749 - The Lifeline
As a dizzying sensation swept over her, it took only a moment for Akna’s excitement to turn into trepidation.
That she’d returned to Darkest Night, the home of the goddess she’d accepted into her heart, was immediately evident to her. The realization went beyond simply being obvious; she couldn’t not have known where she was, having been there once before. The realm of the Night Mare was a place that, assuming you survived the trip, was impossible to forget.
Nowhere else had such a pervasive sense of tension. It was in the air itself, the atmosphere heavy with apprehension, making Akna feel as if she were being watched but couldn’t figure out where from. Every alcove seemed as though it were hiding a predator waiting to pounce, every wall a false front that held a hidden passage with a waiting assassin. The slightest movement, the faintest sound; any of it could have been warning of imminent danger.
But that tension cut both ways, bringing with it a rush that seemed to heighten her awareness. Every moment felt like the moment during a hunt, or before a fight broke out, when her limbs seemed almost to tingle with restless energy, her senses all operating at maximum capacity in anticipation of what was about to happen. Akna could already feel her breath speeding up, her fur standing on end, and she couldn’t help but bask in how alive she felt in that moment.
Even so, she immediately knew that things hadn’t turned out the way she’d been hoping.
All around her was a dense forest, similar to the one that surrounded the river which led to the Shrine of the Starless Sky back in the mortal world. While Akna doubted that was a coincidence – according to the Keeper, the Night Mare’s power didn’t extend past the borders of the Shrine itself, but she couldn’t bring herself to discard the idea that the goddess’ holy place was the reason those woods were infested with so many dangerous monsters – that was less important than the fact that they were surrounded completely by wilderness, with no identifiable landmarks that she could make out. And while her darkvision meant that she wasn’t blind, there was no immediate way to figure out exactly where in the Night Mare’s realm she was.
This is no good, sighed Akna inwardly. If I don’t know where I am, then it’ll take me that much longer to find one of the Umbral Regalia.
Because the goddess’s sacred weapons were also among her most trusted servants, they were rarely idle. With no need to eat or sleep, and a firm sense of what the Night Mare wanted, they were continually dispatched to run various errands on the goddess’s behalf. And while Akna knew that a lot of those tasks took them beyond Darkest Night, she was also aware that they performed a significant number of duties within its boundaries.
Defending the borders of the realm. Greeting important visitors. Relaying instructions from the Night Mare to lesser functionaries. Transporting sensitive materials to and from places where they couldn’t be magically moved. There were many jobs that kept the Umbral Regalia busy, which meant that finding them was a matter of figuring out what was going on that required the attention of one of the Night Mare’s mightiest servants. But that would require information, which Akna knew she wouldn’t find if she was out in the realm’s hinterlands.
Which meant that in order to get anywhere, she’d first need to find her way to the nearest settlement.
Not to mention I’ll need to get back to my body once I’m done, she reminded herself, glancing over her shoulder.
That was something else that the Keeper had taught her before she’d first undergone the Rite. Failure meant having your soul drawn to the Night Mare’s realm, in which case you needed to get back to your body as quickly as possible, lest one of the place’s other denizens slip into it before you could. Once that happened, he’d impressed upon her, you were stuck here, and your hopes of ever leaving became extremely slim.
Fortunately, anyone who’d been displaced from their body via failing the Rite had an edge when it came to finding their way back: they had a marker that would point them in the right direction.
Akna wasn’t sure why it took the form of an intangible silver cord, barely the length of her muzzle, extending out from between her shoulders – the Keeper had called it a “lifeline,” whatever that meant – but the wisp of thread would always point back toward her body. Or rather, toward the Akna-shaped statue of pure darkness, as though someone had sculpted the Confluence to look like her, that had appeared somewhere within Darkest Night. All she had to do was throw herself into it, the same way she had the Confluence itself, and she knew she’d awaken back at the Shrine.
And of course, anything she was carrying would make the trip with her, hence why she’d been able to bring Headhunter back last time.
But as she glanced at her back, catching sight of the insubstantial thread what was waving toward her right, Akna noticed that she wasn’t alone.
Standing a short distance away from her, Lex Legis was holding a hoof to his head, a shocked expression on his face.
