Lamia trotted along the slopes below the Sacred Pillars, basking in the warmth of the midday sun. The combination of the heat on her coat and the slow release of energy from the ice-grass in her gut never failed to put her in a good mood. She hummed to herself and clicked her back hooves together happily, continuing her search for the heart leaf that grew only on these slopes.

While the ice-grass invested her with supreme speed and stamina, allowing her to gallop across the mountains from the Gate to the Seventh Realm in almost no time at all, the heart leaf was vital for powering the valley pony’s Rune of Saturn. The rune regenerated the cells in her body: this was why Lamia sported the mane of a filly and a spritely gait, despite being several centuries old.

On the other side of the ravine, she spied the tell-tale red bursts of colour that signalled a patch of heart leaf, nestled in the crevices of an enormous, lichen-covered boulder. Neighing in delight, she bolted down the slope, leaping nimbly between rocky outcrops like a mountain goat (although prettier by far).

♄

Her rune-liver fully recharged with the heart leaf’s magic, Lamia finished stuffing some extra leaves into the yellow bandana that hung round her neck. It never hurt to have spare stock, even if the leaf lost some of its potency as it dried.

Next, she would head southwest to Fantasy Falls, which fell from high in the slopes of the Sacred Mountains to form the Dream Stream. She would then follow that magical mountain river as it cut its way through the rocky passes of the Sacred Mountains, until she reached the lowlands where the river fed into Dream Master’s Lake.

Up here in the icy slopes, the water was imbued with crystalline energy from the quartz cliffs – there was no more refreshing beverage in the whole of the Runiverse. The mere thought of it tickled Lamia’s taste buds, but she pulled up short just as she began to break into a canter. Three figures had appeared over the horizon.

Esme greeted Lamia with a raised hand and the pony flicked her mane, excitedly. Even at this distance, Esme’s bright blue skin and crest of flaming red hair were unmistakable. Lamia did not recognise the Geomancer’s stag-headed companion, but Esme was her favourite wizard from the Sacred Pillars, while the dirt rabbit Aurora was Lamia’s bosom companion. The pony had known Aurora ever since she was born, although she saw far less of her friend since Esme had adopted the dirt rabbit as her familiar. Despite long periods apart, though, Lamia never tired of her friend hopping up onto her head to regale her with stories of her travels with the Geomancer.

Lamia rapidly covered the distance between them, pulling up in a cloud of dust in front of the travellers. After they had exchanged greetings, Esme introduced Lamia to Pan. The pony took an instant liking to the stag-headed forest Shaman, whose tranquil energy spoke of a deep connection with the natural world, though she kept an appropriate distance from his plague rat, Fester, when the rodent poked his blue face out of the Shaman’s breast pocket.

She listened intently as Esme explained that she was headed towards the Portal of Purity high in the peaks above the Sacred Pillars. From there, the companions would activate the portal to travel to the Temple of the Falling Stars, where Lamia was shocked to learn that religious zealots had assassinated Wizard #3922 in a bloody revolution. She held fond memories of Isaac from her last visit to the Temple – he had always welcomed the ponies of the Elysian Fields with open arms and trays of sugar cubes…

Lamia stamped her hoof in anger and informed the group that she would be travelling with them to the Temple. She hoped that her friend Pony #255 had decided to leave the Temple; the old pony was no warrior, but the grey-coated nag could be almost as obstinate as Lamia when he set his mind to something. If she found him there still, she resolved that she would beat some sense into his thick skull until he bucked up his ideas. As for Lamia herself, she was determined that these bigoted rebels should not keep their newfound grip on power. They were executing animists… burning them and their familiars.

Well, we’ll just see about that, won’t we? she thought to herself. I’m not going to sit idly by while a bunch of dung-strewn extremists kill honourable wizards and creatures. They don’t call me Lamia the Stubborn for nothing.

Story Arc Index:

Prologue: Wizard #2875

Part 1: Wizard #3032

Part 2: Wizard #1182

Part 3: Wizard #3282

Part 4: Wizard #3916

Part 5: Wizard #2550

Part 6: Wizard #3919

Part 7: Pony #433

Entered by: 0x24D7…e52b and preserved on chain (see transaction)