Chapter 21: Ancient tales
When Spike entered the library he took a moment to look around himself in awe. The building itself was massive, but the inside of it was absolutely unlike anything he had ever seen before. Already in the entrance, massive shelves filled with heavy tomes stood aligned next to one another... and at the end of the entrance awaited a large platform set in marble and golden designs, overlooking the main part of the library.
Upwards, a roof of colored glass and delicate metal spanned the ceiling, the sun shining through it basking the whole library with warm colors and below... Spike carefully took a look over the railing and felt his jaw drop. It seemed the purveyor had told the truth, Spike couldn't even hope to count the countless levels of shelves that lay beneath him, all of them connected to one another by beautifully crafted bridges.
Among the shelves, he could see the golems move tirelessly... and somewhere below, he could make out a small light flickering softly. Spike was certain it was Twilight, he imagined she was probably already diving through the countless books... though he couldn't help but wonder at what the purveyor had told him before.
"Only forgotten dreams and conceit..." he mumbled as he continued to study the deep shaft beneath him. "Whatever could have happened here?" he swallowed as he remembered his own pact with the purveyor, wondering how he should tell Twilight.
---
"Amazing!" Twilight let her hoof trail down another page. "These diagrams are simply incredible!"
She looked up for a moment as one of the golems approached the table already covered in books. "Another one?" the golem gave a silent nod and placed the heavy tome on top of the others. "Thank you."
The golems inside the library were curious to her. For one thing they looked entirely different from the ones outside; They were smaller, more delicate and while the guardians outside were made of crude stone, these were made of white marble. They didn't appear as threatening as their brothers outside... but the way they silently moved through the library almost seemed foreboding.
Twilight still didn't completely grasp how they worked... whether they understood what she said or if they simply knew what she was looking for... but when she had entered the library they had immediately started to collect books for her.
Much to her dismay though, none of the books was written in a language she knew... So she had asked them for a dictionary, which they had brought her; a large tome with translations into seven different languages... of which she knew none. It made her wonder how old this place really was.
Still, even the mere diagrams were already fascinating for her... the detail to them was simply breathtaking. She was sure, that with time she would be able to translate the language and find the answers she was looking for.
"Maybe I could ask him..." she raised an eyebrow as she continued to take notes. Somehow that sentence alone made her feel anxious. Even with the light flooding inside from above, the space between the long corridors of shelves was still poorly lit, and everywhere she looked... the darkness made her wonder if he was watching her.
"Twilight? Are you here?"
"Spike?" she watched the dragon head around one of the shelves and walk towards her. "Isn't this place amazing?!" in her excitement, she failed to notice his strange expression.
"It sure is something else." Spike replied with a weak smile and couldn't help but shake his head in amusement at the mountain of books and notes she had already accumulated. Even all these years, her enthusiasm for the secrets of this world had not faded in the slightest. "Did you find anything interesting yet?"
"Well..." Twilight sighed. "I could be mistaken.... but these tomes seem to be records and timetables holding important events, though there is no telling how old they are." she pointed to an especially large book set in a golden frame, "This one seems to be especially important, I've been trying to decipher this line here but I'm afraid I'm not doing much process."
She put her hoof under the entry and read out loud. "Ser'na mel s'laet Sirrush sol'ath mer ferat..." she rubbed her chin in thought. "I've only been able to translate parts of it. It seems a single word can actually contain a sentence depending on how it is used... 'S'laet', missing... without. Without what? 'Sirrush', it seems to be a name... though I'm not sure if he or she was an alicorn or something else." Twilight paused. "'sol'ath' and 'ferat', an end... and creation of eternity?" she shook her head. "I can't make heads and tails of it."
"Sirrush... huh?" Spike replied with a worried expression, the name reminding him all too clearly of what he intended to do. "Twilight, I... I need to tell you something."
---
"Ahhh... Celestia." Nithhogr's huge head gave her a warm smile as she entered his chambers. "Still as regal and beautiful as the rising sun." A chuckle left his lips as he saw her frown. "I am glad you have taken the time to visit me in spite of all the commotion surrounding us."
"You personally asked for my presence." Celestia replied with a skeptical expression. "Must I really ask what it is you wished to talk about?"
"Is it so obvious then?" Nithhogr smirked. "Tell me then, young alicorn. What do you know of the Dorchadas?"
