Thomas was having a terrible day, and the guilt eating up his insides didn't help.
'Jack! That idiot, what is he thinking! I know I told him we wouldn't join him this time, but that doesn't mean he can just disappear on his own!'
Thomas and his other two friends scouted the area around their camp and found nothing; it was obvious that Jack had gone out a while ago.
The only girl in the group then looked at the other two, saying with a tired voice,
'Maybe we should inform the authorities?'
'Maybe they can form a rescue team to bring Jack back?'
Thomas' only answer was an annoyed grumble as he looked at the horizon, seeing nothing but an empty, freezing, dead land across the horizon.
"I am going to bring that childish boy back… you both can wait for the authorities' help, if it arrives, that is."
The woman looked at him like he was a madman, saying,
"What?! Weren't you the one who told Jack how dangerous it is? And now you want to go after him?"
"Why…"
Whatever question Lily had was destined to be unanswered, as Thomas cut her off, saying, "Because we are brothers… We may not share blood, but that doesn't change anything."
"If Jack is alive, then I will beat him black and blue when I bring him back…." Thomas stopped for a second before seemingly collecting his thoughts.
"And if he is dead, then I will bring him back."
"Jack brought it on himself. I say we wait for officials to arrive; after all, if Jack is already dead, then what good will endangering ourselves do?"
Thomas' tone turned slightly sharp as he started to prepare for his journey. "If he is dead, then I should be the one to bring him back home, because I know he would have done the same to me..."
Lily stopped talking, seemingly understanding that she won't be able to change his mind, but their other friend still had one last try in mind.
"And if whatever that thing ate him? What then?"
Thomas didn't answer for a long second before pulling his fishing spear with a resigned expression. "Then I will gut that thing out….. or try."
The man looked at Thomas for a long second, seemingly contemplating something, before a small smile formed on his face as he started preparing his own gear.
Lily looked terrified.
"Edward! You can't be serious!"
"Sorry Lily, for whatever it is worth, I don't plan to die, and besides, you should probably start using the radio and report about three people missing."
Lily's face turned helpless, but she made sure to give Edward a piece of her mind with a very agitated tone. "Fine, but if you die, Edward, I will marry again, and I will do it on your grave for leaving me!"
Something inside Edward cracked as color drained from his face. He glanced at Thomas with sweat suddenly forming on his forehead, saying, "She is joking, right?"
Thomas chose to wisely not answer.
"Thomas."
"Yes, Edward."
"If Jack isn't dead, I will kill him myself."
"Take your turn."
(30 minutes later)
As Thomas and Edward started their journey, they were cut off by shouts behind them.
They turned back to see Lily, who, due to her short stature and the layer upon layer of clothes which made her look like a rather fat penguin as she rushed after them, and, combined with her now red face from the cold, it only made her seem more penguin-shaped somehow.
She arrived as she kicked Edward in the ankle.
Edward, who didn't feel the hit due to the layer upon layer of clothes, stared at his wife dumbly while she glared back with increased intensity, before realisation dawned upon him.
So Edward started acting hurt and begging for mercy while warmth spread across his heart, but he didn't show it until Lily's rather adorable penguin glare stopped.
And just like that, the three group of friends started their journey to bring a particular childish individual back home.
(The Crystal Empire)
(A few hundred meters in the sky)
A huge dragon was crossing the sky, flying higher and higher by the second.
Sombra didn't stop until he felt the oxygen start to become too shallow, while he glared at the darkness of the sky ahead.
The Crystal Heart lost an amount of magical energy; it wasn't huge, but it was enough for Sombra to understand that something had happened.
"The Crystal Heart activation shouldn't consume energy, so there must have been a threat of some sort that the Crystal Heart has dealt with, which caused the energy depletion."
It took quite a while, but Sombra came to a conclusion.
"A satellite."
That was the only conclusion Sombra came to that wasn't outright despair-inducing and possible.
Sombra believed that he was by no means the strongest sorcerer on the planet; if it was just a normal modern world, then yes, he would monopolise magic.
But if this was some supernatural earth? Then things could get complicated.
The original Sombra never fought any magical entity outside of the My Little Pony universe, which means he has no idea what this world's magic could do!
Sombra wasn't scared, not by a long shot, but the point is, if he was being spied on by magical means, he would have certainly noticed.
