768 - Rite and Wrong
“What?!”
“The Rite of Sublimation isn’t real?!”
“How do you know the Keeper lied?!”
Sanguine Disposition’s eyebrows rose at the barrage of questions from his guests, one hoof coming up to brush a stray lock of hair behind his ear. “Ah, I suppose I might have misspoken slightly. While I’m sure that decrepit old stallion thinks he’s telling the truth, I suspect that somewhere in the back of what’s left of his mind, he knows that so-called rite isn’t real. But that’s just a guess on my part, rather than anything the Secreta told me, so maybe I’m giving him too much credit.”
Lex opened his mouth, but wasn’t able to get a word out before Akna pushed her way forward. “Of course the Rite of Sublimation is real! It’s how we’re here! I’ve gone through it once before; it’s why I’m able to transform into a winter wolf now!”
Sanguine Disposition clucked his tongue at her. “That’s the effect, yes. But are you sure you’re right about the cause?”
“This is some sort of trick,” spat the adlet, turning back to Lex. “I don’t know what this bat pony’s game is, but he’s trying to turn us against the Keeper for whatever reason.”
“It does seem weird that he’d say the Keeper is a pony,” added Solvei, giving Sanguine Disposition a suspicious glare. “I might not have been able to see through that darkness around him, but I know I heard Master say that he was ‘undead,’ which doesn’t sound like a pony to me.”
That was enough to make Akna whirl in place, turning to face Solvei with an alarmed look. “He what?!”
Sighing, Lex telekinetically spun the adlet around so that she was looking at him. “Beneath whatever obscurement magic he’s using, the Keeper’s real form is an equine skull. He insists he’s not undead, but that he went through the Rite himself, and was given a body that’s undying but not unaging, having subsequently decayed to its current state.”
Akna’s jaw dropped at that particular revelation, and even Solvei’s eyes went wide. “He’s...a skull?” muttered the adlet, slowly sinking to her knees.
Seeing that there were no more interruptions to be had, Lex turned back to Sanguine Disposition. “Though if the Rite of Sublimation isn’t real, the Keeper’s claims about his current state are likewise suspect,” he noted. “However, Akna’s point is well-taken; something has brought us here, and given her the ability to change into a winter wolf’s body.”
“Quite right,” nodded red-eyed stallion, teasing smile deepening. “But that doesn’t mean that unsightly old fossil deserves any credit for your current state, or what your pet adlet here has accomplished. Any guesses as to where the credit should go?”
The question brought a snort to Lex’s lips, having already figured out what the vampire was hinting at before he’d finished speaking.
Even if the Rite of Sublimation wasn’t real, that didn’t change the fact that the Shrine of the Starless Sky was a place that was holy to the Night Mare. Leaving aside the pervasive imagery that was evocative of her religious trappings, the barbed wire around his foreleg had cut him deeply when he’d almost killed Ganas within the boundaries of the place, enforcing the edict that her worshipers not fight there. So even if the Keeper hadn’t performed a religious ceremony to send him and Akna to Darkest Night, it was still likely that her influence was involved. And the single largest concentration of her power in the Shrine was...
“The Confluence.”
Sanguine Disposition sat back, clapping his hooves together. “Correct!”
Solvei cocked her head, giving Lex a confused look. “That pit of black water you jumped into?”
“It’s a rift, between our world and here,” muttered Akna, still looking shaken by what she’d been told. “But the Keeper said that it’s unstable, that the Rite is the ceremony he performs to keep it focused so that we can use it to undergo the Night Mare’s test.”
Sanguine Disposition smirked at that, but Lex jumped in before the leather wing could say anything. “Did you see him perform that ceremony on your last visit to the Shrine?”
“I...no,” admitted Akna, her ears folding back. “He and some of his acolytes went to prepare it while I went through some rudimentary prayers to the Night Mare. I thought it would be a good idea to ask for her favor before I went through with the Rite.”
Lex’s eyes narrowed then. “And neither of us saw him prepare it this time, either.”
“But his acolytes...!” protested Akna. “They were there with him.”
Sanguine Disposition chuckled softly. “Those are the creatures that he collects from the surrounding area, yes? Which means their only knowledge of the Night Mare is what they’re told by the Shrine’s caretaker. If he insists that some bit of nonsense he performed in front of them is a holy act, they would have no way of knowing better.”
“And you do?” challenged Solvei.