"Dorchadas..." Celestia replied with an uneasy voice. "I have known him under a different name. Was it you who gave him the idea to take that identity?"
"It is more of a title than an actual name... an idea or a concept one could say." he paused. "Would you like to know what the word truly means?"
Seeing that Celestia did not respond, Nithhogr started to talk again. "Tho'lam Senh' Mah, Dorchadas Eekt'uh Merak Kal'ah." he smiled softly as he repeated the old dragon rhyme. "And forever watches and hungers the living dark... waiting for the world to fall apart." his smile grew when he saw Celestia's shocked expression, "Does this surprise you?"
"I... I knew of the existence of the name, but I never..." Celestia stammered. "Where does this rhyme come from?"
"Mmmhh..." Nithhogr scratched his chin with one of his claws, "These days, it is nothing more than a story for hatchlings... it is a morsel of a legend that even our elders have forgotten." he paused, and his golden eyes focused on Celestia. "But I, have not."
---
Hidden within the folds of the void, the purveyor couldn't help but frown. "Nithhogr... are you really intending to scare her with that old legend?" he whispered to himself. Granted though, to anyone not familiar with the history of his own race, the legend seemed all too fitting. Still, this was not what troubled him.
What troubled the purveyor, was the prophecy that was part of the old legend... if Celestia would actually believe it, or even worse... if it was actually true. "What am I thinking?" Zaeres shook his head with a sigh, there was no way something like that could happen... and yet, it worried him that anyone besides Nithhogr and himself would know of this.
"Nithhogr..." the purveyor whispered, "Be careful what games you play... or I will put a stop to them myself."
He shook his head and turned his attention away from the dragon deity and the alicorn princess. It was time to see what Twilight Sparkle was doing... not to mention that there was still the matter of Spike.
"Potential..."
Zaeres paused, "You? Are you still intent on watching?"
"Always... forever..." again, it was nothing more but a whisper. Within the silence of the void though, he could hear it effortlessly. Slowly, the murmurs of the countless souls clinging to him started to rise in volume, "Eternal..."
"Learn all the words you want." the purveyor sneered and pushed the voices away again. "I will remain in control."
With one last, silent word the purveyor moved, shifted his existence and left the void.
---
When he reappeared inside the old library of the alicorn capitol, the purveyor found something he had not expected; Twilight Sparkle... surrounded by books and secrets, and yet she only stared at the table before her with a strange expression.
"Is something the matter?" he quietly asked as he walked up to her. "Are you having trouble translating the texts?"
Twilight looked up for a moment to affirm it was him, then she shook her head. "No. The language is complicated, but I think I'll be able to translate it." she was silent for a lingering moment, "It's about Spike... he is going to leave." she took a deep breath. "He said that there is something that he needs to do by himself... and that... that he doesn't know how long it will take..."
"And this troubles you." Zaeres observed.
"Of course it does." Twilight replied, "He's been with me all of my life."
The purveyor silently took a seat at the opposite side of the table. "Do you want him to stay?"
"Yes." her reply was instant, but immediately afterwards she became uncertain. "But at the same time... I mean, we talked about it a lot and he..." she paused and looked up at him. "Can I ask something of you?"
"What?" Zaeres asked with slight surprise.
"Can you... can you look after Spike while he's gone?" his silence seemed to make her even more nervous. "I mean, could you just keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get hurt? I just... I just need to know he will be alright..." she hung her head at those words.
"Very well." the purveyor replied, wondering just what or how much Spike had actually told her. "I will see to it."
"Thank you." she gave him a small smile. "That really helps me... As long as I know he's safe I can bear it."
---
After his talk with Twilight, Spike had aimlessly wandered through the old capitol without paying attention and lost in his own thoughts. It had been a painful talk, even more so since he simply could not bring himself to tell her the reason. After a set of stairs he had found himself on a large balcony overlooking the empty city... and here he sat, staring at the maze of buildings beneath. For a moment he wondered if he even knew the reason himself.
When he felt a shiver run down his back, he didn't even need to turn around to know who it was.
"I told her." he quietly stated.
"I know." Zaeres replied. "When will you be ready to leave?"
"A couple of days..." Spike continued to watch the city below. "Back in the library... there was a sentence about Sirrush." he tried to remember the words. "Ser'na mel... Ser'na mek sle..."
