62 - Blood in the Water
There was no warning before the attack came.
One moment Lex was standing vigilant at the end of the pier, his wary eyes turned towards the wharf, as the two earth pony sailors started to clamor back onto their lifeboat, their pegasus companion already flying back towards the ship. Then everything descended into chaos.
Sudden splashes from the direction of the lifeboat were immediately followed by brief, aborted yells from the sailors. It took Lex only a fraction of an instant to turn his head towards them, but by the time he did there was nothing to see except an empty boat, rocking in the wake of whatever force had pulled those two into the water. Lex’s eyes had just enough time to widen, barely beginning to process what had happened, when another splash reached his ears…from behind him!
Lex whirled, and had just enough time to see a pony-sized creature hurtling towards him, having leapt from the water. It had four limbs, each ending in clawed fins. Its eyes were wide and bulging. Its body was covered with greenish scales. A large tail waved behind it. And worst of all was its mouth, which was wide open, revealing row upon row of sharp teeth. Teeth which were mere feet away from him as the trajectory of the creature’s leap brought it closer…and Lex knew that he wouldn’t be able to cast a spell before it reached him, and that when it did its momentum would carry them both into the water, which was undoubtedly what had happened to the sailors he’d lost sight of just a moment ago.
The thing was mere feet away from him when Severance struck.
In a single motion it spun forward, its long blade dipping down before curving up again in a sharp arc that passed through the creature’s midsection. The thing gave a strangled croak as it was instantly bisected, its top and bottom halves separating and covering Lex in a shower of blood. Finishing its lethal arc without slowing, Severance resumed its upright position, as though it had never moved.
For a moment Lex could only gape, as much due to the sudden turn of events as at being suddenly drenched with gore, before regaining control of himself. Immediately, he returned to shadow-form and plunged straight downward, passing through the wood of the pier and into the water below. Those other ponies that had been taken needed his help!
As he moved below the shoreline, Lex – his immaterial body unimpeded by the water, and with his vision enhanced to see through the gloom – caught sight of the two sailors. Both of them were struggling futilely with their captors, each of which was a creature identical to the thing that had just attacked him. Even as he caught sight of them, Lex could see the scaled monstrosities grappling with the sailors, their claws digging into them to prevent them from swimming back to the surface, causing the two to thrash in pain and terror.
Even as Lex began to cast a spell, one of the creatures leaned its head towards its prey and bit the earth pony’s neck, its sharp teeth sinking deeply into the soft flesh. The sailor screamed, a sound that ended abruptly as both water and his own blood began to fill his throat. An instant later, Lex’s spell went off, firing two beams of dark energy that lanced through the water to hit each of the aquatic creatures.
For an instant, both monsters stiffened, and then went completely still, slain by the necromantic energy that Lex had flooded their bodies with. Or at least, he hoped they were slain, as he had no more time to devote to fighting them, not if he wanted to save the life of the pony that had just been bitten. Already the sailor’s motions were slowing, despite his attacker being dispatched, and Lex could see that his eyes were beginning to close. Sparing the briefest of glances to confirm that the second sailor was currently swimming back towards the surface under his own power, Lex grabbed the dying earth pony in his telekinetic grasp and began to haul him upwards.
A unicorn’s telekinesis was only marginally stronger than what they could do bodily, and Lex – who had always eschewed physical training in favor of more cerebral pursuits – had to struggle to haul the sailor above the water. After what seemed like an eternity, but was in fact only a few seconds, he managed to get him above the water and lay him down on the pier, a few feet away from where the other sailor had managed to drag himself, coughing and sputtering.
Resuming corporeal form, Lex immediately wrenched his haversack open…and stopped cold as he looked at the contents. No…no no NO!
“Wh-what just happened?!” coughed the less-injured earth pony, shaking like a leaf.
