Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

900 - The Victor's Right

With every passing moment, the monster inside of him grew progressively more rebellious.

Lex could feel it becoming more and more agitated as he led Nenet and Mei Li outside of what was left of Adagio’s mountain fortress, bestial instincts howling louder as they demanded that he act on them. That was something he refused to do, however, clamping down on the urges that coursed through him. But that only caused them to express themselves that much more powerfully, violently intruding on his awareness despite his best efforts.

The creature that he’d merged with had finally reached the end of its patience.

It didn’t mind fighting for survival. As far as it was concerned, that was simply a fact of life. But even a creature without sapience didn’t put its life on the line for nothing; quite the contrary, it regarded such battles as being necessary in order to acquire the things that gave its life meaning. Things such as defending its territory, acquiring food...

And securing breeding rights.

But after a series of increasingly more deadly battles – fighting Sissel, then Hvitdod, then Kryonex, then that void monster – Lex had gained none of those things. While intellectually he knew that there were very good reasons for confronting each of those enemies, the savage side of himself saw only that nothing worthwhile had been achieved. None of the locations where he’d fought were territory he’d wanted. Food was a non-issue now that he no longer felt hunger.

That left only his carnal desires, which were growing increasingly strong.

The monster within him simply couldn’t understand why he hadn’t taken advantage of any of the females whose company he’d been keeping. Fail Forward. Solvei. Nenet. Adagio. Mei Li. He’d been turning acceptable mates down left and right, despite the fact that he could have had them at any time. Having defeated them all and made them subject to his authority, it was both his right and his prerogative to enjoy their bodies as he saw fit.

Naturally, that ran completely counter to Lex’s moral code, but the creature which now comprised his instincts and impulses couldn’t have cared less. It was thoroughly sick of being denied what it considered its rightful due, and was no longer willing to go without.

That was why Lex was now hyper-aware of his companions’ femininity. Every swish of Mei Li’s tails, every curve that Nenet had pressed against him as she’d cried, the scent of both of them as they followed behind him...all of it was in the forefront of his mind, impossible to push away. All he could do was stifle the urge to act on that input, controlling his words and actions in accordance with what he knew to be right – and, thanks to his foresight, what would achieve the desired response – rather than what he wanted to do.

That, at least, was something he had experience with, thanks to the years he’d spent rigidly adhering to his system of ethics in the face of incomprehensible social dynamics.

But he could already tell that wasn’t going to be sufficient now.

Mostly because, unlike when he’d been completely equine, his feral side had the potential to completely overwhelm his higher reasoning, the way it had after he’d left the Shrine of the Starless Sky. Lex could still remember losing himself to the monster within, inadvertently allowing it to come to the fore; only Solvei’s presence in his mind had brought him back to himself. He doubted that would work this time, given how much stronger his base desires had grown.

All of which meant that, despite appearing outwardly calm, Lex found himself fighting another battle as he exited the mountain redoubt, one that was entirely internal in nature.

Overcoming a demigod had pushed him to his immortal limits and beyond.

Overcoming himself was already proving to be much harder.

“What...” Nenet’s voice failed her as she looked around the shattered valley, her eyes round and her jaw hanging slack. “What happened here?”

Mei Li was more composed, though she needed several tries before she found her voice. “This is...I cannot imagine...”

“Both of you stay close to me,” ordered Lex. “This should only take a few minutes.”

The sphinx and the fox-woman exchanged a confused look.

“Master...what should only take a few minutes?” ventured Nenet.

“For me to keep my promise,” murmured Lex, glancing at the spot – indistinguishable from the rest of the tortured landscape – where Adagio had died.

Even as he said that, he removed Belligerence from his extradimensional holding space, along with one of the largest of the diamonds that he’d taken from beneath Hvitdod’s lair. Ignoring the sudden intake of breath that he heard from the other two at the sight of the transformed weapon, he instead ordered his tulpa to begin casting the resurrection spell he’d imbued in it the night before.

He'd originally put that aside as a backup plan in case Nenet had been killed during the fight, reasoning that the semiautonomous portion of his mind would have an easier time casting it if the psychic feedback from her death crippled him the way Solvei’s had. Fortunately, he hadn’t needed to put that particular plan into effect, and so now he was free to use it to resurrect not only Adagio, but to try and bring back – thanks to Belligerence’s one remaining use of its ability to enlarge the area of a spell – all of the ice creatures that he’d so carelessly slaughtered.

It was no less than he’d done for the adlets, after all, and what he planned on doing once he got back to Vanhoover. Given how those beings from the Plane of Ice had been innocent, forced to serve as fodder for Kryonex against their will – and whose lives he’d taken without realizing that they were helpless pawns – they deserved the same consideration.

And Adagio deserved even more than that. Although she’d committed a large number of horrific crimes, that didn’t obviate the promises he’d made – both to Sonata and Aria, as well as Adagio herself – to bring her back alive. She might have been a Siren, but Sirens were ponies; no matter that there had been no better alternative, he’d still violated his own moral code in killing her. Bringing her back to life was not only his obligation to her and her sisters, but to himself.

