Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

824 - Making a Sacrifice

Lex could already feel his consciousness giving way as the frozen clouds fell toward him.

A floating sensation enveloped him as he looked upward, feeling as though the ice shelf were somehow growing closer and farther away at the same time. Then his view of it was slowly eclipsed on one side, a barrier to his vision that gradually grew more and more rounded, as though he were staring upward at it through a tunnel. That thought triggered something in his brain, and after a moment he realized that he was looking at it through a tunnel...sort of.

Beneath him, Hvitdod – the dragon having gone limp – plummeted back into the abyss that it had flown up from.

And Lex had just enough time to realize that he was following the perforated dragon down into the chasm.

Then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he passed out.

---

“But amidst their woe and lamentation shall be those who seek to crawl in the shadows of the faithful,” chanted Akna reverently, keeping her voice steady as she drew Bloodletter across her arm. The spear’s runes glowed softly as she cut herself, causing the wound to open wider than the small incision should have. Nor did she so much as grunt when a smaller laceration spread across her other arm, her blood dripping down to stain the ground beneath her as she prayed.

“Wise are they, who recognize that the blessed have surpassed them,” she continued, cutting herself again. “Righteous are they, who celebrate having found their superiors. Holy are they, who submit themselves to their masters.”

“And they shall not know fear,” murmured Yotimo, on his knees behind her, “for the Night Mare guides us to strength.”

His prayer was echoed by a few of the other adlets, though to Akna’s ears their muttering was half-hearted and filled with discomfort, rather than rapt with reverence.

But as much as she wanted to berate them for their lack of faith, she didn’t dare interrupt her own part in the ceremony, knowing that she was the focal point. Though given how she wasn’t wearing any holy vestments, the area wasn’t sanctified, they had no votaries, and the numerous other ways that the service she was attempting was wanting, she couldn’t keep herself from wondering if her fellows’ lack of faith mattered all that much. With how shoddy this is compared to what Master and I did back in the Shrine, I wouldn’t be surprised if this offends the Night Mare rather than pleasing her.

The thought was filled with bitterness, making Akna scowl at her own lapse in concentration. Even if the others didn’t have faith in the goddess, she did, and she knew she needed to marshal it now if she wanted this to work. Otherwise, everything her Master had entrusted her with would be for naught-

But any further recriminations fled her mind as an agonized howl cut through the air.

“W-was that Hvitdod?!” yelped Toklo, almost falling over as he twisted around to look back the way they’d come, ears pointing upward in shock. “I think that was Hvitdod!”

“He...he sounded like he was in pain,” murmured Ujurak, his voice thick with disbelief. “Did that pony actually wound him?!”

His question came with a glance at Yotimo, as though expecting his captain to reassure him that no mere pony could injure the creature that their ancient hero had died overcoming. But Yotimo didn’t pay him any attention, instead turning back to their tribe’s shaman. “Akna, we need to keep-, Akna?!”

The alarm in his voice drew all eyes to her, but Akna herself didn’t notice, instead doubling over. “Master!” she wailed, eyes wide as she registered that Lex had just sustained life-threatening – quite possibly fatal – injuries. “MASTER!”

Her scream was drowned out by another pained scream from Hvitdod, the sound throwing her into confusion. What was going on? The dragon was screaming, so why was Lex the one who had been wounded so badly? Had he-

“LOOK!”

Nenet’s yell was so unexpected that it cut through Akna’s anxiety, glancing back at the caged sphinx. But Nenet didn’t return the look, instead staring upward with her jaw hanging open, one paw pointing toward the sky.

Turning her eyes in that direction, Akna was just in time to see a huge cone of softly-glowing blue lance upward, bathing the air in faint azure light.

“That looks...” Blinking, Toklo squinted at the sight. “That looks kind of like when we breathe on something to freeze it.”

“That’s ridiculous!” spat Ujurak. “Our breath doesn’t glow!”

Akna didn’t say anything, a sickening feeling developing in the pit of her stomach as she remembered when Solvei had defeated Prevarius, freezing the devil solid with a beam of severe cold, one which had been of the same color as what she was seeing now.

Master, what’s going on? Despite having resolved herself not to distract Lex while he was fighting Hvitdod, Akna couldn’t keep herself from reaching out to him now, her worry overwhelming her caution. Please tell me what’s happening!

The only response she got was silence.

“Besides, it’s just going straight up,” continued Ujurak, seemingly looking for something to complain about. “It’s not like it’ll hit anything that way.”

“It’ll hit the sky,” murmured Yotimo.

“The sky?” echoed Ujurak. “What does that even m-”

A cracking sound made them all jump, Ujurak yelping as he bit his tongue. But he couldn’t even voice a complaint as he saw what was happening.

The clouds were freezing over, the grey covering solidifying and spreading out over a massive area. Toklo gasped, and he wasn’t the only one, the adlets yelping in fear as the enormous ice sheet grew wider, rapidly moving through the overcast sky.

A moment later it began to fall.

MASTER!

When her last, desperate plea to Lex went unanswered, Akna felt panic start to overwhelm her. No matter that the enormous glacier wasn’t directly over them, meaning that they’d escape it unscathed. No matter that it was impossible to imagine even Hvitdod surviving something like that. All she could think of in that moment was that Lex wouldn’t survive either...and the fact that he wasn’t answering her, along with her feeling him plunging downward, suggested that this wasn’t some sort of plan on his part, but that the worst had happened and that he was now only moments away from death.

Fighting down the urge to rush to his side, knowing that even with her serac she’d never make it before the ice shelf fell on her, Akna did the only thing she could think of, dropping to her knees and clenching Bloodletter tighter.

Night Mare! she begged silently, all thoughts of removing the curses on her kin gone now. Please, do something!