“What’s going on?!” echoed the pegasus sailor who’d been with them, landing a few feet away. “I just- oh sweet Celestia! Sandbar!” He ran over to the earth pony whose throat had been torn open, his face stricken. “N-no!” Near panicking at the sight of his companion, the pegasus could only stare in horror for a moment before turning frantic eyes to Lex. “Do something!”
“Shut up shut up SHUT UP!” roared Lex, trying not to panic himself. He had a healing spell, thanks to the Night Mare, and although it wasn’t much of one compared to what he’d seen on Everglow, he knew that it would be enough to save the earth pony’s life if he cast it before he died, which would likely be in the next few seconds. But that spell was one that required material components to cast, and when Lex had opened his haversack – which was enchanted to always have the item that its owner wanted right on top – the vial that contained the devil’s blood that he needed to cast this spell was empty.
Forcing himself to remain calm, Lex went over what he knew about that spell. Other than devil’s blood, there was no substitute that would allow it to function, save for “unholy” water, which Lex knew he didn’t have. That was largely because he’d never been completely sure of what it meant to make water “unholy” to begin with, save for the assurances of Everglow’s religious-minded ponies that it was somehow imbued with the power of the deities that they’d deemed to be malevolent.
Deities like the Night Mare.
Inspiration came immediately, and Lex used his telekinesis to scoop some water from the bay, holding it aloft as he stared at it in silent concentration. He’d only performed a few experiments with the limits of the powers that the Night Mare had given him after their bargain, and most of those had served only to establish what it couldn’t affect, but maybe it would work now.
No, not “maybe!” It HAD to work! This pony, Sandbar, was dying as a result of his having joined in to help save Vanhoover, which meant that it would be Lex’s fault if he lost his life. That was not acceptable! After everything he had been through, all of the time and effort and ostracism that he’d suffered in creating his superior philosophy of governance and gaining the strength necessary to enforce it, Lex refused to entertain the possibility that it would lead those ponies that followed him to disaster, so THIS HAD TO WORK!
Even as he hardened his resolve, Lex focused on the water, concentrating on it as he reached out with that power the Night Mare had given him. For a moment, he felt it brush against the liquid, and he feared that it would be like all the other times he had directed it against an incompatible creature. But then he felt it surge forward, entering the water and becoming absorbed by it, and he knew that, against all odds, it had succeeded!
Immediately, he put a hoof on Sandbar and waved another as he chanted the words to the spell, dribbling the newly-minted unholy water over the gash on his throat. As he did so, Lex made sure to silently invoke the power of the circlet he always wore, letting the energy it contained substitute for that of the spell, so that it wouldn’t be expended. Based on what had happened in the last few minutes, there was no way he wasn’t going to keep his only healing magic available at all times.
As the water splashed over Sandbar’s torn neck, scar tissue slowly started to form. Several tense seconds passed by in silence, and then he suddenly thrashed, turning onto his belly as he began to reflexively hack up water and blood. The sight drew relieved cries from the other two ponies, and they crowded around him as he began to gasp, helping him up as he started to draw ragged breaths.
“You’re alright, buddy. You’re alright,” soothed the other earth pony, ignoring his own wounds as he focused intently on his friend. “You gave us one heck of a scare though.”
“What…what happened?” rasped Sandbar, still fighting to draw in enough air. But at least now he seemed to be winning that particular fight, as more scar tissue spread over his neck, fixing his throat.
“You all were attacked,” answered the pegasus. “Thank Celestia, he,” he pointed a hoof at Lex, “was able to save you.”
“No,” interjected Lex suddenly. “Not Celestia. It was thanks to the Night Mare that I was able to save him.” The puzzled looks that he received told him that his statement wasn’t understood, and he knew that this wasn’t the time to try and educate anypony about his divine patron. In fact, it had probably been foolish to bring it up at all considering everything that had just happened, but the very idea of thanking Celestia for anything that he had done, even if the saying was entirely perfunctory with no real gratitude behind it, rankled Lex greatly.
