843 - Rings and Regrets
“...and that was when you teleported me back,” finished Nenet.
Silence was the response she received, as Lex struggled to process the enormity of what he’d just been told.
The mysterious “Mother” who had apparently birthed Nenet and Sissel and Grisela and all the rest of their misbegotten siblings; who had masterminded a successful plot to resurrect the ancient dragon Hvitdod, albeit only in facsimile; who had apparently gone off on a quest to injure a demigod and actually managed to succeed; who had directed and overseen – and quite possibly participated in – the kidnapping and murder of numerous ponies, along with selling their souls to daemons for her own profit...was none other than Adagio Dazzle.
Sonata and Aria’s sister.
The same sister whom they made him promise to not only locate and bring back to Equestria, but to somehow coax into loving him the same way they had come to. A promise that he had agreed to, and so was now duty-bound to fulfill, even though he hadn’t known about Kara’s twisted blessing at the time he’d made it. A promise that was quite possibly their final request of him, if they hadn’t survived the fire...
The thought made the edges of his umbral form thrash in turmoil. But to his profound discomfort and acute shame, the agitation that shot through him then wasn’t solely due to his longing to know what had happened to his beloveds or his fear that they had died horribly.
It was also because he could still vividly recall the intense lust he’d felt when he’d briefly witnessed Adagio back in Vanhoover.
Extremely vividly.
“Wait, hang on...”
Nearby, Solvei shook her head, frowning. She’d been silent up until now, sulking ever since Lex had summoned her back in order to listen to Nenet’s report, but judging from what he could sense of her emotional state – her unhappiness turning to mild confusion – something the sphinx had said had managed to break through her petulance. “You said she called herself a ‘Siren’?”
“That’s right,” answered Nenet. “But I don’t know what that means.”
Solvei cocked her head as she looked at him, scowling only slightly as she met his eyes. “Isn’t that what Drafty said your girlfriends were, back where you came from?”
Lex registered spite coming from her then, overlaying a lingering sense of anger and hurt, and it was enough to make him wonder if she was being deliberately petty. “Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze,” he answered gruffly. “They’re Adagio’s sisters.”
Nenet’s eyes widened, and Lex registered alarm from her then. “Mo-, Adagio has sisters?!”
Solvei’s reaction was only somewhat less extreme. “Wait, what?! You’re saying-”
But Nenet didn’t let her get a word in edgewise, her wings fluttering as Lex registered her descending into full-blown panic. “We have to get out of here! Even like this, I could barely escape from Adagio when she was at her weakest! If there’s three of her, we won’t stand a chance! They’ll capture us, and then-”
“They’re not like her,” muttered Lex.
“Nenet, calm down,” began Solvei. “That won’t happen.”
But Nenet didn’t seem to hear either of them, her breathing growing rapid as her eyes teared up. “They won’t kill us. Not until we’re hurting so bad that we’re all begging to die. It’ll be worse than anything Grisela ever did. And when they’re finally done-”
“I said they’re not like her.”
“Master,” whimpered Solvei, her emotional state suddenly switching to worry.
“-they’ll sell our souls to the cruelest, most evil daemons, and they’ll laugh when they tell us about the eternity of suffering that we’ll-”
“THEY”RE NOT LIKE HER, DO YOU HEAR ME?!” screamed Lex, grabbing Nenet in his telekinetic grasp and shaking her like viciously as black crystals erupted all around him. “THEY’RE NOTHING LIKE HER!!! SONATA AND ARIA ARE GOOD!!! THEY’RE GOOD AND LOVING AND COMPASSIONATE AND IF YOU EVER SAY OTHERWISE AGAIN, I’LL-”
His rant came to an abrupt end as Solvei reached out and grabbed Nenet with her own telekinesis, holding the sphinx steady even as she placed herself directly between the two of them, feet planted wide as she held her arms out to either side of her. Master, please, don’t do this!
Had anyone else intervened like that, Lex would have immediately turned his wrath on them. But across their link, he sensed the guilt and sorrow that was coming from Solvei then – along with the hysteria that had gripped Nenet, the sphinx sobbing in terror and whimpering apologies – and felt his rage dissipate as suddenly as it had formed.
What was he doing? He had promised Nenet that she would never suffer again if she entered his service, and yet here he was, terrorizing her. After she’d successfully completed a mission, all on her own no less, that his life had depended on.
Just like how he’d lashed out at Solvei – again – for her temerity in daring to say that she was willing to lay down her life for him.
