The dead breach

Taira stared at the night sky, twisting under her blanket. She couldn’t catch sleep, and this was not the first night that happened. She heard the soft, even breathing of Ruki next to her; her daughter was asleep, and after all that had happened Taira was thankful for that. She couldn’t hear or see Hikary and Yuuro, but she was pretty sure her other two companions were sleeping as well.

They had left the snow behind two days ago, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t cold. They were still very much in the north, and it was freezing during the night. After the events at the pillar, they had travelled south with as much speed as they could manage, desperate to be out of the winter clothes and dreaming of seeing any kind of life. Thankfully, there were trees around them now, and on the ground below them grew small plants and grass. Life was coming back to them.

The same, however, could not be said of the breach. Even this far south, none of them had any trouble using their royal mind powers. They had even travelled further away from the breach to test it, but it made no difference whatsoever; it was just as easy as it had been back home. The breach had died; there was nothing left of the strong force that once kept the east and west divided.

And Taira knew very well there was no denying why this had happened; they had removed the stone. Just like when the river Fiume died when they had taken away that stone, so the breach had died now. Its power was gone and it was nothing more than a crack in the earth. And they couldn’t even restore it if they wanted to; somehow Taira knew that even returning the stone would not solve this.

Night after night, Taira had been awake, staring at the dark sky above her that now only held a handful of stars. The stone Saule was safely tucked away in a bag Ruki refused to part to, much to Hikary’s dismay. She had remained silent ever since the pillar had collapsed. She didn’t even reply to Ruki anymore when her girl tried to communicate with the stone using her powers.

The pillar… Ruki had told them what had happened to her while they had been separated. Saule had tested her to see if she truly was the True Heir. Ruki had never told them what the test had been, stating only that it had been “a test” and that she had succeeded. It was obvious Ruki did not want to share what had happened, so Taira had not pressed her daughter into telling. If she ever wanted to share, Ruki would come to her.

Her own test however, had been quite different. She had told everyone that she had simply been lost and looked for Ruki the entire time, the truth was very much different. While they had been walking through the tunnel, it was true that Taira had fallen down like she had told Ruki. Suddenly she was slipping down like she was going down a slide, only to land on the cold hard floor a few moments later.

She had landed in yet another dark tunnel, or so she had guessed. After recovering from her fall, Taira had tried to get up, but before she had succeeded in that a voice had filled her head. “Princess Taira of the Friendship Lands…” A voice that made it very clear that it knew more about her than just her name.

“Y…yes…” Taira had replied out loud while trying to figure out where she was in the dark.
“You dare to come here.” The voice had not been very friendly.
“I didn’t have a choice.” Taira objected, not even bothering to explain. Whoever it was that was talking to her in her head probably needed no explanation.

“I’m not so sure about that.” The voice said, but she dropped the subject once Taira started walking in the only possible way.
“You are the one who defeated Aras, are you not? Together with the Winged One.” The voice did not pretend anything; she was well aware of the truth and Taira knew she had no choice but to answer truthfully.
“Yes… that was me. What about it?”

“Nothing. I just… felt that. When you did it. I’m not sure if you knew what you were doing back then. Did you never wonder why Aras had been allowed to live so far?” The voice asked.
Taira had to admit that she hadn’t; Aras was alive, and she took that away from him. There had never been anything more to it.
“Why should I wonder about that? Wasn’t he what he was… the last guardian?”

“He was. That’s why I am asking. Aras was… maybe not someone who should have been killed.” The voice said.
“And what makes you think that?” Taira all but yelled, remembering the horrible years she had been forced to live in his service.
“Do you even know what he did? What he tried to do?”

“Yes… I know. I felt it. Aras was… let’s say he was lost. But that doesn’t mean erasing him from this world entirely was a good idea. What you did, Taira, was not something that was  ever done before.” The voice said. Darkness had still surrounded Taira as she walked on and on, deeper into the dark.

Taira shivered as she recalled the next part of her conversation with Saule. If only she could be angry with her, or upset. But Taira couldn’t. Because Saule had never done anything wrong but speak the truth. And how Taira dreaded that truth, not because of what it meant for her, but for what it meant for her precious daughter.

“Your child… she is special.” Saule had said, changing the subject away from Aras.
“I know. She’s very special.”
“I don’t think you know just yet how special she is. She is the beginning of a new age.” Taira still did not understand this. A new age? Her Ruki?
“I don’t think I get what you are trying to say. Ruki is still undecided on so many things. She doesn’t even know if she officially wants to become a princess of my country…”

“Oh, but Ruki is a princess. It is a truth she has never denied.”
“So… she will be my heir then?” Taira asked.
“You might be the queen before her… but she will not inherit your throne. Now, come up and help your child with your mission, Taira.” The voice had said right when Taira had found the stairs that brought her back up once more.