Seconds turned into minutes as his tulpa silently worked, the spell being too powerful for Nenet’s metamagic to decrease its casting time. Nearby, Nenet and Mei Li were commenting quietly on the scope of the damage that the valley had sustained, turning around to take in the broken vista. In doing so, Lex couldn’t help but notice how the folds of Mei Li’s robe moved slightly askew, giving him a glimpse of pale thighs as Nenet’s sarong shifted, one hip coming into view-

Stop it.

Forcing himself to look away from the pair – though with his expanded senses, that accomplished nothing – Lex silently focused on what he’d do once Adagio was resurrected. No doubt she’d be furious at him, and would likely lash out. That would, of course, necessitate her being subdued...

Nenet wouldn’t approve of his doing anything amorous with her mother, but neither he nor Nenet could help the fact that Kara had already pledged – completely of her own initiative, and over his objections – to make Adagio into his inamorata in exchange for ruining the Siren’s plans.

Lex had no idea how the love goddess planned to do that, and didn’t like how it sounded as though it involved mind-manipulation far worse than the so-called blessing she’d given him – to say nothing of how that undercut the sanctity of his promise to Sonata and Aria to make their missing sister love him, as impossible as that task seemed given Adagio’s grotesque criminality – but it didn’t change the fact that Adagio was seductive and manipulative. If she was aware of how close he’d been to succumbing to her charms before, she’d likely try to entice him again, since she had no more aristeia or magical artifacts to attack him with. And if she tempted him to the point where he lost control over himself...

It won’t come to that, he decided, knowing that the beast within him wanted it to come exactly to that, putting aside his worries as he defied it to try.

Lex Legis would not be ruled by his impulses.

A moment later, he felt his spell activate, the diamond in his grasp crumbling into dust as Belligerence’s final band of wire-shaped azure flames shattered, expanding the magic-

-and Lex almost faltered as his foresight showed him what would happen when he named the ones he wanted to bring back.

Not even one of them...

“Master?” called Nenet from behind him, his momentary dismay having been stark enough to have been inadvertently transmitted. “What’s wrong?”

Lex ignored her. “Adagio Dazzle,” he murmured, despite knowing the futility of doing so; for all his pragmatism, it simply wasn’t in his nature to give up without trying. “Sonata Dusk. Aria Blaze. Nosey Newsy. Feather Duster. All of the ice creatures that Kryonex brought here.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the magic discharged...to no effect.

That none of the denizens from the Plane of Ice had been resurrected was disappointing, but not a surprise; the resurrection spell required its intended recipients to be named, or otherwise unambiguously identified. Even if he’d had any remaining energy to overcharge the spell with, that wasn’t a limit which could be overcome via an enhancement of its functionality, since the spell needed to know who to direct its life-restoring energy toward, targeting their memory core on the Astral Plane and using that as a focal point to find the soul. He’d tried anyway only because he hadn’t wanted to overlook the possibility that Belligerence’s altered state might have bypassed that limit somehow, thanks to the Night Mare’s enhancement of the weapon.

His naming of the four mares whom he’d left behind in the burning factory in Las Pegasus had likewise been courting futility, since this wasn’t the first time he’d tried and failed to resurrect them.

The previous attempt had been when he’d brought back Frode, Panuk, and all of the other adlets that Solvei had told him about, slipping their names in alongside the multitude of others. When they hadn’t come back to life, he’d tried to take that as a hopeful sign; the resurrection spell – like so many other applications of magic – offered some modest feedback to the caster. He’d felt it when, back in Vanhoover, Block Party had refused his attempt to restore him to life. It had been like reaching a hoof out toward someone, only for it to be slapped away. But when he’d reached out for Sonata and the others, he’d felt nothing at all.

Lex had wanted to believe that meant that they were still alive, that they’d gotten out of the burning building and were alright.

But he could imagine too many other possibilities to take comfort in that. Not when Thermal Draft’s soul was still in jeopardy because she’d been tricked into making a deal with a devil. Not when there had been a devil operating so clandestinely in Equestria. It was too easy to think of comparable scenarios that resulted not only in their deaths, but their souls being beyond his reach.

Case in point, Adagio’s not having been brought back just now.

Unlike the others, her inability to be resurrected had caught him completely by surprise, feeling the same inability to locate her soul that he’d perceived when he’d tried to bring back Sonata and the others.

Just like them, Adagio simply wasn’t available to be resurrected.

But why?

The daemons were his first thought, but that didn’t strike him as likely. Between what he’d read about them in the Libram of Ineffable Damnation, and what he’d learned from Nenet and Sissel, the daemons had to retrieve souls manually. Cacodaemons, astradaemons, and others of their ilk could steal souls, but they had to personally collect them to do it, needing to target their victim’s body before the soul left it. Yet none of them had been present when Adagio had died.

