private Asylum: Shudder ((The Reboot))

[Contrast 292]

@,@,  

 

Muddle heard the roar and could easily tell that the three had spent too long in the one spot. 'What if it's the one from before, or..." She slightly shook as she remembered being trapped in the room with the monster that seemed to control her thoughts. 'What if it's the one from before...' She was ready to move, when a voice made her entire body go numb... 

 

​'You were useless~' She remained completely silent. The monster was nowhere in sight yet, and she was surround by two~ ​'Allies? oh, I'm sorry dear. I forgot you don't remember. You really think you're deserving of their trust?' She looked back at her... the two ponies that were standing beside her, and listened as the voice laughed. It had to be lying, right; exactly what had she done? 

 

She was slightly shaking when Agririon lifted her and Silvia onto his back. Thankfully it released her from the thoughts.

 

She was still too shocked to resist and too scared to make any sudden movements, So she quietly watched the two ponies as she was carried, now questioning their kindness and trust.

~

Shadow felt weak...

Edited April 8, 2014 by Dreamless

[BlackShardNixium 277]

@, @

 

Silvia frowned slightly, shuddering at the distant roar echoing from somewhere within the cathedral. Once they found the others, hopefully they could meet with this "friend". She had a sneaking suspicion that the strange tome now resting in her bag had more than a small part in whatever had taken place here. 

 

~~~~~~~

 

Far above them and countless miles away, in a quiet country town on the other side of the Everfree Forest, the sound of shattering glass rings through the air. The young mare standing over the shards is as still as a statue, face blank, eyes wide and glowing. Images are flashing violently in front of her, in her mind's eye, repeating over and over again before slamming to a stop. She stumbles forward, shaking her head in a desperate attempt to clear out the disorientation.

   This was the first premonition Desdemona had experienced in what must be at least a century. Never before had she glimpsed such a frightening prospective future; not even when she had predicted the great war... She winced, grimacing in pain. It was physically agonizing to think about; she still got phantom pains from all those countless battles. She didn't like to dwell on the final moments of the Sota Peilin. It never left her in a very good mood. But according to what she had just seen, despite the sacrifice her mentors had made, the battle was far from over.

It was her job; as the DoomSayer, as one of the Origin, to warn the others of what was surely to come next...

[Boido no dakugeitsu 51]

@

 

"No nothing wrong, I just wish for you to kinda deliver us from this place, I guess I'm just worried about there being a catch to getting out of here. So generally don't concern yourself with my well-being, there are more ponies at stake here than myself." She wrote in and showed the monk.

 

Back to her thoughts she continually went over trying to reclaim her memories about herself, 'Ok I have these steam goggles, but I don't have a body or magic for heavy lifting. Aside from the disturbing depictions in the journal I had something to do with crystals,' She scrutinized one picture in particular, 'here it goes over how size is is correlative to the frequency of a large crystal structures of particular shapes and sizes. So does that mean I'm some kind of geologist? Crystologist perhaps?' She continued pacing and thinking. 

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Eclipse Scribe.

 

@,

 

"My apologies... I did not mean to offend." Nodded the guardian in response as he glanced towards the armour. Enchanted as it was, barely a dent and scratch could be seen over the location where the pain was worst. The metal 'healed' - in a sense - sealing itself quickly when damaged. It was sturdy certainly, but no more so than any other protection if its type. No, it's benefit was endurance - whatever damage had been inflicted to the lunar-steel plate had healed, leaving the injury beneath hidden away.

 

He shook his head as he reluctantly unfastened the chest piece and pulled it away - setting it carefully on the ground to reveal a small chasm across his chest - as if pierced at an awkward angle by a sword, spear or claw. The wound was - while ugly and certainly no laughing matter - relatively shallow, and had thankfully seemed to not caused lasting harm to anything of importance.

 

"No more than I recall anything else, I fear." Eclipse answered carefully - inspecting the rather unpleasant mark across his chest.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Cinderscribe

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@, @, @,

 

As she treated the shallow wound gently, Shelevan sighed. "These monsters that have been released into my home- if they are what I fear they are- they have psychic powers capable of driving a pony insane with it's presence. It requires eye contact, though, and your mind often decides to forget the experience instead of going mad. Along with twenty-something years of previous memories. They will come back in time, and the more ponies you meet and talk to, the faster they will return."

 

She finished the binding and got up. "Let us move quickly and quietly, so to deliver ourselves from this place."

 

As the group was led out, she turned around for one last look at the chapel that she was meditating in previously, watching the mirrors carefully. Memories of the ancient battle came back to her, but she stomped them out quickly. Before turning to leave, she caught a glimpse of something- something that would continue to haunt her.

 

The image of her mentors, trapped in the mirror, forced to battle these abominations until the end of time...

 

She quickly backed up slowly before turning to lead the group forward.

 

---

 

@,  @,

 

 

Agririon didn't know how long he'd been running- err, gliding- for with the two ponies on his back, up and down staircases, through shady lanes, and past marble arches. At least an hour, possibly two or three. Either way, he could sense the others getting tired and hungry quite rapidly. He paused again before quickly resuming. No. They would not be able to rest in this gloom and darkness, shadow and danger. It was naturally foreign to ponies, the shadow, yet did they have a choice? Besides, perhaps these ponies would make better conversation and more memories as they slept and allowed their minds to recover in a natural manner.

 

He decided to put the question to the mares. "If I were to stop and stand guard, would you mares be able to get some sleep? Maybe we'll chance upon a dormitory of sorts, and we won't be sleeping on top of a slab of rock."

[Demonic Soulz 483]

"Great...at least I s-" Equinox stopped before sighing. "Which mean some memories are one I don't want to remember huh" He asked. "Everypony must have had a memory they never want to remember...meaning if we forgot it...we'll remember it at some point" Equinox said

[Boido no dakugeitsu 51]

'We must never forget, or we lose more then just our memories, we lose our hearts. Besides those in power are rendered idiots if they are allowed to repeat their mistakes,' Infernia thought silently.

 

By now Infernia had taken to silently glare out into the path before them. Her yellow eyes glowered with annoyance, 'Who would design this messed up place, for what reason are monsters being kept here? Of this is some kind of prison why would their not be more prison guards?' She sulked on these questions, not voicing her thoughts simply because she honestly did not care.

[BlackShardNixium 277]

@, @

 

Silvia nodded wearily, barely registering his words. The adrenaline rush had come and gone; and while she still feared for her life, exhaustion was beginning to set in. While she wanted nothing more than to rest, there were still others lost out in the darkness. She had no way of knowing just how big this cathedral was; for all she could remember, it could very well take them weeks to find the others. However, the prospect of even a few moments rest was quickly consuming all other thoughts.

"I could sleep on nails for all I care, as long as I get some sleep..." 

 

