822 - One Way Left
Pathetic. Uterly pathetic.
Not long ago, those insults would have come from Lex’s tulpa, voicing his fears and recriminations in a way that he wouldn’t have been able to ignore. But that rogue portion of his thoughts was silent now, its rebellious streak finally tamed thanks to his excursion to Darkest Night, and although he’d gained another willful monster in his mind in exchange, it was at least limited to urges and instincts rather than invectives and nightmares.
Now, as he huddled within the defense that he’d hastily conjured up to protect himself from Hvitdod’s icy breath, Lex’s self-directed castigation came of his own accord.
A new, stronger body. A tulpa that can create objects from nothing. More magic items than I’ve ever possessed at one time. Belligerence. And I’m still reduced to hiding like this.
That he’d been able to accomplish that much had pushed his limits. In the last moment before Hvitdod’s breath weapon had hit him, his astral construct had turned back to solid form of its own accord. Lex wasn’t sure if it had been attempting to use gravity to fall out of the beam’s path, or if it had been trying to protect him by absorbing as much of the blast as it could while he remained safely within it.
In that regard, it had failed at both. Hvitdod’s beam of supernatural cold had struck it only slightly off from dead-center, and Lex had instantly felt the unbearable cold of the monster’s breath spreading through the astral construct’s form – completely overpowering the ward against cold that Solvei had previously placed on him – and reaching out toward him hungrily.
Faced with imminent death, Lex had reacted with the only plan he’d been able to come up with, using his ability to create black crystals and channeling it through Belligerence.
The result had been that he’d formed a massive shell of black crystals around himself and his construct both, blocking Hvitdod’s breath weapon by entombing them in an opaque prison. That they hadn’t plummeted to the bottom of the abyss in the process meant that the crystals had managed to attach themselves to the wall of the chasm, but that was the only thing Lex could say for certain, since it was impossible to see anything beyond his astral construct. He could manipulate his vision in numerous ways, but the ability to see through solid objects was – as of yet – beyond him.
But if that’s the same for Hvitdod as well, then I’ve at least managed to buy myself some time.
His inner beast growled at that, hating that he was hiding like this. It wanted to be out there, ripping and tearing their enemy to shreds! Hearing it scream while tearing its scales off, until it came to the frozen flesh beneath and began to flay it, down to the the bones beneath and cracked-
Clenching his eyes shut, Lex forced himself to fight back against the violent urges, knowing he couldn’t afford to lose himself to the beast within right now. While he didn’t know the total quantity of black crystals he’d conjured with Belligerence, it had to be an incredible amount; likely at least as big as the small mountain of the stuff he’d once thrown at Twilight Sparkle. While Hvitdod’s newfound caution would likely make it hesitate to investigate the massive black mass – all the better to give itself time to regenerate from the damage his bombs had inflicted on it – Lex felt certain that it wouldn’t be long before the dragon’s patience ran out.
And when that happened, Lex felt certain that it would easily tear his black crystal cocoon apart.
Which means that I need to use this time to regroup and go on the offensive.
But that was easier said than done, considering how few options he had left.
Plans and strategies had always come easily to Lex. With just a second or two to think, he could visualize a path to solving whatever problem confronted him, determining the best way to utilize the resources at his disposal in order to achieve his goals. But now...
Now he couldn’t see a single path to victory.
But running wasn’t an option either. Even if he tried to quit the field, Hvitdod would pursue him, and Lex had little confidence that he could outdistance or hide from the dragon. Not to mention the very real concern that his inner beast would overpower him if he tried to run away.
Worse, even if he succeeded in escaping, the chance that Hvitdod would turn its attention to Solvei and the others remained high; for some reason, she’d stopped moving. But since he was registering determination from her – rather than the panic or anxiety that would likely have accompanied some sort of adverse situation – he could only trust that she knew what she was doing.
But if he couldn’t quit the fight, and had no plan for how to win it, that left only one option that Lex could think of:
To gamble everything on an act of faith.
“Are you still combat-capable?” he murmured, glancing back at where his astral construct’s rearmost pair of legs were frozen solid.
“Affirmative,” it replied. A cracking sound reached his ears as the eight-legged form he was within twisted in the tight enclosure, breaking off its injured components. “Operational functionality at seventy-two percent. Self-repair systems activated. Estimated time to full recovery: two minutes, eighteen seconds.”
“Reactive awareness, incorporeality, and now self-repair,” muttered Lex, not sure how to feel about the repeated revelations. He’d assumed that feeding more power into his astral constructs would make them stronger and tougher; he hadn’t anticipated that they’d gain new powers altogether, something which should have taken careful modifications to the basic spell structure. “How do you have all of these abilities?”