“Let’s just say that when it comes to uncovering buried truths, I have a bit of an advantage,” replied the leather wing, shooting Lex a wink.
Master-
I’ll explain what he’s talking about later, answered Lex, registering Solvei’s curiosity through their link. Not wanting the conversation to be derailed again, he kept the focus on what the vampire had told them. “So the Confluence sent us here on its own.”
“Not on its own, no,” replied Sanguine Disposition, shaking his head. “You see, what the Keeper refers to as the Confluence is a gateway between Everglow and Darkest Night, one whose structure is flawed. If it were perfectly formed, it would allow for physical travel between the two realms, rather than simply spiritual. As it is, even allowing for an astral voyage requires the first person to bear the brunt of the residual energies leaking out from this realm into the mortal world. Given our goddess’s nature, that takes the form-”
“Of a vision,” finished Lex, grimacing as he recalled the illusion he’d seen in the Confluence. “One of their worst fears.”
“I was going to say ‘of an ugly truth,’ but I suppose that’s not really any different,” mused Sanguine Disposition. “In my experience, what people fear most are things they already know to be true, but can’t bring themselves to accept. Ah well.” Shrugging, he waved a hoof upward, indicating the area around them. “Once the first individual has borne the brunt of stabilizing the path, others can follow them through without going through the same tribulation, and they all emerge here in Darkest Night.”
“The Keeper told me that the test was the entire point,” muttered Akna, drawing her knees up to her chest. “That you only ended up here if you failed.”
Frowning as she looked at the disheartened adlet, Solvei took a step toward her, but hesitated, before finally looking back at Sanguine Disposition. “What about the power Akna gained the first time she came here, though?”
“As I said, entering such an unstable connection means exposing your soul to the divine power of a god. Diffuse and undirected, certainly, but a god nonetheless. Doing so has the potential to strengthen your spirit – with all of the eldritch potential that entails – if you can align yourself to that power and resonate with it, or utterly break you if you can’t.”
“But she came through fine this time,” pressed the winter wolf. “So why didn’t she gain any new abilities?”
“It’s as Sanguine Disposition said,” replied Lex. “Only the first person through has to bear the brunt of stabilizing the portal. Since I entered it before Akna did, that likely means she didn’t see anything after following me through.”
He finished that with a glance at the adlet, who nodded, not meeting his eyes.
Sanguine Disposition smirked, enjoying having heard his name from Lex’s lips. “And since you seem to have come out of it little the worse for wear, I’d wager that you gained a new power yourself, am I right?”
Lex didn’t answer, but his eyes slid to his shadow, barely visible in the dim light that managed to slip over the walls surrounding the vampire’s home. Now he knew why the barbed wire around his foreleg had moved when Akna had first mentioned the Rite to him. The Night Mare had said, when she’d brought him back to Everglow, that she was giving him the chance to grow stronger. Given that she was the one who’d originally given him his tulpa, and presented multiple hints about how he could master it, it stood to reason that – even if the Rite itself was a fiction – this was the outcome she’d been referring to.
“Of course, the downside of the Confluence’s instability means that there’s no way to predict precisely where it will open up when it deposits someone here,” continued the leather wing. “And worse, it acts as a chokepoint for the connection between your soul and your body. Since the pathway back has to go through the portal, whose opening here is solidified by the individuals who passed through it-”
“The pathway back takes the form of three-dimensional openings in the fabric of this place that match the shapes of those who came here,” finished Lex. “Black statues.”
“Which another spirit can slip into, taking your body for their own, should they find them before you do,” noted Sanguine Disposition. “Of course, that usually causes some changes to your physical form, since the spirit shapes the body far more than the reverse. Hence what happened to your adlet and the so-called Keeper when the Confluence exposed them to a fraction of the Night Mare’s unfiltered power.”
“Which is why we should hurry back,” urged Solvei. “The longer we wait, the more likely that happens!”
It didn’t escape Sanguine Disposition’s notice that the winter wolf was eyeing him as she spoke, causing him to let out a snicker. “Aw, are you worried that I’m going to be tempted to steal your master’s body?”
Solvei didn’t answer, but she didn’t look away either, glaring at the leather wing, who smirked at her. “Don’t worry, I’m not. Well, I am, but not in the way you’re thinking. Unlike most of the other ponies in Darkest Night, I’m here body and soul.”
“A fact with little practical importance, just like the rest of what you’ve told us,” cut in Lex. “While mildly interesting in the abstract, none of this changes what’s happened, nor what we need to do now, which is return to Everglow with all possible haste.”
