Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

751 - Dying Inside

“This one might work.”

Akna’s comment brought the group to a halt, with Lex and Solvei pausing as the adlet examined a particularly large tree. While each of them had darkvision active – though in Lex’s case, it was because he was looking through Solvei’s eyes, keeping his own closed as he carefully walked alongside the winter wolf – none could see the top of the timber spire, its upper branches disappearing into the thick canopy overhead. Nor was there any indication that it had any inhabitants among its boughs...or that the tree itself was anything to be wary of.

That last point was clearly on Solvei’s mind, because she took inhaled deeply before breathing heavily on the base of the tree, slathering its trunk in ice crystals two inches thick and eliciting no reaction from the plant. “I think it’s okay,” she announced a moment later. “I mean, it might just be pretending to be normal, but that last tree-monster didn’t have any defenses against the cold, so...”

She shrugged, letting her statement trail off as she glanced at Lex. “What do you think, Master?”

It took Lex a moment to answer, needing to force himself to pay attention to the question she’d asked him. After everything that had happened – the turmoil that the Rite had put him through, the joy of Solvei’s return, and then finding out that Akna had followed him here – his mental discipline wasn’t up to maintaining the organized arrangements that he usually kept his thoughts in, resulting in his ruminating over recent events instead of paying attention to their immediate surroundings.

Under other circumstances that would have been unsettling, but in the hinterlands of Darkest Night it was dangerous in the extreme, as predators of all types roamed the wilds of the goddess’s realm.

That had been driven home quite pointedly when the last tree that Akna had examined had tried to kill them.

Fortunately, the scythe tree – that had been what Akna had called the blackened, seemingly-dead husk of wood that she’d tried to climb, since it had whipped its thin branches through the air so fast that they’d been more akin to blades than clubs – hadn’t been much of an enemy once the three of them had recovered from their surprise. While the thing had been able to uproot itself and move around, it had done so in a lumbering gait that had been at odds with the dexterous movement of its branches; since it had apparently possessed no magic, nor any notable defenses, it had been a small matter for them to hang back and let Solvei kill it from a distance with her inexhaustible supply of ice magic.

Hopefully, the large conifer in front of them now would prove to be what it looked like and nothing more since it hadn’t reacted to Solvei’s ice.

But Lex, his thoughts now in order, wasn’t prepared to bet everything on a single experiment. “Break some of its branches off. If it’s sapient, it will likely be pained and attack.”

“Will do!” yipped Solvei happily, her tail wagging happily as she carried out his order, forming a thick slab of ice with a sharp edge and using her telekinesis to hack at several of the tree’s lower branches.

“Don’t cut them all down,” huffed Akna as Solvei went to work. “I’m the one who has to climb this thing, without darkvision I might add, and it’s going to be hard enough without you lopping off all the easiest handholds.”

“Fine.” Rolling her eyes, Solvei let the conjured ice-blade – which was already starting to melt, since unlike back on Everglow the temperature in Darkest Night was merely cool rather than cold – fall to the ground. “Go ahead.”

Pausing just long enough to glance at them uncomfortably, Akna padded up to the tree before changing back into her adlet form, making sure to keep her back to the both of them and her tail curled between her legs. “Damn it,” she cursed, wobbling slightly as she put her hands against the tree trunk. “This isn’t going to work! I can’t see a thing!”

“Stop whining and reach up and to your left,” responded Lex with a harsh whisper...and the spell he had cast carried the words directly to Akna’s ears. “Use the branch there to haul yourself up. There’s a smaller one on your right you can use to stabilize yourself, but don’t put too much of your weight on it or it’s likely to break. After that...”

It took a few minutes, but slowly – and after more than a few false starts and several close calls – Akna ascended past the canopy.

With her having reached the edge of Solvei’s vision, since there was too much foliage in the way to clearly make her out now, Lex had no further instructions to give the adlet, lapsing into silence as he waited for her to say if she could see anything. According to her, Darkest Night had multiple settlements which maintained permanent lights; with any luck, there’d be one that was close by...and in the right direction, since they’d been following their so-called “lifelines” so far.

Just that thought was enough to break Lex’s concentration, and he found himself mentally reviewing what had happened since arriving in the Night Mare’s realm.

