Chapter 4

The following day a pair of pegasi in golden armor appeared outside of Twilight's home with a carriage on their backs.

"I guess that's my ride." I said

"Good luck Void and don't worry I'm sure the princess just wants to meet you and find out about you." Twilight said in a calming voice.

"Oh Twilight, I wish that were true."

I got into the carriage and the two guards flew off and I was headed for the castle. I should have no reason to be afraid of royalty, usually when people meet the ruler of a province they're excited. However when you're an adventurer like myself it's completely different, I'm 46 and I've been adventuring for about half of my life and in that time I've met with royalty three times. The first time I was asked to help stop a being made of pure evil, the second time I was put on trial for the slaughter of a village (an entire village) which I was proved innocent of but not before fighting a berserker, and the third time we were attacked by an army of demons (Although to be fair, after that I was appointed leader of the Many starred cloak so I guess that's a plus.) In any case, when you're as powerful as I am good things rarely happen.

While I was alone with my thoughts the guards flew us to the castle and let me off.

"Thank you gentlemen." I thanked them for the flight; I found that when you're nice to the guards it makes their day. However they responded by neighing at me.

I walked inside the large doors of the castle and saw a hallway leading down to what I assume was the throne room. I walked down the hall and made it to the throne room where I saw not one but two alicorns sitting side by side. One was white with a green and pink mane that flowed even though there was no wind in the room; the second one was a navy blue with a mane that looked like the starry night sky.

"Oh I see what's going on here; based on their colors and importance in this society they must reflect the day and night, very clever. Not to mention the fact that they're alicorns back where I'm from an alicorn was thought to be mythical even by our standards and yet here they exist, amazing."

Once I reached the thrones of the two princesses I bowed my head as a sign of respect.

"Arise." The white one said, I got up.

"It is an honor to meet you dear princesses, I have known many people in my life time but this is a truly unique experience."

She smiled "My sister and I thank you for your kind words young…"

"I am called Void your majesty and trust me when I say I'm not as young as I look."

She giggled. "Well I don't think you'll be of any danger, guards you may leave."

I hadn't even noticed the two guards who were behind me as they left the room. As soon as they left her expression became serious.

"Before we begin I think it would be polite to tell you our names, I am princess Celestia watcher of the day and ruler of Equestria; this is my sister Princess Luna guardian of the night and my right hoof mare. Now, why don't you tell us your real name?"

I was surprised. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She gave a sarcastic chuckle. "Oh please spare you lies, I have been alive for over a thousand years and have learned much such as the ability to sense magical energy and to know when a pony is lying to me."

"Look princess, I understand that you want to know more about me but I'm afraid my revelations would only worry you."

"Hm, very well."

Celestia closed her eyes and just sat there for a moment. At first I questioned what she was doing but then I felt an invisible force invading my brain and I realized she was trying to read my mind.

"Sorry that won't work." I stated drawing surprise from her. I was able to resist her because as a wizard you need to have a high intelligence and that makes it harder for beings to affect you with mind affecting spells.

"Hm, well done young one you seem to be able to resist some of my magic. But, I'm not trying very hard and I think you'll find that when I use my full power it can get rather unpleasant for you."

Her eyes opened and they began to glow. Suddenly the force on my head grew one hundred fold and I felt a very unpleasant burning sensation ripping through my mind.

"Grah! Very well, if it's resorted to hurting me allow me to return the favor."

I used a small bolt of acid and aimed for the chandelier above their heads, the acid ate at the chain and it fell on her head breaking her focus on me stopping the spell.

"You'll regret that you arrogant fool."

Celestia fired an energy bolt from her horn and attempted to attack me, I swooshed my cloak in front of me and it absorbed the spell blocking me from harm.

"How did you-"

"Specially made cloak designed to absorb magic and heighten one's concentration as well as a symbol of authority. Now if you wish to fight then-AAAAAAH!"

The pain came back to my head but somehow worse and I had visions of what I guessed was the future. I saw a black emptiness, a great battle, and an old enemy of mine floating through the void coming towards me. Suddenly, the visions stopped and my body ached as I fell to the ground.

