-Jade-
“Serpent Strath Path… it’s going to be one of those days.” We were at a juncture between the two and several other locations. I was currently making breakfast for myself, I currently had a nice fried egg in a skillet. The only other being awake is Sekhet.
“It most certainly is Priest Jade. We will be following valley until the end, we will have to do it all in one go as there is not much food for the ones we’re moving anywhere in the valley. It is mostly exposed bedrock all the way through, aside from the edges of the shallow river.” Sekhet held a scaled fish on a stick over the flames of the campfire created this morning. Unlike my fire back in Airship Mauled, this campfire will actually die down without wood to burn. “We should be wary, I did some searching last night. I did not smell serpents or monsters of any sort, but what I did see may be worse.”
“So you went off in the middle of the night to do some scouting, I’m not surprised in the slightest.” I received an appraising look. “As a war goddess, you would know one of the most important things in a war is information. This is not a war, but it is helpful to know what we’re getting into… so what did you see Sekhet?”
“Nothing alive and blackened ground in many spots everywhere, there is something frighteningly wrong and unnatural about where we’re going.” Witnessing Sekhet shiver had me shivering in response. “Life will and has always found a way to survive even the harshest of conditions, but there… life is being crushed, scared or is being actively kept from the valley somehow.”
“Whatever it is, it’s something we’re going to run into inevitably.” Sliding my fried egg onto a plate where there was already a cooling skillet baked fish waiting for me, I was getting a jump start on the day because we were going to be busy once all those lemmings woke up. They were practically impossible to direct without Fluttershy who looked exhausted after flying so much yesterday. “After that basilisk attack yesterday, I won’t be surprised at all the crazy kinds of serpents we could possibly run into after Raging Reptile Ridge. I’m kind of glad that the alligators didn’t notice us.”
“Yes, I’m quite surprised the ponies didn’t notice them, goes to show that you were certainly alert at all times yesterday.” Sekhet bit into her charred fish and chewed it looking off into the distance. “You were not apparently as good enough on your reflexes though, even with the assistance of your magical alchemy. I want you to let me check your injuries, while Cheerilee is competent at what she does I want to be a second opinion on them.”
Sighing I acquiesce to her request and pulled my shirt off and continued eating. She quickly finished her fish and came over to me to start to poking and prodding me with her alicorn sized paws. I winced when she poked the bandages around my chest, but I still swallowed the bit of egg I had been chewing.
“You and Fizzle are strong at heart, but your bodies will need more time than we can give them before we begin moving today.” The eight hours of sleep said otherwise Sekhet, I’m sure I could distract another basilisk. Surviving said distraction would be a bit iffy for me though. “Unlike me, neither of you are immortal nor are you invincible. Whether either of you like it or not, I will be assisting you in any capacity necessary with the next thing that shows up. Still… it is nice to see that my physical education classes are paying off.”
“Is it lonely to be a goddess?” I hardly ever got the time to talk to Sekhet like this, so I asked a simple question.
“It is like nothing you will ever need experience Jade, it can be impossibly lonely.” Well that was a somber mood for such a powerful goddess like you Sekhet. “The other side of the coin is that I can make friends infinitely, as I have all the time in the world to do so with. I can forever gain and lose friends in equal measure, but gaining friends means the pain of seeing them waste away or dying. Even so, the effort might always be worth it. I do not need to worry so hard about surviving, what I need to worry about is keeping my mind sharp and keeping with the times as they are. For years can pass me by in but a single blink, the only thing that slows time down for me is interacting with mortals in any capacity.”
“Like you’re doing right now?” I asked and Sekhet only sent me a smile with no teeth showing. “I don’t see you as invincible, only highly improbable to kill permanently. I know a few legends of things that can slay an immortal or force them to reincarnate, even pass their powers onto others whether they are worthy or not. Would you say things like that don’t exist?”