~~~~~~

Reminiscence had a tougher time recovering from the past. She now had a plethora of odd fears and phobias over this and that, especially of the darkness. It took years for her to be able to get a full nights rest without waking up in a panic. It took even longer for her to hear from anyone. But it seemed that today was the day that would change that. After a century of nothing but mourning, someone finally breached the silence; a familiar someone...someone from the Origin.

She had been sitting in the living room, quietly flipping through a newspaper when she heard somepony knock on her door. Warily, she set the newspaper aside and made her way over to the entrance to her house. She opened it slowly, peeking over the side to get a glimpse at who might be bothering her at this hour.

She nearly started screaming.

There in her doorway stood a young mare with a dark navy and cream-striped coat, jet black mane falling in wild curls over one shoulder. Blank, sightless eyes gazed at her intently.

"Dess..."

"We don't have much time," Desdemona spoke quietly; urgently, "The seals are failing; they're breaking through. In five day's time, the Celatum shall be overrun...and the war shall begin anew"

[Contrast 292]

@,@,

 

It felt like forever since Muddle had first woken up in this cave. She could feel her eyes finally starting to give way, but the idea of finding memories and others forced her to stay awake. 'I didn't expect the dangers of this place to wear me down so drastically.' 

 

She softly yawned and looked at the two ponies she traveled with. She felt slightly relived to hear both of them talking about sleep. Maybe it would even put all these weird thoughts in her head to rest. "I'm going to have to side with Silvia. It does sound..." 

 

She had already started dozing off in the middle of her sentence.