“During the formation process, this unit’s analytical functions detected an excess quantity of productive capacity. Evaluating existing formations in this unit determined that combat routines were prioritized. It was subsequently determined that additional modes of similar functionality were the optimal use of the remaining output.”
Lex couldn’t help but raise a brow at that. “Your synthetic intelligence was able to make decisions as to how best to use the extra energy I gave you, even while you were still in the process of being formed?”
“Affirmative.”
That was enough to generate several dozen other questions, but Lex knew he’d already wasted too much time. Even if his construct could apparently repair itself, Hvitdod was capable of the same, and with the disparity in strength between them, that was still to the dragon’s advantage. Even so, there was one more thing he needed to determine.
“What are the limits of your ability to reconstruct yourself?”
“Total breakdown of physical integrity,” answered the automaton. “Self-repair requires that existing frameworks of structural cohesion be present to build upon.”
Which meant, Lex knew, that the other constructs had been well and truly destroyed. If the back legs of his own had fallen apart from the destructive power of Hvitdod’s breath weapon, then the others – which had been completely enveloped – would have completely crumbled beyond what they could fix.
Even so, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat reassured. After all, his attempts to improve upon his astral constructs had actually worked better than anticipated, similar to how the explosive necklaces that he’d hurled down Hvitdod’s throat had actually injured the dragon enough to drive it to caution.
It was enough to give him hope that the desperate scheme he was about to try might actually work.
“Prepare to turn incorporeal again,” ordered Lex. “Hvitdod’s ice will have covered most of the black crystals, but there should be some portion of them that hasn’t been frozen over; that will be our exit point. Once we leave, I want you to do the following...”
“Kill her, Yotimo! Kill her right now!”
Akna – she couldn’t help but think of herself as Akna in this situation – met Ujurak’s angry glare with a solid stare of her own. “If what I’m saying offends you so much, kill me yourself, Ujurak.”
“I would if I could!” From where he was hunched atop his serac – unable to stand up thanks to the wounds on his legs – Ujurak spat at her before turning to look at Yotimo. “She’s turned from the ways of our people! She wants to make us slaves again, the way we were in ancient times!”
Looking back at Akna, he spat at her. “Kill her so that we can devour her flesh and keep her spirit in the tribe, before this ‘Night Mare’ takes it for herself!”
Around him, the others murmured uncomfortably, with Toklo giving voice to their shared worry. “But she’s our only shaman! If she dies now-”
“SHE ISN’T A SHAMAN ANYMORE, YOU STUPID PUP!” howled Ujurak, glaring at Toklo with a wild look in his eyes. “She calls that pony who murdered Panuk ‘master’ now! She’s traded her freedom and her spirit for ice magic! And now she wants us to live in bondage the way she does!”
“But she came back here to save us-”
“You say one more word,” snarled Ujurak, leaning toward Toklo with his teeth bared, “just one, and I swear I’ll crawl over there and kill you myself! Do you hear me?! I don’t care whether your flesh is cursed or not, I’LL KILL YOU MYSELF AND THEN EAT Y-, ARGH!”
Doubling over from where Yotimo had sank Bloodletter’s heel into his gut, Ujurak spat up a mouthful of blood onto his serac, coughing as he looked up at his troop leader in shock. “Y-Yotimo...?”
“The next time you say you’re going to kill my son, I’ll use the other end,” growled the war leader softly.
In his hand, the runes on Bloodletter glowed softly, causing Yotimo to grimace as a large bruise formed over his own abdomen. But he didn’t utter a word, knowing that was part of the spear’s magic; Bloodletter inflicted injuries markedly in excess of the actual wound that it dealt, but the price paid for that was that the wielder also suffered damage.
Yotimo, however, didn’t even glance at the ugly bruise on his midsection now, instead silently daring Ujurak to say another word. It was only when the latter broke eye contact and looked down that Yotimo turned to face Akna. “You do realize that Ujurak is right? What you’re proposing is that we save our lives at the cost of our spirits.”
“You think our spirits will be reborn if Hvitdod devours us?” challenged Akna.
Yotimo pointed at her with his free hand, his expression accusatory. “Then we should continue retreating!”
“You mean with these?” asked Akna pointedly, nodding at the seracs carrying everyone. “Because none of you seem to mind that they’re made from the magic that my master gave me, thanks to the power of his goddess.”
“Touching this ice won’t keep us from being reborn as a free people!” growled Ujurak, seemingly emboldened by Yotimo’s disapproval of what she was proposing. “Offering our spirits to a god will!”
