903 - Restraining Order
It took Lex a long time to calm down after he finished talking to Kara.
Several thousand heartbeats passed in silence as he wrestled with his instincts, forcing himself not to act on his urges. He’d resolved earlier that he wouldn’t be ruled by his desires, but living up to the self-restraint that vow required was rapidly turning into a perpetual exercise. He could suppress the beast within, but the longer he did so, the more concentration it took, denying him the ability to focus on anything besides holding himself back.
The one thing that kept the situation from being completely unbearable was that no one else – Kara possibly notwithstanding; she’d been deliberately provocative just now, but from what Lex could tell she was like that all the time – knew about it. The very idea that Lex Legis, who had rescued cities, brought himself back from death, and ascended to immortality should find himself struggling to control his lust like some teenage colt was utterly galling. The shame of it gave him just enough of an edge to maintain his discipline.
Even so, it was a very near thing.
It was enough to make Lex long for the transformation that he’d undergone during his fight with Kryonex, when his entire body had turned into barbed wire. The physical metamorphosis had brought with it an unparalleled clarity of mind, the disparate fractions of his mentality – his sapience, bestial instincts, and tulpa – united as one. No matter that it had made him hideous to behold; with a body that was beyond fleshy concerns, and an unfragmented mind, Lex felt certain that his current predicament would be a non-issue in that state.
But no matter what he tried, he couldn’t seem to actualize that transformation again now, the barbed wire offering him no surcease as it remained stubbornly confined to his left foreleg.
The result was that the moon had neared its zenith by the time Lex felt like he’d regained sufficient abstemiousness to get back to work.
Not that there was much work to be done at the moment. With his personal reserves and his tulpa completely depleted by his fight with Kryonex, and his thaumaturgical spells almost totally drained, Lex knew that he was in no condition to attempt any other major undertakings. He still had a vast array of powers to call on, from dark magic to cryomancy to reality-bending – not to mention overwhelming physical prowess – but that was no excuse not to replenish his other powers now that he had a chance.
Kara’s confirming what Kryonex had said about that Aesir pantheon was reason enough for that.
Which meant that the most important thing he could do now was rest.
Or rather, sleep.
It was the one mortal weakness that he hadn’t totally expunged. Apropos of a goddess whose name was the Night Mare, he still needed to slumber in order to fully restore himself. Not for very long – a single hour would do – and it wasn’t as though he’d feel tired if he didn’t; in theory, he could stay awake indefinitely without it adversely affecting him. But for that hour, he’d be vulnerable; or at least, more vulnerable than when he was awake.
No matter that his tulpa no longer tormented him in his dreams, leaving himself open to attack like that simply wasn’t acceptable.
Fortunately, he had ways of mitigating the risk.
Guard the doors and windows, Lex ordered as he conjured a group of ice golems. They were smaller than the ones he’d briefly made during his fight with that void creature, but no less powerful for it. Allow no one inside. Subdue anyone who tries to get past you, without killing them. He briefly thought of ordering them to raise a din if that happened, but decided against it. If the golems engaged in a fight, the noise would easily awaken him.
Not that he planned on leaving it to that.
Another spell placed a ward around the turf hut, creating a magical tripwire that would create a loud alarm if anyone tried to breach the building.
He followed that up with another half-dozen protective spells. Most of them were embedded in diamonds, but he didn’t hesitate to expend them. The gems themselves were among the smallest that he’d collected, and it would be easy to replace them latter. Trading them to ensure security – not just for himself, but also for Solvei, Nenet, and Mei Li – was worthwhile.
Finally, his preparations were complete.
And yet Lex hesitated.
There was one spell he’d prepared before he’d gone after Adagio, not because it had anything to do with the imminent fight, but because he’d been waiting for a quiet moment afterward. One spell that would, if not solve any of the numerous tasks that still needed to be undertaken, at least answer the one question that had tormented him ever since he’d come to Everglow. It might not be the answer he wanted, but at least he’d know.
A harsh truth being preferable to ignorance was a tenet of the Night Mare’s that Lex had believed in long before he’d met the goddess.
Resolve to have his answer, Lex conjured conjured up an ornate mirror of ice in front of himself, using Nenet’s metamagic to make the necessary adjustments so that the spell would work with the reflective pane of frozen water, rather than the silver one it normally required.
A short time later, his scrying spell activated.
