Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

827 - One Last Gasp

“Head downward, and be ready to retreat if Hvitdod moves.”

Lex didn’t bother glancing at the ice pegasus carrying him aloft, instead keeping his eyes trained on Hvitdod as the elemental began to descend toward the bottom of the chasm. A thought was all it took to summon Belligerence back into his grasp, and he kept it at the ready as he stared intently at the dragon.

The dragon had been the single most powerful enemy he’d ever faced, outclassing even Sissel by orders of magnitude. That was why Lex had no intention of letting his guard down until he was certain that it was well and truly dead. “The rest of you, keep attacking until I say otherwise.”

At his order, the remaining elementals began to pick themselves up from where the impact had thrown them. Now sporting shattered limbs and cracked bodies, they evidenced no signs of pain or weariness as they moved, dragging themselves back toward’s Hvitdod’s insensate body. If the dragon was still alive, they’d serve as convenient targets for whatever fight it had left.

But even that was more uncertainty than Lex was willing to countenance, and as the frozen pegasus descended to a distance that he judged to be close enough, he switched his vision so that he could look at the dragon’s life force directly.

...what?

“Stop descending,” he muttered, barely noticing at the ice elemental obeyed his command. Instead, he kept staring at Hvitdod.

Or rather, at where Hvitdod should have been.

But in his current spectrum of vision, the dragon didn’t register at all, completely invisible to his life force-sight.

That shouldn’t have been the case. Although Lex had busied himself with numerous tasks after returning from Darkest Night, he’d still made sure to take time to familiarize himself with the heightened senses that his physical transformation had equipped him with, both mundane and supernatural. And his inability to detect Hvitdod now flew completely in the face of those experiments.

This spectrum of vision, designed to see the presence of positive energy, could also register its lack thereof. Any living thing viewed through it seemed to glow softly, the positive energy giving it a ghostly luminescence. Conversely, dead things registered like a film negative, appearing to be blackened by the loss of their life force. Things which had no capacity for life – rocks, metals, water, and similar inanimate objects – were ghostly grey shapes that tended to fade into the background.

While that mode of sight had various limitations – its short range being the primary one, but also its inability to detect extraordinarily weak vivacity such as those of microbes – it should have had no trouble picking up the massive Hvitdod. Whether glowing from any positive energy that it still possessed or blackened because it had lost the last of its vitality, there should have been something to see. Even if it had been some sort of artificial creation like his astral constructs, it would have been visible as a dim gray form.

But instead there was nothing.

Concerned, Lex cycled through several different modes of vision, all of them registering Hvitdod’s presence without any issues. It was only that one which couldn’t pick him up, though a quick check confirmed that he was able to see the life force of himself and his elementals – despite being extraplanar entities they were still alive, Solvei’s cryomancy having turned the falling ice into bodies suitable for them to temporarily inhabit, bringing with them the necessary positive energy – without any issues.

“Circle the area,” murmured Lex, a sense of unease running down his spine as he realized that he couldn’t confirm that Hvitdod was dead, despite its lack of reaction as the other elementals reached it and began to renew their assault. “I want to examine that dragon in detail.”

The ice pegasus obeyed wordlessly, making a slow circuit above Hvitdod, allowing Lex to confirm that the dragon’s entire body wasn’t registering to his life force spectrum. Every scale, every talon, every single inch of it was entirely-

“Stop! Land there!”

The elemental touched down immediately, and Lex stumbled as it let hm down, dimly recognizing that he was almost completely depleted. But that mattered less than what he’d just glimpsed, his vision registering a snatch of black, indicating a dead body.

But not Hvitdod’s.

Changing back to his darkvision, Lex glanced at what looked – to that form of sight – to be a particularly large mound of snow. Lying none too distant from where Hvitdod had fallen, the drift didn’t look particularly notable. The entire floor of the chasm was covered in white, capping what looked to be the same kind of rocky and uneven terrain that he and Solvei had trekked through to get there. But what he’d caught sight of just now suggested otherwise.

His horn lighting up as he used his telekinesis to brush the snow away, Lex slowly worked to clear the frozen covering from what it was concealing. The mound was quite large, and it took him several seconds to fully disperse it, revealing...

A skull.

Its eye sockets were large enough that Solvei could have climbed through them without trouble. Its teeth were the size of Princess Celestia. But it wasn’t until he noticed the ridges across the back part of the top – the remains of what could only have been a dorsal fin – that Lex realized he was looking at the skull of a dragon. The same kind of dragon as Hvitdod.

What in Tartarus...?

Was this how the dragon had reappeared, despite the adlets having sworn that their ancestor had killed it? Had he not fought Hvitdod, but some descendant of that ancient dragon?

