done.
The earth pony quickly stowed the sails, and the skiff’s speed dropped, the cold, biting wind no longer sustaining it. It was up to the minotaur now, his chest bulging with muscles as he lifted a long pole and lowered it over the side, pushing off of the ice and moving the skiff closer to the docks.
The docks were close enough now that Subtle could see how new they were. The metal bracing shone in the pale light, silver flashes of moon moving up and down the framework as the skiff bobbed up and down. On the docks, horns began to light up, thick ropes snaking out towards the skiff like living things and wrapping around the dock cleats. As one, the unicorns heaved, and the skiff slid right up to the dock, coming to a rest just before it would bump the side.
“Welcome, Mage,” one of the unicorns said, lowering his hood and bowing deeply. There was a red band around the base of his horn. A chosen, then. Behind him, the rest of the group did likewise, revealing their own faces to the harsh, biting chill of the wind and bowing. More red bands, but a few more red tips. Chosen and their initiates.
“Thank you,” Subtle said, lifting the thickly wrapped package he’d brought with him from the deck with a flick of his horn. “It’s good to be back.” He stepped off the skiff onto the docks, glad to once again feel the solid ground beneath him. The metal was cold beneath his hooves, almost painfully so, but he didn’t care. He eyed the package he’d brought with him, carefully setting it down with a gentle tap that echoed across the docks. One of the initiates moved to pick it up, but he shook his head. “This is mine.”
No one objected.
He turned, looking back at the skiff that had brought him the last leg of his journey, gently bobbing up and down above the razor-sharp and ever moving field of ice that made up the ocean. The constant crackling sound the ice chunks made as they ground against one another was even more pronounced here, where they met hard, unyielding rock to rub unceasingly against. Almost loud enough to cover up the faint snort of derision the pirate navigator made as he turned to tend to his skiff.
“Hold,” Subtle said, raising his hoof as he fixed his eyes on dark yellow pony. Unlike the minotaur pilot or the ponies on the dock, the navigator’s coat was bare to the elements, uncovered save for the single bandolier across his back that held his axe. It was a dare, a mad challenge to the Ocean that declared him better than others for his insanity.
“You there,” he said, raising his voice above the cracking of the ice. “Navigator.”
The stallion paused, one hoof on the skiff’s rigging. “Me?” he asked, turning and putting a hoof to his chest.
“Would I be speaking to anyone else?” Subtle asked. “Of course you. I have a task for you.”
The stallion scowled as he turned his body towards him, leaning up against the small railing of the skiff. “Right, what is it?”
“I need you to deliver a message to the rest of your crew,” Subtle said, stoking the embers of anger that had been burning in his chest since he’d climbed onto the oaf’s boat.
“And that would be?”
“Respect.” A beam of jagged, vicious light erupted from his horn, slamming into the pirate’s chest and throwing him across the skiff. The stallion’s pained scream cut off abruptly as he hit the far railing, and the small boat pitched, rocking back and forth under the force of the impact. Disappointingly enough, the stallion wasn’t pitched overboard, to fall down to the hungry ice below, where he’d be cut apart, frozen, and crushed as the ice pulled him downward, just as it did anything else that fell into its grasp. But he did slump to the bottom of the boat, unconscious.
“Will my message be delivered?” Subtle called to the minotaur over the dying pony’s screams. He watched, his horn still glowing with vicious, purple light that seemed to bubble across its surface, as the minotaur gave him a slow, silent nod.
“Good,” he said, nodding to the initiates. One by one they released the knots that held the skiff against the dock, and one of them gave the vessel a small shove, sending it floating out over the ice. It bobbed there for a moment before the minotaur seemed to shake free of his trance, carefully making his way towards the middle of the boat and letting loose the sails. Moments later, the skiff was skimming over the surface of the ice, on its way back to its berth.
“Was that wise, great one?” one of the chosen asked Subtle as he watched the skiff go.
“What? Letting him leave?” Subtle asked.
“No, nearly killing the navigator.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Subtle said, peering over the edge of the dock and looking for any sign that perhaps the pirate had fallen. There was none; nor would there have been in the case that he had. The ice would have swallowed him as thoroughly as it would swallow anything else that set hoof on its surface. “We’re going to crush them all in the end anyway, aren’t we?”
He turned and collected his package without waiting for a response. He had a duty to attend to, and it wasn’t on the docks dealing with disrespectful lesser beings.
The inside of the Pinnacle was in better shape than he’d last seen it . The last time he had been there, the floors had been charred, the windows shattered. Now the windows were sealed, the floor covered by a thick, luxurious carpet that made his hoofsteps all but silent, and the halls themselves were, despite the bitter, brutal cold outside the walls, warm. He allowed himself a small feeling of pride as he strode through the keep, his hood down, the three red bands on his own horn worn openly for all to see. Initiates and chosen stepped out of his path, bowing their heads as he passed. He felt a faint sense of joy at being somewhere where once again he was respected by those who knew him.