Sonata, he commanded it silently. Show me Sonata Dusk.
Despite the fact that he no longer needed to breathe, Lex found himself inhaling sharply as the mirror’s surface began to darken, knowing that the magic was speeding across the planes of existence to try and find his love.
Theoretically, he knew that there were several reasons why the spell could fail even if she was alive, but all of them were miniscule. If she didn’t appear in the next few seconds, then the overwhelming likelihood would be that she was dead, since the deceased shed their mortal identity along with their memories. A resurrection spell was designed to account for that, locating the departed’s remembrances in the Astral Plane and following the trail that the unburdened soul had taken after that, but a scrying spell lacked that functionality. It was why he hadn’t used this spell to try and locate Adagio; even if her soul had been snatched before losing her memories, any prison strong enough to foil life-restoring magic would easily defeat a scrying.
But if Sonata did appear, then he’d know she’d survived the fire. He’d even be able to talk to her, ask her what had become of Aria, as well as Nosey and Feather Duster. It would-
Lex’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt as his foresight showed him what was about to appear in the mirror.
The spell had worked, but it wasn’t going to show him Sonata.
“Grab it! Grab it!”
“I’m trying!”
The two voices that came from the mirror were completely unfamiliar to Lex, but that shocked him less than what appeared on its surface a moment later.
A pair of bare breasts.
They were small, perky, jiggling animatedly, and made of lava.
Even as Lex watched, their owner’s face became visible as the spell’s point of view jumped and jostled, showcasing angular features that were twisted in a grimace of exertion. Humanoid and completely naked, the rest of her matched the composition of her chest, being formed entirely of magma, long hair made of fire trailing behind her, and Lex belatedly noted that her arms extended past either side of the sensor’s field of view, as though she were grasping it.
But a moment later, her arms vanished from sight, as did the rest of her, revealing the silvery void of the Astral Plane.
“Darya!” The cry seemed to come from the magma woman, whom Lex belatedly realized matched the Libram of Ineffable Damnation’s description of a brijidine – one of the stronger types of azata, a class of empyreal beings from the so-called Upper Planes who championed freedom and liberty – as the spell’s point of view shot forward. “Don’t let it get away!”
“I know, Doireann!” The answering cry came just as the spell’s point of view shifted abruptly, pale arms reaching out to take hold of it again, and this time Lex found himself looking at another humanoid, this one a waifish woman, her skin and hair the color of chalk. Unlike her companion, she wore clothes, though the loose vest and trailing loincloth left little to the imagination. But her outfit was less notable than the large set of wings sprouting from her back, which – like the brijidine’s hair – were composed entirely of fire.
A peri, realized Lex grimly, noting another denizen of the Upper Planes. They weren’t part of any of the more famous hierarchies of empyreal beings, and the Libram of Ineffable Damnation had little to say about them, save for the fact that their lack of standing in the heavenly realms was something that they were particularly cognizant of. But that doesn’t explain why they’re intercepting my spell.
Or how they were doing it, for that matter. As far as Lex knew, it shouldn’t have been possible to waylay a scrying before it reached its target, but somehow the pair had managed to do so.
Though only for the moment, because as the peri hugged the scrying spell to herself – burying the sensor in her scant cleavage – the flame-winged woman shouted at her companion. “I’ve got it!” she crowed, even as the picture began to shake wildly, the spell trying to break loose. “Do something! I don’t think I’ll be able to keep hold of it much longer!”
“I just called for help!” replied the brijidine, Doireann. “We just need to hold out for a few more seconds!”
“Great!” shouted back Darya, the sensor now pulling away from her chest in fits and starts. “Now help me hold this thing or we’ll need to explain how we couldn’t even last that long!”
“Whoever cast this is seriously bad news!” groused the brijidine, her voice sounding closer. “I don’t know what’s worse, the aura this spell is giving off or how hard it’s fighting!”
“Just hold on!” answered the peri. “We swore we’d keep Equestria safe from off-world evils, and whoever cast this definitely qualifies!”
Lex’s heart leaped into his throat before Darya’s words even reached his ears, hearing them before they were spoken thanks to his foresight. Equestria! The spell was headed to Equestria!
Sonata was alive!
Nearby, Nenet groaned at the noise, but Lex returned her to sleep without even needing to consciously do so, instead focusing on the whisper spell that he’d prepared specifically to use with this spell. It would transmit his voice through the sensor, and he’d be able to demand that those two release his spell.
