Metastasis
~~~ 🌙 ~~~
Let us recapitulate. After we’ve woken up and I’ve prepared myself and my charge for a short wander and sightseeing through the city, we were attacked(*) by a beast that somehow followed the former human here from his old realm of Vertigus. After we have subdued the creature and were revealed for who we truly were, my sister and I questioned my charge about what had happened. After that, we’ve wandered out for a bit of air, then I left the boy at his first therapist meeting while I went to check on the royal scientists’ progress towards understanding the alien beast; which is to say, the less eloquent, intelligent and adorable alien beast. After some startling revelations, I then joined my sister in summoning the leading deities of his old world for a stern talking to.
Now I was heading back to the location of the Snallighast, accompanied by my sister and two Endless, in order to determine who, or what caused the creature to arrive here in the first place. And it was only early noon.
Of course, I was looking forward to resolving this troublesome endeavor as soon as possible. It was just starting to become difficult to keep track of what was happening. The most important detail was that our two newest guests - two metaphysical entities that were as old as the very realities they originated from - were currently acting in collaboration with us towards finding out who was responsible for meddling with their affairs. I was expecting the possibility of Lady Death deciding to take my charge away because he’d run out his natural lifespan a long time ago. Although her earlier unconcerned behavior did not reassure me in the least, I needed to remember that her being uninterested was in my best interest. Which was left moot once they appeared to have taken exception to the revelation that creatures from under their care were either wandering off out of their area of observation, or were being used by someone else for some unknown purpose.
We would’ve teleported our group to where the Snallighast was being held, if we could. We were already having difficulty bridging our guests here, suddenly changing our position regarding the summoning circle would undoubtedly break our spell.
Thus we set to walking the hallways of our castle in favor of the more expedient alternative. It was not an issue, per se, but any one of our servants who regarded our guests would be subjected to either the perception of true, terrible, unadulterated finality, or uncomfortable turbulence of the mind that would occasionally wake them up at night from that day on. So I didn’t really care either way, after all, I would just dispel their nightmares as they’d come up anyway.
Aside for the initial fawning of the younger Endless sibling(**) towards our subjects, which the unhinged eldritch entity admitted to find ‘cute’, which offered the respective guards’ shift mate excuse to tease him, once he believed we walked out of earshot. After this, Death requested from Delirium to remained more discrete, and to not wander off, which the younger sibling obliged. Now she was satisfied with keeping herself busy by gently speaking nonsensical, entirely whimsical drivel to her Sprites.
The elder of our two summoned guests appeared perturbed over the earlier revelation. Although the younger sibling was not as easy to read, Delirium did seem to hold her little Sprites protectively closer to her. It appeared that creatures from the world they held under custody were being sent here, somehow without their knowing, which appeared to be reason enough for the Endless to foster concern.
It’s commonly a matter of nature for Death and Delirium’s kind to seek out stability within their individual aspects, their beings. As I’ve said, they are not gods. Where a god is a spirit born from faith and prayer, a fiction that’s a facet of a world’s consciousness, an entity made to carry out a role in a world’s balance; an Endless is a role in the guise of an entity, a transcendent facet of reality. The forms we perceived them as weren’t even actual bodies, merely the way we interpreted their presence. In truth, our guests’ humanoid appearances were only due to their official capacity as responsive representatives of Vertigus, due to it lacking gods. If we were to not have summoned them in that manner, I imagine we would’ve seen and felt them in a more familiar manner, even though their appearances would've been superficial. Their physical bodies are insignificant with regards to their whole; Those primordial impressions we sensed around them? They were actually our own minds trying and failing to perceive the rest of their beings.
Same way gravity seeks to pull ever downward and heat seeks to disperse ever outward, Death and Delirium would like to know what might be interfering with their aspects within Vertigus. For the Snallighast and Sprites to be drawn here without their knowing would be like someone finding out they’ve been bleeding without actually feeling any pain.
Now that they were aware of the ‘leakage’, they knew to investigate what had ‘cut’ them and was drawing at their essence.
This was an especially unique circumstance for them as well, as I considered it further. For a populated world to be without gods was rare, but there was also the matter of what my charge described as Ley Gates present in Vertigus. Those could only be cracks in the boundaries of their reality leading into the realms of the Endless. A nexus in reality without gods to maintain it? I shuddered to consider the manner in which Vertigus was warped when its gods perished.
’I imagine that life on that world could only be similar to that of creatures living near an underwater volcano. Rich, but built on so much… Death.’
I regarded the grim lady walking ahead of me. ’Then again, Vertigus is also a unique world, comparatively speaking. If nothing else, its magic must indeed be the most powerful, the most unfiltered. I feel it’s safe to assume their natural world would also be as wild as the now rampant magical energies...
’Which would account for the physical appearances of some of the creatures. Those under Death are ghoulish, those under Delirium are of a more… abstract appearance. The same must likely be for their mages and, even moreso their ‘horsemen’. Aside for the general danger a power-mad mage would present, it’s no wonder the locals stigmatize Necromancers, regardless if they succumbed to lichdom or not.’ My face darkened. ‘I would also very much want to know their relationship with Oracles and Fateweavers… They certainly didn’t seem to have any compunctions with having them use Naming Magic on my charge… despicable… Leaving aside what they did to him, it’s hypocrisy as well. An oracle succumbing to Naming Magic is actually worse than a necromancer becoming a Lich!’