Of all the things that had been improved during his time away, the means of egress to the keep’s peak was not one of them, and his good mood soon faded as he climbed stair after stair, circling the Pinnacle’s open interior again and again as he rose towards the top.
“Stupid griffons,” he muttered to himself as he completed yet another upwards circuit. “Would it have killed any of you to put in an elevator?” The featherbrained fools. From the outside, the Pinnacle was shaped like a unicorn’s horn, tall and peaked, but slightly bent, as if somepony had decided to form it into a scythe. It made for a striking fixture on the normally island spotted Ocean, but it also meant that when the accursed griffons had hollowed the inside out to make their fortress, they’d made it as open as possible, wasting the whole lower three-quarters of the monument on a brainless, showy, impossible to heat, open area that served little purpose for higher beings.
Not that it saved them in the end, Subtle thought as he rounded yet another circuit and drew closer to the top, passing doors to rooms that served as quarters for the initiates, chosen or other members of the order. For all their pride, the Pinnacle is ours now, ours to do what we wish with it.
A shame that hadn’t involved filling in the inner space with a more useful design. But then, he reflected as he passed the final stair, stepping into the upper halls and more familiar architecture, they’d only owned the tower for a few years, and most of their order skilled with such things were involved with the far more important projects in the east. The Pinnacle could wait, as long as they achieved their ultimate goal. They’d have all the time they needed after that.
He was entering the highest levels now, those reserved for only the most important of the order. His own quarters were here, somewhere, along with those of the rest of the order’s mages. He’d go to those later, both to relax, and to finally, at last, take a well-earned rest. He’d pushed himself hard on the way here. Maybe once he was done, once he’d delivered his report, he could have the initiates warm him a bath. A hot bath. It would feel delightful.
He rounded the corner of the hall and before him stood the entrance to the highest residence of the structure. A residence that had once been the office of the griffons that had owned this place, before they’d been culled. Now, it was the office of the leader of their order, the most revered unicorn in existence.
Lord Sagis.
There were guards outside his door, unicorn bruins both, openly glaring at him with eyes that implied suspicion, even distrust. Subtle couldn’t hold it against them. One of the two let out a snort, her body twisting as it bulked up, muscle and bone snapping and popping as she grew.
“What do you want, sage?” she asked, her tone harsh. He refused to be impressed.“I’m here to speak with Lord Sagis,” he replied, keeping his tone clipped. Bruins were always testy. Probably on account of that device on their horn. They’d offered him once. He’d turned it down. I like my magic the way it is, thank you.
“It’s late,” the bruin said, her eyes narrowing.
“He’s expecting me,” Subtle said, shaking his head ever so slightly. “I bring news he needs to hear.”
The two bruins glanced at one another and the first nodded. “Very well,” she said, her cream-colored coat sagging as her body deflated before catching up and snapping tight over her frame once more. Her substantially larger-than-average frame, Subtle noted. Was she channeling magic just to keep herself that size, or had she always been a larger pony?
Not worth asking, he thought as he approached the doors. He lit his horn just as his nose was about to touch the aged wood, pushing both doors open in front of him and removing his package from his back.
Lord Sagis’ study was truly one of the most ornate rooms in the entire Pinnacle. The carpet underfoot was a deep red, a red befitting a king, and the woodwork along the walls was exquisite, molded by some of the best shapers among them. Almost a third of the circular room’s wall was taken up by a massive window that looked out over the Ocean, an impressive view separated from the harsh elements only by the thick, heavy, triple-paned glass and the checkerboard framework that held it in place. A map of the entire Ocean stretched along one wall, a tapestry made specially so that it could be manipulated by magic. Subtle allowed himself a moment’s pride as he looked at the markers and notes scattered all across the map, marking the location of forces all across the barren wasteland that made up the Ocean of Endless Ice. You are part of something great, he reminded himself.
Lord Sagis himself sat behind a titanic wooden desk that was resplendent in artifacts of conquest as well as bits of information gathered from all across the Ocean. Despite the fact that he had likely been woken upon Subtle’s arrival, nothing about him suggested that he was in any way put off by the lateness of the hour, nor the unexpectedness of Subtle’s visit. His grey eyes locked with Subtle’s, and they seemed to bore into his soul, searching through his mind as if determining whether or not Subtle’s appearance had been worth his preparing for. The eyes then flicked to the package at Subtle’s side, and Subtle could see the slight creasing of their leader’s brow as he looked at it, then at Subtle, and then back at the package.
“Welcome home, Subtle Eye,” Lord Sagis said at last, beckoning him forward. “You’ve been away from us for quite some time.”
“Yes, Lord Sagis, I have,” Subtle said, taking a few steps towards the desk and then offering a small bow of subservience.