But he’d just finished casting it when his foresight announced the arrival of a third individual.
“Well done, both of you,” came a deep, masculine voice as the sensor’s struggles abruptly ceased. “I’ll take care of this now.”
In the mirror’s surface the two women floated into view, heaving sighs of relief. “Thanks for the save, Mihr,” breathed Doireann.
Unlike the brijidine, Darya offered a deep bow. “We appreciate your assistance, lord archangel,” she murmured, tucking her wings at her side.
Lex frowned. Unlike brijidines and peris, the Libram of Ineffable Damnation had a great deal to say about archangels. None of it had been flattering.
“It is your assistance that has made it possible to keep that world pristine,” answered Mihr, and Lex could just barely make out fingers at the top of the scrying sensor’s field of view, the archangel apparently holding it steady with just one hand. “The two of you have my gratitude for that. Whereas you...”
Slowly, the sensor turned around, Lex got a good look at the archangel.
Like the others, he was humanoid on form. But unlike the females, he was clad entirely – save for his six wings, each of which was more than double the length of his body and covered in feathers of pure white – in golden armor, and Lex recognized the design as being similar to the Armor of the Renewing Light that he’d summoned while fighting Kryonex. And while the scrying sensor’s range of transmissible spectra was fairly narrow, Lex could see enough into the magical spectrum to know that the archangel’s armor possessed a similar – perhaps even greater – degree of power. Nor was the golden longsword that floated at his side any less impressive.
But those held Lex’s attention less than the eyes which shined from beneath the angel’s helmet, glittering like topazes as they stared calmly into the scrying sensor.
“...have my displeasure.”
“Something I don’t fear,” growled Lex, his whisper spell transmitting the words through the sensor. “But you’ll learn to fear mine if you don’t release my spell.”
“This I cannot do,” answered Mihr evenly. “Your magic reeks of corruption and maliciousness, promising a bounty of cruelty and suffering if allowed to reap its foul harvest on the world you’ve targeted.”
“It’s a scrying spell!” snarled Lex, incensed that he was being denied. “It can’t hurt anyone!”
“And yet it may transmit lesser magics, as it does now with your voice, which may themselves stain a world so innocent,” countered Mihr. “And even if it could not, I would not have one so thickly clothed in such vile power gain more knowledge of a realm that is as yet unsullied by the evil you’ve embraced.”
“That world is my home!” The righteous indignation that the angel was spouting was grating on Lex’s nerves, causing his hackles to rise. He was so close to seeing Sonata again, and this narrow-minded fundamentalist was keeping him from her! “I was born there! You have no right to keep me from it!”
The archangel pursed his lips for a moment, and Lex could see the brow over those glittering eyes furrow. “You claim that this world is the cradle in which you were swaddled, but the strength of your spell is beyond what a mortal could muster. And yet, it seems somehow familiar...”
He fell silent then, but only for a moment, Lex’s foresight already having shown him that he’d speak up again almost immediately. “Now I recall. Though lesser when I witnessed it, yours was the cloying malediction that clung to Princess Luna, despoiling her with its taint. Princess Celestia said her sister was defiled by the same sorcerer who brought a religion of darkness to her land, proffering aid and healing to disguise tyranny and oppression. The dark unicorn, Lex Legis.”
“I am much more than a mere unicorn now,” retorted Lex darkly, “and you are a fool if you think that bringing strength and order to a world crying out for leadership is tyranny. That sentimental nonsense left my people weak and vulnerable, making them easy prey for the worst kinds of monsters. That will never happen again.”
“I’ve heard how you turned tragedy into opportunity, taking advantage of lost lives and wounded spirits to make the perverse seem noble,” countered Mihr. “Such a sentiment beguiled the innocent eyes of that land, but it will not beguile mine. Even now, gentler souls – who embrace a power that in your perfidy you dismiss as weak, blind to its true strength – work to undo the scars you’ve left on that world’s people. As one who would walk alongside them in friendship, I cannot in good faith allow you to violate the interdiction that has been set up around this world.”
Lex gave a harsh laugh at that. “You ‘cannot allow me’? You can’t stop me! My goddess, the Night Mare, has elevated me to a station far beyond your own so that I could fulfill my duty, and I will not be denied by you!”
