799 - In Good Faith
Lex had to struggle to order his thoughts, silently staring at the purple-eyed wolf – and the three tulpa-infused shadows behind her – in shock.
That Nisha was laboring under some version of the same condition he’d endured for so long, only recently having managed to turn it from a literal mixed blessing into a powerful advantage, was no coincidence. Of that, Lex was absolutely certain. The spell he’d cast had been explicitly open-ended as to who or what it conjured, simply requesting that the Night Mare send him an ally and leaving the specifics up to the goddess to decide.
To that end, Lex’s only expectation had been that the Night Mare would send him some sort of specialist, able to track down Sissel and those with her despite whatever concealment magic they’d employed. But regardless of whether or not Nisha was capable of doing that, her tulpas were a clear and obvious sign that the goddess had sent him someone of much greater significance. Even he could recognize that.
The most obvious interpretation was that Nisha had insights about his own tulpa’s newfound power to temporarily manifest material objects. Despite the rigorous study Lex had made of both the Auctoritas Caliginous and the Libram of Ineffable Damnation, neither tome had made any mention of partitioned minds in any capacity, leaving him no closer to understanding-
“Um, Master?” Hesitantly, Solvei stepped forward, looking back and forth between him and Nisha uncertainly. “Shouldn’t we hurry and ask her...”
She trailed off, before giving Nisha an awkward smile. “I’m sorry, you said your name is Nisha, right? I’m, well...you can call me Solvei, or Akna; they’re both my names, now. Master and I were hoping-”
“I want you to track someone,” interrupted Lex, pushing his concerns about Nisha’s tulpas aside. Inwardly he cursed at having let the purple-eyed wolf’s condition distract him from the more pressing matter. Sissel had a significant lead on them, which meant that time wasn’t on their side. There’d be time to question Nisha later; right now he had a job he needed her to do.
Taking a few moments to outline Sissel’s forces, as well as the adlets she’d abducted, Lex also went over what he knew of his enemies’ armaments, magical capabilities, and goals, as well as providing a brief rundown of the local environment. “Your job is to pinpoint their current location and lead me there, without betraying your presence or otherwise engaging them yourself. Are you capable of that?”
Nisha gave what was either a single deep nod or a modest bow. “If you wish it of me, I shall hunt them to the ends of this world and beyond.”
“ “ “I will complete this task/prove my worth/seize this chance.” ” ”
But rather than be reassured by her answer – or that of the chorus behind her – Lex only narrowed his eyes. “Tell me how you plan on doing this,” he demanded. “Be specific.”
To her credit, Nisha didn’t hesitate to answer. “As one who fears and loves Our Dark Mistress, I receive the gift of Her magic. One of the spells She grants me enables me to trace the presence of souls which are strongly aligned to the Outer Realms.”
Solvei cocked her head. “What does that mean?”
“It means numinous gradients,” answered Lex, thinking back to what the Libram of Ineffable Damnation had said about this particular topic. “The more closely an individual’s disposition matches the metaphysical ideals a particular plane represents, the more they resonate with its energies, which are detectable to a properly-attuned spell.”
“You are wise, as expected of one so high in the Night Mare’s esteem,” murmured Nisha. “Even if the likes of your mortal enemies – the ‘Sissel’ and ‘Grisela’ and ‘Paska’ that you mentioned – lack souls strong enough to accumulate such power, the venedaemons with them are souls wrapped in the very substance of their malevolent realm. Tracking them will be easy.”
Lex raised an eyebrow, still somewhat skeptical. “And you can do this, despite their passage having occurred several days previous?”
Again, Nisha answered immediately. “With your permission, I can demonstrate.”
Upon receiving a curt nod from Lex, Nisha began to murmur a prayer to the Night Mare, reaching up to touch the collar of grey fur around her neck. Lex cocked his head as he felt the presence of magic, but he couldn’t identify it any further than that, recognizing only that it was a divine spell that the goddess hadn’t seen fit to grant him.
A moment later, Nisha finished her liturgy, and she lowered her paw, a pained groan escaping her lips as she swayed in place.
The sight made Solvei step forward, and Lex registered concern coming from her. “Are you okay?”
“To detect such primal emissions...requires that I coat my own soul in their opposite,” moaned Nisha. “As one who reveres Her Dark Majesty, I am a poor receptacle for such energies.”