~   (found her)

Shadow had felt sick ever since it first woke up, ' Next to that mare and her annoying screaming...'  It shook it's head and looked at her from where it hid on the ground. 'No, not that mare. Her name was Muddle right?' 

 

It felt extremely confused and decided to do what it thought was best at the moment. It decided to stay silent and watch the small group from where it hid. 'I can still keep up with them like I did before if they don't rest, I suppose.'

[Boido no dakugeitsu 51]

Infernia continued her silent stare into the darkness. At this point she had forgotten both why she was staring, and that something was supposed to be making her mad. With an exasperated sigh she looked back to the group, and began to critically analyze the group she had met with:

 

From her perspective Equinox was dangerous, running around with a murderous side and a Katana, this "monk" has probably been down in this place for far too long, and was probably insane.

 

She felt like she should give these ponies a better chance to show who they really were, but her judgmental side took over causing her to slip behind the group. If what the monk said was true, and the more ponies met sped up the return of the monsters it was better she separate herself any way. Besides, she held nothing to offer the group to aid them, she was practically dead weight that should be cut. This is what she thought over as she reluctantly continued to follow them from an increasing distance.

[Demonic Soulz 483]

"In a moment it seems like tho one we first met is turning into dead weight...sooner or later she will lose us and she will end up dead" Deranged spoke to Equinox. "Yeah...but still we should help since I already told her about you....probably thinks I'm insane and dangerous..." Equinox thought. "Well you only go into that side when you are about to die or you decide to release me" Deranged said

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@, @, @,

 

As the minutes passed, the rooms began to look repetitive until you ended up in a long hallway with a staircase at the other end. "This will take us up a couple of floors, but it is not the exit. Albiet, it will bring us closer to it." She gestured for the others to go first. "After you..."

 

---

 

@, @,

 

Agririon nodded and began to search for a place that would be better to sleep in- and more defensible- then the granite hallway. He took a left, a right, and another left... before emerging into a place that appeared to be a kitchen. There was no food here, but it provided a place to get some sleep, it was able to give him the advantage if they were attacked while they were sleeping, and perhaps there was some dehydrated broth or something that would allow him to keep these mares from starving. Sighing, he managed to find two large mats and a few blankets. "Well, here you are. If anything happens, I'll wake you up..."

 

As he said this, his attention shifted to the shadow of Muddle, which, to his delight, was slowly solidifying back to its original form...

[Boido no dakugeitsu 51]

Infernia looked up the staircase and sigh as she slowly made er way up behind the others. 'This place is way too big, honestly how could one live here? If ever get rich I am not owning a large mansion, not after being stuck in this dark place.' she thought, then a chilled passed over her, 'What if I own a large empty mansion on the outside?! Oh I am so selling it if I do.'

[Contrast 292]

@, @,

 

 

By the time that they had wandered into the kitchen, Muddle was fast asleep. She had only started to wake up when the sent of food passed over her nose. Unfortunately, when she opened her eyes, all the food she smelled seemed to be nonexistent or lingering smells from the past.

 

She was tempted to sniffle and even sob after waking up to such a disappointment, but she stopped herself from doing so. 'If this is how I feel, I can only imagine Agririon and Sivia, not to mention others out there too...' She slowly got off of the stallion's back and looked at the two ponies in a half asleep way, then Muddle nodded her head and said 'thank you' towards Agririon and wished Silvia a good night.

~

 

Unknown to Muddle, Shadow was slowly materializing behind her. For some horrible reason, it felt the sudden urge to make a face and scream behind the mare. It softly chuckled before abruptly stopping and looking towards the ground. 'What would make me do such an awful thing like that...' It slightly looked up at the mare, still feeling ashamed for even thinking about doing something so mean, and quietly waited for her to turn around and stop talking to her friends. 

[BlackShardNixium 277]

@, @

 

Silvia nodded gratefully, curling up as comfortably as she could, tucked in one corner. In the twilight moments just between consciousness and dreaming, she could have sworn she heard a quiet voice whispering urgently in her ear.