I let out a breath. ’I wonder, overall, what might be the relationship between the sapient creatures of Vertigus and the Endless themselves? They are not their gods, but I can only assume they would need to be kept under scrutiny. Even though it’s not their responsibility to manage the lives of mortals. Nor is it their nature suited for such a task in any fashion. Far from it. They’re actually less suited to act as gods than alicorns.’
While alicorns are leaders that guide and protect, Endless are not. They merely do as is in their nature… though they do occasionally leave for some leeway. They might abstain from their function, if the mortal they are to affect would make a good enough argument they might decide to, ahem, bend their rules. Endless are even able to abandon their function altogether, if they so wished; however, considering that for them, their nature comes first before all else, it would need to be a very, very good reason for them to decide to give up on everything they are.
Their nature comes before all else for them. They define themselves through these attributes. But they aren’t limited to these things. They still have wills of their own, personalities, quirks and desires. They fashion self-imposed responsibilities and rules for them, because they do need reminders. They are functions of reality, however they are nonetheless in the guise of sentient entities. They are more than mere forces without rhyme or reason, they interpret their circumstances, take intelligent measures to problems that would cascade into events that would end worlds, if not unmake reality. There are rules to magic, conditions as well as ways to abuse said conditions. There is an order above the natural one, and one above that, and one lateral to that one...
So yes, they do reason. The Endless do encounter crises that require sound judgment and memory. They need a concept of time, a concept of feeling, a concept of wanting. Of course, they are only subjected to these things to an extent. Their conscious representation is only secondary to their overall being. Usually they only want for something when it’s in line with their nature, and they hate something that threatens or contradicts what they are. As for love? Well, it depends on the Endless in question, same with all divine and metaphysical beings. Some would remain celibate, while others would be gods of fertility, or Desire.
As for what they love however, well... it would be simpler to make an analogy to any other sentient, feeling person, and applying that to the individual Endless’ nature same way one would apply the nature of love overall to any individual person, with the person’s respective defining wants, needs, quirks and shortcomings taken into account.
Perhaps that might offer some context into who, or should I say what it was that my sister and I were dealing with. It should also offer some context into who are in charge of Vertigus, and where their magic comes from. If nothing else, perhaps it would allow some semblance of understanding why entities as old as time might still present the ability to empathize with mortals, and why they might even go so far as, say, allowing the existence of the undead and Necromancy in the first place, regardless of the fact that Vertigus was flooded with magic. They could’ve simply left the world to tear itself apart, but they didn’t.
And while Necromancy can be used to control and forestall Death, it is primarily a means to understand her as well, as far as I could understand from my charge. It is a tool, that can also be used to control the dead, as well as help them lay to rest. So, one could offer the analogy that the relationship between Death and necromancers is one of both appreciation and apprehension, same as how any relationship is not without its inevitable quarrels. It can be said the same about any Endless and their respective schools. Bear in mind, however, that all magic is interconnected, which is why a Necromancer would be able to use spells from a different school… to an extent.
Destiny with Divination… and Naming Magic. Destruction with Vehemic manipulation and Evocation (energy manipulation), Desire and Despair as either side of the same coin with regards to their influences over Chakra and Illusion.
Dream and Delirium are trickier however. Where the former represents the border between reality itself and the metaphysical(***), Delirium governs the realms of interpretation and sanity. However, since one can only ever measure both the real and imaginary through interpretation, the lines are often blurred. Where to Dream is a prerequisite in the act of casting magic, in the act of influencing reality within its bounds and Conjuring ideas into being… perhaps that is the cause of my charge’s controversy regarding Dream’s realm not being immediately accessible. As for Delirium, her venue is that of shifting and warping reality chaotically through the art of Psionics, rather than Dream’s more order-inclined Arcane bending of it.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I will spell it out. Unicorns use Arcane energy, while Discord happens to use an especially undiluted and chaotic variety of Psionic energy. This links back our discussion to Lady Death’s earlier brief explanation of Vertigus having creatures called Succubi that run on Tantric energy, and Vehemic users, which are likely some manner of entities made of pure energy. Like my charge’s mention of Elemental spirits. I would also consider that there are other esoteric schools of magic on the side, like Druidism and White Magic. However, to go into detail regarding the intrinsic relations behind Necromantic Magic, Planar Projection, how exactly Chakra fits into all this, segueing into the matter of conventional and unconventional magic, maybe with a side of why armor can only take so much magic coursing through it before suffering Enchantment Overload… I assume you get the idea.
There were many thoughts coursing through my mind in my desire to revise what I did know about our extremely powerful guests, and how I could rationalize the quite literally savage nature of the world under their care, of their interaction with Vertigus. Yet, one thought in particular stuck out. Among the multiple matters in the backdrop, one forced its way to my judgement’s forefront. Of all things, what drew my attention was the matter of my charge’s proficiency with the necromantic arts (and not much else), and the fact that despite the particular nature of the Endless, they do nonetheless present wants and desires.