Saule… she knew things Taira had no knowledge of. She had so many questions, but the stone answered none of them. She remained silent, and the bright colors she had seen inside it while the stone had still been inside the pillar had all but vanished. All that was left was a dull golden color, swirling ever so slow inside the stone.

This led Taira to the conclusion that the pillar had been something more than something made to protect the stone. If the pillar itself had not only protected the stone physically, but also in another, more magical way, it would explain the sudden loss of powers of the stone. But what kind of magic was there that she had never felt?

When the sun rose, Taira realized she must have slept a little bit after all; there was no way she had been up thinking for so long. Still, she was incredibly tired.
"Good morning.” She greeted everyone while she helped cleaning up the camp.
“We’re almost out of food.” Yuuro established after he had opened the backpack. “I really hope we’ll run into some kind of village soon or we’ll be hungry for a while.”

Taira did not look forward to that; she was already so tired, an empty stomach would make the journey almost unbearable. After they had breakfast and packed all their belongings, the ponies once again moved on further south. Like they had on the other side, they followed the breach but tried to stay at a little distance from it. Two days ago, they had seen a large chunk of earth crashing down into it, and Taira no longer dared to get too close.

Still, following the breach was the easiest way south; further on there were too many forests and valleys to cross. The space here was wide and open, and the breach was a proper guide south. Of course, the main problem with this route was that barely anyone lived here, so close to the breach. Ponies were wary of it, and apart from the guards at the bridge in the south, Taira did not know anyone who lived close to it, on either side. Well, maybe that would change now too.

Somewhere late in the morning though, their luck changed. For the first time in what felt like a year they noticed signs of civilization. They saw a little village a little further away from the breach, and they decided to visit it to resupply and to get a proper warm meal. It took them another hour to reach it, but it was well worth it. When they entered the village square, realized how she had longed for other ponies and normal houses.

The village had no inn, but a little house had a “bed and breakfast” sign, so they decided to try their luck there to find a place to sleep for the night. Seeing as they were officially in the west, it was Yuuro who knocked on the door. Only a few moments later, an elderly lady opened the door.

“Good afternoon madam… I was wondering if you had a spare room for four ponies?”  Yuuro asked. The old lady blinked a few times.
“Ah, yes. Of course I do. Please come in. I have to apologize in advance though, I still need to clean the rooms. I’m so sorry, it’s just that I didn’t expect anyone to come for a while, with all the ponies leaving and the strange events.” The woman said as she led them to her cozy living room.

“Why are the ponies leaving?” Yuuro asked.
“We’ve only just arrived here after a long journey. We’ve been out of touch with society for a while.” Hikary explained when she noticed the confused look upon the woman’s face. “Ah, that explains your ignorance in the matter. Though even completely lost from society you should have noticed something.”

“We have. The Breach, and the prana… it feels as if something is wrong. Different.” Ruki answered.
“Yes. About two weeks ago now, early in the morning, the entire village started shaking. Our mayor, who has small prana wielding abilities, said that he sensed something was wrong. The amount of prana in the area here started going down drastically.

So, he and a party went out on a search to look for the cause of this. Two days later, they came back, pale as ghosts. It was the breach, they said. The prana was just slowly falling into it instead of pushing it away from it like it used to do. Then they saw a part of the wall break off on the other side. You do know that has never happened before, right?”

“Right, of course. That’s very… troublesome.” Yuuro said, looking worried.
“Yes, it is. So ponies got scared. I’ve seen several families leave now… they’re too afraid something horrible is about to happen, so they fled to family further away. One young couple even decided to go to ZoroAster and inform the High King, though I doubt that he’s still unaware of things.”

Taira glanced at her companions, and she was sure they were all thinking the same thing. The breach was dead. By removing the stone and because of the collapse of the pillar, the breach had effectively lost all of its powers. And they only saw the start of the consequences of this; surely in time it would become much worse, when prana started flowing to the east.

“Please, wait for me here. I will finish your rooms.” The pony said as she wandered off to a room further in the house. When she was gone, Taira looked at the others uneasily. “This is our fault. This… everything is falling apart, and it’s our fault.” She whispered, certain that the others would agree.

“That might be so, sister” Hikary said softly, “but I don’t think we can solve this any other way than just continuing the way we are going now. We have to get the last stone as soon as possible and summon the guardians. We have to… because this entire situation is out of our hands. We can’t solve this on our own anymore.”