“Six-hundred and seventy-three days, to be exact,” Lord Sagis said. There was a calm to his voice, but Subtle knew how much control the dark-red unicorn had over his voice. Had he not been a unicorn, surely his cutie mark would have been for his voice.
“Yes, Lord Sagis,” Subtle said when their ruler’s words didn’t continue further. There was a slight rustle, and he looked up to see Lord Sagis leaning forward, flicking his blue mane away from his dark-red horn and lighting it with a dull grey glow.
“And so I must ask myself,” Lord Sagis said slowly, a single piece of paper floating up in front of him. “Why have you come back now when your orders were to remain in Equestria for three years in total?” It was a question, but Subtle could see the look in Lord Sagis’s eyes. It wasn’t one he was supposed to answer.
“I must then conclude,” Lord Sagis said, sinking back in his seat, “that you have found something so vital to our cause that you would abandon your subterfuge and observations in order to bring it here immediately.” The grey eyes shifted once more to the package, still gently floating in the air. “So show me, my trusted Eye, what you have found.”
“With pleasure, my lord.” Subtle floated the heavily wrapped object forward, spacing it between them. Then, with slow, deliberate flicks of his horn, he began to unwrap it.
“I recognized it at once, from the ancient inscriptions,” he said as the heavy cloth began to fall away, dropping to the floor in shapeless lumps. “The magic in it is faint, but still alive. The poor fool who owned the store had no idea what he was in possession of. Lord Sagis,” he said, pausing as he reached the last layer of cloth. “I have found the key.”
The last piece of cloth slipped away, and Subtle couldn’t help but feel a thrill of excitement course through his body as he beheld the object he’d so carefully guarded over the course of his journey. It hung in the air, floating in the gentle grip of his telekinetic magic, light shining off of its crystalline sides. It was shaped like a cone, about two feet long, with smoothed, rounded edges that had been polished to a faint sheen. The surface was equally smooth, save for the sharp etchings of arcane symbols that had been carved across the exterior face, etchings that even he, a senior mage of the order, had been unable to decipher.
The cone itself was partially hollow, the flat side open to the air with a single, carefully carved bar extending across it that was clearly meant to serve as a grip. Not that he, as a unicorn, would need such a thing. Clearly that was a part of the design that had been deemed necessary in the event that lesser races found the key, but such would hopefully prove unnecessary now.
The key sparkled under the lights as he rotated it, its core pulsing with faint, blue light. He had no idea what it was made out of, although judging from the shape it was in after all these years, it was clearly a very tough material. The crystal was clear around the edges, like glass, but as one looked deeper it changed, darkening into a brilliant, neon blue that radiated out from the center like lightning that had been frozen in time. There was a faint darkness to the very center, a backing of deep black that vanished as soon as you tried to get a better look at it, but was always there, just behind the blue.
Lord Sagis let out a faint gasp, and Subtle felt a brief glimmer of satisfaction as the unicorn gently wrapped his own grey magic around the key and pulled it across his desk. That’s right, my lord. We have it at last.
“How?” Lord Sagis asked, looking from the key to him and then back again.
“The storekeeper would not say how he came into possession of it, my lord,” he said, bowing his head slightly. “Nor was he aware of what he held, the power that was in it. Once I felt the magic inside of it … I knew.”
“Yes,” Lord Sagis said, gently setting the key on his desk. “It matches the inscriptions perfectly.” He tapped his horn against its surface, grey light spilling over the crystalline surface before fading away. Inside the key, the blue brightened briefly. “And just as they said,” Sagis said with a smile. “It needs magic.”
“Once charged …” Subtle intoned.
“... the vault shall open, its prisoner set free,” Lord Sagis finished, nodding. The unicorn’s eyes almost seemed to glow with anticipation. “I assume that you have made a detailed study of the key on your journey?”
“Indeed, my lord,” Subtle said, stepping forward and lowering his horn to tap against the crystal surface. “The bindings inside are complex beyond anything that I have ever seen or felt, but I was able to glean a faint knowledge of its operations. It is, as the inscriptions say, a key, but it requires great power to function.”
Lord Sagis nodded. “Great power indeed will be needed to break the seal over our master’s prison.” He smiled as Subtle’s eyes widened. “That is correct, Subtle. We have found it at last. Just as the inscriptions said, deep within the ruins.”
“Then, my lord,, all we need do is charge it,” Subtle said, trying to conceal his glee, but failing to keep a faint quiver of excitement from his voice. “My research show that it will take time to charge the key to its full potential, to open the prison. If left on its own, it will never gather enough.” He looked Lord Sagis in the eyes. “It will take daily sacrifice of power from each of us to bring it to full capacity.”
