//------------------------------// // 734 - None Shall Defile // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Despite the prohibition against making light inside the Shrine of the Starless Sky, the interior of the two-story building that Lex stood within shone with green and purple, his eyes blazing brightly as he turned back toward the doorway with a snarl. “WHERE IS SHE?!” Standing at the entrance of the empty, unfurnished building, Akna flinched. “I...I don’t understand! I left her right here! She-” But Lex was in no mood for excuses. “You were the one who put her here! That makes you responsible for safeguarding her!” he hissed, stalking toward the shaman. When she took a step back from him in fear, his left hoof shot out, pointing at her balefully as he called upon divine authority. “Don’t you walk away from me!” Helpless to disobey, Akna immediately came to a halt, whimpering as she froze in place. She couldn’t even look away as Lex strode up to her, putting his face within an inch of her own, his eyes shining so brightly that the green blotted out everything else. “You left her alone!” His voice came out as a strangled whisper, his breathing becoming unsteady as he bared his teeth. “You left her alone, and now she’s gone!” “We can find her!” Knowing that Lex’s words weren’t wholly directed at Akna, and that she’d have no chance of stopping him if he went on another rampage, Valor somehow managed to keep her voice steady as Lex’s featureless eyes turned toward her in response to her outburst. “Lex, we can find her! We just have to search!” Not giving him a chance to react, she rushed through the doorway, holding her breath as she passed within a foot of him. A shudder of relief ran down her spine when he didn’t lash out at her, and she paused for just a moment to steady herself, acutely aware that his eyes were still locked onto her. Okay, I’ve got his attention. Now I just have to actually figure out where Solvei’s body went. But that was easier said than done; Valor was fully aware that she wasn’t the smartest member of Fail Forward, nor was she gifted with magic. Come on, Valor, think! What would Mystaria do in a situation like this? “This place is, um...pretty dusty, right? So let’s start with where it’s been disturbed.” The words came out of her mouth as soon as she thought them, knowing that Lex’s patience was most likely razor-thin at the moment. “There might be some tracks left if someone else came in after Akna left.” “Y-yeah!” added the adlet. “And there might be a scent trail! My nose is pretty good in this form...” She trailed off as Lex turned back to look at her, already regretting having spoken up. But a moment later Lex lowered his hoof, and Akna almost collapsed in relief as she found herself able to move under her own power again. “Find her,” breathed Lex, his voice a mixture of seething rage and hopeless desperation. “Find her right now, or I swear...” He couldn’t finish, a shudder running through him as his composure started to break down. “...or I swear...you’ll spend the rest...rest of your life...” “Aw, would you listen to that? I think the poor little pony’s gonna cry!” Lex went still as the taunt, coming from an unfamiliar voice with a masculine tenor, reached his ears. Slowly, his face expressionless, he stepped outside the doorway and looked up, the voice having come from above, as though the speaker were leaning over the edge of the roof. Which, he saw as he looked upward, was exactly the case. And the giant spider perched on top of the building leered down at him. “Or maybe you’re gonna throw another hissy fit the way you did a little while ago? I heard it was some real crybaby garbage, too. ‘Oh Solvei! Solvei! Nooo!’ Hahaha! Pathetic!” Lex didn’t react, didn’t move except to stare upward at the creature, black crystals slowly starting to sprout around him. Instead, it was Akna who spoke then, baring her teeth at the monstrous arachnid. “Ganas! What did you do?!” “Who?” Rushing outside to join the others, Valor gasped as she looked upward. “Gods!” Her surprise was understandable. The spider, appearing deep grey in the black-and-white spectrum of her darkvision, was the same size as Akna’s winter wolf form. Thick, hairless legs curled around the roof’s edge, connecting back to a segmented body. But any idea that this was simply an oversized version of a normal arachnid was dispelled by the sight of the thing’s face, which was humanoid in its arrangement. Taut cheekbones and an aquiline nose sat above a mouth filled with sharpened teeth, currently bared in a cruel smirk as its eyes – two of which sat beneath brows that were topped by six smaller orbs – narrowed at the sight of them. More notable was the shock of hair which encircled its entire head, showing no gaps between its beard, sideburns, and mane, all of which swayed back and forth as it shook its head at Valor. “There’s only one god here, little pony,” it sneered. “And she doesn’t take kindly to weaklings who can’t even look after their own.” “You’re the one who took Solvei’s body!” growled Akna, her hackles rising. “Ganas, I already spoke to the Keeper about these ponies! He said that they’re to be left alone until he can meet with their leader!” She canted her head toward Lex then, who was still silently looking upward as he raised his wire-covered hoof, the black crystals continuing to sprout around him. But if Ganas was intimidated by the unicorn’s silent display of anger, or taken aback by what Akna said, he didn’t show it. “If the Keeper has a problem with me, that old fool can come down here and tell me himself!” he