Releasing Nenet, Lex couldn’t bring himself to look at either of them as he took Belligerence and his spine in his telekinesis. I’m going to figure out a way to repair my corporeal self, he informed them coldly as he floated away from them. The two of you start excavating the diamonds I found beneath the floor of the chasm.
He slammed their telepathic connection shut before either could say anything in reply, not wanting to deal with this anymore. Right now he needed to focus on finding a way to reintegrate his spine, then on subduing Adagio before the Siren could plan some sort of counterattack. After that, he needed to make peace with the adlets, figure out a way to save Thermal Draft, get home to Equestria, and handle a hundred other problems that were more important than his latest communication failure.
That thought was enough to earn a snort of recrimination from Lex, knowing that he was making excuses to avoid the unpleasant truth:
He’d been too harsh on both of them.
Solvei and Nenet had performed their duties admirably by any measure. The former’s insistence on being allowed to lay down her life for his sake, and the latter’s accomplishing a daunting task without any support; both were actions that deserved praise, if not some sort of more substantive reward.
Instead, he’d sharply rebuked them both, ignoring their achievements in favor of focusing on altogether minor annoyances. That he could justify his reasons for doing so in any number of ways was irrelevant. To be so dismissive of his closest servants when they’d gone so far for his sake was unworthy of him.
I might as well throw my spine away because of how hard it’s become to move, he jeered at himself. Or discard Belligerence because of how its jangling...
Wait...jangling?
Turning at last to regard the quill – which prior to now had been lying forgotten in the snow, dropped there by Nenet upon being teleported back – Lex looked for the source of the metallic tinkling sound that it was making-
And saw a bracelet with rings hanging off it dangling from the weapon’s barbs.
Pausing as he recognized the bracelet that Nenet had mentioned Adagio wearing, Lex let his vision slip into the magical spectrum as he examined it, wincing at the radiance that it exuded. But despite the brightness, it took only a few minutes to determine its functionality, being some sort of augment designed to allow multiple rings to operate at once...apparently overriding the limitation that disallowed more than two from being used at a time.
By itself, that wasn’t too unusual. While Lex still couldn’t figure out the processes Everglow’s artificers used to make enchanted items, magic rings represented – in a literal manner – the limits of their craft. To artificially imbue magical channels into inanimate objects without breaking or corroding them was remarkable by any measure. But to employ the high amount of magical energy that most magic rings used into such small structures was a feat that even Lex found impressive.
Even so, there were areas of impracticality. In addition to being – for the most part – hideously expensive to create even by the standards of most magic items, the delicate nature of their construction resulted in a resonance that interfered with their operation if more than two were used in close conjunction.
This bracelet was apparently the answer to that.
As it was, there were three rings dangling from the connecting chains now. Given that Nenet had said that Adagio was wearing five when she’d seen her, the other two had apparently come off when the sphinx had accidentally gotten Belligerence caught in her mother’s accessory. But that was no great loss, since the three that remained had notable auras in their own right, and though the bracelet itself was overshadowing them, it didn’t take Lex very long to decode their functions.
The first ring – a thin golden band inset with an alternating pattern of diamonds and rubies – was designed to act as a sort of shock absorber for the wearer’s body. It couldn’t actually prevent damage, nor did it overcome disease or defeat poison; rather, it alleviated debilitation, allowing the wearer’s physical functions to continue to work optimally even when placed under extreme stress. Muscle operation would remain intact even if blood flow was disrupted. Physical coordination would continue to work at peak efficiency despite nerve damage. Even a traumatic brain injury wouldn’t result in impaired cognition while the ring was worn.
The second ring – a loop of quicksilver with a trio of agates – seemed to be designed so that the first wouldn’t be necessary, inlaid with an enchantment that heightened reaction speed to an unfathomable degree. Although it wasn’t inlaid with any sort of predictive power, the way that one of his floating gemstones – permanently lost since the battle in Las Pegasus – had been, it had nearly the same effect. It simply accomplished it by increasing the integrity of the connection between the wearer’s brain and their muscular system.
And the third ring...
In terms of physical construction, it was as gaudy as the other two, being composed of white gold with a green sapphire set atop it. But at the moment Lex couldn’t have cared less as to what it looked like, unable to keep from staring at the aura it exuded.
Healing.
The ring was enchanted with healing magic.
Nor was it limited to merely mending physical damage; the ring allowed the wearer to actually regenerate parts that were lost. Blood could be recovered near-instantaneously. Organs could be regrown in a matter of seconds. Even a missing limb could be completely restored in a minute or two...or less than that, if the existing part was returned to the wearer’s body.
