//------------------------------// // [26] Godless // Story: Queen of Storms // by Via //------------------------------// Godless Gods didn't bleed. Spirits did. The relationship of lupine to a canine is much the relationship of a drakon to a dragon. While they are, ultimately - under the same family, they are different species, with different traits and entirely different cultures. Lupine culture, in particular, is rather - unique. For over ten thousand years, the Lords and Ladies have kept their people sealed off from the rest of the world in the Bayan Timbers. It's a public secret, in a sense. Most Spirits know the location of the Lupines. There is rarely a reason to engage with them - and when there is, it tends to be avoided. While the Lords and Ladies are not Spirits - for, in all recorded history, there has been no Spirit of Space (although, considering Twilight's existence: it's not entirely improbable,) they are perhaps - the most powerful you can get without being a Spirit. They are not immortal - merely long-lived. Especially long-lived for a mortal, non-draconic race. Lord Rex, before his rather untimely passing due to a nasty case of head-exploding-from-the-inside-out-isms was roughly eight hundred years old - and was among the youngest of the Lords. The oldest Lord was claimed to be older than the Purge that predated written history itself - but considering how he had died when Tempest was still in the egg, he couldn't really validate such claims. Their longevity comes from their sheer amount of concentrated magic. Their ley is spread throughout the entirety of their body, much like a Draconequus, a Quetzalcoatl, a Windigo, or a Wyvern - and their average magical pools are on par with the strongest of unicorns or rams. While Starswirl the Bearded, without question - claimed the title of Strongest Mortal Mage - and this was true, individually, even he fell short of the amassed strength of the Lords and Ladies. On top of that: the Lords and Ladies have been the only creatures that have managed to so much as challenge the Spirits. Their spatial manipulation is surpassed by none, and as such: the Bayan Timbers are sealed in a web of tight magic that no Spirit can penetrate easily. Only Entropy managed to overpower this warding, once - though the magical backlash resulted in the death of everyone contained within. There are rumours that some of the long-lost Spirits that have only been formed once and never seen again: such as the Spirit of Honor, the Spirit of Stars - are in fact lost in a web of spatial manipulation that the Lords and Ladies wove around them. The short of this aside - is that the Bayan Timbers are dangerous, and can't be teleported into. Twilight didn't really feel too afraid, though - you would likely find yourself in a surplus of courage if you were the third strongest Spirit on the planet, riding on the back of the strongest Spirit on the planet along with the second - albeit, neutered - strongest Spirit on the planet. No, most of Twilight's stress came from her wandering mind. Even as Tempest soared through the air, mountains and clouds a passing blur underneath them - Discord's nipping jokes and bites as he shifted uncomfortably upon the bed of white scales - Twilight couldn't help but feel concerned for her friends. "Why so glum, Glitterflanks?" Discord flicked Twilight's side. Twilight glared at him. "Maker help me - if you call me Glitterflanks again, I will get Tempest to turn you into stone." "My apologies, Sparklebu- eep!" Discord narrowly dodged a bolt of purple plasma. He arched an eyebrow, then held up his hands in a peaceful gesture. "Not just glum, then. Full-on aggressive! My oh my. It must be something important." "I had two nightmares, where everyone I knew died, and someone who looked like you killed them. Forgive me if I'm not in the mood for dealing with you right now." "Then allow me to drop all pretence of my usual mocking persona." Discord leaned in, very close - and Twilight couldn't help but be aware of just how truly large the draconequus was. "What's wrong, Twilight?" Twilight glared even more intensely, her horn lit - and then suddenly, she let out a soft sigh. Her wings and muscles sagged as the glow of her horn faded. "I - I'm worried, Discord. There's the gryphons, there's the dragons - and then there's the absence, and-" Discord held up a finger. "Did you know the Crystal Empire avoided much of my chaos, back in the day?" Twilight tilted her head to the side. "What does-" "It's the Heart, in part. Despite its origins - it's a pulsating, crystal mass of harmony that turns the feral blizzards into something that Order," Discord pet Tempest's scales, "would have a wet dream about." Twilight grimaced. "I couldn't get up there unless I focused all of myself - and that meant I only had my personal pool to work from. So - it's safe from me, if that's what you're worried about. Now - Twilight. Pretend that I'm dumb-" "-pretend-" Twilight grumbled, "yes, Twilight. Pretend. The accusation that I'm anything short of a magical prodigy is ridiculous. And not in a funny way, like Celestia wearing plaid. So pretend. Why can't Cadence teleport to you every day for lunch?" Twilight let out a soft huff. "The blizzard. The deeper leylines of the Crystal North mean that leyline teleports are impossible, and the blizzard prevents more conventional teleports. Too many particles. The risk of splinching yourself is too high. It's the same reason you can't conventionally teleport in a desert, or a storm." "And why can't she fly?" "The blizzard, again." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Using pegasus magic would freeze you solid." "Then - would it not stand to reason, that - a place safe from me, safe from mages, and guarded by a blizzard that would freeze any Gryphon or Dragon solid - is the safest possible place your friends could be?" "...I guess." Twilight looked to the side. "I guess it really is the apocalypse. You're being logical - and I'm not." "Logical." Discord snorted. "I detest the term. There's a difference between being logical and not being stupid. You're certainly smart, Twilight. I'd probably say you're the second smartest magic caster on the planet." Shrug. "But you're also very stupid." Twilight's eyes narrowed. "That's not very nice." "I'm not very nice." Discord shrugged. "You're smart. You're smarter than me. Although - you do have the creativity of a boot, so that certainly cancels it out. But when it comes to your friends - you simultaneously have this adorable, blind faith, and this equally present unfounded worry." Discord leaned back against one of Tempest's scales. "My advice? Stick to the blind faith. It's always worked for you in the past - despite all reason, which is something I rather enjoy being in despite of." Twilight shut her eyes. "...Thanks, Discord. If you ignore all the thinly veiled-" "-thinly veiled?" "If you ignore all the jabs you layered in there," Twilight corrected, "that was - almost nice." Discord grinned a toothy grin at her. "Anything for a friend." It was at that moment that Tempest rather promptly hurtled to the ground. The trio plummeted at a speed that would turn any mortal save Rainbow Dash to ash, landing down like a comet by the corner of the Bayan Timbers. Tempest landed on her side - and if her wings weren't made out of ethereal storm, they undoubtedly would've snapped. Twilight would've landed at a rather grisly angle if Discord didn't grab onto her and stop their momentum. Instead, they lurched midair, inspecting the crashed, immobile drakoness with wide eyes. "Tempest? Are you-" Twilight promptly teleported by her side. Notably, there was no flash of magic - she had been by Discord, and then she was not. She glanced at Discord - who shook his head. Twilight's horn flared as she called up a shield around herself and the drakon. Tempest was quite frankly too large to be covered by Twilight's shield - but she managed to cover most of the drakon's head. Twilight then felt a strong hand grip around her horn. there was a crack- her throat bled as she screamed, her vision blurred- soft murmurs, a spinning world- wriggling, writhing, pulsing - Discord, fading away with an expression of horror- Darkness. As day broke, the news did too. In the following weeks - the world decided to as well. Celestia felt the world was on fire. The Bloody Butchers, as they had been calling themselves - had carved their path through the world. Steelbeak's assistance had been invaluable - but it hadn't been enough. No - Cloudsdale was certainly proof of that. The death toll was incalculable. The gryphons, their draconic siege-beasts, laid waste to the cloudy city. Even with all of Steelbeak's assistance, even with all the extra security - it was for nothing. The Butchers didn't seem to have any regard for their own lives, as long as they went out wreaking as much destruction as they could. The skies were torn apart by flame and claw, steel and talon - and in the aftermath, the skies rained red. The ruins of the once-grand city hurtled to the ground. The reports were particularly gruesome - and even Luna felt her stomach churn as she read of half-eaten, mangled corpses of all ages - wrapped in clouds that hurtled down into cities as far east as Manehattan and towns as far south as Appleloosa. The streets ran red with blood and rage. Cries for war, for blood, for action- signs that were held up towards the sky. A chant rose through the massed crowds. Their blood was alight with a burning desire for retribution - Celestia hadn't been enough. She hadn't done enough. "False goddess! False goddess!" Her cutie mark, imprinted on signs - crossed out with dark red. Mannequins of her head on a pike - cries for impeachment, for retribution, - redemption. The guards tried their best - unicorn shields were met with rocks, smashing hooves - it was utter anarchy. The dragon's roar interrupted all of that. Canterlot began to scream as explosions rocked the Canterhorn. A swarm of gryphons rose from the ground, the Sun itself, herself blotted out by scaled beasts of legend - claws dripping red - Celestia felt her stomach drop as the invasion of Canterlot began. Twilight woke up and immediately found herself regretting it. Sharp, searing pain tore through her skull - lances of red-hot steel that dug into her flesh and tore at her mind. Her wings ached, and her throat - it felt as if she was a Dragonfire victim. Her vision blurred as she pushed through the pain and stumbled up to her hooves - before promptly collapsing in a pile of feathers and flesh. Through the spots and the