Then, slowly, he lowered his foreleg...and smiled broadly.
The sight was enough to send a nervous flutter through Akna, the nature of Darkest Night causing her fight-or-flight instincts to flare up. Like her, the thin cord extending from his back was pointing off to his right, but he didn’t seem to be aware of it. In fact, he didn’t seem to be aware of anything, staring into space with that creepy grin on his face.
Slowly edging away from him, Akna got ready to bolt. If he used that power the Night Mare had given him to take control of her again, he’d almost certainly refuse to let her search for one of the Umbral Regalia, instead marching both of them right back to their bodies. But if I can put some distance between us before he notices me, then he might not be able-
A soft growl stopped her in her tracks.
Her heart pounding even as her ears swiveled toward the source of the sound, Akna settled into a crouch. A glance back at Lex showed that he hadn’t reacted to the sound, hadn’t so much as moved, still staring at nothing with that twisted grin on his face. What was he doing? Didn’t he realize he was in danger?!
It’s not my problem, Akna decided, carefully backing away from both the continued snarling and the unresponsive stallion. In fact, this is a good thing. Once whatever’s there makes its move, I can take off and let him deal with it. Hopefully the growling creature would keep him distracted long enough for her to get away. Let him bully someone else into serving as his bodyguard while he went back to...to...
It was then that Akna saw the flaw in her plan.
I CAN’T leave him behind! she realized, even as another soft growl came from off to her left. The black statue that’ll take him back to his body is probably right next to mine! If he forces one of the denizens here to accompany him to it, then when he leaves, there’ll be nothing to stop whatever he brought with him from taking my body for itself!
Even if the stallion had the wherewithal to kill whatever creature he dragooned into serving him before leaving, he’d likely still end up leading something else to the passage leading back to her body. Lex Legis was many things, but subtle wasn’t one of them. Nor would she be safe even if he was killed by whatever was hunting them now; many of the creatures in Darkest Night were no smarter than animals, but while a large number of the realm’s more intelligent residents chose to live in the settled areas, there were plenty of others who preferred the wilds.
Those smarter creatures would pose a problem for her even if Lex died. Akna didn’t know if being slain here left a corpse behind or not – they were, after all, souls without bodies right now; would they fade away into nothing if killed, or would something be left over? – but if they were, then it probably wouldn’t be very long until something found Lex’s remains and had the intelligence to figure out that if they followed where his lifeline was pointing, they could take his body...or hers.
One way or the other, leaving Lex on his own meant that she’d likely lose her body in short order. She had to defend him, whether she wanted to or not!
Fighting back a scream of frustration as she circled in place, looking for the source of the growling, Akna tried to figure out what to do. Maybe we can make some sort of deal. He can find where our black statues are, and stand guard over them while I go looking-
Another growl, this one much closer, drew her out of her frantic thoughts. Whatever’s out there, there are at least three of them, she observed grimly. Judging from the sounds of it, the other two were off to either side, while the third one was moving in closer. But at least it’s not very quiet, she noted, ears flicking forward as she heard the sound of soft steps approaching through the underbrush. If it keeps approaching like that, I should be able to get a glimpse of it before it moves in.
Steadying her breathing, Akna waited, trying to pay attention to three different directions simultaneously. But the one approaching from the front was making the most noise, and that made it difficult for her to take her eyes off of the undergrowth directly ahead of her. Despite her darkvision, whatever was moving was still concealed by the low-hanging branches, and all she could determine was that it was roughly as big as her.
Just a little closer, she decided, silently taking in a deep breath of air. While most creatures back home were immune to severe cold, the denizens here were another matter. If she hit whatever was approaching full-on with a blast of super-cooled air, it would likely have no way of shrugging it off. And if we’re lucky, that’ll hurt it enough to scare it and its companions away.
The loud snapping of a twig could be heard as whatever it was continued its approach. Almost, judged Akna quietly, holding her breath now that her lungs were full. Almost...
Not moving as she saw the leafy fronds in front of her start to quiver, Akna opened her jaws-
And then a bright flash stole her sight.
It was all Lex could do not to burst out laughing.