“Oh I can say things like that definitely exist, though mortals don’t necessarily make things like that on their own or by complete accident.” Sending Sekhet a look as she held out my shirt to me, I put it back on and waited for her to speak. “You’ll be fine, just don’t take any hits to the chest today. Things are hardly coincidental in this world, if one being pushes the balance too much then something will happen to fix that balance.”
“Too much blinding light and darkness sprouts from it to become a living shadow, usually with evil or misguided intent. Too much darkness in the world and heroes will eventually be found to face the unknown with bright hearts.” I lean back and take in a deep breath. I released a sigh as I stared at the cloudless blue sky. “Not much of a coincidence, just the scales tipping constantly and never fully committing one way or the other. In essence you’d be right, but there are some extreme ways to fix the balance that would mean destroying most of the world to do it. That’s something we should all avoid, no matter what.”
“Surprisingly wise of you to acknowledge, I am a war goddess that promotes the ideals of peace.” What Sekhet said made me snort loudly. “Do not scoff, peace is just a lot of preparation time for the next war or a coming storm. Ponies are never ready for any war that starts near them, they are always at a disadvantage there and do so little to prevent coming calamities that could have been avoided had they paid a little attention to the world around them.”
“You’re not wrong Sekhet, but ponies have survived the last thousand years on mostly peace. Too much peace without preparing for any future dangers, much less past ones returning, is always a recipe for disaster in my personal opinion. Though you have to admit, ponies have made it work out for the most part.” I looked towards the tent where Fizzle slept, I seriously doubted she would ever become Tempest now. “Ponies should always learn from their mistakes, but in general they don’t most of the time and quickly forget. When they forget, it usually comes back to seriously bite them. It takes at least a few anvils to the head to hammer an important point in with most, but not all, ponies. I’m going to go wake Fizzle and Fluttershy so they can eat, hopefully before the lemmings start stirring up a huge mess.”
“Have you ever learned from your own mistakes?” Sekhet’s words made me pause on my way to Fizzle’s tent and turn back to her.
“I have learned much from watching other people make mistakes so that I can try and avoid making the same ones myself.” I continued into the tent with a few parting words for Sekhet to think on. “I will still make mistakes, but that mostly comes with doing what I feel is right. I can and will be in the wrong, but only if I’m caught and called out on doing said wrong with evidence to back it up.”
-Fizzle, two hours later-
This was quite ominous, even if the lemmings seemed happy and were moving forward after having come out of the ground in droves. I doubted they even noticed how still the air around here felt, we were almost halfway into Serpent Strath Path and nothing had happened. We didn’t see any signs of movement aside from the hoard of lemmings Fluttershy was directing with her animal expertise.
I had gotten into an argument with Jade after I ate breakfast and we were silently contemplating what the other said. We had made arguments about whether or not we were healthy enough to fight. Jade took a pretty bad blow to the chest and I wasn’t any better after the basilisk cut me up with its scales.
We had both been poisoned, cut up and battered. The only thing left for us was to be deep fried and served with a side of sauce. Maybe I should learn to make something, both mom and Jade could cook. Jacky knew how to forage and so did I as well, I just wasn’t as good as the luck challenged parrot.
Jade promised Fluttershy she’d do her a favor. The size of this favor was enormous beyond belief, so what exactly were we getting from doing all of this? Were we supposed to feel a sense of accomplishment as our prize for the wringer we got put through yesterday? I felt like Fluttershy owed us for all the stuff we’re going through for a bunch of nearly mindless rodents that’ll die within the next two years.
I admit that our friendships were strong, but doing all this with very little payoff was rubbing me the wrong way. I assumed the reason why it didn’t rub Jade the wrong way is because she was likely honor bound to see this through to the end for Fluttershy.
Sighing, I wondered why Jade always insisted on endangering herself. I was okay when she endangered herself on the royal guards, mostly because they couldn’t fight their way out of a paper sacks and ponies in general were not overly confrontational.