“You aren’t hearing me.” Forcing herself to keep her voice level, Akna swept her eyes over the rest of her tribe one-by-one, ending with Yotimo. “My master, who right now is fighting Hvitdod himself, as Aselu once did, is the one who gave me this magic. If he dies” – a quiver entered her voice then, despite her best attempts to keep it down – “then I won’t have this power anymore, which means you’ll all be stuck here, unable to run away before Hvitdod comes looking to devour you next.”
She had no idea if that was true or not. While her own death, as Solvei, had seen her become a spirit tethered to Lex, she wasn’t sure what would become of her if he died. But it wasn’t outlandish to think that if he did, she’d lose all of the powers she’d gained as a result of their bond. Of course, that was just a guess, and in her estimation it wasn’t a very likely one.
To her mind, it was far more likely that if Lex died, she’d immediately die as well.
She would be with him forever, after all.
But I doubt this magic he gave me would last if that happened, so the result would be the same for all of them anyway, she decided, seeing the others look at each other with wide eyes, doubtlessly imagining the horror of finding themselves stranded and unable to run as Hvitdod came to devour them. “Master is facing Hvitdod to cover our escape. The longer it takes us to get away, the longer he has to keep fighting, and the greater the risk becomes. These seracs are fast, but taking to the wind is faster, not to mention we’re not limited by the landscape.”
“There’s really no other way?” whimpered one of the warriors near the back of the convoy. “We have to pray to this ‘Night Mare’ in order to take to the wind again?”
Akna shook her head. “I can’t break the curse Sissel used to steal that power from you. And neither can she,” she added, gesturing toward where she’d laid Nenet’s cage on her own serac. “The only way left is to pray for the goddess’s help.”
“But we wouldn’t be reborn when we die!” growled Ujurak. “This pony goddess would take us to her realm, never to return!”
“Better than being eaten by Hvitdod,” muttered one of the warriors behind him.
“I’ve been to the Night Mare’s realm,” added Akna. “It’s a harsh place, but so are these mountains. Going there after death wouldn’t be an unbearable existence.”
“We wouldn’t be free!” repeated Ujurak.
“You threatened to kill me for choosing an afterlife that you don’t approve of,” shot back Akna with a sneer. “How free do you think that makes me feel?”
Ujurak gnashed his teeth at her. “That’s not the same! Your spirit isn’t just yours! It’s the spirit of one of our ancestors, reborn many times-”
“Enough, Ujurak.”
Yotimo’s command made the crippled warrior bristle, but he didn’t protest, not wanting to be struck by Bloodletter again. Instead he leaned back, sulking as Yotimo gave Akna a penetrating stare.
For a long moment he didn’t say anything, and the silence made the others shift uncomfortably, glancing back the way they came.
“Father?”
Toklo’s voice, scared and uncertain, seemed to break Yotimo’s concentration, looking away from Akna as he glanced back at his son. She saw his features soften then, and he took a deep breath before returning his eyes to her.
“Tell me how to pray to the Night Mare.”
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Lex is going to try the pidgeon and rice trick on Hvitdod?
Wonder if extra followers existing are going to be permitted to back flow extra divine power to him, or they assist in someway?
11567238 Well, considering that the whole "uncooked rice expands in a pigeon's stomach, injuring/killing them" isn't actually true, I hope Lex has a better plan than that.
As for Solvei/Akna, she seems to be intent on getting everyone out of there, trusting Lex to be able to get clear once they've escaped. So right now, helping them is the best way to help him.
11567544
I didnt tink Hvitdod would be chewing any Menthos for upset stomach.
Figured Solvei/Akna would face resistance from her proposal but considering the alternative is possible death with no chance of retrieval to pass on their spirit to the rest of their people... If Yotimo and Toklo wasn't there, I could see a few joining in prayer with the intent to drop the Night Mare immediately after though if the power she grants is enticing enough...who knows
11567823 Being told that your only choices are being devoured by your people's ancestral enemy, with (according to your religious beliefs) no hope of ever being revived or reborn, or switching to a new god whom you'll need to serve (but whom your spiritual counselor is saying isn't so bad; just look at how strong they've become) is doubtlessly a difficult position to be in. But for Yotimo, who's thinking about his son rather than himself, it seems that it's not quite so difficult a decision to make. And since Yotimo is the leader of the others, it seems like that could be enough to tip things in the way Solvei/Akna is hoping.
Now the question is whether or not the Night Mare will respond, and how much that will help Lex (if at all).
11567823
Except pretty sure gods can tell if you're being genuine in your worship or not. So any attempt to pull a fast one on her would just mean she doesn't break the curses.