“No, not by me,” agreed Mihr. “By a joint coalition of angels, azatas, archons, agathions, inevitables, and many others, all serving to let that fair land flower. As you have abandoned both your mortal claim to this world, and your moral right to live among its people, you will not be allowed to return to it.”
As he spoke, the peri and the brijidine both moved to back the archangel up, glowering at the scrying sensor as they brandished swords of their own.
“And as for the Night Mare,” continued Mihr. “Tell her that the angels of Heaven still remember when her scythe appeared among us, unprovoked, and slaughtered many of our number. When the clarion call goes out that her servant is trying to mar this world, you’ll find that the many choirs who lost friends will move to stand between it and you.”
His fingers tightened then, and Lex could sense his spell starting to crack under his grip.
“I will be the first among them,” added Mihr.
Then he closed his fist, the ice mirror shattering from the backlash as the scrying sensor was destroyed.
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Just found out this story and oh boy... 2 million words and 900+ chapters, also getting constant updates?! Well let's begin this adventure 😁
11793724 Welcome aboard! I'm glad that you're interested in the story, and I hope you enjoy it!
Oh.
Severance anihiliated so much of their forces.
By accident.
So how well would they stand against the complete Regalia being Used coherently?
Who rolled E20 Lawful Dumb Paladins for this crew.
I take it all other spells used have a similar behaviour when dealing with realm traqnsitions, having to actually pass through the intermediate layers, as if there are meta planes that can intersect the Prime sphere realm directly without passing through the Astral Plane, is teh realms of Meta Eldtrich Gods and Ponks?
11793902 It's questionable how many angels, archons, etc. Severance killed, although the fact that it appeared on the first layer of Heaven (traditionally occupied by a lot of weaker creatures of similar power/disposition; getting to the higher heavens means increasing your virtue, ascending to higher forms that are commensurately more equipped to handle the presence of evil) means that it faced no real opposition when confronted. And of course, an evil artifact appearing in Heaven would naturally be confronted. Naturally, Severance would not come along quietly when the local beat cops tried to cite it for trespassing.
Even so, the alarm was still sounded fairly quickly, and Mihr himself confronted Severance, battling it to a standstill and forcing it to flee (as related by Princess Celestia back in Chapter 253). Apparently, there are still hard feelings over that. It's perhaps appropriate that the Angel of Friendship wouldn't easily forgive someone associated with the slaughterer of his friends.
As for the planes that trans-planar spells travel through, those are colloquially called the "transitive planes," simply because they're situated between a large number of the other known planes of existence. In that regard, having to use them as routes between planes is how most "instantaneous" transportation works. A teleportation spell makes it seem like you're just disappearing in one spot and reappearing elsewhere, but the fact remains that you have to move through somewhere, which is normally the Astral Plane. Now, there are multiple transitive planes (with different areas of coverage), and an enterprising and powerful being can look for ways to try and bypass or circumvent conventional routes; if you can fold space to connect two distant points, that can make traveling on the same plane easier, for instance, though moving between planes is still an issue. (Of course, there are certain planar pathways that act as bridges between realms all on their own, but so far we haven't seen any of them.)
I find it so sweet that after all that is going on with Lex both magically and sexually, his go to is to think of Sonata. Seems like a pretty obvious connection but super sweet nonetheless.
God I miss Sonata! I swear, if Lex doesn't curb stomp Mihr out of the way then I will!!
lol
So Lex has another obstacle he'll need to face once he's settled his affairs on the Everglow though when that happens is uncertain given his propensity to having things being added to his plate. Still, since sending Mei Li back to her home is simple enough in Lex's mind, that will at least be one issue dealt with though hopefully nothing bad comes of it later on.
11794443 That Lex wanted to see Sonata more than anyone else back in Equestria speaks volumes about his feelings for her. It's no coincidence that their relationship predates Kara's meddling (though since he doesn't know precisely when she gave him her blessing, he isn't sure about that), and I have no doubt that he feels her absence keenly. Fortunately, he now has strong reason to believe that she's alive, and I doubt he's going to let mere angels stand between them!
11794532 For every errand that Lex finishes, or sees no obstacle to finishing, there's always something else that crops up. One thing continually seems to lead to another, delaying his return to Equestria by that much more. Given that he now has to deal with the blockade around Equestria, hopefully taking Mei Li home won't turn into another complication!