’...It would not be impossible for my charge to be of Lady Death’s heritage. However, you’d assume she would be more careful in telling her grandchildren to exercise discretion in a world that stigmatizes her magical arts. You’d also assume she’d behave a bit less disinterested regarding his fate. Then again, the Endless are still very much disconnected and alien beings, their hearts being merely an extension to their natures. At any rate, I could just ask her. Their kind commonly do not lie, nor resort to subterfuge, as are their natures and rules. Oh, what am I saying? What do I have to go on for this foalish idea? My charge’s aptitude for necromancy? It would be like asking a weather god if he’s related to a weather pony I just happen to know. It’s not important anyway.’
As we continued along our-
“So, is he your son by any chance?” I cracked.
The grim lady ahead of me stopped her walk down the hallway, and subsequently turned around to regard me evenly, eyebrow raised. Judgingly. “...No.” Once she gave her definite answer, she then turned back around and went back on her way. “Neither is he my grandchild, nor my great grandchild, nor anything to that effect, if you were wondering. And even though he did garner my attention throughout the decades, I tend to get involved in the lives of mortals sparingly. It would come off rather hypocritical of me to create new life, at least too often. Also, whether or not I do feel admiration and appreciation for him and his respect for me, he harbors profound resentment towards me nonetheless, so I can assure you there was never room for a relationship.”
“Oh. That’s… I apologize if I caused insult, I...”
“You did not,” Death interrupted. “You asked a question, and I answered it. You need to learn more about your new charge, and I endorse it. There was no harm done, and I had no reason to not aid you if it’s so simple for me and important to you.”
“Well, thank you, in that case. I truly appreciate it.”
The Grim Lady continued again, a hint colder, “I apologize if I come off as aloof, I’m just a little distracted is all.”
My sister asked them, “I thought your kind deal with world-ending events on a semi-regular basis. Is this issue truly so severe?” Endless are quite collected and detached by nature. Add to that the matter of their age, and also the fact that they typically deal with world-ending threats and extinction level events on a semi-regular basis, and you might agree why my sister found one of them being worried, however subtle the signs, to be reason for us to in turn worry for how our own world would be threatened.
“Although traveling across realities is involved, there is no hazard to either realm’s stability, so you don't need to worry about that. As an idea, it would take a very specific force to collapse two universes, the kind that would need to accelerate enough to overcome each reality’s integrity. Not like we’d notice anyway, since Time is a dimension encapsulated within a Universe. How could anything possibly happen outside a Reality’s radius? It would need to be done consciously from within both universes, expending enough power to destroy each universe several times over. Why collapse a building using another building when you could just blow it up instead?”
'Just like Death to immediately jump to the worst possible scenario,' I mused.
The Dark Lady delayed a few moments in consideration before she answered my sister's question. “However, there is a most definite danger to your charge. There are some creatures from Vertigus that feed on souls, while many others might somehow cause his death seal to trigger one way or another, now in his weakened state. And the cause of these happenings is fully aware of his weakened state, and is fully likely to capitalize.”
We moved noticeably more quickly.
There was commotion coming from elsewhere in the castle, but we disregarded it. Whatever it was, there didn’t seem to be anyone using any kind of magic, beyond anything the guards would typically use. Whatever the matter was, they could handle it.
After all, Cadence and Shining Armor were scheduled to arrive momentarily. I assumed it a ‘safe bet’, that they would want to make a good impression on their former Captain and his wife.
~~~ ⚕ ~~~
It’s what it means to be alive. To be caught in events beyond your ability to fully comprehend or predict. To act and react in a manner true to yourself, according to your most basic awareness, stripped of pretense of what you should and shouldn’t do. No more second-guessing, no more tip toeing for diplomacy’s sake. Nothing but to let loose.
That said, the royal guards’ competence was quite underwhelming. I expected some manner of directions to overwhelm me with numbers, not for them to just charge at me one at a time. Did they actually expect me to stand still while they were running right at me?
“My leg!” shouted a guard as I twisted it out of its socket. There was a tangible resistance due to the magic enhancing them, but even that had its limits.
They did occasionally engage in groups of four by arbitrary chance, even a group of five, but that was just because two guards joined with another three while I was having difficulty bringing down an especially bulky one among said initial three. Even so, they were easily confused and slow to react. Their unicorns' levitation was also no longer an issue once I figured out the trick to countering it. They did occasionally try the same stealth spell that first unicorn tried, but I was starting to think the silence that one cast was just part of an invisibility spell required of specialists, and he had no idea I was blind. Certainly, who would believe that a mere colt could be so much trouble, let alone a blind one?
Fair enough, it was a reasonable thing to do, to underestimate me. I would even feel bad about beating them senseless if they weren’t so disgraceful in their behavior. I could only take offense to how they believed they deserved to best me with such pathetic attempts. I may have had a bias towards agents of authority, but I had an even greater bias towards self-important fools.
That's not to say my bias was any kind of justification, or course. You could call me a hypocrite to judge others when my hands are so stained, or arrogant in turn after calling others arrogant, when I was the one to blame for inciting trouble to begin with. And should I find someone that deserves honesty and points this out, I will admit my fault. Until then...