"Sister, what has happened?" Luna asked curious as to what has happened.

"I don't know Luna but we must proceed with caution he may be trying to trick us."

They approached me slowly as I mumbled to myself.

"It's not possible, I thought I stopped him."

"Void."

"That spell was supposed to end him once and for all yet he still lives."

"Void."

"I gave up my own life to stop him, does this mean all I have done is for naught?"

Celestia came up and smacked me across the face with her hoof snapping me out of my trance.

"Ouch! Thank you princess."

"What's going on? Why were you in pain?" Celestia asked inquisitive yet still angry about what just happened.

"Something terrible is coming to this place. Something powerful that cannot be stopped and believe me I have tried."

"What is this monstrosity you speak of? It's time you tell us the truth."

I sighed in defeat, I had hoped not to bring my problems here however that seemed like it was no longer an option. "Very well, I have withheld this information for too long. However to understand it completely I must tell you more about myself."

They sat on the ground and prepared to listen intently.

"My name is not actually Void that was a name I created when I arrived here, my actual name is Aldanon Everflame. I am from this region called Ferun and specifically the town of Neverwinter. Two months ago, I had been summoned to my king's hall because he had a special assignment for me."

"Why did he choose you? What's so special about you?" Luna asked.

"Well as you already know I am a mage similar to yourselves, however I'm much more powerful than many other magicians where I was from and because of it I was deemed arch mage of the many starred cloak tower. This cloak you see me wearing is a symbol of my power as the leader of an already elite group of mages."

"That explains why your powers felt so strong and yet so foreign. Please continue."

"He called me there because there was an evil creature attacking the borders of his lands but not just any creature, a lich."

"What is a lich?" Celestia asked.

"It is a horrid creature, a corpse brought to life by evil magic. It feels no emotion and had strong control of all magics and especially necromancy, and wants nothing more than to destroy and corrupt everything it touches. Very few people can defeat it on their own including me, so I gathered up a group of my companions and we went off to defeat this monstrosity. Unfortunately, when we had arrived it had slaughtered a village of over a hundred people in it. We fought to our best abilities but he had strong magic resistance and we couldn't defeat him, so I sacrificed myself to save everyone else and the land."

"But, you're sitting here in front of us, how did you make the ultimate sacrifice?" Luna asked

"I couldn't kill the lich by any normal means, even if his form is destroyed he will regenerate, sure it may take years but he would still come back. My plan was to break the one rule of magic and use my own tier 9 spell."

"Tier 9? What does that mean?"

"Ugh, these ponies ask so many questions." "Where I come from magicians study magic in tiers, with each tier having stronger spells, and different, longer lasting effects. In ancient history, the first mages only created 8 tiers with 8 being the strongest one wizard was allowed to cast. When someone tried to cast a 9th tier spell they caused the destruction of a whole continent making the magic banned."

"And you broke that rule?"

"I had to, for the good of everyone. I used all the magic I could possibly get and created a black hole to absorb the lich and trap him in space forever. However, the rift was too powerful and I got stuck in it myself and so we traveled in a dark and empty void."

"So that's how you came up with your name."

"Right, now if we fast forward to today I just felt magical backlash."

"Backlash?"

"As you know when a wizard casts a spell he is connected to that spell until it ends, it would appear I am still connected to the void in space I created. In that moment I felt the lich trying to crawl out, it will take him a while to get out of that prison and I fear he will return.

"Oh my." Celestia was taken aback by this answer; she didn't want anything to happen to her country.

"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you, when you're an adventurer wherever you go there's always some sort of danger. It makes it impossible to settle sown, have a family, and sometimes to even enjoy life. Please forgive me for my behavior before, I only wished to keep you out of harm's way, but now I can see that's not possible so to battle I shall return."

"Now I understand why you withheld all this information, war has a terrible effect on people and I can feel that you've gone through so much. But, on to the matter at hand how do you suppose we deal with this new threat?"

"We'll need a team of powerful fighters and magicians to take him on, he may be one person but he has the ability to create an undead army so we'll need back up."

