A Beacon of Light

by Nobrains

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Titus whirled around, ready for a fight. Instead, he found himself standing face to face with an Alicorn. Her fur a darkish blue, and her mane defying the laws of physics, sparkling magnificently. She seemed... sad, yet Titus had no idea why.

“What.. would have you from me?” Titus asked.

“We ask of you nothing. You have already done what was needed. You slew the Shadow King.” She looked over to the robed corpse lying lifelessly behind Titus. “Well before you were suppose to. We would like to add.”

Titus was confused. “But... what? Why was I supposed to kill the goblin?” he asked desperately.

She stared at Titus in disbelief. “Perhaps an explanation is in order.” She walked over to the dead goblin. “Where you stand, this was once our domain. The kingdom we ruled before the exile that sent us to the moon.”

“You're a monarch?” he asked.

“Yes, we are Luna, princess of the Night. May we continue?”

Titus looked back to Lyra for clarification. Who only mouthed “You should have listened to me.” He sighed inwardly and continued to listen to the brilliant Alicorn before him.

“The goblins had always been a nuisance, constantly asking for integration into our kingdom. We refused, naturally. These drab creatures would only have burdened us and all of Equestria had we not decreed segregation necessary between the two.”

“Where do I come in all of this?” Titus asked, desperate to find out what really happened to him.

“Ah yes, you. When I was exiled, the kingdom was left without a ruler, and the goblins quickly took advantage of the loose hand our sister had on our kingdom. The goblins quickly drove out any residents that had not already flocked to my sister's domain. That was thousands of years ago. It appears that there was only one true goblin left, this “Shadow King”."

She soon walked out onto one of the balconies, gesturing Titus to follow. Lyra was about to accompany them when the Alicorn gave her a stern look that indicated that they were not to be followed. Lyra was forced to sit back and watch them from abroad in the old Throne Room.

“Look up there.” She commanded.

Titus looked up and saw the star blanketed night sky, mystically beautiful in every way, a realm of endless possibilities, and of unknown worlds, just waiting to be explored. Titus had made the jump to two different worlds now, and the huge open realm of the night sky did not frighten him the way it used to with its vastness. Still he wondered what the Alicorn was trying to get at.

“In between every light, every star... is a sea of lost souls that have perished from natural causes or of another such thing. It is a sad thought to think about where we all go, but a comforting one once you look at it with fatalism. Back before we were exiled to the moon, they spoke of a legend, of one soul that would shine. Shine like one of the stars, like it did not want to die.”

She turned to Titus. “That's what you were, Human, the soul that shined like a star. Like a Beacon. We brought you to this world, knowing that you had a part to play in the abandoned lands of the past. Unfortunately, we did not bring you to the location that we had intended, and so you were lost to our knowledge. Until the letter my sister's faithful student had sent to her. We knew then that we had to get to you. To stop you from taking on this challenge just yet. You had, however, begun the journey unknowingly. We were forced to keep the veil of night up to continue the search for you.”

Titus looked confused. “But why didn't you take care of this situation yourself?”

“It's never that simple. You should know that by now. Goblins weren't originally from Equestria, and in the end only a being that wasn't from this world, like them, would truly end their terror. As you can see, the majority lived on in the death, under the command of this king. But when you slew their undead shadows, they were forever put to rest, and even though you weren't holding the hammer, it still managed to kill the Shadow King due to its other-worldly origin.”

Titus sat down in shock, too much information at one time. He stared up at the sky, into the empty spaces in between the stars. Did he really die, to be reincarnated as this world's only being of the Light? It was too much for him to take, but even though every part of his senses screamed in protest, he had to ask one last thing.

“Is... is there no way for me to go back?”

She looked down to him. “I am afraid not, Beacon.”

Titus looked down. “I see...” He stood back up. “Where do I go from here? What do I do in this world?”

Luna smiled sadly. “Anything you want, Beacon. Perhaps there are untold legends just waiting to be fulfilled by the Beacon.” She looked over to the green pony sitting sadly in the room behind them. “Or perhaps the Beacon could spend time with his new found life companion.”

Titus looked back to see what she meant, and then he panicked. “Life companion? Her? I... I don't know if that could work out. I mean I'm a Human and she's-”

“A unicorn? What does it matter? We are more alike then you may want to tell yourself, Beacon. Surely there was interracial relationships in your world of past?”

There had been. Pairings between humans and elves had not been uncommon at all back in Azeroth. Some were extremely well known, actually. It was never frowned upon to find love in character and the individual themselves, and not just their race. Even Titus had debated on asking Eleii if she would prefer more than a platonic friendship, but he had never gotten to it.

He looked back to Lyra, who was fumbling with her hooves on the ground, waiting for his conversation to end. He looked back up to the sky, and he felt tears form in his eyes for the first time since he had been here. He could never go back, he was lost in this world, the only human to live and die here.

Memories of Elwynn flooded his mind, of home. No more Silver Hand, no more Argent Crusade, no more of anything that made him the person he was. The thought killed him inside, he wanted nothing more than to be alone in the darkness that had just recently tried to take his life.

Luna looked upon him sadly. “We must go. Farewell, Beacon. May your travels always be safe.” She trotted out back into the throne room.

Lyra looked up to her. “Can I...?”

Luna nodded. “Go to him.”

With that, she was gone, and Lyra was at the balcony with Titus. He was slumped onto the ground, his eyes red from the tears of realization.

Lyra put a supporting hoof on his shoulder. “Hey, its over now. We can go back.”

Titus kept his eyes unmoving. “Back to what? A world not made for me? I'm just a human stuck in the land.”

He felt hooves wrap around him, and felt Lyra lean upon him heavily. “You're wrong. You're my human.”

He smiled faintly and turned to her. “Thanks, that means a lot to me.”

And they hugged, but Lyra found that she could no longer control her urges. She wanted more. Titus soon found himself on his back, under a wave of love. He knew then that he wouldn't be sad anymore. Lyra wouldn't have it.

Comments

[NotABrony]

SHE SAID IT! SHE SAID IT!
“You're wrong. You're my human.”

[Nobrains]

643007

I wrote that. I still can't believe I wrote that lol

[DerpedRainbow]

What happened to his armor?