’You can be either right or wrong all you like on your way to Hell. It was neither your self-righteous order of faith and law, nor your double-standard morality and opinions of truth that kept me alive for so long.’
Another guard let out a scream as I dodged and jabbed him where his wing met his armor, with enough force to shatter bone. I didn’t hear any cracks, even though such a strike rightly should've broken such fragile bones. I maneuvered behind the guard's head and took him down by limiting his bloodflow with a headlock, since there was no one else to stop me. 'There's no such thing as peace. No such thing as innocence. There's only power... and whether the wielder is willing to use it on others.'
“And that makes twenty-three," I voiced out loudly as I let the unconscious but still breathing guard go. "I wonder how many more they are going to send before they figure out I'm not as vulnerable as they think.” I channeled another image spell, and certainly enough, Dr. Cross was finally catching up due to the delay caused by the last patrol. Despite not breaking her leisurely walk so far at all, as could be attested by the sound of her hoofsteps coming closer. “Do they not have lieutenants, or are all of them really this stupid?”
“Their training and experience are oriented around dispatching large enchanted monsters, apprehending dangerous magic-users, and suppressing lawbreakers with their stun-enchanted spears, which they did not have permission for. They rely on coordination during larger engagements, magical artillery kept safe behind phalanx positions and flying skirmishers. They’re actually quite effective.”
“I will take your word for it,” I droned unconvinced as she stopped in front of me.
“There’s the fact that your experience surviving in a far more inhospitable world than this one instilled a unique predatory confidence and surviving competence which only beasts and carnivore races from this world have any concept for. Perhaps this fact presented you with an edge, the kind that means you only needed less than a second-long opening to win any encounter. Perhaps the fact that you’re a half-malnourished child might also be a reason for as to why they might behave less than fully confident in harming you. Which means that what you’ve just done, wise necromancer, was little more than fighting what amounted to untrained children while they were at a disadvantage, compared to you. How does that make you feel?” she asked in a surprisingly level and non-threatening voice.
“Well, when you put it like that...” she appeared to be waiting for me to finish. I sighed. “I feel rather ashamed.”
She continued calmly and inoffensively, “There’s also the matter that your behavior will not go without repercussion. Not just from aunt Luna and my mother, I imagine Shining Armor won’t be very pleased either, even if he might give the impression of being easygoing. By the way, he is expected to arrive here to visit with his wife at any time today, because she was eager to meet you. What do you plan on telling them when they ask you why you assaulted Shining Armor’s former subordinates?”
“...That I offered to give them an impromptu training session?”
“Not buying it. Try again.” I stood still upon hearing the words coming from a couple of paces down behind me, in a familiar, no-nonsense voice.
‘Huh. I did not notice him approach.’ I cast another image spell with my now slightly aching horn. Only slightly aching because I did not actually need to use it all that much. To my surprise, I was now surrounded by about fifty guards. ’They probably snuck over with their sound muffled due to whatever the type of the stealth spell used, while I was busy talking to Cross Heart. Suppose they’re not so bad after all...
’Odd. There seems to be a strong magical presence behind all of those gold-clad guards. I wonder who that might be.’
I turned my head towards where I noted their former captain to be, plastering as calm and easygoing a smile on my face as I could muster, though a fat lot of help it would do for me now. “Oh, hello Shining, fancy hearing you here! I, ugh… heard you’re married?”
“A for the effort to dodge. One more try.” He did not seem to be kidding around.
I shifted in place and awkwardly scratched the back of my head. “...They started it?”
One of the downed guards decided to chime in, “Oh, that’s a load of horseapples! You broke my leg! We were only trying to stop you from running away!”
I turned back sheepishly towards where I could feel Shining staring at me disapprovingly. “To be fair, it’s only dislocated. Besides, you could just use magic to heal it.”
“That does not change the fact you hurt him,” Dr. Cross decided to make herself known again.
“That moral high ground of yours must feel very nice, considering the fact that you could’ve stopped me at any moment if you disagreed so much with my actions, rather than taking your sweet time strolling the halls before catching up to me, only to join everyone else on ganging up on me like this. Really nice choice of supervisors Luna left for me.”
“So you’re saying you can’t be trusted to be held accountable for your own actions?” she retaliated.
“...You know very well that’s not what I was saying, you pretentious wench.”
“Alright everypony, break it up,” a new feminine voice sounded from behind the wall of angry guards, accompanied by a set of hooves maneuvering towards my location. “Regardless of his level of guilt, you all ganging up on a colt like this is still entirely uncalled for.”
“I’d say knocking him down a peg is entirely called for after his behavior and the trouble he’s caused. Also, he’s older than both my parents put together,” Shining countered in a deadpan.
“Still a colt to me,” the new voice replied confidently from right in front of me. “Hi! It’s so nice to finally meet you!” I heard her speak again, presumably holding out a hoof to me.
I cast a slightly uncomfortable image spell to see… a blob of candy pink predominating the front of my face, because blurry, washed-out colors were all I could actually see with my spell.