It was the most obvious theory, but it didn’t answer why this dragon’s apparently long-dead body registered to his life force-vision while the one he’d killed didn’t. For that matter, neither spoke to Nenet’s cryptic statement about how Sissel and her siblings had needed to keep the weather at arctic conditions in order to confront the dragon. Or the fact that the local ecosystem had nowhere near enough food to sustain a creature of this size for any length of time, let alone to allow it to grow to such gigantic proportions-

Master, is everything alright? Solvei’s voice came as he registered a growing sense of anxiety from her. It’s suddenly gotten quiet. Is the battle over?

The question made Lex glance back at where the elementals were continuing to tear into Hvitdod’s mangled form...presuming that was the actual Hvitdod. Either way, the dragon was offering no resistance as they continued to attack it. For any other enemy it would have been overkill in the most literal sense, but between being unable to directly confirm its death and now the mystery of another dragon’s skull being there – and given how there were a large number of snow-covered mounds behind it, the rest of the skeleton was likely present as well – Lex wasn’t about to take any chances.

“Focus on removing its head,” he snapped. “Once it’s been decapitated, move it away from the body.”

The elementals immediately moved to obey, directing their attacks at the area right behind Hvitdod’s cranium. There was already significant damage there, and Lex could tell that it wouldn’t take them very long to complete their task. Satisfied, he turned his attention back to Solvei. It’s over. I’m currently in the process of securing the area. As soon as I’m done, I’ll summon you and heal your wounds.

Solvei didn’t seem to hear that last part, her disposition immediately changing to one of elation. Incredible! Master, that’s incredible! Do you have any idea how incredible this is?! Hvitdod was a force of nature! No, a force BEYOND nature! Aselu only overcame him because all of the spirits – all of them! – gifted him with incredible powers! And he still died of his wounds when the battle was over!

He didn’t have the Night Mare’s blessing, replied Lex, glancing at Belligerence before looking at where the ice pegasus was patiently waiting for further instructions. And he didn’t have you.

Master...

“ତୁମକୁ ଅଭିଶାପ ଦିଅ!!!”

The strength left Lex’s body all at once, knocked to the ground as much from the sheer volume of the enraged scream that shook the chasm as from the sudden cold that gripped him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered that voice he’d heard was Hvitdod’s, that it was still alive, and had actually spoken something rather than simply roaring at him.

But he couldn’t translate that awareness into action, his body suddenly too numb to move. He’d cast a spell on himself specifically to safeguard his mobility, but it did nothing for him now, his muscles refusing to respond.

And a short distance away, Hvitdod was barreling toward him, mangled claws pulling it across the ground even as his elementals dangled from its neck, continuing to bite and batter and scratch at its now-visible spine. It was clear that they were only a few seconds away from fulfilling his order to behead the monster. It was equally clear that Lex didn’t have that much time, Hvitdod crossing the short distance between them as its jaws darted down toward where he was lying, helpless.

It reached him at the exact same moment that his ice pegasus did.

Even as frozen hooves scooped Lex up, Hvitdod’s jaws closed around his rescuer, filling the air with the sound of shattering ice. In an instant, the entire right half of the pegasus disintegrated, and Lex felt some sort of tugging motion for a moment before he was suddenly airborne, rising up as the elemental holding him aloft somehow managed to take flight, the stub of its right wing flapping rapidly as it tried to work in tandem with its intact left one.

That it managed to gain altitude at all was something it was able to achieve only because it wasn’t dependent on biology to survive, somehow managing to correct for its grievous injuries as it flew upward in an unsteady wobble. Below, Lex managed to glance back as another roar – this one wordless – rocked the cavern...only to stop abruptly as Hvitdod’s head fell from its body.

Then the dragon exploded.

The rush of cold that erupted from its body could have almost been another instance of its breath weapon, except that from his vantage point, Lex could see it erupt from the length of Hvitdod’s body. The dragon was destroyed utterly in the blast, not so much vaporized as much as it looked like it was consumed by the final attack. It enveloped everything around it in ice, swallowing the elementals in a massive shockwave that flung them away from it like snowflakes in a blizzard.

Then that last blast struck what was left of his pegasus, and Lex clenched his teeth as he felt it wash over him. The strength of it pushed what remained of his last elemental upward, and it was with a dimming consciousness that Lex realized that – just like his astral construct had – it was using its body to shield him, riding the blast upward to try and get them clear.

He must have blacked out for a moment, because the next thing he knew they were above the edge of the abyss, careening at an angle as the pegasus lost its grip on him...