It was possible that she’d struck a more mystical bargain with whichever daemon she’d trafficked with in order to acquire so many of their kind as mercenaries. Possibly that “Szuriel the Warbringer” or one of his underlings, according to that petty daemon who had been maintaining the curse Sissel had used on Ujurak. But the snow giant and the sphinx hadn’t made it sound that way, describing their mother’s deal as one that was based more around a repayment of other souls than potentially forfeiting her own. Certainly, they hadn’t attributed Adagio’s aristeia – a power much more intertwined with her being, to the point of possibly altering the trajectory of her soul even after having been expended – to the daemons.

It had been Kara who had made it clear that Adagio’s enhanced power had come from elsewhere, citing various eldritch beings that the Siren had bargained with in order to increase her personal abilities. The shapechanger goddess had told him how those beings would be looking to recoup their investment. That one of her debtors might have insisted on some agreement similar to Prevarius’, where Adagio’s soul would be funneled directly to them upon her death, wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Which means that in order to secure her soul’s release, I’ll need to figure out which one of those entities has it now, Lex knew.

It was obvious who the best person to speak to about that was.

And he had no doubt that Kara would want something in exchange for helping him.

Yet as much as he wasn’t looking forward to dealing with the love goddess again, the beast inside of him couldn’t bring itself to be upset at the prospect.

Author's Note:

In the wake of his victory over Kryonex, Lex is at odds with himself, torn between duty and desire!

Will he be able to resolve his internal struggle before getting in touch with Kara? Or will this inner conflict lead to more trouble in the near future?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

Of course the beast inside him wants him to meet with Kara though given that she's the only one that's met the beast's carnal urge, I can see why and I bet Kara is more than willing to take advantage of that, even if only to get a good rutting out of it.

However, I do wonder if she'll be willing to tell Lex where Adagio's soul is. Then again, the goddess was rather fixated on the kind of punishment the siren suffers so who knows what she'll tell Lex. Regardless, Lex definitely needs to find a more firm way to get the beastly side of him under control less it makes Lex do something he'll regret.

[Booster Spice]

Lex is going to have to get spells that Kara might have for curses, being her opposite, otherwise Adagio would end up with yet another army?

Whatever shes ended up with this time.

Does ressurection work on time stopped stasis or petrification as well as extra planar slavery?

[Alzrius]

11786491 Kara definitely doesn't like Adagio much, but she seems to be quite invested in Lex, or at least has schemes that involve him; the fact that she has (at least, according to her) made him the object of the Night Mare's affection is proof enough of that. But as for what she'll say when Lex asks her what's happened to Adagio's soul, well...Lex is of the opinion that she'll want something. If it's just sex, that would be convenient for him, given how his desires are running amok at the moment. But if she wants something else, things may get complicated in a hurry.

Ideally, Lex will master his urges, but the simpler answer is simply to find an outlet for them. Unfortunately, Thermal Draft has been out of commission for a while, and he doesn't seem inclined to turn to a non-pony for carnal satisfaction, although it seems that his inner beast is far less discriminating. Hopefully he knows better than to confront a love goddess while so worked up!

[Alzrius]

11786586 Resurrection spells of all types (i.e. raise dead, resurrection, true resurrection, and reincarnate being the primary ones) are, like almost all of the spells in the d20 System, very specific in what they can do, having little variability or variance in their functionality. In this case, they restore someone who's dead to life (subject to the limits in their spell descriptions).

What that means is that they don't overcome other things that might trap, capture, or otherwise impede a soul. While the spells themselves have very little in-character description, if we look at some of the older D&D materials (e.g. the old AD&D 2nd Edition Guide to the Astral Plane, among others) we can figure out a rough pattern for how it works. Essentially, the spell follows the trail between the body (or body part, or even just a name and description, if the spell is powerful enough) to the memory core on the Astral Plane. From there, it can track down the soul's destination and – if the soul is willing – bring it back (reintegrating the memory core along the way) to its body (or making a new one, as appropriate) and restoring it to life.

In that regard, the description in this chapter of "holding out a hoof" for the deceased to grab onto is accurate, because if someone is in a cage, then it doesn't matter if they take your hand; they still can't squeeze through the bars. The same principle applies here. If a soul has been sealed in a soul bind, it's not coming back until the binding is undone. If the soul has anchored itself into a new form via negative energy (i.e. become undead), then it's not coming back until that new form's hold on the soul is smashed. Souls that incorporate the fabric of an Outer Plane into themselves effectively transform into a new level of existence, and so resurrection magic can't reach them to begin with (though given how the strongest resurrection magic can reach back centuries to revive someone, this apparently takes some time).

Petrification is an odd one. It isn't death, so you can't resurrect them if they're turned to stone, even though the body's transmutation means that there's no positive energy there...yet the soul doesn't go anywhere. Instead, you can simply need to transmute them back to flesh, though I can see an argument being made that sufficiently destroying the stoned body might constitute death (i.e. if you disintegrate it). My guess would be that the soul is still attacked to the petrified body, but is in some sort of torpor, which is probably why it doesn't start ranging abroad trying to find help.