“I would like to use this opportunity to point out that I am still very much blind due to a lack of eyes,” I was briefly interrupted by a fair number of surprised guards simultaneously asking ‘Huh?’ and ‘Wait, what?’, over which I continued with, “and that there are still a few guards that need limbs reset. I’m also fairly certain I'm not physically capable of causing any visceral damage due to the magic protecting you. Still, I assume you'd rather have a different expert with local certification decide on that matter instead of the one responsible.”
“That’s… impressive,” the new voice replied;
To which Shining answered, “Please don’t encourage him, Cady,” in a pleading and resigned tone.
A particular kind of pleading and resigned. The kind that husbands adopt when trying to convince their wives to have mercy on their souls. ’…Wait. Cady? As in... Oh! So that’s what Celestia meant yesterday when she said he was family! Huh!’
As they finally started carrying the wounded crybabies away to get their diapers changed(****), I found myself enveloped in a pair of limbs which I assumed belonged to ‘Cady’, as she spoke. “Come on! You have to admit what he did was at least a little impressive. Besides, you always told me that the guards didn’t get enough field training…”
“Noooooo...!” Shining evenly warned.
“...and an alicorn colt does need exercise…”
“Cady, I’m serious!”
“...so why don’t you ask Auntie Luna if he could spar with them from time to time?”
“I agree with this notion!” I immediately declared, foreleg raised, followed by a chorus of groans and a couple whimpers all around us. “So, Cady. That stand for Cadance? Luna mentioned you.”
The sounds of guards dispersing, a quick peck on Shining’s cheek and a subsequent resigned huff later, I received an answer. “That I am. And I notice you’ve yet to start calling her your mother.”
“We’re still working things out. New world, new species, new age, this isn’t exactly a change of shoes. I wasn’t aware that you were Shining’s wife, Luna seemed to have neglected to say that before we got sidetracked again. Well, before I sidetracked her.”
“Aunt Tia did tell me you tend to ramble like an old man,” she responded jovially.
“Among other things, I’m sure,” I responded back.
She caught on, but didn’t let herself get too discouraged. Cross cut ahead before she could say anything however, “We still have a long way ahead of us.”
“Oh, you’re still here?” I quipped.
“I suppose so. After all, I’m still supervising you. I hope this pretentious wench’s presence doesn’t bother you too much.”
“It does, but when did what I want ever matter?”
A pause later, she responded, “I do believe that opinion of yourself is something that will need to be brought up with you mother. For now, I suppose an explanation for my behavior would be in order.”
I decided to spare her the breath. “A psychological tactic. By refusing to acknowledge any attempt I might make to rebuke your passive deconstruction of my behavior and attitude, you’re effectively disarming me. I respect you for your obvious intelligence and undeniable wish to ‘help’ me, which leaves me without the ability to reasonably ignore or disregard you, which gives me no other choice but to acknowledge your authority and how right you are.”
She decided she had enough. So she let herself loose. “...You are unable to let yourself be helped by others because of several barriers you’ve put around yourself, as well as several misconceptions that took root and could not be removed because you were alone for the last ten years. You are vindictive, paranoid, mentally dissociated, and a misanthrope, though frankly I'm surprised you're this well off, all things considered. You expected things to stay horrible for you, you are unable to comprehend the concept of trust, or the idea that you would ever be happy again, which is now apparently because you do not believe your feelings matter. All of this, combined with your guilt, is why you were ever inclined to give up on trying to live your life, but there’s something else that pushed you over the brink. Something keeping you in your pit of despair, something you’re unable to face. Something that, if you do not come to terms with, then I’m afraid you will never be able to live your life, no matter what anyone else might try to do in order to help you.”
“I believe that’s quite enough psychoanalyzing.”
They remained silent for a while. Eventually, the good doctor responded, “Very well. I wish you the best of luck.” Followed by a spoken “Your majesties,” which I assumed was directed at Cadence and Shining, after which she walked away.
Silence continued to reign, eventually I had had enough. “So, since everyone keeps complaining about my desiccated appearance, who wants lunch?”
~~~ 🌙 ~~~
“You’re a long way from home, big guy.”
We stared at Death as she communed with her creature.The snallighast might’ve responded for all we knew, none of us spoke Ghast.
“Let’s send you back home,” she spoke again, waving her hand before her. And like that, the beast was gone. “Remind me to give you a Return spell for when more of these creatures arrive. Don’t worry, it can’t be used, or reverse-engineered against your charge. It’s actually quite likely now that the world would try to conspire to do that.”
“So you were saying that someone was conspiring to take my charge away?”
She eyed me oddly. “No, I did not say that. Honestly, the necromancer I understand coming to such a conclusion, what with the paranoia he’s developed. You, however, are being such a mother.” I felt a blush forming, and a suppressed chuckle from my sister. “At any rate, none of my siblings nor myself have noticed any of our creatures disappearing lately. It would seem that your new charge has managed to get himself in yet another pickle.