“Nevermind.” He dismissed the matter with a shake of his head. “We need to get back to the ship.”
“How?” asked the pegasus. “Taking the lifeboat back seems like it’d just be asking for more of those…things to attack us again!” His gaze went further down the pier, to where the two halves of the creature that had leapt at Lex were laying in a pool of viscera, shuddering.
“Fly…us…” coughed Sandbar, shakily climbing to his hooves.
The pegasus thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I can maybe carry one of you at a time, but that’d leave the other two alone while I did.”
“What about heading inland?” asked the second earth pony. “If we hole up in a building, maybe wait for daytime…”
“That’s a bad idea,” retorted Lex. “There’s no guarantee that we’ll be any safer there than we would be on the ship. Probably less safe, if what I saw when I was taking a look around was any indication.”
“Then what do you suggest?!” asked the pegasus shrilly, his voice rising in fear.
“I have a spell that will teleport us to the ship,” answered Lex. “It’s short-range only, but it should be close enough to get us all…” his voice trailed off as he looked out into the harbor, his eyes widening in alarm. Turning to see what had captured his attention, the other three gasped as they saw what he was looking at.
When the sun had started to set, the sailors on the ship had begun to hang lanterns off of various locations around the deck. Lex had overheard one of the passengers explaining to Sonata that that was not only so they’d have enough light to see by, but also so that the port would be able to see them arriving. And sure enough, it was close enough now that, by the glow of those lights, Lex and the others could see the ship fairly clearly.
There were more of those creatures, a lot more, clawing their way up its side.
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Looks like Lex needs to do a double. Port or shadow drag the others back to the ship, then send Severance into Kenwood mode.
And I mean both kitchen appliance and 18 wheeler.
Well, looks like I got my answer.
Though this begs the question, if the docks are infested with these creatures, what about the rest of Vanhoover?
Still, the immediate concern is the safety of those aboard the ship. Hopefully, Sonata and the crew can hold them off long enough for Lex to arrive to help. Though I doubt he'd be able to save everypony given the number of creatures climbing aboard.
Does Sonata meet Aria in this story?
7853139 Severance is a powerful weapon, as it's demonstrated here. But will it be enough on its own to turn things around?
7853349 One can only imagine how bad off Vanhoover is, if just trying to enter it has resulted in the current conflict. Lex is determined not to lose anypony as a consequence of rescuing the city, but it's an open question if his determination will be sufficient. After all, he only barely managed to save a single pony that was quickly reduced to near-death. How much can any one pony, no matter how powerful or intelligent, accomplish in the face of that?
7853412 You'll need to keep reading to find out.
Efficiency at its finest.
The typos have powerful magic, able to hide from my sight.
Poor Lex, he is going to have to drain his magic completely, isn't he?
7857334
I'm learning! And I see your point now.
Objection! Curse Water needs 5 pounds of silver.
8049421 Technically, you're right. The curse water spell has an expensive material components (i.e. 25 gp worth of powdered silver, which is 5 lbs. of the stuff), and so can't be ignored if you have Eschew Materials, which Lex has the equivalent of.
The reason we didn't see that here, however, is that Lex isn't casting that spell per se.
This gets back into how Lex's stats aren't made using traditional character classes. Rather, they're made with Eclipse: The Codex Persona, which allows for point-buy character generation and advancement.
In this case, what Lex used was the "Imbuement" power (Eclipse, p. 70), which allows him to expend a channel attempt to "attempt to bless a holy or unholy item, to create holy or unholy water, or to Consecrate or Desecrate an area." Since he's in service to an evil goddess, he can only create unholy items, unholy water, or desecrate an area in her name. That's what was going on there, rather than casting a spell; ultimately that makes more sense, as he's not simply receiving spells from her (well, other than the smattering that he is), but rather is able to directly call upon a fragment of her divine power, putting him a few rungs above what an ordinary cleric (or other divine spellcaster) could do.