A cold wind blew through the darkness, cycling in and out with tornadic gasps. Somewhere, the Sacred Realm shook and shuddered, but it could not be felt here. Dalen shuffled forward across the platform, one uneasy hoof after another. His eyes darted left and right, his peripheral vision illuminated by the pulsing glow of the lavender book, but nothing else.
Behind him, Kera faltered, struggling to maintain courage against the desolation of the Sacred Hold’s inner core. If it weren’t for the book or Dalen’s glowing horn, even the floor beneath her would be utterly blanketed in darkness. Her attention was swiftly stolen by a positively icy breath of frost that rolled over the platform. She glanced aside, shivering, only to realize that she was trotting blindly forward. Her muzzle bumped into Dalen’s tail and she skipped back, shivering.
Dalen glanced back at her, then calmly forward once again. The glow of the book revealed the very precipice of the platform in front of him. Nevertheless, he stood his place, clearing his throat and speaking bravely into the murky depths. “Haalaa suniul mejun rehm kastakraas siul threm, Nagu’n.” He bowed low, making sure to levitate the book beside him. “Trennu drendais rallana hranhem besuul missoner thriel.”
Silence. Something shifted in the darkness and was still yet again. Kera glanced around with nervous green eyes.
Dalen took a deep breath and continued. “Kraastuniul messa kren, Nagu’n.” He raised the book high over his glowing horn. “Jaas tru vanna greit lehm beeso druun! Trennte diul Oss Tray Oh threnna blehm hreesto thraist deigh!”
Aquamarine flames erupted out of nowhere, briefly illuminating fractured walls brimming with dangling white crystals. Then, with a searing breath of swirling vapors, a double-mouthed monstrosity rose out of the depths and loomed hundreds of feet above the two equines. There was no sight of where its body began or ended. Leprotic scales covered in chaos shards glistened in lavender light as the hideous abomination glared down at the puny pair.
“Guh-guh-guh-guhhh!” Kera hid behind Dalen’s body, shivering. Dalen held his ground, though his pupils shrank as a sincere breath limped out of him.
“Nagu’n…”
The Divine narrowed its pale, blind eyes. Nostrils flared, caught the scent of the Xonan, and forced its leering jaws to lower closer.
With a firm breath, Dalen tightened his hooves against the ground and spoke, “Nagu’n! Porjanna lestuun blehm kranna!” He opened the book so that its runes flickered before her in full bloom. “Trenntanna Oss Tray Oh rehkarrna thirul--”
”Ssssssssilence your sheepish brayingggggggg,” the monster hissed, causing the air around them to heat up and cool down within seconds of one another. ”You putridddddd piece of insectoiddddd filth. I care nottttt for the flame of Austraeoh…”
Dalen gasped, his eyes twitching. “Nagu’n! Thresuul vien…” He grimaced and twisted his mouth. “You ignore the sacred tongue. Should have I spoken as First Born to please you--?”
”All tongues are uselessss against the righteoussssss sound of my song.” A pair of claws lifted up, gripping the platform beneath the two ponies as the mutated dragon leaned forward. The chaos shards shimmered along the edges of its antler branches. ”Like the bookkkkkk, it illuminatesssss nothing. You ssssssniveling wretches are like the rest of ponydom. Your harmony is a falsssssse beacon! But I ssssssssssswear it on my Sisters’s asssssshes!” Her twin jaws opened wider as the volume of her shouts increased. ”The ring shall no longerrrrrrr float in darknesssss! Today, my brood bringssssss the true flame to the womb of the world! All will know peace in what’sssss to come after the blight of chaos has had itssssss way!”
Dalen’s eyes quivered. A tear ran down his tattooed cheek. “Then… then this horrible mission of death…” He clenched his teeth and squeaked, “It all falls within your divine will?”
”Divinnnnnne?” The creature reared back, thrashing its head of antlers across the darkness. The aura of chaos spread, causing the dimly-lit walls to buckle and fracture even more. Sacred Hold shook all along the outer core, with the monster piercing at the eggshell surfaces with her thundering voice. ”I wassssssssss born Divine! And I sssssssssshall die Divine!” She raked at the bottom of the platform with two mangy sets of claws. ”And with the help of my brood, this world will ddddddie divinely with meeeeeeeee!”
“But this was the prophecy!” Dalen shouted with an angry muzzle, waving the book higher. “The flame of the Oss Tray Oh was to assist the Goddess Nagu’n with her labors--”
“Uhm, Dalen, buddy?” Kera stammered as she glanced down at a growing river of cracks forming in the platform beneath them. “I don’t think she’s your super mega death snake anymore.” She gulped. “I think she’s just a regular super mega death snake.”