“There is a phenomenon called a Metastatic Incursion, a term coined after the symptoms of a disease due to similarity.” Lady Death continued, “With the disease, it occurs when an invasive agent spreads from an initial area to a different one within the host's body. In our current situation, we are dealing with this plane of reality repeatedly attracting more entities similar in origin to the initial invasive element, in this case your charge. Unlike the case of the illness, the Incursions happen as an immune response." She looked our way to verify if we were following. "This phenomenon doesn’t happen often, because the rare cases of people sliding into other realities don’t land themselves in quasi-sentient realms sensitive to the initial incursion, or realms so unyielding as to take sufficient exception to the interference the respective alien would cause to the realm's already determined fates and destinies. Then again, this world seems so heavily skewed over the side of order, that it brands its creatures’ destinies on their sides like they were cattle, so...”
“No, that’s not actually what happened,” Celestia intervened. “We’re not told what our fate is, we’re told how to best achieve our personal growth and fulfillment. Our marks also serve to enhance our aptitudes as well, in a manner identical to what connects a god of an element to the respective element. If anything, we are our own gods, in a way.”
“That’s…” Index finger raised, Death stammered for a while, said finger gradually lowering until eventually she gave up on trying to retaliate. “Moving on. So, because of this world’s… specific attributes, whatever they might be; and due to the fact that your new charge arrived on your realm so suddenly and forcefully, your realm is now imbalanced. Now, it is drawing in these other beings for three reasons. Firstly, as a coping mechanism, in order to understand the invading element and its nature through studying less offensive variations of the initial alien, as well as through studying the first alien’s interactions with the newly added strain. Second reason, in order to arbitrarily throw things on the table until it resembles something more balanced. And third, by learning from these new strains, this realm is adapting itself in order to survive, same way animals instinctively sample any soil and plants they come across during their developmental stages, in order to develop antibodies. You could also liken this phenomenon to a kind of self-vaccination.”
“In other words, no, there is no conspiratory element out there trying to get your boy. Reality just literally takes offense to his existence. Much like Vertigus did in a figurative way, and most everyone else of his peers did in a less figurative way.”
“...That’s just depressing,” one of the doctors in the background sounded out.
I then remembered we had intruded into the scientists’ affairs, without so much as acknowledging their existence in any way. Except for Delirium, however, who seemed more preoccupied with staring at our ponies with childlike wonder in her eyes, in favor of paying attention to what her older sister was discussion with us.
“Maybe you should go give your colt a hug,” Tia suggested, to which I could only nod numbly in return.
I cast a spell to find his location given by the runes I and my sister placed on him, and found him next to that of Cadence and Shining Armor. ‘Oh, they already arrived? I didn’t notice…’
I started casting a teleportation spell, then remembered I had a visitor I was bridging across the eternal void between dimensions. An eternal void which was yet not enough for my child to be finally rid of his old world’s troubles. Troubles which are now being sent intentionally to end him before he even had the chance to do anything wrong.
Then I felt that particular magical strain lift, simultaneously to my sister’s horn glowing with greater intensity. She merely tilted her head towards the door in a ‘go on, off with you’ gesture, to which I smiled thankfully.
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So yes. Necky literally gave Equestria cancer. Sortof. Kind of. I dunno, what do you think I am?
Some sort of a carcinogeneticist on an asteroid?
Wow! We really got an update!
So is it going to be continued, or the story stays on hiatus?
8503606
Hopefully he didn't make it undead cancer, otherwise things might get even worse! wait...
Also, though pretty exposition heavy, good chapter. I'm already liking Cadance as getting Necky better than most already.
So... different Dimensions can have allergic reactions to intruding particles of other dimensions?
are these Dimensions alive? sounds like a immune system minus the actual "antibodys" system defenders if you will..... I hope there will not come some kind of lunatic order "defending" his realm...
8503676
Please. If there's an order, it's one that wants to control the beasts for their own agenda.
As for the antibodies, Luna and Celestia were supposed to fend him off as 'white cells'. The overall organism can react in a number of ways.
8503640
Technically, tumors are immortal, so undead tumors would be redundant.
8503632
Read the author's notes.
8503697
Thus he invades
and mimics the other white Antibodies.. Leucozyts.... should he be able to show the Dimension he is in that he would also defend it he could be welcomed ^^" enough with all these metaphors of immune systems and diseases, will he get to experiment with trust? even slightly? I am looking forward to read about it in the next 3 years xD because that is how long my education to being a physiotherapist is going to last... we just got through immune systems by the way.
best explanation best explanation ever ^^
It's great to see that you're back with this story, I hope to see more of your story. I feel that one of the issues I might see in your story is that you try to explain too much on the rules of the worlds with very long expositions that is bogging down the story itself and the character development. I Don't think you need any explanation on the rule of 'show, don't tell' and I won't go further on the theory. I feel that the rationalizing of everyone thoughts might kill and prevent a lot of the natural world building and discovery of the main character. At Least these are might thoughts on the matter.
Huh... This Reality is quite impressive
Well, that was a very interesting chapter. I like the setup you have with the world, and really like how thoroughly you seem to have thought things through. The really interesting thing is that unlike most big plots, the logical solution to this one is basically to just ignore it until it goes away because he is now in an Equestrian body and should become more and more "native" over time as he adapts and lowers some of his defenses, so these incursions should taper off in both frequency and danger as he learns and grows. I don't think I've ever seen a story do that before, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it works out.