spat, before the corners of his lips curled up again in a mocking grin. “Besides, I didn’t bother the ponies. I was just helping myself to that delicious piece of meat you left out in the open! To think I’d spent all that time hunting, when there was a meal right here just waiting to be eaten! Right now I’m saving it to snack on later, but-” “Shut up.” Of all the things that Akna had warned him about when he’d interrogated her about the Shrine of the Starless Sky, the creatures who dwelt there had concerned Lex the least. Although she’d spoken of a number of strange monsters who lived in the catacombs below the place – things such as leopards with snakes sprouting from their shoulders, sharks with four legs who tunneled through the earth as easily as their aquatic counterparts swam through water, great cats who could peel the skin off of their own faces as an intimidation tactic, and many others – apparently drawn to the Night Mare’s influence, few of them dared to enter the Shrine proper, at least according to her. Those that did tended to possess intelligence, serving the Keeper of the Shrine in hopes of receiving enhanced power from the Night Mare. But while Akna had meant that to be a warning, Lex had taken a very different lesson from her words: Any creature which would naturally be drawn to the Night Mare’s power would be subject to her divine authority. That included the oversized vermin perched above him now, which had just given up its right to continue living. Ganas’ mouth snapped closed immediately in response to Lex’s orders, his eight eyes going wide as he suddenly found himself unable to speak. But his surprise lasted only for a moment, instead bringing front two legs up as he began to weave them in a complicated pattern that was recognizable as spellcasting. But Lex didn’t give him the chance to finish. “Fall.” Ganas couldn’t even scream as he went over the edge of the building, plunging downward...directly onto the black spikes that Lex had raised. Valor and Akna both cringed as a sound like a water balloon being punctured filled the cavern. Ganas had landed on his back, and the spikes had pierced through his abdomen in three different places. But by the way he was still wriggling, legs kicking futilely in the air, he wasn’t dead...yet. “Now,” spoke Lex, his voice still dangerously soft as he moved to position himself directly in front of the helpless spider’s face, “here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to tell me what you did with Solvei’s body, and if I don’t like what I hear, then your death-” The barbed wire around his foreleg twisted rapidly then, slicing through his skin in a dozen different places, signaling the Night Mare’s anger. The rebuke was enough to stun Lex into silence, staring at his foreleg in absolute outrage that the goddess would deign to protect the creature that had quite likely defiled Solvei’s body. No, he swore silently. I won’t let his actions go unpunished! Damn the consequences! I’m killing that thing and there’s nothing you can do about it! The barbed wire cut deeper then, causing his blood to spatter on the unnaturally smooth ground as he felt the sharp edges grate against bone. “Lex, no! Not here!” called Akna, her position on the other side of Ganas’s impaled body preventing her from seeing what was going on. “The Keeper declared that this place is a hallowed sanctuary for all of the Night Mare’s worshipers! Shining a bit of light is one thing, but if you kill one of her followers here, he won’t perform the Rite for you!” For a moment Lex couldn’t move, struggling to swallow the scream of frustration building in his throat. That the Night Mare would support the edict of this “Keeper” rather than allow him to punish this monstrosity for what it had done to Solvei was, in that moment, enough to make him seriously consider repudiating the goddess altogether. After everything he’d done for her, she was denying him this?! So be it! swore Lex silently, his horn flaring to life as he turned back toward Ganas’s writhing form, preparing to rip him apart with a storm of black crystals. If that’s the cost of meting out justice, then- “Lex, don’t.” Valor’s hoof on his side was enough to earn his immediate attention, knocking her leg away with a snarl. “Get away from me!” he roared. “I’m going to make this creature pay for what he did to Solvei! And there’s nothing that you or the Keeper or the Night Mare or ANYONE CAN DO TO STOP ME!” Despite the strength of his scream, Valor stood her ground. Pausing at the sight of his bloodied hoof, she swallowed before opening her mouth, forcing her voice to come out in a calm and measured tone. “If you kill him, and lose your chance to go through the Rite that you came here for, won’t that make it harder for you to get revenge on Sissel for killing Solvei?” The words sent a jolt through Lex, causing him to freeze in place. “Won’t that make it harder for you to save Thermal Draft?” continued Valor. “Or Woodheart? Or all of the ponies in that village Grisela attacked? Won’t it cost you everything that Solvei died trying to help you achieve-” “Stop talking.” It was to Valor’s credit that she did just that, letting Lex squeeze his eyes shut as he waged a brief internal battle, the outcome of which was decided a few seconds later as he opened his eyes and pointed his hoof at Ganas again. “Where is Solvei’s body?” Fortunately, the Night Mare’s power was still his to command, and the spider was given no choice except to answer, his voice coming out thick with pain. “Roof...” he gasped. “B-behind...statue...please...help me...” Lex ignored