After Solvei had slain the creatures attacking them, Lex had managed to gather his wits enough to realize that they needed to move. The bright flashes from those things’ eyes, sounds of battle, and the bloody carcasses left behind would be enough to bring more creatures down on them, and so they’d set off. Fortunately Akna’s wounds weren’t that bad, though Lex had needed to telepathically tell Solvei to be quiet when she’d started to suggest that he imbue her with the power to heal the adlet. Having only a single application of the Charismata left, he wasn’t willing to waste it on the shaman’s injuries, especially since he hadn’t been sure why she was there.

But that last point was one that had been brought up quickly, since they hadn’t gotten far before Akna had informed them that they needed to change course, citing the ethereal silver cords that he and the adlet were now affixed with.

That had prompted a conversation about Akna’s being there, and to Lex’s surprise the outrage and betrayal he’d expected to feel at the adlet’s admission that she’d been not only expecting him to fail the Rite, but had also used that as an opportunity to make an attempt to retrieve another of the Night Mare’s living weapons – despite his having told her what a bad idea that was, and that he wanted no part of it – had failed to manifest. Quite the contrary, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to care at all that Akna was pursuing her own agenda.

He had, however, been much more interested in the – admittedly very useful – information Akna had about the conditions they had to operate under now. Apparently there were some sort of echoes of the Confluence that were shaped like the two of them somewhere in Darkest Night, and that anything which touched them first would inhabit their bodies. Solvei had been highly alarmed at this news, and even Akna had expressed a desire to undertake her quest to retrieve one of the Umbral Regalia with all due haste, lest she acquire one of those weapons only to lose her body in the process.

But again, Lex had found himself to be shockingly blasé about the possibility of being stranded here forever.

Worse, despite knowing that such passivity was highly unusual for him, he couldn’t even bring himself to feel concerned about his lack of concern.

If anything, the idea of staying in Darkest Night seemed almost appealing. After all, this was already where he was going to go when he died, so it wasn’t as though this was some sort of digression from his so-called destiny...a destiny that had turned out to be, he knew now, a complete lie. And since Sonata and Aria were quite possibly dead, and the princesses were likely dismantling his nascent kingdom, it wasn’t as though he had much of a life to go back to anyway.

That was particularly true with his circumstances on Everglow being what they were. Given that he’d pinned his hopes for defeating his current swathe of enemies – Sissel, Grisela, Paska, and the rest of their misbegotten clan – on completing the Rite and becoming an alicorn, a prospect which was utterly beyond his reach now, continuing that particular fight was almost certainly an exercise in futility. He’d already severely injured Woodheart and doomed Thermal Draft with his insistence on fighting every battle that came his way; better to be done with it before someone else paid the price for his inability to finish things the way Solvei had.

Which was the other reason not to go back: he’d almost certainly lose Solvei again.

Just the thought made his chest tighten. It wasn’t fear of going through that all-consuming pain a second time, however; it was just that he couldn’t bear to lose the winter wolf now that he’d gotten her back. That she’d been returned to his side so abruptly had been an unexpected positive from his failing the Rite, but it wasn’t one he was willing to give up; for how little merit he saw in continuing to fight, that was one point that he wouldn’t simply sit back and accept.

And he had little doubt that Solvei would be lost to him again if he returned to his body. Although she’d told him, during their trek through the dark forest, about how she’d remained at his side even after dying, the idea that she’d once again be relegated to an undetectable ghost following him around upon his return to his physical form was cold comfort indeed. He hadn’t been able to sense her like that, nor communicate with her or otherwise be cognizant of her presence. Even if he didn’t experience the agony of separation again, just the thought of her being so completely removed from his awareness made him nauseous.

With all of that in mind...why not cut his losses? It was one thing to accept hardship and suffering as necessities to be borne in pursuit of a worthwhile goal, but to do so for nothing was madness. At least here he’d be able to reevaluate his goals and possibly find something worthwhile to pursue.

Since he’d already completed his deal with the Night Mare to establish her religion on Equestria, it wasn’t like she’d be able to object. She might have given him a “chance to grow stronger” here on Everglow, but that had been little except an unending series of hardships that had cost him far more than he’d gained...his bond with Solvei notwithstanding.

Of course, none of that reasoning was conclusive. It was entirely possible that he could find not only a way to make up the difference with regard to the power he’d hoped to gain as an alicorn, but secure a method to resurrect Solvei as well. After all, the Night Mare had been willing to give him the means to bring back Cloudbank when it had suited her purposes, and even if she wasn’t willing to do the same for Solvei now, this was where her greatest servants dwelled. It wasn’t unthinkable that one of them would be capable of using life-restoring magic.