stars, she could barely make out details. There was white - cracked like dust, drenched with an ugly red. Feathers, scratches - darkness surrounded them. Make it stop, some part of her pleaded. She instinctively attempted to light her horn - and she immediately regretted that. Her entire being cried out as her vision spun, and blood found itself tearing up from her throat in bloody clumps. Twilight, then, promptly succame to the darkness once more. She found herself woken up - her fur matted with blood, her vision still blurry - and a constant presence of pain throbbing in the back of her skull. She was lucid enough in the presence of her pain to know that using magic was a terrible idea - and that, in all likelihood, her horn had been snapped clean off. The thought made her blood ran cold. She had received horn injuries before - but getting your horn snapped off was something that took months of pain to repair. They were adamant about snapping off, as well - she doubted that Big Macintosh would be able to do little more than chip even a filly's horn if he was to ram it at full speed. The keratin was significantly more fragile, unfortunately: as having the ley exposed to open air was extremely painful. One time, one miscast spell had left Twilight bedridden for two days as Celestia nursed her back to health. Some unicorns went comatose after particularly traumatic incidents where the keratin was peeled from their horn entirely - it was actually more painful that way than just straight snapping it off. Thinking about that served to do little more than making the unicorn's stomach churn, though - so she pushed those thoughts to the side. She shook her head side to side violently and turned to inspect her surroundings. She was chained by all four of her hooves to the floor. The floor was seemingly made out of some black material - Twilight was no geologist, but she figured it was more likely some form of igneous rock from a quick inspection rather than nullstone. She had a little bit of leeway, and as she slowly pushed herself up from a pool of spittle and blood - much to her disgust - she inspected around herself. There were chairs around her - tall chairs made out of intricately carved and fitted null-stones. They rose higher up in sets of two, culminating at the central chair - which stood above the others, first, among equals. As her gaze moved higher and higher - there, they sat. Five lupines - dressed in fine silks and robes, pulsing with magical power - staring down at Twilight with an unwavering gaze. "Finally." The black Lady to her right, on the lower chairs, spoke. Their voice seemed feminine, so Twilight mentally assumed them to be female. "I was beginning to worry that you'd damaged her too much, Lord Berion." "They're a hardy folk, Lady Accalia." A hulking red wolf on the lower chairs, to the left of Twilight, spoke. He gestured at the grisly left side of his face - the fur matted and healed incorrectly, bits of his very bone showing. Twilight suppressed the urge to vomit. "It was the blue one - the Darling Moon that did this to me." "It's not - dangerous, is it?" A rather nasally blue lupine, a chair higher than Berion asked. He wore a monocle, Twilight noted - and she couldn't help but think it looked rather dumb. "Of course not Arion." Lady Accalia rolled her eyes. "If it was dangerous, it would be with the other one. With-" she fell short. "With Lilim." The Lady that sat on the highest chair finished. "You can speak her name, Accalia. She doesn't bite." The silver wolf smiled a predatory smile. "Unless she wants to." "Amusing as always Astor. She'll turn on you, eventually, you know." Accalia's eyes narrowed. "Mayhaps." Astor shrugged. "If the girl ever decides to take my place - I would not worry. I would not have very long to worry, you see." She inspected her claws. "Oh, how rude of us. Welcome, Twilight Sparkle - to the Council of the Lupines. We apologize for the rather rude introduction. By introduction, of course - we mean striking your beast out of the air and crippling your horn." She smiled warmly at Twilight, and Twilight shivered. "w-wh..." Twilight managed to choke out before she spat up a glob of her own blood. "Ah. The effects of backlash in their full. I'd advise against speaking, oh darling niece. It will do you more pain than good. But I am an ever-perceptive wolf, am I not?" She glanced around at the other Ladies and Lords. She was undoubtedly their ruler - be it de facto or official. When she spoke, they listened. "Am I not?" She snarled a bit more intensely. There were quick nods of agreement all around. "So, allow me to answer your questions - as they came to you. Where are you? You are three thousand feet beneath the surface of the planet. There is no entrance or exit - and without your magic, any chance of escape is futile. Why are you here? We were informed of your coming ahead of time. We know what you are here to do. And I will not allow it to happen." Her eyes narrowed. "Yes, I called you niece. It was very much intentional, darling niece - for I am indeed your littlest sister's mother. As for your friend - well." Lady Astor shrugged. "As per our instructions, she's sentenced to be executed." Twilight's jaw dropped open. Her mind raced- "Truly, for someone so godless, his help was nothing