Also, I'm very much with the rest of the group that dislocating limbs was going too far. It's one thing to give them some bruises and humiliate them because that does have real learning value, especially if he sits down with them after the fact for a proper debrief, but when medical attention is required you fundamentally make things more serious and can't just brush it off.
Wow I must admit i have had to reread the story from the beginning to remember what has happened but that just means that I can enjoy the story twice.
I am enjoying the amount of thought you have put into why reality itself is trying to kill Necky and I admit I want to see Cadence and Cross's reaction to when they find this out along with Necky's saying that he wasn't paranoid as reality was out to get him.
Oh shit! An update!
When I first saw this update, I actually thought it was for the original...
it Lives!!
8504098
Objectively, yes dislocating limbs was excessive, but I can see why Neccy (at the time) may not have considered that. My theory: A) Cross, while claiming to have the ability to control him (if I remember correctly) not only failed to do so, but didn't even make an attempt to request he stop his actions, thereby giving him tacit approval (and making her following attempt to make him feel bad about his behavior pointless and hypocritical, as Neccy pointed out). B) If he gives up his remaining powers (as Luna & Celestia want), then he will have to rely on the Guard for protection. If they cannot contain him in his current, weakened state, then they have no hope of defending him from any actual threats, which means he needs to keep his powers.
Granted I'm guessing at the motives of an unbalanced necromancer from another reality, but it does seem to fit the personality involved.
8504254
Yep, that'll be a fun conversation.
8504254
Oh god, I hadn't considered it that way yet.
Paranoia is officially underkill now. The world itself is literally out to get him...
He's going to "I told you so" soooo hard and be insufferable about that, isn't he.
It will be glorious to witness.
IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!
Good chapter.
Just found this.... saw it updated four days ago... started to grin.
Then I saw the hiatus tag...
Some of the best character development I’ve seen in a good while
8513992
Thank ya kindly
I look forward to seeing this update in a year or two!
Its interesting that I have actually already read your story. I was reading it a few day ago in fact. I followed it from the story you say its a 'sequel' to which I enjoyed immensely.
Even with the former stories flaws it was in fact a better story then what you have written. Their is several issues with your story in both practice and structure.
Structure: This story is a dull read. It has interesting ideas and parts but no real soul. It lacks themes and real weight behind actions. the choice of first person perspective really hampers this story. It opens like the main character knows we are here and is explaining what is happening even going so far as to ramble at us. What is the point of this story? What is it you are trying to tell me? Your characters are both well structured and completely unformed.
Practice: This story is all tell and very little show. Everything we know about the characters is because we are told directly what kind of characters they are. This ruins the wight of the story as we don't sympathies with them. When you tell us what a character is feeling and not HOW it is feeling people don't feel their pain as their own. They can't form a connection to the characters. Its funny because of this you have logical interactions with zero emotional weight and while a person can analyze your character they can't get an emotional sence of them. Even after reading your whole story I can barely tell you anything about your protagonist or why Luna cares to adopt him. There are reasons but they don't feel real.
I'll also point out how often you seem to just tell us something about where the protagonist is and not what his experience is. For instance you say the went into a cave. What did the cave smell like? Look like? How did the air taste? Was it a dry or rotten cave? Did the sun shine deep in or is it dark and murkey? Even when you do tell us about the environment it is in clinical terms. Its like you are listing a series of historical events and not telling a story.
The real problem: You are not telling a story. You write way to many words without saying anything. You have no feeling in your work.
Pull the beam from your own eye before you come and curse at other writers.
Very interesting cosmology, and you built it well into the story, the dialogue looks natural.
8517966
It's not easy trying to find common ground with a main character that's the archetypal 'bad guy, dungeon boss'. He's not your generic shoe-in blank slate for the reader to fill into, which means that I could not forgo all of this tedious exposition and internal monologuing. The point of the Necromancer's ramblings was that rambling was what he did at this point in his life, and that it was meant to evidence that he was not okay, and that he was still trying to hold on to reason. The point of the story was to focus on internal conflicts during the process of two characters finding common ground. The point of the first person, past tense journal layout was to make it as easy as possible for the reader to get to know two main characters with more depth than commonly found in protagonists, and to make a better point of view for the reader to understand their character arks.
The reason why it was so dull and uneventful was because of multiple reasons.
-There were a lot of things to explain, I had to orientate two main characters regarding each other; as well as regarding the fairy tale land of Equestria and the dark fantasy world of Vertigus. This caused an extended exposition phase, also known as the 'statis' phase (hint hint).
-Again, the main characters were not blank slates, and their particular natures offer for further disconnection from the reader, and a wider chasm to bridge. The focus so far was internal struggle, rather than your standard underdog-vs-big-bad, or chase-your-childhood-dream, or race-to-the-top. I also needed to fashion character growth without actually falling back on either the century-and-a-half Necromancer or the over-a-millennium-old demigod undergoing a child's self-discovery ark... yet.