And while he’d chastised Akna for the idea, the thought of using one of the Umbral Regalia to cut through Sissel and her twisted siblings had a certain appeal to it.

The fact that the pale-skinned giant had been the one who killed Solvei in the first place wasn’t something that Lex had forgotten.

That was why Lex had agreed to let Akna try and get above the canopy to look for any nearby signs of civilization, rather than listen to Solvei’s surprisingly-vehement insistence that they get back to their bodies as quickly as-

“I see lights!”

Akna’s excited whisper brought Lex out of his ruminating. “Where?”

She paused for a second, likely trying to figure out how to indicate a direction without having any astronomical features, landmarks, or indicators of the cardinal directions – presuming Darkest Night even had magnetic poles – to reference. “If you look at where the first branch that Solvei cut down is pointing, they’re in that direction. It’s hard to tell how far away they are, but I think we can be there soon if we move quickly.”

Glancing at the branch in question, Lex noted idly that it was indicating the same general course that their lifelines were pointing toward.

Taking a moment to telepathically relay Akna’s findings to Solvei, Lex nodded. “Come back down. We’ll head that way immediately.”

Even if he hadn’t fully made up his mind as to whether or not he should stay in Darkest Night, at least the current course of action was clear. After finding whatever was waiting for them at those lights, however, decisions would need to be made.

After what he’d learned in the Night Mare’s test, hopefully he’d make the right choice for once.

Author's Note:

Despite Solvei's return, Lex falls into despair as the three of them traverse the Night Mare's realm!

Will he abandon everything to stay in Darkest Night? What's waiting for them at the lights that Akna spotted?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

From one plane of existence to the next, though this one could be very final should Lex truly give up everything he has worked so hard for. Still, with Akna's continued insistence of getting at least one of the Umbral Regalia, I wonder if Lex will encounter Severance in the Darkest Night, or if the Night Mare is actively watching him right now to see if he's truly become a disappointment...or will he rise to the occasion and fulfill his 'destiny'

Still, looking forward to the rest of the Darkest Night as Lex and his party make their way to this 'settlement'

[Booster Spice]

Hopefully Lex will find the Summon Familiar option or maybe some Imbue spirit effect, but verses a Regalias own self? Thats going to be an argument an a half.

[TheAbsoluteRadiance]

The Nighmare is the kind of goddess that become invested in her followers but at the same time isn't afraid to cut them out If they disappoint. now the question is "is Lex still worthy of her attention?" seeing that she now have her faith spreading in equestrian land Lex's both Hand and Deck is looking anemic.

How will Lex get himself out of this one while keeping Slovie and maybe the charismata? If he get to keep it.

[Alzrius]

11350853 It's unlikely that Lex will run into Severance here, since the Night Mare dispatched the scythe to go assist the devils after it displeased her by questioning her helping Lex back in Chapter 655. That said, since he has a measure of her own divinity inside him, I suspect that the Night Mare is very much aware of what Lex is doing at all times. While he's already fulfilled his promise to her with regard to bringing her religion to Equestria, her bringing him to Everglow when he was on the verge of death was, in her own words, her "rewarding" him by giving him the chance to grow stronger; it's possible that this is part of that, but given how he failed the Rite, it's hard to be sure.

For now, what comes next depends on the nature of the settlement that Lex, Solvei, and Akna are heading toward.

[Alzrius]

11351052 It's unlikely that Lex has the power to bring one of the Umbral Regalia in line if it doesn't want to; he tried twice to destroy Severance (back when it was intent on killing Luna) in Chapter 367, and failed both times. That's not necessarily the same, but showcases that the Night Mare's weapons aren't easily controlled by anyone who isn't her.

[Alzrius]

11351822 So far, Lex doesn't seem to have overtly displeased his goddess, but given that he's apparently on the verge of giving up after failing the Rite, he might very well be. If he does, then his afterlife here in Darkest Night isn't likely to be a pleasant one for him. After all, simply walking away from everypony who's put their trust in him isn't likely to please a goddess of loyalty, and despair likely offends her as a goddess of strength. So far he's still taking action, so he hasn't called down her judgment yet, but if he gives in and decides to abandon everything he's worked so hard for, then things might get ugly in a hurry.