"Ser'na mel s'laet Sirrush sol'ath mer ferat..." Zaeres corrected him. "And on the day that Sirrush the wingless fell from immortality, we attained that which would lead us to the creation of true eternity."
"What does that last part mean?" Spike carefully asked.
"The text refers to the last sin of the alicorns... and their subsequent punishment." Zaeres replied. "The creation of true eternity... The creation of a god."
Stats
Page generated in 0.044 seconds
Total duration
972 users online
2,128,086 hits today, 2,732,798 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Welcom back!
Any inconvenience is totally worth it for more chapters from you.
Wow! This just gets better and better. Thanks for updating and hope you get well soon!
Creation of a god? Dayum
Something tells me that "God" the text talks about has to do with Discord.
Soo, which god? Discord?
Also, a being in the void older than the Purveyor? Perhaps as old as(Or native to) the void? Shit just got real!
Discord!!!
3482426
In the void? Why not the void itself?
YOU BACK, GNOLL! YOU GET A MEGA BLAZIKEN!
cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/f/fa/257Blaziken-Mega.png
And I'm not going to guess who the 'god' is… I'm willing to wait and find out...
I can never predict with certainty what is going to happen next! It's so fun!
~Have a good one.
Was part of the sentence left out by accident?
It seems like spike's train of thought wasn't finished before he asks his question.
One small thing.
The only other mistake that I noticed was already mentioned.
*BWAAAAAAAAH!* (INSEPTION THEME)
I've been waiting so long and it's finally out.
My personal opinion, but that little rhyme might flow better as:
Pay me no mind, I'm quite opinionated.
Wow the Alicorns just went full Dwemer and retconned themselves out of history.
>Alicorns try to create a God
>Entire race goes extinct
Lol
3482426
I don't think so... I think that the purveyor had said he was a "troublesome" fellow but not an actual big threat.
Plus at the beginning of the first story he had said that the their "magic" would do NOTHING against him. Since Discord got easily whomped by the all-so Overpowered elements of harmony.
I think it's something else. The deity of the void is not so easily fucked. He fucks you. Not the other way around
3487657 A stone in the shoe can make you bleed.
Also, I'm getting a definite dark souls vibe from these library golems. Silently shuffling in the dark, elegant yet malicious, ready to super-murder anyone who intrudes...
The alicorns are starting to sound more like the eldar.
3483534>>3483611 Thank you!
I am defiantly getting a dark souls vibe out of this, and I love it. The whole bit with the Alicorns, at first had my curiosity, but with the ending, and the birth of a god, well, simply put, you now have my attention. Though, I would like you to explore the Alicorn capital a bit, I mean, you have this massive monolith of stone, metal, and eternally bound, Arcane constructs, in a way, the entire thing is something of a metaphore for the Alicorns, and all we have seen is just the library. If it was me, I would be all over that place, searching for the secrets that lay dormant for the countless millennium. I would assume Twilight would do that too, but she went for the books first, which is something I could see her do. I guess, another interesting way of portraying this, instead of having twilight mess with things that are beyond her comprehension, it would be pretty cool to see the purveyor take spike on a walk, and show spike the true might of the Alicorns, and the extent of which, they had sinned, let Spike know what truly happened, before Twilight does, so that he can get a glimpse of what he lost, and what it was used for. But that's my .02$. Otherwise, I am getting pretty anxious, the story is on the verge of something big, I can feel it deep with inside of me, I have some hypothesizes on what is going to happen, and I like all of them. Keep up the good work.
Despite the dark nature of the story so far, I find myself rooting for the ending of his path.
Tangible grey, why are gods themselves your willing puppets?
Read the first story and this one in one sitting. Keep up the good work and update soon please.
Just finished reading this and the first one in one sitting. Absolutely brilliant stories, they may even be my two favourites. I know you probably get bored of hearing this, but I need more
A update in time for Christmas would be nice. Hint hint.
Zaeres old job was simply a watcher... but from the first story and this story so far, his title was not only limited to watching... if I had to describe its like a gardener observing and plant and removing weeds from the garden... any thing that may jeopardize the garden is a weed... so while many civilizations vanished due to natural means or other forces... I have a feeling Zaeres does more than watch