And since the area around him was quite literally all empty, then his mind turned upward, and here he was flying near orbit trying to see if he was correct.
He didn't find anything…. So either he was wrong, or the Crystal Heart simply removed the satellite from existence, which was rather excessive in Sombra's opinion.
With increased annoyance, Sombra transformed back to his human body as he then teleported to his throne room.
He walked with heavy metallic thuds as he sat on the throne with the dignity of a person who owned the world, while staring at nothing in particular as his mind started racing with plans.
Teleportation allowed him to go anywhere in the world.
But if he doesn't know the place, then it becomes a dangerous spell; he could teleport inside a wall or a mountain.
But on the other hand, now he was able to teleport to the ocean near the penguins and back to his empire at will.
'Which would make transporting the penguins much easier.' Yes, Sombra still hasn't given up on his massive penguin relocation plan, although it was on the back of his mind at the moment.
"Should I just teleport blindly and hope that I end up somewhere populated? After all, there are billions of humans; I mean, how unlucky can I be?"
'Who am I kidding, I would probably end up in the depths of the ocean never to see the light again.'
Sombra's thoughts were cut off as his magic flared slightly.
With his eyes glowing, as he stood up slowly while looking in a certain direction.
"Well, well, well, what a pleasant surprise." A grin formed on Sombra's face, showing a few sharp, vampiric-like teeth.
With a quick telekinesis and a cleaning spell here, and a readjusting of his metallic crown, he deemed himself presentable enough as light surrounded him before he teleported.
(Somewhere few miles away)
A lone figure was crossing the white ocean of snow through a rather terrible blizzard storm.
Jack was questioning whether he should start building a shelter or continue as the blizzard worsened, but at some point, he felt his legs give up under him.
Before Jack had the chance to stand again, he stopped moving as every instinct in his body told him something his mind deemed impossible.
But he felt it; something was in front of him. He forced his face to look up.
Jack didn't see much, but he saw a very tall and imposing figure with rather medieval clothes and very sharp metallic gauntlets.
Jack couldn't make out the face in the blizzard, but he could swear
he saw two glowing orbs of energy looking down at him in small delight?
"I didn't expect any visitors… tell me, human, what brought you here?" A very deep and commanding voice cut through the blizzard.
'If that isn't a villain voice, I don't know what is.'
But Jack's thoughts were cut off as the strange metallic figure leaned down slightly, just enough to make Jack see the outline of a crown.
"And believe me, I would know if you lie; in fact, it would be lovely to drag the answers forcefully, but we don't want that now, do we?" A strange aura, flowing like liquid around the metallic figure, started flaring as his eyes glowed, which sent countless alarms in Jack's head.
Jack didn't notice that, for some reason, he stopped feeling cold, as if some barrier surrounded them.
Jack, after a long pause, explained his reasons, which for some reason was followed by a longer pause from the crowned man.
"Tell me, what it is you seek? After all, a man wasting his life to chase some strange sounds is not a man with no ambition."
"So tell me, what it is that you want? Glory? Wealth, or is it power?"
Jack looked at the glowing eyes that seemed locked onto him with increased focus, and for some reason, Jack decided to be honest, even though he was sure he was being baited into something.
Jack was a simple man; he grew up with Thomas in an orphanage, and growing up he always felt like he and Thomas were thrown away and forgotten like mistakes, and that feeling grew with time to a strange obsession.
He wanted something simple; he wanted to be distinguished, to not just be another face in the crowd, he wanted everyone to remember him.
"Special… I want to be special and unique. I don't want to be forgotten."
"Unique? An interesting answer…. and do tell, what are you willing to do for that goal?"
Jack's mind felt as if he was making a deal with the devil; he could almost feel that thing wanting from him.
Jack knew what the answer was, and the other man knew it as well.
But he needed Jack to admit it.
"Anything… I will do anything."
"Wonderful! I can definitely work with that."
"Oh! How rude of me to think, I almost forgot to ask, but what is your name?"
"Jack."
Jack, who was about to mock the man in front of him as a wanna-be devil, was cut off as the man turned to smoke and disappeared into the sky.
The next second was a moment Jack would never forget in his life.
Although the blizzard covered most of it, Jack could see it…. Something terrifying, something huge, has blocked the sky.
"I will help that dream of yours, Jack, but in return, I ask only one thing of you."
"Kneel before the crown."