Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

928 - Incarnate Vessel

“You have my admiration. To have overcome Gwynharwyf the way you did was truly inspired.”

Lex ignored the compliments, as well as the congratulatory bow that Vystalaran gave him, the wan smile still on the elf wizard’s lips. “Is that an admission that she was acting as an agent on behalf of your pantheon’s interests?”

“It really wasn’t anything so formal,” shrugged Vystalaran. “The Seelie and the Seldarine are on very close terms, and help each other out when asked. It’s more about favors than stuffy old treaties or declarations. Although...”

His smile fell away as he put a hand over his heart, giving Lex a deeper bow. “I do owe you an apology for how shamefully Gwynharwyf acted before she left. The Llys Seren are free spirits by nature, and she’s volatile even by their standards, particularly when she sees others held in servitude or thralldom. But that’s no excuse for treating a member of the Autumn Court with such disrespect. Especially one who commands a royal title among their own people.”

“A most conciliatory speech,” retorted Lex flatly. “Or at least it would be, if not for its complete lack of acknowledgment of your own actions, and those of your comrades.”

Straightening up, Vystalaran gave a soft laugh. “Alas, that’s not something I can apologize over. What happened with Burly Brawl” – he nodded toward the unconscious stallion – “was a legitimate case of mistaken identity.”

“On his part.” Lex glanced coldly at Loraestil, who flinched. “And on hers.” Thilaera cringed as Lex’s eyes settled on hers, the elf looking away immediately. “But not on yours.”

“Measures had to be taken to draw you out,” replied Vystalaran simply. “And while that brute’s being here wasn’t something I’d anticipated, he was useful in his own way.”

“And if Blaze takes your actions against a pony she’s blessed as a pretext for war?”

Unlike Gwynharwyf, Vystalaran didn’t seem to be at all bothered by that prospect, his soft smile not so much as flickering. “Do you mind if I ask how it is that you knew I wasn’t what I appeared to be? I really thought my disguise was quite impenetrable. And yet you were looking at me, specifically, through the prismatic sphere when you called me out.”

Lex snorted.

In fact, he hadn’t initially been aware that Vystalaran wasn’t like his two companions. Everything that his senses – physical, supernatural, and otherwise – had told him was that the wizard was as mortal as his companions. There’d been no overlapping manifestations, no presence that had overrode reality, and even the single spell that he’d hurled at Vystalaran in retaliation for the wizard’s own magical attack had seemed to wound him.

But the elf had made an oversight, one which had led to Lex being able to unravel that the mage was hiding something.

The foresight spell that he’d cast on Loraestil.

That bit of magic – which had been designed to give the elf warrior the same awareness of the future that Lex himself had by virtue of his being a titan – had instead erased Loraestil from his own trans-temporal awareness, the same way the Ghost Blade’s wielder had admitted to Lex’s own future being closed off to him even with the spell active.

That he’d said so using the same whisper-spell that Lex had once used to communicate with Sonata and others back in Vanhoover hadn’t hidden the elf’s shocked exclamation from Lex’s ears, nor had it he missed Vystalaran’s seemingly-shocked reply. He’d simply been unable to pay attention to them, given that his attempt to commune with the Night Mare had gone badly awry, and he’d needed to deal with Burly immediately afterward, and then Gwynharwyf.

But by the time the eladrin had made her appearance, the discrepancy had been notable.

That “prismatic sphere” that Vystalaran had hidden himself and his companions under had been a powerful ward. It had kept all three of them safe despite the worst excesses of Burly’s gravity manipulation. But although Lex had only barely been able to see even rough outlines of the elves inside of it – having to strain his supernatural senses to their limit to determine which one was Vystalaran – the sphere hadn’t been soundproof, allowing him to hear that the wizard had been the one to tell Thilaera to summon her family’s patroness, shocking Thilaera in the process.

Which had been what had given Vystalaran away.

After all, if he’d known about Thilaera’s connection to Gwynharwyf, it implied that he had some understanding of the eladrin titan’s nature. And since Vystalaran knew how to cast a foresight spell, then it wasn’t unreasonable to think that he was aware that titans were beings whose futures couldn’t been seen via that bit of magic.

And yet the elf wizard had been shocked when Loraestil had said that the foresight spell was working, even though the trio had openly admitted to Solvei that they’d come here knowing exactly who they were looking for.

Which had led Lex to wonder why it was that Vystalaran could be so familiar with titans, and had come looking specifically for one, but had no idea that foresight wouldn’t work on them.