With that said, he turned his back on the vampire, starting down the steps toward the gate on the other end of the garden. “Solvei, Akna, come.”
“Yes, Master!”
“R-right...”
“Of course,” purred Sanguine Disposition, trotting past the lupines to move alongside Lex as though the two of them were taking a stroll through the rose bushes. “Allow me to finish the story as I see you out, then? Or are you not interested in why that feeble fraction of a pony got so many things so wrong?”
“I want to know,” blurted Akna, shaking off some of her malaise. “You said something about the Keeper believing his own lies?”
Sanguine Disposition nodded again. “Precisely. You see, your ‘Keeper’ is quite mad, and has been since before he ever came to the Shrine of the Starless Sky.” Another chuckle passed his lips as he shook his head, raven tresses shaking slightly from the motion. “I don’t suppose he told you that falsehood about being the bastard son of some ancient king?”
“He was mad before he came to the Shrine?” pressed Lex. “Not because of what happened when he entered the Confluence?”
“Most who know of him assume that’s the cause, but I have access to better information than they do,” replied Sanguine Disposition, one hoof coming up to tap the side of his head. “In fact, he was originally just a bandit who happened upon a certain magical something that blasted his mind to bits. I’m not sure if he came to the Shrine on accident, or if he was lucid enough to seek it out in hopes of finding a cure, but either way, he ended up there, went through the Confluence, and became what he is today.”
“But he has trained the creatures there into being acolytes of the Night Mare,” protested Akna. “I mean, if she didn’t approve of what he was doing, if he was profaning her holy place, wouldn’t she do something about it?”
Sanguine Disposition shrugged. “Oh, I have no doubt that even if he wasn’t originally faithful to our goddess, he is now; you don’t need to be sane to be devout. Unable to leave the Shrine, he’s no doubt studied the holy texts that were left there many times over.” Again, his eyes drifted to Lex as he spoke. “You really should take the time to study them yourself, you know. They’re quite ancient, and represent a method of asking for divine providence that’s considered archaic today, but which isn’t without merit. And that’s not all.”
By that time they’d reached the gate, which opened at a wave of Sanguine Disposition’s hoof. “That certain magical something which drove the Keeper mad? He brought it with him to the Shrine. I confess I’m not sure exactly where he hid it, but I’m certain that it’s still there. You might want to look for it, if you get the chance.”
“And why would I do that?” sneered Lex. “If this unidentified bit of magic drives its user mad, that’s an argument for leaving it hidden away, not unearthing it.”
But Sanguine Disposition had an answer at the ready. “Secreta, remember? I might not know exactly what it is, or precisely where in the Shrine it’s kept, but I do know that the Keeper only lost his mind because he was weak. You’re not. Where he found only madness, you might find something far more useful.”
“...I’ll consider it.”
“Excellent! In that case, there’s no more reason to delay your departure, sad though it may be.”
Trotting past the gates, Sanguine Disposition cast a quick spell, another carriage coming into being. “Obey whatever this stallion tells you,” ordered the vampire, speaking to the shapeless force in the driver’s seat as he pointed at Lex, turning to look at the other stallion a moment later.
“You don’t need to worry about the guards slowing you down on your way out of town. Everyone in Eigengrau knows my personal sigil” – he pointed to the Weeping Rose emblem on the carriage door – “and won’t bother any conveyance displaying it. As for how useful the carriage will be once you go off the road, well...it should at least be better than nothing.”
Lex grunted noncommittally, his horn lighting up as he opened the carriage door. At his command, Solvei jumped inside – though not before giving Sanguine Disposition one last look of deep suspicion – while Akna followed more slowly, her face pensive in light of everything she’d learned. It was only when Lex moved to follow them inside that Sanguine Disposition stepped closer, blocking the way forward.
“I hope a farewell embrace isn’t too much to ask?” he teased, holding one foreleg out wide.
Lex raised a hoof as well, but unlike the red-eyed stallion, he held it in front of himself, the gesture threatening instead of welcoming. “I believe I made the consequences of such a thing abundantly clear the last time you tried it.”
“Hence why I’m asking this time.”
“And yet my answer remains the same.”
Pouting, Sanguine Disposition slowly lowered his hoof. “Then my attempt at apologizing has been insufficient?”
“It’s sufficient enough that I don’t regard you as an enemy,” replied Lex coldly. “Be content with that.”