And that was when Lex realized that his tail was gone, Hvitdod’s jaws having taken everything above the base of it, leaving only a cold covering of bloody ice to stop the bleeding.

Somehow, what was left of his tail felt even colder than the rest of him.

Then he started to fall...

And was caught by a serac.

Master!

It dimly occurred to Lex that Solvei looked almost as bad as him, a spear piercing her straight through. That she was able to stand at all was likely only because Yotimo was helping her, saying something to her as she directed the ice shelf to bring him closer.

Whatever it was seemed to upset her, because she tried to push him away, not having the strength to succeed even as she tried to limp toward him. Master! Please, give me the power to heal you! Hurry!

Even thinking a response seemed like too much effort at that moment, and raising his foreleg was completely out of the question. But somehow, he managed to rally his thoughts as he managed to force the word past his frozen lips. “H-h-heal...i-i-ing....”

Immediately, Solvei put her hand to his chest...and for an instant, Lex felt the stinging cold start to abate.

But only for a moment.

Then it grew worse.

Her eyes widening, Solvei glanced further down his body, and Lex registered terror coming from her then. “It’s not working!” she shrieked. “Why isn’t it working?!”

“It’s Hvitdod’s poison,” murmured Yotimo. “That’s what killed Aselu.”

That couldn’t be right, Lex knew. He was immune to poison now, thanks to his new physiology. There was no way...

Except, when he somehow managed to turn his eyes downward, he saw that there were black lines spreading beneath his fur. Even as he watched, they stretched through his body, bringing with them unbearable cold, and he dimly realized that he was watching his own blood vessels freeze.

If Hvitdod could freeze even creatures of intrinsic cold, it could apparently poison creatures that were immune to poison also.

Cure...poison... But he couldn’t verbalize the thought, catching Solvei’s mismatched eyes even as the venom spread across his chest, up his neck, and toward his brain. Have...to...

Then the cold consumed him.

---

Yotimo watched as the twisted pony's breathing stopped, his eyes losing their luster as they stared upward, unseeing. It was a sight that he'd seen many times over his life, one which had never gotten easier no matter how often he'd witnessed it.

"May his goddess honor him," he murmured, not knowing what else to say. Although this was the pony whose appearance had heralded disaster, he couldn't overlook the fact that he'd also fought to save his son, as well as the other warriors under his command. And if what Akna had said before was true, he'd actually defeated Hvitdod, just as Aselu once did.

Lex Legis had earned the right be treated with dignity in death.

"Akna, would you-, Akna?! AKNA!!!"

But the shaman couldn't hear him anymore either, slumped over the pony she'd called her master with the same glassy look in her eyes.

Author's Note:

As Lex begins to take in further mysteries surrounding Hvitdod, the dragon manages one last attack, intent on taking its enemy down with it!

Has Lex met his end at last? Is this where his story concludes?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

Well, time to meet the Night Mare...again though not in the way Lex had done before.

Still, it was surprising to see what Lex had discovered down there. Was the dragon Lex just faced a puppet/phantom? Or some remnant of Hvitdod's lingering soul? Guess it doesn't matter now given Lex's predicament.

[Booster Spice]

Hvitdod is a negative energy dragon entity, that is kept in stasis once defeated as long as the enviroment is warm enough to counteract his regeneration, which is strange enough, oe its some interaction with a summoning ritual embedded in that region, either embeded or itemed,?

Going to be intresting to see if Night Mare claims his right to continue or some combination of Lex cary and spells triggers up Feat/Ability maybe through equivalent of gaining enough XP to Level Up?

[Spiritus Arcane]

Is Hvitdod some sort of Dracolich, with his original body as his phylactery?

[Alzrius]

11580720 You're thinking in the right direction. But I prefer to go (much) further afield when it comes to using templates on creatures.

[Alzrius]

11580592 There's certainly some sort of mystery about Hvitdod, though Lex didn't have a chance to even begin investigating it before the dragon sprang it's last attack on him. It's a shame he'll never get to investigate that now...or will he? Death is hardly the end in the game worlds run under the d20 System rules, after all. And Lex knows what sort of afterlife is waiting for him in the Night Mare's realm. Time for Sanguine Disposition to throw a welcome back party?

[Alzrius]

11580444 One can only wonder how the Night Mare will react to Lex's having (apparently) been killed in battle...or has he? Maybe he's just in some sort of cryo-sleep, similar to what Solvei did for everyone else when helping them escape Sissel and make it to the Shrine of the Starless Sky? Though that seems like a bit of a stretch, considering how much damage he took. In the d20 System, cold damage kills you rather than puts you into a state of suspended animation, after all.