short of divine." She laughed dryly at her own joke. "Oh - I suppose you don't know him by that title yet." A cruel smile graced his lips. "He informed me that you would know him as - the Absence?" Her mind came to a crashing halt, and she promptly threw up. "You - ghh..." Twilight wheezed out. Astor opened her mouth, but Twilight powered past the agony to speak. "-got...it wrong...here for - ring. of Apstra. To stop -" "Omnicide." Astor nodded. "Oh, yes. The Absence was very clear in the words you'd say. He's got it down to the letter. In fact, the next sentence you're going to say is-" She trailed off. "-how?" Astor and Twilight spoke in unison. Twilight recoiled. "Quite frankly, Twilight Sparkle. I am not some villain, and I believe you know that." She appeared right in front of Twilight, causing the alicorn to wince as she grabbed onto her chin and tilted her head up. "I am a woman, with only the best interest for her people in mind. If that involves the death of every other creature - as long as my daughter perseveres, I am sated. We could go through the scripted routine - truly, he wrote it all down. Every single argument you could possibly make - I've read it." "I have a thousand other things I'd rather do. So let's dilute this down to the facts. You, will go crawling back to your rotting carcass of a nation. Your friend will die as she's carried into Graymourne - and you will not lay a finger on my daughter, and you will die - in three months and three days." Her throat burned. Her heart pounded. Her mind raced. Every part of her was alit with rage - every single part of her burning - her fur began to sizzle, her mane began to burn - as she channelled every single part of herself into a single word. "No," she Spoke - and the world willed it so. There was a searing lavender flash that sent Astor flying backwards into her throne. There was a grisly crack. The wolf tore up from the ground as she pushed her shoulder messily back into place. Her eyes were wide, her pupils thin - as her snarl echoed around the room. "FIND HER!" The city was dying. The Butchers were a bloody spear that struck true - and true enough, as it pierced through the heart of the city. Their caustic actions had sunken into the bloodstream of the world - and even as the Butchers tore their homes apart and cut her people to pieces - they did not cry out for her name - but against it. Luna was a terror as she tore through the sky, Cleddwyr trailing behind her. She was a whistling arc as her horn loosed bolts of dark magic that the world had not seen in an eternity, striking down swarms of gryphons even as she hurtled through the air like a comet towards the rampaging dragons. Celestia did not have the luxury of her sister. Her sister was a master in the battlefield, truly - but Celestia's power was much more - limited. Unlike what some believed, Celestia was the sun. Not the False Sun, the construct of pure solar energy that channels a fraction of the sun's radiance - but the True Sun. To access more than a droplet of her power would result in utter havoc. It did not make her weapon, the Taligar, any less fearsome. A glaive that seemingly had no limit to how much magic it could use - and one of the few weapons that so much as arched Discord's eyebrow. While Luna used brute force to decimate the draconic hoard, and the Royal Guard did their best to fight the fearsome, bloodthirsty Butchers - the Taligar was a weapon of telekinetic death. It sailed through the air with the heat of the sun, carving cleanly through flesh and scale as it cut dragons older than the city into fragments. Celestia hated killing. Regardless, she didn't so much as bat an eye as the dragon blood came down in a torrential downpour. It was necessary. "Please, Tempest." Celestia whispered to herself. "Help us." She looked up at the skies. The skies were silent as King Redclaw tore from the sky, his eyes a glittering green as concrete smashed underneath his arrival. "Celestia." The changeling that wore Redclaw's skin smiled smugly at her. She recognized that smile. "Chrysalis," she greeted evenly. In the Outer Beyond, the sun - the True Sun burned. "It would take me two hours to burn your species to the ground, Chrysalis. Do you know why? It is because it would take an hour to find you. I was merciful, before." The Unconquered Sun's eyes blazed as her wings began to burn with radiant light. "I will not make the same mistake." Celestia opened the fight. Her horn lit with a blazing glow as she struck the ground - turning concrete into sand and sand into glass, waves of molten heat washing over Chrysalis. Chrysalis' talons lit with a green glow as she parted the waves of heat - something that should've been impossible, considering their sheer power difference - and she closed the distance between the two. Celestia spun around and bucked straight towards Chrysalis' face. There was a crunch - and a sharp, searing jolt of pain. Celestia teleported backwards. Chrysalis' jaw was misaligned - but she promptly corrected it. And her talons - they were red. Celestia's blood seeped to the ground. Some part of Tempest was impressed that they had gathered enough nullstone to wrap around her wrists and throat. The rest of Tempest was rather annoyed - even as her struggles tore the world apart around