“ “ “They bring me anguish/cause me guilt/make me despair.” ” ”
To Lex’s surprise, that made Solvei wince, and she gave him a sad look. Master, can you do something to help her?
For some reason her question made him think back to the hug she’d given Silla before sending him off, and he scowled without being entirely sure why. Leave her alone, Solvei. It’s her spell; she knows what she’s doing.
But if she’s in pain, it’ll be that much harder for her to track down Yotimo and the others! protested Solvei. Please, Master. If she can help us get everyone else back, I don’t want her to suffer if she doesn’t have to.
Lex started to protest, then caught himself. What was he doing? Solvei was correct; anything which helped Nisha complete her task was a boon, especially when doing so cost him almost nothing, since he had a hunch that the Night Mare’s greatest gift to him would be of use here.
Scowling again, this time as himself, Lex waved his wire-clad foreleg at Nisha. “Relief from spiritual torment.”
The Charismata took effect immediately, and Nisha gasped, a shiver running through her body as she stared at Lex, wide-eyed. “The Blessing That Empowers!” she murmured, and Lex recognized that as one of the titles of the Charismata used in the Auctoritas Caliginous. “To be touched by the sacred-”
“Enough!” snapped Lex, growing more irritated by the second. “Can you follow the trail or not?”
“Y-yes!” Nisha’s head swiveled around, taking in the area before nodding slowly, recovering her calm as she padded past Solvei, pointing in a direction perpendicular to where Lex had approached from. “The venedaemons came this way, moving as a group. They spread out, positioning themselves there” – she pointed to a spot near where Silla had been resting before he’d departed, then indicated several other such points – “there, there, and there.”
Lex glanced at Solvei then, and although he was unable to read the nonverbal cues of others, she had no problem picking up on his own. “She’s right, Master. Silla told me about the attack in more detail while you were looking for his sickles, and he said the same thing.”
She didn’t wait for him to respond before looking back at Nisha. “How long does that spell last? They have a huge head start on us, so you’ll need to move quick.”
The black wolf’s response came with a soft laugh. “The spell lasts for some time, servant of the Night Mare’s chosen one, and you need not worry as to my speed. So long as the terrain is favorable, I can move-”
In mid-sentence, she stepped behind a tree, vanishing from view.
“-over great distance, without crossing the intervening space,” she finished, emerging a stone’s throw away from the opposite direction.
Whirling in place, Solvei was wide-eyed for a moment before a grin crossed her muzzle. “That’s great! Can you take us with you when you do that?!”
Nisha shook her head. “I cannot, but I should be able to locate the ones you seek and report back to you with the utmost quickness.”
“Then do so,” ordered Lex. “Now.”
Nisha gave a deferential bow, but rather than immediately comply, she maintained her submissive posture, keeping her head low as she stayed where she was. After several seconds, Lex registered growing anxiety from Solvei, and it was a match for his own rising frustration. “Didn’t you hear me? Go! Time is of the essence!”
“Forgive my hesitation, but before I depart I must ask of you...upon completing this task, will my service to you be rewarded?”
Lex’s eyes burst into green and purple light as he stared at Nisha. “What?”
Solvei looked no less aghast. “A reward? My people have been taken captive by soul-sucking monsters, giving us very little time to find them, and you’re asking about a reward?!”
“Forgive my impertinence, champion of the Night Mare’s champion,” murmured Nisha. “But I am all too aware that I have no formal tie to your master’s dominion. I do not wish to be cast aside once my role is complete, with nothing to show for my dedication.”
Solvei growled deep in her throat before whirling to face him, making no move to hide her anger. Master, forget what I said before! Please force her to aid us!
It wouldn’t work, replied Lex grimly. An application of the Charismata only lasts for sixty seconds, remember? Even if I ordered her to track them down, she wouldn’t get very far before it wore off. Then there’d be nothing preventing her from going back to Darkest Night.
A strangled whine came from Solvei then, but Lex telepathically ordered her to calm herself as he moved toward Nisha. In contrast to Solvei, he’d expected something like this. For all her declarations of awe, the purple-eyed wolf was still a creature with her own goals and agenda. Since this was clearly an enterprise which had no religious significance beyond the fact that he was the one undertaking it, he couldn’t even indict Nisha as being impious.