“How could you have taken the rightful seat of Nagu’n, whoever you are--?!” Dalen stopped cold in his breaths. His tears instantly dried up as he gazed with shock into the abyss. “Lasairfion…”
”Therrrrrrrre is only one harbingerrrrrr of righteousness. Hckkkkktt!” Nagu’n leaned forward with a vicious snarl. ”And ssssssshe ushers in the end! The end and the beginning are one!”
“Dalen!” Kera’s voice cracked, high pitch.
“Nnngh!” Dalen held the book out.
Flash!
The Divine’s jaws stopped just meters from the two ponies.
Both looked up, quivering.
”Hcrkkkkkt!” Venting mists of chaos, the diseased dragon lunged again.
Fl-Flash! Again, her bite stopped just a few feet away. This time, Dalen and Kera saw a curved aura of lavender light shielding the savage attacks.
Dalen blinked while Kera murmured, “Dalen… the book…”
“Oss Tray Oh’s flame…”
A loud crack went off beneath them. Both ponies looked to see the platform splitting in two.
”Sncraakkkkkkt!” Nevlamas shrieked as she gripped the platform with two arms stretched far beneath the book’s aura. She dug her claws in and pulled with all her might. ”Hrckkkkk-Graaaaaaukkktt!”
“Run, child!” Dalen flung Kera behind him as he trotted backwards, holding the book like a buckler against the glowing blue flames of Nevlamas. “The Sacred Hold is defiled! We must get away from here!”
“Don’t just stand there!” Kera scampered sideways, stumbling towards the brightly lit doorway. “Come on!”
“I’m right behind you!” Dalen turned and snarled at the hissing serpent. “You are a poison! A false prophet!” The hairs on the back of his neck as he snarled, “Haak salajuut thrennum diul Nagu’n, restraana bliul Xon! Rekharna drenna dun! Drenna dun!”
“Graaaaukkkt!” Nevlamas pulled at the stone platform beneath them.
The ground gave way.
Kera shrieked and flew off the edge--
Dalen caught her, galloping into the doorway with the book in tow. He had to leap as the platform crumbled one shard at a time, falling into impenetrable darkness. And just as they leapt through the buckling frame--
Nevlamas breathed fire onto them. Everything collapsed, drowning out the light… and the two ponies’s screams.
A bad idea leads to a predictably bad result.
Poor Dalen. This is why you never meet your heroes ... or gods, as the case may be.
I think somebody missed a bold tag. Man, though, I was hoping that book would actually do something.
Ten bucks says the end of the story takes place in the machine layer where Seclorum is.
I dont know what time I manaegd to post this relative to the post time of the story, but theres some problem with the formatting? Maybe a bold close missed somewhere?
Oh boy, His goddes has been faced, and found to be her evil brother wearing her skin.
Time to run.
Time to die.
And now we see...
Forty flutter kicks for te broken bold code, ):(. Knock 'em out!
All will no peace
Should that be "know peace"?
And so, we got the another cliffhan... well, actually they already fell. Huh. Wondering how they will survive this.
Yeah, Dalen! He's the one Xonan... er, the one character, actually, who isn't completely insane and deluded!
Why can't he be the god princess of Xonandom? Maybe then everyone else on the continent could grow a brain, too.
Well, uh, hmm, this is something.
I wonder what Dalen and Kerra are going to try and do now that their whole plan kinda, you know, fell through.
Dalen finally realizes that the Xonans were mere puppets for the forces of chaos, and they are about to unleash that force into their mortal plane.
Also, IC is breaking my balls with these cliffhangers
Hey, it looks like the book has a useful purpose other being a rainbow repellent and a tracking beacon. Next time, we find out whether or not it can kill a spider.
Well, that went well. At least, now Dalen knows how things really are.
~Basso
Two cliffhangers where people are falling into chasms of indefinite size at once, eh?
Still, Colon, you have an awful track record with falling. For the amount of times you use this plot device, literally nobody has ever died from a fall before.
Sorry, not really relevant to this chapter, but can you guys help me remember if there was any description of Shell, especially his color scheme? Really struggling with some cool fan art here.
Well, that went well.
...what?
3609381 How original. Ripoff.
~Basso
3609637
I'LL BASH YE FOOKIN HEAD IN I SWEAR TO ME MUM
''Haak salajuut thrennum diul Nagu’n, restraana bliul Xon! Rekharna drenna dun! Drenna dun''
Something tells me that was divinely offensive for our poor little simple ears.
One trend I just found. All the villains in this series have massive egos for the most part.
3609168
he is gray and has a purple beret along with an eyepatch. I think the mane is black? I don't jnow really
3609168
Read Chapter 25 of Eljunbyro, "Enforcer Shell"
It says his hoof is dark blue, but I think somewhere in Innavedr he is grey. Not sure, I imagine him as grey.