the creature’s pleading, instead moving to look at Akna. “Go up there and retrieve her.” The adlet cringed at the order. “Lex, I can’t climb with these paws,” she protested, clearly expecting to be rebuked for saying so. For a moment it looked like she was right, as Lex swung his lacerated hoof around to point at her, causing her to cringe again. But what he said next wasn’t what she’d expected. “You can now.” A question was on her lips when she felt new power flow into her, just like what she’d experienced during their battle when she’d summoned a swarm of elementals. Cautiously, she put her paw on the side of the building, and couldn’t suppress a gasp as she felt it sticking to the side with a powerful grip. Taking just a moment to orient herself to her new mode of movement, she quickly scaled the wall, disappearing onto the roof as she moved around behind the hydra statue. Valor and Lex both watched her go, the only sound being Ganas’s tortured breathing. “Please...” moaned the spider again. “Be quiet,” ordered Lex, using divine authority to make the creature comply. A moment later, Akna returned...carrying Solvei’s body. The sight of her was like being punched in the stomach, and Lex suddenly found himself unable to breathe as Akna laid Solvei down as gently as she could before backing away. Instead, he slowly stepped closer to her, suddenly not wanting to see her like this but simultaneously unable to make himself look away. He’d heard, when he was a child, that dying was like going to sleep forever. But while Solvei’s eyes were closed now, she didn’t look like she was asleep; she just looked dead. The total stillness, the lack of any wintry puffs of air from her nose despite the relative warmth of the Shrine, the horrific scorch mark on her chest – the wound that had killed her, he knew – all ruined the illusion that at any moment she would get up and smile at him again. That knowledge brought Lex to his knees, biting his lip as he pressed his face to her fur. “Solvei...my Solvei...” She’d always referred to herself like that, after they’d formed their connection; calling herself his. He’d never said it back, being content to put her to work without ever taking responsibility for how he’d bound her to himself. She’d been his, but he’d never once acknowledged that fact. The regret he felt then was almost more than he could bear. He had no idea how long he stayed like that, with his face pressed against Solvei as he drew in shaking breaths, trying to hold himself together. It was only another sharp slash across his foreleg that drew him back to awareness, hearing Akna call his name. “Lex? I’m sorry, but...you need to heal Ganas. I think he’s dying.” Dully, Lex stood up, turning lifeless eyes back toward the spider. He was shuddering now, legs moving slower than before. A thought was all it took to make the black crystals dissolve, Ganas twitching as he hit the ground. “Get up,” ordered Lex, pointing his foreleg at the creature again. Despite how shaky its body was, it obeyed, slowly righting itself even as the wounds in its abdomen bled onto the floor. “Valor, keep watch over Solvei’s body.” If the earth mare had any questions about what he was going to do, she kept them to herself, instead nodding. “Nothing will disturb her while I’m alive.” Lex didn’t bother acknowledging her pledge, instead turning and marching toward the massive tunnel. “Akna, go ahead and open the entrance that we used to come here. As for you” – his lip curled as he looked at the dying spider – “follow me.” Akna, however, hesitated. “Lex, what are-” “Do as I told you.” This time, he used divine authority on her, giving the adlet no chance of disobeying as she ranged ahead. She didn’t need to go very far before finding the entrance from the river, standing near the mouth of the larger tunnel as she whispered the pass-phrase, the wall shimmering as it opened into a stone staircase, the sound of rushing water coming up from the bottom. Lex strode past her without a word, Ganas stumbling after him. It took only a few moments for them to reach the bottom, the alcove still dry as its magic kept the water from overflowing its border, the river rushing past in a torrent. Striding up until he was less than a foot from the rapids, Lex turned and looked at Ganas with eyes that were as dead as those of his winter wolf. “We’re outside the Shrine now,” he pronounced. “There’s no one to protect you here.” He held up his hoof then. It was still cut and bleeding, but the barbed wire had ceased to move, nor did it so much as twitch when he spoke next. “Enter the water.” Ganas tried to fight, to muster up the last of his strength and refuse, or cast a spell, or do anything to save himself. But in the grasp of the power Lex commanded, he was utterly helpless to do anything but stumble forward, the orders keeping him silent still in effect as he shambled toward the river, preventing him from even begging for his life. Instead, all he could do was give Lex one last terrified look, silently pleading for mercy. But the same way Lex had managed to follow the Night Mare’s restriction against violating the Keeper’s edict preventing killing in the Shrine, he followed the goddess’s creed now, meeting the spider’s eyes in silent refusal. Then Ganas entered the river and was swept away. For several seconds, Lex stared at the flat wall of rushing water. Then he turned back and marched up the stairs to the Shrine. Akna was waiting for him at the top of them. “Lex-” “Let’s go,” he interrupted, not interested in dwelling on what had just happened. “It’s time to meet the Keeper.”