Of course, by itself that had been far from conclusive. There were any number of reasonable explanations for why Vystalaran could be familiar with Gwynharwyf and yet have no idea that titans’ futures couldn’t been seen...or at least, not via that spell of his. It was entirely possible that he’d only just learned that spell, for instance, or perhaps he only knew about Gwynharwyf’s connection to Thilaera’s family, and not the nature of her powers. It might even have been that he’d thought Lex was a titan of weak enough stature that he wasn’t able to see across time; none of Adagio’s creditors had been able to do so, after all.

But innocuous as it was, Lex had still seized on the disparity between Vystalaran’s actions and what he should conceivably have known.

Intelligent enemies would always seek to hide information from their foes. That, in turn, required that anyone fighting such enemies be able to pick up on even the slightest hints that something was off. It was a truism which had seen Lex through countless battles, against enemies ranging from Xiriel to Kryonex, and he’d been more than prepared to put it into play again now.

Not that he had any intention of revealing that to the elf standing across from him, since he still wasn’t completely sure what Vystalaran was. He was some sort of representative of the elven pantheon, to be certain. But whether he was a Chosen, or a divine servitor, or something else was still very much in doubt.

But since he’d apparently given up on using pawns, perhaps he’d be willing to admit what he was now.

“Do you really expect me to tell you that, when you haven’t told me who you really are or what you’re doing here?”

“A fair point,” admitted Vystalaran, with a cordial nod of his head. “Then, allow me to formally introduce myself.”

For the third time, he bowed. This time the gesture was more formal, placing his feet together as he held his right arm horizontally across his middle, his left arm moving around to take up the same position behind his back.

“I am Vystalaran,” he intoned, “avatar of Gladoneral.”

Even as the words left his mouth, his mortality fell away. Before now, Lex had been able to see into the wizard’s future, as well as hear his thoughts. But in an instant, those were removed from what he could sense as the power that the avatar had been suppressing was allowed to spring forth in full-

Without stopping to think, Lex immediately used Belligerence’s power of negation at the same time as barbed wire surged forth from his foreleg, strands of jagged metal once again replacing the flesh of his body.

Together, they were just enough to keep him from being completely crushed by the divine aura that the elf now radiated.

Kryonex had been an oppressive force, despite being a weak demigod who had been weakened further by Adagio’s machinations. Gwynharwyf had been far stronger, the might she commanded easily eclipsing anything Kryonex had been able to bring to bear.

But the power that Vystalaran possessed was in a league of its own.

The entire universe seemed to revolve around him, as though he was the axis upon which Creation itself turned. Truth defined itself in relation to him, with any competing interpretations being rendered irrelevant simply because he didn’t approve of them. Things were good to the extent that they had an affinity with him, and bad to the extent that they didn’t. Defiance wasn’t a question of sin or heresy, but of overturning physical laws.

It was only because of Belligerence that Lex was able to make sense of what was happening, the weapon shutting down the divine aura’s ability to subsume comprehension of alternative modes of being. But that didn’t alter the physical properties that had overlaid the universe in the area around Vystalaran, leaving Lex struggling just to stay standing.

The irreconcilability of the differences between himself and the elf in front of him – in terms ranging from their physical forms to their attitudes and beliefs – weighed on his mind so heavily that he couldn’t push them out of his thoughts. It was the mental equivalent trying to ignore severe vertigo, with only the reservoir of power that his wire-form gave him enabling him to withstand the sensation to the point where he wasn’t completely crippled by it.

And this is just his avatar?!

The Libram of Ineffable Damnation had relatively little to say about avatars, being far more concerned with the transmigration of the soul and the planes that it crossed in its journey. But it had still talked about the nature of the gods, and avatars had received some coverage.

An avatar was, essentially, Grisela’s puppet technique, elevated to a divine level. But whereas the winter witch’s replications had looked like her in appearance only, being empty vessels that she could project her consciousness into, an avatar possessed not only its own cognizance, but a portion of its creator’s divinity. But rather than being imbued into a non-deific vessel, the way a blessing was given to mortals, an avatar was actual composed of godly power.

Which meant that an avatar was a god unto itself, albeit one that was weaker than its creator.

How much weaker – and, for that matter, how many avatars a god could create at one time – had been where the Libram’s information had reached its limit. According to the book, stories abounded of avatars who were anywhere from half as powerful as their parent deity, to so weak that they were barely recognizable as gods at all. Even then, the author had openly admitted to all of that information was of highly questionable reliability, and that there was no way to test it.