"Sleep while you still can. You'll need your energy in the days to come."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had taken Desdemona no less than a couple of hours to explain to her what she had seen. It had only taken so long because Reminiscence had found it extremely hard to focus. The scenario they, as well as the rest of Equestria, were now facing had been the subject of many nightmares in the centuries since the war. Though she knew that nopony could have ever imagined something like this happening. In those final days, her Masters had sacrificed everything in the name of Equestria and its inhabitants. And so she, as well as the rest of the Origin, had never seen them again. Though the four of them knew full well what had happened and where they now where, it was never spoken of. As far as they knew, there was no way to reverse it without ruining everything. However, from what Desdemona had just told her, things were already beginning to unravel.

"You were the closest, so I came to you first." said Dess, "But we still need to get in touch with Merlot and Icarus."

"We?" Reminiscence stated softly, eyes narrowing.

"Yes, we," Dess retorted sharply, "Rem, you know we need you."

She was silent for a moment, before nodding slowly. She did know, and that was what frustrated her. They were all needed. Though she couldn't help but feel that, without the Masters, their chances of survival, of winning, were slowly dwindling away.

[Boido no dakugeitsu 51]

Infernia took a moment to stretch on the stairs, when she continued walking she opened up

Her book to see what else was in side. When she could find nothing about their current situation she looked further back to learn about herself. As she looked through she kept coming across pictures, graphs, diagrams, even blueprints of crystal formations. A few of the had been accompanied by sheet music with odd notes, a deep feeling in her mind told her she knew what these meant, but she couldn't figure out the pattern. Shaking her head in frustration she closed the book and continued her ascent

[Contrast 292]

@,@,  

 

Muddle watched Silvia slowly start falling asleep. She couldn't help but yawn loudly and follow in the mares lead. She was too tired to realize, but thanked Agririon again for the sheets. 

 

She slowly turned around and started started to make a comfortable place to rest. While making her area, Muddle passed by a mirror. When she took a moment to look at it, she realized the daze she had to have been in. She expected to see a horrible wreck, but instead she saw a mare unfazed by the perils that she and her... team, had gone through. Although, she noticed how confused her reflection looked. 'I can't even see colors right now... but maybe something I'm seeing is right.' 

 

She brushed it off and tucked herself in. She fell asleep within minutes.

~

 

Shadow was speechless. The mare had completely ignored it and she seemed so unfazed that she could sleep afterwards. '... I-I.' It sighed in disappointment and slowly trotted over to her side. It was tempted to poke her with its muzzle, but when it saw her sleeping, Shadow decided its problem could wait. 

 

It curled itself up next to Muddle and decided to watch over the mare as she slept. It couldn't help but feel odd and glance at the stallion keeping watch over the group; but it let the feeling pass, deeming it not worth the effort. Even with its memory gone, Shadow was still lazy; and soon it started to sleep as well. 

Edited April 21, 2014 by Dreamless

[Demonic Soulz 483]

"There are somethings you just want to forget though" Equinox said to himself as he continued following behind the group. "You see you are no fun anymore Equinox...well without your memory anyways at least you don't have to use some dumb gimmick like cards to remember stuff"

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@, @,

 

As the minutes and hours passed by as the mares slept, Agririon was watching and waiting with his eyes, but in deep thought. This place was strikingly familiar to him, but he couldn't place where...

 

Staring into the mirrors, he saw what most other ponies saw of him- nothing but a spot of darkness, perhaps cast by a cloud. Maybe that was another reason why Celestia sent him- every pony in the crew could see him for what he was, despite some of them doubting his position. He didn't blame them. Having someone claim that they were in the service of a Fundamental of the universe was quite... jarring.

 

Going over the List of the Fundamentals of the universe in his head and matching them to images, he was shockd out of his dream when a familiar voice echoed across the hall nearby.

 

Is my friend here...? Will someone help me find her?

 

With a small smile, Agririon relaxed slightly, knowing that Mercurial's target was far, far away from here. Yet her presnce was.. jarring. Another reason why they should move quickly. He didn't want to be caught by the insane spectre.

 

Hunting for nonperishable food, Agririon let the slowly stirring mares wake up by themselves.

 

((I'll post the other half a bit later. ))

[Boido no dakugeitsu 51]

Taking another look at the book in the section pertaining to crystals, At first she felt barraged by numbers, scales, and graphs, But it slowly began to work itself out. Infernia looked at the sheet music once more, she began to hum the music the best she could to the music. It was somewhat difficult due to the fact that crystals produced sounds that most creatures could not achieve.