"My guards may be up to the challenge physically but our unicorns don't know that much about the sort of magic you use. The magic of fire and transformation."

"Well, if it's alright your majesty I'd like to open up my own branch of the many starred cloak and teach unicorns my magic, I'll only accept the very strong ones but just a small squad should be enough."

She nodded. "That will work; I have a school here filled with talented unicorns that may be just what you need. I'll give them three days to prepare, within those three days I want you to inform my student of what's happening I suspect that she will be of great help in this battle."

I nodded, this was a good plan and if I was able to lead along with this level headed princess then maybe we have a shot.

"This is a good plan sister. I only wish we knew what the future held." Luna said

Suddenly, I had a thought. "There is a way, I know of a future sight spell but it requires two beings of great power. Princess, would you mind helping me?"

"Not at all. I'm curious about the future myself."

We stood one in front of the other and brought our heads closer together to combine our magic. What happened next…well I can't remember but Luna described what both I and her sister said in great detail. When we started the spell we had our respective auras but suddenly our eyes went completely white as well as our aura's both radiating with energy. Next, we predicted what would happen but in rhyme.

Beware, for the hour of darkness draws near. Although the perpetrator is unclear

Tis not the Lich, for that battle is set to a date. This evil was spawned from jealousy and hate.

This being shall strike ponies with fear and turn this place on to its ear.

Six will stand to face disharmony created from evil's armory

And when sixes power is dissipated, a seventh one shall be created.

Luna had no idea what it meant. "But who is this evil? And what of the Lich?"

I cannot tell you what is true, there are hardships ahead and you must pull through

Powers must grow until that day, and help will be brought from far away.

The spell ended. Celestia and I were thrown back by its power and we both felt drained.

"I…have no memory of what just happened." Celestia said.

"Do not worry sister, I shall write down what you both spoke so that you may study it."

Luna summoned a quill and wrote down what we both spoke, then Celestia read it over and it troubled her.

"This doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah future telling rarely does, probably should have warned you about that. Well, all we can do is prepare to the best of our abilities and see if said prophecies will come true."

"Here Void, take a copy with you to study."

Luna copied the words and handed them to me.

"Thank you, now I'd best be off, who knows how long it will take to hoof it back to town."

"Actually, you can teleport."

I was shocked. "Really? I haven't been able to do that before, guess it's one of the upsides of being a unicorn. Let me try."

I focused on a destination I wished to travel suddenly I felt this energy in my body as my horn glowed and I was moving.

"Goodbye princesses, I hope after everything that's happened here you will let me help you. Maybe even be your…friend"

Celestia and Luna looked at each other and smiled. "We'd like that."

"Excellent, farewell." And just like that I was off.

Somewhere in Canterlot…

A familiar blue pony is wallowing in her own failure and sorrow. Her traveling carriage destroyed, her magic mocked, she was an echo of her former self.

"Curse that stallion, if it weren't for him I'd still be on top. I'd still be the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria, but now I have no power…and no means to get it back."

"Believe me; I know a thing or two about having power taken away although I do have a means."

The unicorn was surprised, she heard a voice that sounded like it was coming from her head but these were not her thoughts.

"Who's there? Reveal yourself to Trixie."

"Oh come now my dear there's no need for hostility. I can see you want revenge as much as I do, so I'm merely giving you the means to do it."

As much as Trixie despised any idea that wasn't her own she really wanted revenge at this point and was willing to go along. "Trixie is listening."

"There are things we must do to prepare for exacting our revenge. The first thing is I need you to go get me something."

Who is this mysterious voice talking to Trixie? What plans does it have for the future? How will the predictions come true? Can the Lich really be stopped? Why am I asking you all these questions? Tune in next time to find out.

Phew! Okay, I hope this keeps people satisfied until the next chapter. Sorry it took so long but there are several reasons why: A: Overall laziness, B: School work, C: cool video games, D: Writers block and other ideas. In the middle of writing this chapter I had ideas for other stories and so I started wondering "What should I write next?" Then I thought "Why not let other people decide?" So, if you go to my profile you'll find a poll, vote on it and when this story is over I'll see what's next.