Well, alright! The book is useful again for the first time in a while. Let us not forget it's the crux of this bad situation in the first place, but I digress...
Now to see if the bracelet does shit xD
not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead not dead
Cuz rainbow needs the book for some reason, and they have it
And the book might have put up another shield
Yay, the book is being useful! Now we just need the Odrsjot symbol to do something.
Also, why do I have a feeling that Dalen's going to die saving Kera?
This was a bad idea. like a really really bad idea.
3609734 I'll kill you until you die to death.
~Basso
3608164
Are you saying it's going to take another hundred chapters just to get to that point? That must be a hell of a lot of filler.
I knew the book was magic, but it also acts as a shield now? That would have come in handy for a lot of things.
Huzza for magic books and whatcrap!
It's been a while since we heard about melon fudge. Our dear author certainly seems to like that expression.
...What is melon fudge? It sounds tasty.
First edible daffodils, then fudge of melons. I don't understand these things.
So does that mean that the Divines can't enter the machine world? Because that would be interesting.
3608206
Is short hand for "know no peace". Totally intentional I'm sure...
3608542
Shell then trips and dies from a fall...
3609753 3609734
Reading your sequential comments out of context together makes for one bloody funny translation.
So the beast just wants to destroy everything as fast as possible? Boring. Bring us some insane swordsman to come in and finish her off with his insanely sharp sword and wicked swordplay.
Toasty.
So the book repels chaos. How didn't I think of that before? That would of course explain why Rainbow is weakened by it when the flames are supposed to strengthen the Austraeoh. Or of course the fact that she doesn't give a chaos crystal about the book. Then what in the heck was it that they needed Rainbow for? Putting her down there would only serve to revive the machine, unless they would go for removing the pen- oh hey, that would actually make sense. That could cause some ruckus indeed.
I love Kera.
Don't look at me: For the longest time i though he was a minataur.
IIIIIt's Dashie's...Apologetic...Get-Backing Adventure...Sorry...!
Well, Dalen has finally seen the light...but I don't think there's any way to convince the other Xonans. Perhaps Dalen will team up with Dash's crew and help them out even more. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. So...I'm going skiing for a few days...be back Monday...Christmas Special Get-Backing Adventure will...resume then...hopefully...sorry...
IIIIIt's Dashie's Evasive Maneuvers Get-Backing Adventure!
Well, at least Dalen knows the trooth now, dawg. But I don't think there's any way he's going to convince any other Xonans, so he'll probably leave with RD and co. If he's alive, that is. Forgot about that little detail. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. Time to run away from Portalz! I mustn't let him catch me.
I was hoping we might see Nevlamas cleansed before the end, but now I'm not so sure.
3685171
How was the snow and were did you go?
I can't wait to go skiing when I get back in a few days.
Only like 80 chapters to catch up now :) But I really, really like this chapter. It kinda reminds me of Gandalf's confrontation with the Balrog. Dalen has an awesome name and an awesome personality :)
hooray for magical shield books! Shining Armour could probably learn a thing or two from it. Eh? Learn? Cuz it's a book?
Shut up - it's late.
I read this as "asses" and snickered. Swearing on something that big would probably be pretty potent, mind you, so I suppose it works either way.
I'm glad Dalen's been enlightened - having a nice-ish Xonan on the good side is pretty cool. Covers all the diversity bases and all that.
I'm in a strangely lighthearted mood considering a chaos beast is about to rip everyone a new one. Maybe I have a problem.
Onward!
3617144 holy khao! How did I not think of that before? It makes sense!
So the book shields from Nevlamas' chaos. Wait... Dash is filled with chaos.
Oh.
-SPirit
-shoves book in your face- you mad nevlamas?
huehuehuehue
minorin.com/fps/src/1385974833353.png
Hmm . . . I think I finally understand why Rainbow feels so faint around the book. The book repels chaos, and she has been infected with it. Yet when she wears the pendant, everything is equalized. Basically, the book's repulsive power is having a hard time trying to figure out what to do with Rainbow's specific case of harmony and chaos enfused together, so instead of being repelled like Nevlamas or obliterated like the chaos monsters, she is simply sedated.
Oh, and the chapter was great. I know that Kera and Dalen will survive somehow.
Nice stutter there, Nevlamas. seriously skirts, try to drag out vowels instead of consonants, unless it's something like "s" or "h"
And hell, Dalen's zealotry came in handy! He was able to see through the disguise of Nevlamas as a false god like THAT!
Glad to see the ancients paid for fire insurance.
5896955 It's time to d-d-d-d-d-DUEL!