 

Now beginning to understand the symbols she looked further into the book, smiled at what she saw, there was a graph about producing various creature noises, Dragon roars, Timberwolf howls, Owl hoots, even Chimera, and Manticore roars were listed. However each required specific set up and arrangement of crystals as well as specific sizes, timings, and acoustic conditions. She looked through the book and found blueprints for a studio room, It was soundproofed, had positional crystals of various sizes, and a store room for all of them. Also detailed was the specifications for a tuning fork.

 

Feeling slightly whole again from her recaptured history she looked up and continued up the stairs with a stronger step. 

Edited April 16, 2014 by Light's Edge

[BlackShardNixium 277]

@, @

 

Silvia slowly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly. She stood with a quiet yawn, rubbing the last remnants of sleep from her eyes. Her head ached, but only slightly, and she could see Agririon moving about in the room they were in. With a small sigh, she sat back down and flipped open her bag, pulling out her journal. Seeing as they had reached a lull in their journey to the surface, she figured now would be as good a time as ever to read as much of the past as she could. She prayed it would help her memories return.

 

((I have several journal entries prepared, but I need to look them over first before I post them, or else they'll end up making absolutely zero sense.))

Edited April 20, 2014 by StarryNightGenesis

[Boido no dakugeitsu 51]

@,

 

Infernia inwardly groaned as she climbed the stairs, 'How high do these hellish stairs ascend?! We should be in Princess Luna's domain by now! Wheres the moon!?'

 

Getting the attention of the monk, she levitated her notebook, "How much higher are we to climbed?" she had wrote in.

Edited April 20, 2014 by MetalKingdramon

[Contrast 292]

@, 

Muddle slowly started to rouse from her long sleep with a loud, drawn-out yawn. She passed her hooves over her eyes and started to look around for any signs of the two she traveled with. 'Agririon... Silvia?' She was relieved to see both her companions still within her sight. all three of them.

 

Muddle quickly looked back over to where she saw the fourth party member and rubbed her eyes again. Her mind seemed to picture... something? The picture was of something dark with white eyes, constantly looming behind her. This of course was only in her head. When Muddle looked back, the figure was gone. "..."

 

She had only just woken up, but felt like she had some investigating to do. 'At the very lest, something to tell the others.' She shook her head and slowly started to stand.

~

 

@, 

 

Shadow woke up quite sometime before Muddle. It knew that it was suppose to stay still until she woke up as well, but could not stand to wait. When it saw the other pony, 'Agririon...' Hunting for food, Shadow decided to quietly follow behind. 

 

It was about this time that Muddle woke up and looked where shadow was originally standing. 

Edited April 21, 2014 by Dreamless

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@, @, @,

 

She raised an eyebrow before leading the trio off of the stairs. "Merely a few flights. Perhaps it is your mind playing tricks on you." She shrugged. "They let out over here."

 

Leading the way, she sighed. "We are getting closer and closer. So close, yet so far." Sighing, she continued to lead the way. "So... can you remem-"

 

Will you help me...?

 

With the ghostly, shadowy voice gusting out from several rooms away, Shadow Seer quickly blinked. "Come with me." She altered her path and shifted the opposite direction of the voice as it slowly started to drift closer and closer...

 

---

 

@, @,

 

((Thinking about finding the others. What do you think?))

 

"Aha! Jackpot!"

 

He pulled out a bag filled with yellow powder with green flecks. "It's not much, but it's broth. Mayhaps we can eat something, yes? I saw a well nearby. If you could locate some sort of pot and some sort of heating device, we'll have something to eat. Then I wish to have a conversation with you two before we continue finding our way up." 

[Demonic Soulz 483]

@,

"Lovely at least now other ponies can hear this voice" Derange said. "Hey, the only reason why they can't hear you right now is because i won't let you say stuff out loud and also, we have no idea how any of them wil react" Equinox replied. "Yeah but the first one we told thinks you are crazy"

 

 Equinox sighed. "Does anyone know who that voice is anyways" Equinox decided to ask.