“Hmm, I suppose I’ll have to,” sighed the leather wing, stepping out of the way and moving back toward his manor.
As he climbed into the carriage, however, one last throaty purr managed to reach Lex’s ears.
“But only until our next meeting.”
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So will this story ever end? 768 chapters and counting is a lot 😵💫.
11402697
Hope not. Or at least not at this stage. I feel as if the story has just gone past the halfway part but still have ways to go for it to reach completion. Doesn't help that I am enjoying it immensely.
Man, Either kara's gift is way more powerful than expected or Sanguine more thirsty than a whale in the desert. Either way, her blessing and the way she manipulate Lex's life is very reminiscent of mythological stories. And with how emotionally inept Lex is, Without Sanguine's help he would have never known about her meddling (I know that he knows that some of his retinue is communication with her but I am speaking of her meddling in a deeper level than he is thinking about like thermal draft's race change).
Heck, How many times did Lex survive just because of kara? This one is a major one and there are others that I remember, But with how she is reckting Lex's relationships in every direction that's the least she can do. In short... gods are very troublesome.
1.8million words. Get a life
Huh, Sanguine's words about the Keeper would make a lot of sense if it's true, especially the one about the artifact that made him insane. Provided it exists, and if Lex can somehow obtain it(after he returns to his body that is), it may further improve his chances against his pursuers. As usual, Lex has a perpetually full plate that he's unable to clear.
What bette way to find the unfindable, but to get the heros to lead you to it instead?
I dunno, words wise, Lex is somewhere between Ledomare and Val Roa?
11402697
11402793 The story will come to an end at some point, if for no other reason than because no one lives forever.
That said, I'm quite enjoying writing it, and as there's still people who enjoy reading it (to whom I'm very grateful!
), I'm going to keep going until such a time as the tale reaches a conclusion on its own merits. As of right now, that time seems to be a long, long way off indeed.
11402809 I'll get a life when the eighteen people who've posted longer stories on this site do.
11402803 Sanguine Disposition does seem quite taken with Lex, doesn't he? The implication, based on the previous chapter, is that he's grown rather bored with how easily he can have whoever he wants, and so has lost his passion for romantic encounters. With a little help from Kara, Lex is someone whom he A) wants, and B) can't have, so that's apparently more than enough to ensnare his interest, despite his knowing that the love goddess is responsible for how he feels.
That said, you're absolutely right that this is mythologically appropriate; the blessings of the gods aren't something that mortals get to decide if they have or not, and are quite often the cause of as many problems as they fix. Lex would doubtlessly be much more alone than he is (or quite possibly dead by now) if not for Kara's blessing, and yet it's hardly been a source of comfort for him. Of course, some of that has to do with the fact that Kara, like the Night Mare, is an evil goddess. Even their favor tends to result in bad things happening.
11402863 Heh, it's entirely possible that Sanguine Disposition is hoping Lex will unearth that unknown bit of magic for him. Then again, given that he seems to be thoroughly smitten, it's just as likely that he's trying to be helpful in an attempt to win Lex over.
11402841 The nature of clearing various quests is that they tend to lead to new quests; that's one of the staples of epic adventures, where solving a problem tends to result in new problems cropping up, which then themselves are solved in ways that result in new quests needing to be undertaken. Hopefully Lex will be more equipped to handle things now that he's at least gained control over his tulpa! Surely, if the Night Mare wanted him to master that power, it will resolve at least a few problems, right?
...right?
11403119
Only thing is, is that there is an actual chapter limit on this site. Stories just can't go on indefinitely. I think it's 1,000, or 999, chapters, is all one story can have.
11403152 That's news to me. Do you mind pointing me to where that's listed? I can't seem to find it the site FAQ.
11403158
Might check with one of the site staff. Can't remember where I saw it now.
11403160 I asked one person, but they didn't know. That said, I've seen at least one story with one thousand chapters exactly (and which seems like it ended there deliberately, as per the author's blog), and there's at least one or two stories which are still being actively updated with chapters in the low nine hundreds, so I'll keep an eye on them to see if they come to a sudden stop when they hit one thousand chapters.
11403160 Well damn, I just got a response confirming that there is indeed a chapter limit of one thousand chapters for stories.
At my current rate of progression, I predict hitting that somewhere between eighteen months and two years from now, so at least I've got some time before I need to figure out how to bring things to a close. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, since otherwise it would have been a very rude awakening!
Maybe I should start writing more words per chapter?