“Then it will have it,” Lord Sagis said, his eyes locking on the stone once more. “Our numbers are strong, and there are many who would lend their power for chance to win our king’s favor. Those at the excavation will need a new task once the main chamber is cleared. Charging the key for our master’s return will be the highest of honors. I myself shall contribute.” His grey eyes flicked back to Subtle. “You have done well, brother.”
Subtle smiled. “Pardon, Lord Sagis, but the key is not all I have brought.” He flicked the corner of his robe up, revealing the saddlebags tied at his side. “There is … more.” Lord Sagis leaned forward, but said nothing.
“i do not know what this is, my lord,” Subtle said, flipping the bag open with a quick twist of his magic. “But it was with the key.” A smaller piece of crystal floated out, identical in type and coloration to the key, as if they had both been hewn from the same material. “It even echoes with a similar magic,” he said as he spun the piece gently in the air. “But it feels … incomplete, as if it is a part of a whole.”
“And it has not been lost on you that it looks like—”
“A portion of a key such as the one sitting before you, my lord?” Subtle said, dropping his head slightly to convey his respect despite the interruption. “No, it has not.” He floated the small piece over to the desk, setting it next to its larger sibling. The similarity was readily apparent. The new piece was roughly half as long and a sixth the size, but only because where the key was a full cone, it appeared to be—
“It’s a third of another key,” Subtle said. “For what purpose I do not know. The magic contained within it is weak and fragmented, and not at all similar in purpose to the key.”
“I have seen the vault myself,” Lord Sagis said. “The key is the one you need. This … smaller piece must serve some other purpose.”
“Incomplete as it is, my lord, I have no way of telling what that may be,” Subtle said, lowering his head in disappointment. “At most I could detect faint glimmers of what felt like a linking enchantment, but broken and fragmented, like the piece itself. Perhaps if we were to find the other two pieces…”
“In good time, my brother.” Lord Sagis stood, wrapping the key in the shimmering glow of his magic. “We have the key, and that is what we needed.” He smiled, not the warm smile of joy or caring, but a smile as cold as the Ocean, the smile of someone who was at last seeing their goal of decades come within reach. Subtle knew that his own expression was mirroring Lord Sagis’s, after all, as the one who had found the key, he would surely share in the glory when the vault finally opened.
“Get some rest, brother,” Lord Sagis said, looking at him with a hunger in his eyes, a hunger that all in the order knew. “Tomorrow you and I leave for the vault. We’ll leave the continued domination of this land to other, more suited horns. You and I shall have honor of charging the key, and preparing for our king’s return.” The key began to float in the air, point down, spinning as they both looked at it.
“Soon, King Sombra will rise to lead the Order once again.”
Coming Soon!
Woo! Now you can start working on the important stuff! i.e. The story I want to read. Though I am looking forward to seeing what Colony is like.
Woohoo. Congrats in getting that monster of a first draft done.
Nice preview. Can't wait to see see more of this story. Only one issue I see here... That disclaimer is way too short to qualify as a true disclaimer these days. I think it only has 1/100 the minimum number of caveats to qualify
YES!!! It's coming out! I've been waiting for this! Thank you so much!
... I may or may not be ever so slightly vibrating in exitement.
Now thats a passage.
All hail King Sombra!!
Sweeet~
I. Am. So. EXCITED!!!
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Colony's actually getting a pretty good reaction from my Alpha readers. One of them already confessed to losing sleep over it, and is over a third of the way through after just a few days. I'm looking forward to getting all their feedback back.
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You know, if I wanted to go for a full disclaimer, it might be that the TV Tropes page for the Dusk Guard is going to be an interesting flurry of activity once this hits, implying ... oh, I don't know ... I guess I shouldn't say.
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Coming very soon, at my current pace.
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So that was that tremor...
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Just wait. It gets better.
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You knew he was going to show up at some point...
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And elite.
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Continue being so. Alpha reader feedback is positive so far.
My first mental image is of an airship attempting to dock with the top of this spire, while being shot at with an insane amount of spellcasting.
Or is that too cliché?
Well, I thought I posted my thoughts here. Time to fix that. I've been sitting on this speculation for forever.
My gut reaction is that we won't be seeing these guys much in Beyond the Borderlands. With the whole "larger threat behind the curtain" thing you're doing, these guys will spend time being mysterious while the Dusk Guard deals with the villain of the week... Who may or may not be interconnected with either Madmare O'Crystal-Eyes or the not-quite-Blademaster.
It's obvious from the side-stories that there is trouble in the north, but nopony in the DG knows a thing about it. Their mission took them someplace else. We might not even see Subtle become a present danger until at least the third book. Unless, of course, something happens to get him to move his hiney to Equestria. Which would be awesome in a "you have displeased Lord Vader" kinda way.
By the by, I have a new speculation as to the parentage of Nova.
Does Subtle Eye have asthma?
Bruins are horrifying and unsettling. Perfect!