If the goddess heard her, she gave no sign. Through her connection to Lex, Akna could still feel him falling, clinging to life by a thread.

“He’s your champion!” she growled. Or rather, her intention had been to growl; to her own ears, her voice had sounded like a sob. “Save him!”

But the words were like ashes on her tongue, and she knew that no response would be forthcoming. Although nowhere near as advanced in her knowledge of the Night Mare as her master was, Akna was aware that the goddess was moved by actions rather than pleas. Begging would only earn her contempt, rather than her consideration.

Devotion, she realized numbly, rising to her feet. I need to show her proof of my devotion. But how?

A glance upward showed that the airborne iceberg was still falling, its incredible mass making it seem as though it were falling in slow motion. But Akna knew better; it would hit the ground in seconds, and in all likelihood would break into pieces that would fall into that enormous hole in the ground, burying Lex and Hvitdod together.

No.

Gripping Bloodletter tighter, Akna hardened her resolve. I won’t let that happen.

The rest of her kin were watching the ice shelf fall, all with their backs turned toward her. Only Nenet was behind her, and all it took was a thought to move the serac her cage was on further away, the sphinx’s confused grunt too meek to catch anyone’s attention.

Turning her attention back toward the other adlets, Akna slowly lifted Bloodletter, taking a deep breath as she fought to keep her hands steady. They’d never see her in time to stop her, but only if she acted right now, before it was too late.

Even as she thought that, she saw one of Yotimo’s ears twitch, the old warrior’s instincts warning him that something was wrong. “Akna?”

He was already starting to turn around, and she knew that meant that she was out of time.

Discarding the last of her hesitation, she lashed out with Bloodletter, even as she saw Yotimo’s eyes widen. “NO! STOP!”

But even as the words left his mouth, the spear struck home.

And Akna fell to the ground, Bloodletter buried in her chest.

Although her bond with Lex had increased her durability and resistance to injury, she’d deliberately let down as many of her defenses as she could before bringing Bloodletter to bear against herself. As such, she wasn’t surprised when the tip of the spear easily slid through skin and muscle, feeling it scrape along bone before penetrating the organs beneath, only to then undergo the same process in reverse as it burst out of her back.

Even so, she kept her hands locked around the weapon, coughing up a mouthful of blood. The pain was incredible, threatening to make her black out, and she could feel it radiating outward from where she’d skewered herself. Even now, Bloodletter’s double-edged power was taking effect; being both victim and wielder, it was not only worsening the wound, but was delivering further injury to her, causing her to feel as though she’d stabbed herself twice.

“And they...shall not...know fear...” she gasped, even as her blood began pooling under her. “For the...Night Mare...guides us...to strength...”

Only a few steps away, she could see Yotimo diving at her, his eyes wide and his jaws open in a yell. Around him, the others were in a similar state of panic, her having impaled herself enough to distract them even from the incredible sight of the mountain of ice falling from the sky.

But Akna herself was only barely able to make out the plunging mass of frozen clouds now, as things were rapidly growing dark. In what seemed like an instant, she couldn’t see the calamity that was befalling her master. She couldn’t see Toklo, Ujurak, nor the others screaming her name, the sounds of their voices growing muffled as well. She couldn’t even see Yotimo anymore, despite his only being a few steps away from her.

And then everything was blackness. The sky, the ground, the canyon walls, her seracs; all of them gone. The only thing she could see were her hands still wrapped around Bloodletter, along with the crimson puddle spreading beneath her, and the only sound that reached her ears was her own ragged breathing. It still hurt so much...

But the pain was eclipsed by a sudden chill that rolled across her a moment later, causing Akna to gasp as a paroxysm of fear spread through her. Her rational mind was left staggered, trying to process what was happening even as her instincts screamed at her that she was in mortal danger.

“No,” came a deep, feminine growl. “Not mortal danger.”

Had Akna been able to stand, the voice would have sent her running away in blind terror, the fear threatening to overwhelm her mind. But despite the panic threatening to destroy the last of her reason, she found herself drawn to the source of the voice, unable to stop herself from looking upward even as she found herself terrified to see its owner.

Peering down at her were two shining red eyes.

The Night Mare had deigned to answer her prayers at last.

“Prayers?” spat the goddess, and the rebuke made Akna’s heart spasm. “You profane my sacred rites, and dare to call them prayers?”

Those red eyes narrowed then, and the sight brought a whimper to the skewered adlet’s lips.

“The only reason I’ve come here now,” rumbled the goddess, “is to condemn you for your blasphemy.”

Author's Note:

Desperate to help Lex, Akna puts her life on the line to enlist the Night Mare's aid, only for the goddess to castigate her!

Has her act of self-sacrifice only made things worse? What made her think this was a good idea?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

Well, it seems Akna/Solvei's plan got the Night Mare's attention but not in the way she intended. Guess the lipservice the other adlets offered were less than well received. Either that they had unintentionally gone against one of her religion's tenets.

Regardless, the goddess is pissed and that's something nobody wants to happen, especially if it's directed at them.

[Booster Spice]

Oh dear, Night Mare is cheesed.

Looks like Lex aint getting that next upgrade soon.

[Alzrius]

11572269 Yeah, ticking off a deity tends to be bad for one's health. It doesn't help that Akna managed to injure herself fairly badly in the process. True, that got the Night Mare's attention to the point of a personal visit, but you have to wonder if that's really a good thing, considering it sounds like the goddess came down there because she was just that ticked off.

Given that she's not exactly known as a kind and forgiving deity, this seems like it can only end badly for Akna, and quite possibly the other adlets, not to mention Lex.

[Alzrius]

11572442 Well, she's upset at Akna more than Lex at the moment...then again, the doctrine of respondeat superior seems like it'd be something her faith is partial to.