her. Trees were uprooted. She tore leaves from their branches, rocks and dirt being ground into thin gravel even as she was pulled along by an intense purple aura of magic. Her tail lashed and slapped - she roared up towards the heavens...but it was for nothing. She couldn't escape from her bindings - and while she had unrestricted access to her magic, none of her spells managed to so much as reach her captor. Worse, still, her raging mind - fractured and disjointed by whatever spell they had cast on her - couldn't calm long enough to use Worldwill. The thought didn't even cross her mind as she felt the death magic approach closer and closer, instead - acting purely on feral nature. Her rampage came to a cease as a wave of lavender magic washed over it - and a similarly shaded alicorn appeared with a brilliant pop of light, right on Tempest's skull. "Are you hurt?" She spoke. There was something different about her - but Tempest couldn't quite focus at the moment. Tempest couldn't do anything more than snarl. Twilight's horn began to glow - and Tempest felt a wave of calm wash over her. A cacophony of voices entered her head - Order and Harmony quickly stilling her raging mind as all facets of her life slowly assumed their previous roles. Tempest's eyes widened as lucidity came rushing to her like water through a broken dam. "Twilight. Run." She managed. Still - she was too late, as Tempest suddenly felt the weight of the world crash down onto her. It ground her against the ground below, Twilight being pressed into her scales uncomfortably as she let out a soft groan. Moments later, with a series of multicoloured flashes - the Lords and Ladies stood over the two. There was another, now - a purple wolf, much smaller than the rest. Twilight glanced at her - and blanched, as she recognized her aura. She was a Spirit. Chrysalis' blood spurted into the air, all over Celestia as the Taligar pinned her to the ground. The changeling laughed dryly as silver met with Celestia's ever so slightly pink blood. Chrysalis promptly rolled to the side, her body being torn apart in a disgustingly gruesome fashion - a sickening rip as her organs came spilling out of her and pooling up on the floor. Celestia recoiled - pulling the Taligar up from the ground. She moved, quite promptly to decapitate Chrysalis - Only to found the Taligar, a blade that had been able to graze the scales of Gorolich the Indestructible, stopped completely short by a hoof. "You're a myth." Celestia whispered. She pressed the Taligar deeper, infused it with more magic - hoping to overpower Chrysalis' dying illusion. The Absence shook his head. "I am no myth." And she was certain that every creature in Equestria could hear his rattling, negative space of a voice. "A god does not bleed, Indomita." He pushed his hoof deeper into the Taligar - and even as it sunk into his flesh, there wasn't a drop of blood. No - no blood, none in this monster. He radiated power. A head taller than Celestia - disregarding his gigantic, curled horns. His hair was the color of death - the color of bone left in the sun to bleach, more empty and threatening than any shade of black could ever be. His left eye - sclera slightly yellow, his iris a searing red...his right eye, darker than nothing. Absent of all light. Two long teeth curled up from the underside of his mouth, pointing up towards his nose - and with every movement, the bells that hung from his neck began to ring. "So as I see it, the only myth here is your divinity." The Taligar pierced through Celestia's heart. She let out a soft gasp as she stumbled backwards, each beat of her heart causing her blood to run weaker in her veins. "You are no god, Indomita. A god would defend her people. It seems you are incapable of such - so evidently, the Godless shall have to take over." He whispered as he stepped forward, gripping onto the spear with his hooves. "What are you?" Celestia choked out. She gripped onto her glaive with a hoof, even as her vision blurred. "I am Grogar the Godless. Die happy, Indomita. Your death brings with it a better world." And with a bloody rip - Celestia's vision faded to black. "You're - tricky, aren't you, Twilight Sparkle?" Astor snarled. "Regardless of what the ram said - you will die for gazing upon my daughter. Berion - tear her head from her sku-" Astor promptly died. Her eyes went blank as her flesh began to melt off her body. Even under the increased gravity that the wolf Spirit was keeping her under, Twilight managed to wriggle back as she suppressed the urge to vomit. The Lords and Ladies stumbled back fearfully - Arion's claws lighting as he tried to teleport away - only to erupt into a pile of blood. The other two lords were promptly frozen solid - their eyes still moving around cartoonishly. Discord stood there. Stationary, still His expression pained. "I'm sorry. There - was no other way." He whispered. A sickly laugh echoed out all around them. Much deeper, darker than Discord's laugh. It echoed over valleys, it echoed over hills - the world heard, and the world feared. Wriggling, writhing, he grinned a sickly grin at the assembled Spirits as he curled around the frozen Lord Berion. "Hello world. What have I missed?" Entropy tilted his head to the side - before devolving into a fit of maddened cackling. -