It was still limited in what it could do, of course. The ring couldn’t function for someone who’d undergone total metabolic shutdown; if the wearer died, it couldn’t regenerate them back to life. Nor could it expel foreign substances or infections. And magical attacks on the mind or soul were completely outside of its power to restore, which meant that it was of no help to Thermal Draft.
The ring’s single greatest drawback, however, was that it could only regenerate damage that was taken while it was worn. Slipping it onto someone who had already lost their leg or their lung or some other body part would accomplish nothing. But Lex couldn’t bring himself to be overly concerned about that; he had too much experience with forcing additional magic through enchanted items in order to enhance their powers to let such a minor limit worry him. No matter that he felt near-totally depleted; he’d find the strength within himself to do this now, and then...
Then he’d be restored.
Then he’d be able to confront Adagio.
Then he’d have the chance to keep his promise to Sonata and Aria.
All because Nenet had succeeded beyond his wildest expectations of her.
Yes, Lex decided as he continued to examine the ring. Once we’re done here, a reward is definitely in order. For her and Solvei both.
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I kind of forgot what Lex's luck stat was at or is it Nenet's own luck at play here given the rings being brought into Lex's possession was her doing.
Still, given Adagio's ambition, I'm not surprised by the power of the items she possess...possessed in this case though she still has more than what she had lost and probably then some if she was willing to arm her children with some. The items Paska took would have likely gone unnoticed or ignored given how possessive she was of the godsblood.
Though with it gone, she'll likely out on the prowl with everything she has to retrieve it. Hopefully Lex can recover before she arrives.
Thats some Level 20 mafical items right thre, especially with the bracelet acting as a ring filter to allow more items to work together by manipulating discordant energies to interfere less?
Adagios Infinity Harmonic Chain Gauntlet? Wonder what the last two rings she still has allow her to do.
Yeah, I don't think Lex is gonna be able to totally keep that promise. At the least though, he does need to remove her from Everglow, since the turmoil following the Empress' death is gonna be bad enough without her trying to seize power.
Once we’re done here, a reward is definitely in order. For her and Solvei both.
ok my mind jumped right in too the gutter with that one.
this is a awesome chapter.
11621789 I'm trying to resist the urge to talk about how certain d20 System products have indeed used Luck as a stat.
Needless to say, that's not technically the case here, so much as it is Adagio having the intelligence and the resources necessary to realize that going without a source of healing magic would be a foolish oversight. Given that she's not the type to bow and scrape for favors from a god, it's unsurprising that she had a magic item to take care of that for her (or that she didn't seem to care all that much if her children had healing magic of their own).
That said, you're probably right that Adagio has more magic items that she can avail herself of, though I suspect that if she goes scrounging through whatever her children had, she's likely to be disappointed due to Paska's already having looted (at least some of) them. Still, it's questionable how large of a stash she has; given that she's already low on magic, and no longer has a spellbook of her own to replenish her magic with (apparently she never considered the possibility that Nenet would betray her), then if she doesn't have any scrying or tracking magic of her own she might have a hard time tracking down the godsblood that Nenet took. Then again, she's clearly become a powerhouse in her own right, and she's far from foolish, so maybe she has a backup plan?
At this point, we'll just have to wait and see.
11621849 Well, we know that one of Adagio's remaining rings is a ring of telekinesis. Considering that we also saw her using what looked like an earth glide effect from her other ring, that's probably a clue to what it does.
The real issue is the bracelet she had which let her use multiple rings at a time, something that you normally can't do without special measures. In this case, I'll allow for a peak behind the curtain, as the bracelet in question is an item of my own design.
11622036 By any measure, the last thing the ponies of Everglow need is a powered-up and power-mad Adagio trying to seize control of their government after the current queen passes away. But as for making Adagio fall in love with him...yeah, I see that as being a rather hard task for Lex to accomplish, to say the least.
11622137 Ha! That certainly lends a different interpretation to Nenet's having said "please love me as much as you do Solvei!" to Lex at the end of Chapter 832!
11622994
Turns out there is a Lot of very weird stuff in the realms of Microwave strip Line Ring Filters etc that in many cases look weirdly like what peope have thought magical items might look like. Given theres other articles on electromotive forces from microwave fields, and interacting acoustic fields, cant really blame me for looking at magic rings as being such structures, especially when runes start occuring?