I however am different in that aspect, I actually confronted Jade about her injuries and she confronted me about my own. We were both pretty poor off and we had talked it out, we agreed that we were both pretty bad and that settled it.
“Fizzle… I would like to apologize for putting you in so much danger by asking you to come on this trip.” What… really Jade? I just can’t believe you sometimes.
“I chose to come and put myself in danger, it’s you that I’m worried about.” I turned to Jade who was resting behind me. “What exactly are we getting out of all of this?”
“Several things really. Life experiences, helping a friend, learning how to survive or fight deadly monsters and references for reliability as mercenaries. We are also making connections, learning about places and are possibly even airing out some psychological baggage while we’re at it.” Here Jade smiled at me warmly, it made my heart flutter a bit. “You specifically learned a thing or two about pitching a tent, how to start a fire with two pieces of wood and many other things like how to lead a team. Learning experiences are to always be cherished Fizzle, because If you don’t then you might not be able to handle similar situations later. The one who helped you learn might not be there later to provide that assistance.”
I heard a noise, my ears twitched… I looked up at the sky and saw roiling clouds.
“Looks like rain. That’s just what we need, a ton of smelly wet lemmings.” The sarcastic lilt in my voice was filled with humor. I thought on all that Jade had told me, by her words I was actually getting a lot out of this. It’s just that I needed to think about this in a less than material manner and put it all into a different perspective.
“Fizzle… I would like to preemptively apologize for any injury you or I are about to get.” Turning to Jade, I was about to ask what was going to cause those injuries when I heard the thunder again. The sky that had been once blue was now covered in dark clouds. It was now crackling with thunder and light flashed above us. “This is not a normal storm and I think I know why this place is so empty now. Also if it rains hard enough to flood the area, how do you think that will affect the valley we are currently in now?”
My eyes widened and I looked out the back of the wagon and started imagining a tidal wave hitting us from behind and drowning all the lemmings.
“Please do share your knowledge Jade, because I’m feeling a tainted soul.” Sekhet was looking towards the sky as well. “Something has fouled that which I find precious in this world… souls are sacred!”
“Tainted… how exactly?” Jade spoke slowly and her eyes were darting around looking up at the sky from her position behind me.
“A weaker power is possessing the stronger.” This reminded me of a nightmare I had, only it didn’t seem so much like a nightmare now. “The possessed itself isn’t evil, so I must save them.”
I definitely remembered Sekhet saying the words ‘souls are sacred’ before. I recall Jade’s explanation that Sekhet is a goddess that will actively destroy evil without remorse if she feels it come within range of her.
“That’s actually very bad for us.” The way Jade said that, it was like she had her suspicions as to what was going to happen soon. “Quick question Sekhet… how long has it been since you last fought another god going all out?”
“It has been a while… are you actually suggesting to me that a god has been possessed Priest Jade?” There was that certain sinking feeling that I’m sure everyone here got as Sekhet stated that. “If so, can you tell me which god you think it is?”
“I hope I’m wrong in this, but I’d say we’re about to be attacked by a powerful god that has been known for having powerful weather controlling abilities.” Jade was speaking slowly with her eyes wandering the sky, I turned to look at what she was looking for and saw something in the clouds when they flashed. “This god primarily uses lightning to attack, but they can also use biting wind, torrents of dagger like rain and rarely concussing ice.”
Lightning struck the ground in front of the lemming herd and Fluttershy immediately got them running in a large circle.
“We are about to be attacked by a well-known feathered serpent god…” Jade’s eyes narrowed, a thunderous crash and a blinding light occurred. “Quetzalcoatl.”
Fluttershy started leading the lemmings back our way in a panic. Hovering above the ground where the lightning had struck was a large hovering dark purple serpent with black feathered wings, a dark blue flowing wild mane and glowing red eyes. Said eyes were currently directed at us.
This was certainly far worse than the basilisk and hoop snakes.