The only single point of commonality that all of the available data seemed to agree on was that no avatar was anywhere near as strong as the god who’d made it.

But if that was the case with Vystalaran, then Lex couldn’t even begin to imagine how powerful the real Gladoneral was.

“I have to say,” noted Vystalaran conversationally, even as the sound of his voice caused the dissonance in Lex’s mind to grow worse; how they spoke was another point of dissimilarity between them, making it harder to stop those differences from consuming his awareness, “that weapon of yours is quite extraordinary. That’s what you used to overcome Kryonex, isn’t it?”

Lex clenched his jaw, refusing to answer.

He managed to stay silent, but the effort was greater than when he’d managed to subjugate the sliver of godsblood that Adagio had imbued into his spine.

“And that form you’ve taken...it’s some sort of outgrowth of that foreleg of yours. That’s a holy symbol for one of your gods as I recall. And yet you transformed when it went berserk just recently. Why? What was that?”

This time the questions were more pointed, and the strain of maintaining his silence brought Lex past the point of collapse, hitting the ground as he desperately clenched his talons around Belligerence tighter.

“Well, I suppose you don’t need to answer right away,” continued Vystalaran, slowly walking forward. “There’ll be plenty of time for you to confess everything once I confiscate that weapon and bring you back to Foelvan. Which isn’t to say that it’s alright to dawdle.”

He was within striking distance now, his boots almost filling Lex’s vision. But in his current state, resolving to actually lash out at the elf god’s avatar – letting alone committing to that action – was beyond what he was capable of.

“The sooner I can confirm that the pony gods made you to be their weapon, the sooner I’ll be able to convince the rest of the pantheon that they need to be punished.”

Author's Note:

Vystalaran reveals his true self, and his mere presence is more than Lex can withstand!

In the face of such overwhelming power, is there anything he can do to fight back? Or is there no way for him to avoid being taken prisoner?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

So the elven pantheon is looking for a legitimate reason to punish the pony pantheon. The fact that an avatar of one of their gods was there incognito implies that they have a vested interest in seeing the pony pantheon be taken down a few pegs. Though if Vystalaran's words are anything to go by, it seems that not all of the elven pantheon are keen on the idea.

Well, that or they just need a reason to legitimize any action taken against the pony pantheon since as powerful as they are, they probably don't want to be seen as the belligerent party by their allies. Politics be complicated, whether they be of the divine or otherwise.

Regardless, it seems like a truly impossible situation to escape from and no amount diplomacy or force on Lex's part can get him out of it and I somehow doubt any of the representatives of the lesser titans he's contracted to will be of much help here either. Though speaking of them, I'm curious how they're doing back at the adlet's village.

[Booster Spice]

Given its direct deific interactions are about to occur, I can think of maybe one thing Lex might do next, given the ituation, which is extremely likely to be nowhere near what is going to happen, but it involves Lex no longer being able to lose his weapon without formative disruption?

[Alzrius]

11858286 At this point, it's hard to speculate what could happen. Given that Gwynharwyf has been called out by Branwen, it's possible that someone else among his retinue can come help him, but that's highly speculative...and it's hard to see what help they could really provide, under the circumstances. Lex is currently using Belligerence and his wire-transformation at the moment, and that's barely enough to let him avoid instantly losing, without having sufficient strength to actually fight back.

[Alzrius]

11858082 Vystalaran did let a bit slip there at the end, didn't he? Assuming we're not reading too much into his words, he's looking for some cause to push his pantheon into conflict with the pony gods, but doesn't seem to have enough to sway the majority of the other elven gods around to that point of view. Of course, that's a fairly simplistic reading, since we don't know Gladoneral's overall position in the pantheon, how many other elf gods share (or don't share) his opinion, and why exactly he seems to have it out for the pony gods. The entire thing is a mystery...

Unfortunately for Lex, it's not a mystery that he has the luxury of unraveling at the moment, given how incredibly overpowered he is. At this point, he's giving it his all just to be able to not be completely overwhelmed, and so has no power left to even try to mount a defense, or retreat for that matter. Given that, it's hard to see any of his retinue (or those lesser titans he subdued) being able to help him. Normally, this is the sort of situation where his own goddess would step in, for political reasons mentioned before, but given that the Night Mare is in time-out in Hali – plus that disturbing scenario before, where his communion spell resulted in a similar-but-different voice of hers screaming "who are you?!" at him – that doesn't seem likely now. Maybe one of the other pony gods will step in?