So far, all I had to go on were an old man's ramblings about pragmatism; about the difference between survival and life; between a planet completing its rotation until its sun came into view, and a sunrise. If that wasn't enough to keep the reader interested, then there was nothing I could do about that. Before I could go into any manner of conflict, I needed to express the characters' points of view in order for the reader to understand their particular standards for stakes and wants.
-the main focus of the story isn't the pursuit of some big bad, but the active development of a paranoid dark lord's trust, and a demigod's motherly love. So far. There needed to be an academic basis for why it was such a big deal for each of them. I also cannot express how much of a difference there is between the internal conflicts I'm focusing on and the overall more straightforward and simpler format of a blank slate main character completing training with Mr. Miyagi then doing backflips while fighting Agent Smith. The Hero's Journey is an example that everyone and their mother can do. It's an example, not a rule.
Also, I didn't intend to curse your work, I actually do find it one of the better stories on this site. What I was cursing were your immersion-breaking grammatical mistakes, and your crippling syntax errors during those parts of the story where it was the most important for you to be explicit and clear to understand. I'm sorry for taking exception to them to the point where I might've upset you, but some of those errors really were that bad.
852560 I wish to apologise for the tone of my comment. I wrote it shortly after reading yours while tierd and irritated.
8525948
It's alright, I enjoyed the second opinion :)
plus I should've been more polite as well
8545758
thx m8
Loved the chapter. As a side note, does Necky know any other types of magic? If he's been alive for as long as he says, it'd make sense that's he's picked up a few different kinds of magic, if only for survival. Things such as being able to draw small amounts of water out of the surrounding area or being able to conjure small flames in his hand.
8559981
He can, just not that well. He has only limited arcane talent, he's just as likely to create a campfire with arcane means as he is to blow the camp up if he's not careful, despite having the theory pretty well set. At any rate, it would be easier for him to 'conjure' something through his necromancy, like creating hellfire instead of using arcane principles to siphon heat into regular flame, or puppeteering a skeletal hand instead of simply levitating something.
In order from easier to difficult, I imagine it would be easier for him to manipulate or conjure the waters of Styx (which would still be really freaking difficult for the legendary Living Lich, nevermind anyone without his talent), then modifying his vampiric siphoning into gathering the moisture from his surroundings, then using arcane energy to gather water out of thin air. It's kind of like trying to suture with a shovel. You can't do it, you can only try breaking a piece of the blade off and use that instead. Which is nothing like a proper needle, and he needs to constantly actively correct his method. Either that, or use some manner of magical array or crystal as an intermediary, he would literally have an easier time bringing the dead back among the living, or communicating with them and sending them back to rest, than lifting a cup of coffee.
I also figure that anything that would require going directly against the laws of physics, like attempting to create something out of nothing, would require the far rarer and more volatile psionics, whereas arcane energy would be more like working around set laws. The difference between maneuvering a boat down a river, and a joker character walking upstream unfettered. In the end, every proficiency would require the user to work with what they have, rather than just either magicking a Deus Ex out of their ass, or reaching the legendary and elusive Super Sayian God Super Sayian Blue 3 Kayo-Ken times 20 Super Sayian Ultra Instinct Omen Super Sayian Honky. I try to steer away from that kind of nonsense.
Instead, he could for example, use a water bottle, or flint and steel, like a normal person :) Or maybe a Bag of Holding at some point from an enchanter. He does, however, know how to effectively punch pressure points on an adversary after graduating from the School of Hard Knocks; but what I consider most invaluable, he learned when it's best to run away and regroup when facing overwhelming odds, rather than doing a heroic dive with his greatsword in hand towards a dragon, only to find himself closely acquainted with the teeth of said magical fiery-blooded reptile.
8564749
Yeahhh... Thanks, mate. Also, disregard the latest actual Death Battle. The one where they revealed that somewhere along the line of the series, Naruto developed some super Frog Mode, entertained a friendship with his resident Ninetales that meanwhile got reunited with his separated half, then had some Sage powers thrown in on top somehow.
I don't even know where Luffy got his powerups either, I stopped watching One Piece at around the episode presenting, what? Cactus Island? The one with the smoke-fruit-wielding sheriff guy chasing Luffy while the latter was telling the former how he wanted to defeat Sir Crocodile and was actually therefore on Smokey's side?.. Whichever was last.
Haven't read but that is the best cover art ever
how can some one have a sequel if they haven't compleated the orengonal? WTF https://www.fimfiction.net/story/61802/foal-necromancer
8875702
As stated, from the very beginning, it's a kind of re-write. It's a sequel in the sense that it's not the original work... almost like re-releasing a movie after it's been updated to modern times or re-performed with new actors. The premise is the same. The plots are directly related. The author is different and the telling is new even if it's just being retold in a slightly different fashion.
In other words, it's saying "Hey, this was good, I liked it, but I wanted to throw my own spin on it without it being a wholly new tale."
Also, pointing out that it's not the original? That's a good way to make it VERY obvious that you're not trying to claim someone else's work as your own. We've all heard of Bram Stoker's Dracula.... but you don't see Bram Stoker's Scooby Doo Eldrich Vampire. They appropriate the characters and background without stomping on toes and saying they should get the credit.
The guards were useless.
Their only way to deal with enemies is to gain up on them.