The Night Mare might have sent her there in response to his call for aid, but there was nothing which said that aid had to be given for free. Quite the opposite, if Nisha had leverage enough to demand payment, the Night Mare – champion of strength in all its forms – wouldn’t likely punish her for it.
“Upon your successful completion of this task, I’ll give you this,” answered Lex, removing the ring he wore – which had magically resized itself from when it had adorned the hoof of his old body – from around the third talon on his right foreleg and holding it up for her inspection. “It shields the wearer from minor divinations, such as listening to thoughts, lie-detection...and reading their numinous aura.”
Nisha’s head rose at that, and Lex resisted the urge to smirk, pleased that his guess about her finding that tempting had been correct. Although he’d procured the item during his initial trip to Everglow – wanting a backup in case he ran short of the dark magic which he normally used to protect his mind – he had no use for it now. With the sheer amount of magic his new body was capable of handling, the magic of his horn was so abundant that it was effectively limitless, at least when it came to repelling minor powers like the ring protected against. Discarding it now was no great loss, and given the spell she’d just used, Nisha was sure to find it appealing.
But to Lex’s consternation, the black wolf shook her head a moment later. “I beg your indulgence, but I wish for more.”
“Like what?” spat Solvei. “What do you want in exchange for helping to save my people?!”
“To be given the same grace that you have,” replied Nisha softly.
“ “ “To be uplifted and made powerful/beautiful/cherished.” ” ”
Lex’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
Lowering herself until her belly touched the ground, Nisha crawled forward and reverently pressed her lips to the barbed metal wrapped around his foreleg.
“I implore you, use the Charismata and make me yours, so that I might call you my master and serve you for eternity.”
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Okay, one is a fluke, two is a co-inky-dink, but this makes three wolf waifus.
11506893 Well, Lex hasn't said yes to Nisha's plea; even with the Night Mare basically sending her with a sign that says "she can be useful to you," he might send her packing. He's kind of unintuitive like that.
Also, don't Solvei and Akna only count as one waifu now?
About the only time a member of a wolfpack will fawn over the beta?
11507199 Well, Nisha apparently wants what Solvei has, so it makes sense that she'd want to butter her up so as to get an "in" with Lex...though her wanting a reward at all in exchange for helping doesn't seem to be going over well.
Considering Lex is one of the Night Mare's Champions, serving one who bears that title and power will undoubtedly bring all sorts of benefits and prestige, especially if the number of followers/servants they have numbers in the single digits.
Still, as useful as Nisha could be to Lex, I do wonder if he'll accept her. I mean, considering that Nisha is a wolf like Solvei and has tulpas like Lex, it's pretty obvious that the Night Mare is pretty much telling Lex to take her in as you've stated in your reply to No one. I mean, the Night Mare could use the barb to make sure he does so.
11507772 This does seem fairly blatant on the Night Mare's part, almost as if she's rewarding his reaffirmation of faith. The question is whether or not Lex is willing to accept Nisha now. He kind of has a problem with saying yes to a good thing. And it's not like he couldn't use the help; he and Solvei/Akna are a lot stronger now, but he's still outnumbered fairly heavily, so having more people in his corner wouldn't be a bad thing.
I suppose we'll find out soon enough.
He has everything to gain and nothing to lose at first glance. But seeing what happened to him after losing Slovei... she will become a major weakness to him as well. Lex is quite slow at figuring out what could be useful for him with how long he relied on himself and this one is an opportunity no question about it. Will he see it tho? heck can he even do what he did to Slovei once more to somecreature else?
11507977 It's difficult to say if he could join someone else to him at the soul-ular level (I've been wanting to make that pun for some time now), but presumably if he could do it once with Solvei then he could do it again with any creature that's subject to the Charismata. Of course, as you correctly noted, that likely means that if he does make Nisha his, and she dies, he'd be temporarily crippled the way he was in the aftermath of Solvei's death. So it's not like there are no downsides to what the black wolf is offering. Still, it seems like there's more to be gained than lost, and the Night Mare presumably approves of the match...but does Lex?
11506893
Well, 2 and a half currently.
But yeah, at this rate, by the time he gets back to Equestria he's gonna have a whole pack.
well i did not see that coming.
wonder how Solvei is going to take that?
11509214 I suspect we'll find out very soon!