Triplicate

by NeverEatTheLemonsAlone

Set 1, Chapter 2 - Enter Abaddon

Luna's wings were growing tired. She had been flying nonstop for nine days and ten nights, and as the sun set on the tenth day, she found herself alighting on a rocky crag that rammed its way out of the oak forest that surrounded her. This far west, there were few settled areas. The land was largely uninhabited by any intelligent life. The main reason for this loomed in front of her. Though she couldn't see it, she could feel it; off on the horizon, a blotchy piece of non-life polluted the world around it. It had been a long time.

After taking a moment to snack on some acorns that she found on the ground below the crag, she pressed on. This time, she was far less focused on speed. Above all else, she was cautious. And for good reason. Without warning, a great wall of chaotic energy leapt up before her. Had she been going any faster, she would've had no time to swerve away. As it was, she barely managed to bank left, skimming just a hairsbreadth along the wall. As soon as she caught her breath from the panic, it vanished, leaving only a slight echo.

Or so it seemed.

As she descended to the ground, resolved to simply walk, she noticed small, disturbing signs. As she walked over the place where the energy had manifested, she could feel her wings and horn tingling. Not in the innocent fashion, either. The sort of tingling felt when blood is cut off for too long. The feeling passed as soon as she emerged from the space and she looked back, troubled. Her magic felt more remote, and her wings felt heavy, pressing down to her sides.

Well then, she thought to herself, walking through that was probably a mistake.

She proceeded slowly and on hoof for the rest of the day. Occasionally, more walls of energy would spring up, always a slightly different kind. As she progressed, it grew more and more common, until she could barely go a few steps without feeling another one before her. More worrisome, they were growing harder to detect. She had been forced to walk through a few remnants that entirely encircled her, and afterwards, her magic had grown even more remote. She didn't think she could fly at all anymore, and it was growing increasingly difficult to find wallspace in front of her with her magical sense.

It was then that a new variety of wall made itself known. It was composed of the same hideous absence of life that had suffused her magical sense as she was looking out from the crag. Though it appeared very clearly to her, she was reasonably confident that should she walk through where one of these had been, the consequences would be far worse, and they certainly wouldn't be any better.

Carefully avoiding these walls, she continued walking through the night, which passed quite uneventfully, barring ever more walls assaulting her. Eventually, as the sun peeked over the horizon, she let herself grind to a halt. She had been going for days now, and exhaustion tore at her. With walls of chaos or death appearing around her every few seconds now, she lay down, warily eyeing the land around her for a moment, before sliding off into sleep.

---

The first thing she felt upon awaking was a terrible feeling of absence, and a faint haze surrounding her. She swore bitterly as she realized that she had become enveloped in the chaotic energy, and as magic poured out of her and into the wall that had formed around her in her sleep, it took on a soft silver radiance.

She dashed out of the wall as fast as possible, panting with unnatural tiredness, then paused. Something was wrong. Very wrong. It took her a moment to realize what it was, but as she attempted to spy the walls around her—barring the one behind her, still glowing—she realized that her magical sight was gone. Even worse, as she pawed at her forehead, her eyes flew upon as she felt nothing. Nothing at all. Her horn was just...gone. Where it had been, she could feel a hard scab crusting over. That wasn't all. Her coat was lighter, frame smaller, hair stilled and hanging down by her withers. She tried flexing her wings, but they hung uselessly by her sides, the latent magic within them absent. In fact, all of her magic was simply...gone.

Eyes wide, she crouched low, ears pressed flat against her head. Without her magic, she had no way of navigating the walls. Where had it gone?

All she had to do was look behind her, and she realized the answer to her own question. The shimmering barrier behind her seemed mocking.

How was she to proceed with trying to reclaim her magic from it, though? If she walked into it, no doubt some other horrible fate would befall her. Over the years, she had learned to mold and siphon magic, but only with the aid of her horn. Without it, she had no way to manipulate even her own power.

Yet...there had to be magic in her somewhere, otherwise she would be almost certainly dead. Perhaps the moon would call to the moon that hung over her head. She had slept through the entire day.

Closing her eyes, she exhaled slowly, letting her mind expand, before thinking with all her might: Selen. I need you.

She felt a dim acknowledgement come from the moon and smiled softly. Though she was distressed at how frail the connection seemed to be, of course her lifelong companion wouldn't let her down.

She could feel a spark of magic come back to her, and her wings shook themselves into place. She ruffled them experimentally and found them responsive. Good. Now for the rest.

The rest didn't come.

She looked up at the silver orb in the sky, feeling a faint feeling of apology emanate from it before frowning. That was all you are able to reclaim?. Confirmation. She sighed. Wonderful. For all intents and purposes, she was now a pegasus with ties to the moon.

Through this entire procedure, she never paused to think about how extracting magic from the wall would affect it. As the silver light dimmed slightly, the construct quivered slightly before expanding, flowing towards her eerily smoothly and moving to encircle her. She started, not knowing what to do. This was the only wall she could see without her magic sense. If she ran now, she would more than likely run into another one, possibly one of those that was composed of non-life. However, if she let this one encircle her, her fate was sealed, and her magic would be drained until there was nothing left.

Taking a deep breath, she bolted, dashing straight out into the night and trusting to luck to keep her away from any more walls. She hadn't made it ten feet, though, when, to her surprise, a rough, clear voice rang out:

"Are you mad? Stop!"

She skidded to a halt moments before she saw the source of the voice. It was large, burly stallion, eyes like chips of green flint. His horn flared with green light, revealing the wall that she had been barely a foot away from. He positioned himself directly in front of Luna, so close that his mane brushed her forehead in her shrunken state, and repeated himself: "Are you mad? What are you doing, wandering through here? You're going to get yourself killed!"

Luna shrank back from him in surprise. As a Princess, she was wholly unused to being spoken to in that fashion, especially in as vulnerable a state as she was now. Seeing this reaction and mistaking it for fear, he sighed, letting his angry countenance drop slightly.

"Sorry for yelling at you, but you should really know better than to run through Abaddon's periphery. I don't know what you did to that wall to make it glow," he gestured at the silvery wall that still encroached upon Luna, "but without magic, I have no idea how you made it even as far as you did. You're lucky to be alive. Come on, I'll get you somewhere where you won't die by walking in the wrong place."

He began to walk off, expecting Luna to follow. She did so, if only because his green magic illuminated the walls around him and she felt far safer knowing where to step. After letting the silence ferment for a moment, she broke it with a question: "So...who are you?"

He chuckled. "Shouldn't I be asking that?" Seeking her unamused face in the green glow of his horn, he only laughed harder. "Sorry about that. I suppose you'll tell me in due time. I'm Prism Guard, Warden of the Walls."

After considering for a moment whether or not to reveal herself, she stuck out her hoof to Prism. "Midnight Flare. I've never been this far west, so I don't know what's happening here."

He shrugged. "Such is life, I guess. Just stay near me and you should be fine."

They kept walking, occasionally making small bits of conversation and constantly avoiding the walls and wallspaces that loomed in the darkness, before Prism stopped and grinned, turning to Luna and pointing his hoof at a faintly glowing structure in the distance. "And there's home," he laughed, "the heart of Abaddon's periphery. Welcome to the Whorl."

Author's Note:

I ARE NOT DED

Comments

[A Joe in the Bush]

*Is glad you ain't ded.