He had lost absolutely everything. Not just his home or his followers, the Night Mare’s test had stripped him of the things that had given his life meaning. His hopes for the future, his sense of purpose, his self-respect; all were gone now, taken away not because of some grandiose failure of one of his intricate plans, nor because he’d been defeated in a climactic battle, but simply by a few measured words that had utterly destroyed everything he’d built his life on.
And now that he’d failed to pass the Rite of Sublimation, he was about to lose his body as well. Being stranded in the Night Mare’s realm would doom Thermal Draft in turn, and likely the mares of Fail Forward as well, to say nothing of all the other ponies in on two worlds whom he’d made the decision to protect. In the unending string of failures that was his life, this was by far the lowest he’d ever sunk.
Despite all that, he couldn’t stop smiling.
He knew he should have been feeling worse than he’d ever imagined. That he should have been consumed by guilt and despair and self-loathing. That his tulpa should have been tearing into him with vitriolic words to further shove the meaninglessness of his life violently into the forefront of his consciousness. But all of that was absent now, overridden by the wonder, relief, and elation that were flowing through him. Those emotions blotted out his awareness of everything else in favor of reveling at the presence that he was suddenly registering.
And in his mind, a familiar voice howled in joy.
MASTER!
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Divine authority extends further than Lex realised? And Solvei has a spare body ready for her as well?
I mean Solvei died while serving the Night Mare. A bit surprising she remembers anything, but otherwise it's not unsual for her to be there.
I am just going to sit here drink my Tee and watch this crap show play out... and Ohhh boy this is going to bee good.
Looks like not everything is lost and this may even bring new opportunities.
11344158 I'll point out that a clue was given back in Chapter 655, one that was important enough that it warranted Severance speaking directly "on screen" as it were:
11344226 Is that why she's there, though? After all, it might be that there's more going on than Lex realizes, though hopefully that means that Solvei will be able to clue him in shortly...if they can deal with whatever's attacking first.
11344471 With any luck, Lex will find a way to turn things around now that Solvei's apparently back. With all that he's suffered, surely there's nowhere to go from here but up, right?
11345042 Hopefully so! At the very least, it looks like Lex has one more ally than he expected. Now it's just a question of capitalizing on that enough to make it back to his body.
But what will happen to Solvei if he does that?
plus there were parts at the back that should not have been in italics.
Welp, stupid flu kicked my ass(and my lungs) for the past few days by like Solvei, I'm back and slowly recovering. Shame I missed the chapter upon its release but on the bright side, I get to enjoy the next one sooner.
Anyways, while Akna has a plan of sorts, I do have to wonder on what basis does she believe that any of the Umbral Regalia, should she encounter any, would be willing to entertain her plan let alone go along with it. Though given her current predicament, I doubt she'll be able to try it should her fate end in dire straits.
Still, if she 'dies' here, her body would be left open to occupation...
Regardless, having Lex reach the breaking point of nearly breaking out into maddened laughter was unnerving. Tried to imagined Pinkamina Smile or Crazy Twilight but with Lex...and I gotta say, it's unnerving
Hopefully with Solvei's potential return, Lex will pull himself back together. Though first thing first, figure a way out of here though I suppose since he might still try to get the power he desperately needs to save Thermal Draft and Fail Forward and possibly hasten his return to Equestria.
11347041 Whoops, thanks for catching that incomplete tag! Fixed now!
Also, glad you're feeling better! Make sure to take it easy and rest up while you recover!
With regard to what happened in this chapter, Akna clearly has some idea of what she's doing, though at this point we're not privy to any plans she has beyond simply locating one of the Umbral Regalia. She was able to bring one back with her to begin with, so maybe she's planning on doing whatever she did then a second time? It's hard to say, since we still don't know all of the circumstances behind how she got Headhunter to help her before.
As for Lex...I mean, it's nice that there's something good (apparently) happening now, but I have to wonder just how much emotional whiplash he can take. The Rite seemed like a breaking point for him, and he's had several of those happen lately, so at this point it's not surprising to think that he might have simply cracked from the psychological strain. Hopefully he'll find some solace via a certain someone making a return appearance, but it's hard to be sure. At this point, we can't even be sure if he's unaware of the imminent danger he's in or just doesn't care.
I suppose we'll find out soon.