Samudra's Journal

by vren55

Entry 48: On Target

We did it. We dropped Value Auras on Yoth-Atal!

The Order of the Celestial Hoof was not too happy about what Starswirl wanted to do with Vale Auras, but they had little choice. Windigoes had attacked Vale Auras not too long ago and the Order had barely managed to fend them off.

The more difficult part was trying to figure out a way to program Vale Auras through magic to plunge through the water, but without hitting anything too solid whilst going down. Starswirl and I combined our expertise, his with magic, mine in hydromancy to figure out a solution.

With the spell in mind, we executed the plan.

I cleared the ocean ahead, ensuring that the weather was calm, that the ocean wasn’t too turbulent. Yes, Vale Auras was floating far above the water, but the states of the weather and the sea are interconnected. Additionally, we needed to protect the boats that the Order of the Celestial Hoof would need to use to evacuate Vale Auras.

Ah yes, I must mention that The Order of the Celestial Hoof accompanied us. They were the ones who were in charge of moving the city. No small feat, due to the precise nature of the spellcasting involved, even if they did have the amplifier to take the load off.

After two weeks of travel, we finally reached the approximate location of the Abyss. That was when things started to get tricky.

First off, we had to reinforce Vale Auras. Water pressure and current can have some devastating effects on unprotected structures and objects. So the Order of the Celestia Hoof, Starswirl and I employed our repertoire of spells to reinforce and harden the city, particularly the spire in the centre, against water damage and force.

Starswirl (with a flotation and water-movement spell cast on him) and I then lowered Vale Auras slowly into the water, as the Order of the Celestial Hoof evacuated. I had also cast a flotation spell on Vale Auras so I could better control where it went.

It was a good thing Starswirl had reinforced his own body and placed a sticky-hoof spell onto himself because the suction of the water pouring into the city nearly tore him off of the amplifier, despite how slowly we lowered the city.

Once underwater, it was mostly up to me to keep the city slowly moving downwards and making sure it didn’t disintegrate. Starswirl was pretty impressed, which is saying a lot of that vain pony.

When we reached Yoth-Atal’s trench, well, we began the next phase of the operation.

The city plunged through the water, Starswirl and I sucked along in its wake, which was good for us, because we needed to keep pace with it and ensure it was going to the target.

I made most of the adjustments, and kept the telekinetic hold onto the city. Starswirl did know a few tricks to keep the city level. It won’t spiral out of control due to it being created from magically infused stone, but we needed to make sure. Shield spells, and the like, which helped make my job easier.

We had to halt before we plunged into the Abyss and Yoth’s influence would overwhelm us.

That unfortunately meant, guiding the damn city into the Abyss. Blind.

Of course, Starswirl and I realized that we wouldn’t be able to come too close to the Abyss. So using our magic, we attempted to sound out, create detailed mental, magical maps of the Abyss.

It didn’t work. Whatever the reason, possibly because of the Primal God’s magic, we couldn’t actually create a workable image. It instead seemed distorted, contradictory in fact. Multiple readings produced different maps.

Instead, we had to go in blind and to do that, we had to reinforce the city as much as we could and I had to slow down my descent right to a crawl.

Starswirl came up with the shield matrixes that we used to protect Vale Auras, and tell us whether if the city had hit something and where it was hit. Meanwhile, I had to guide it in. It was… like weaving a maze, blind, not actually being there, and relying only on this very distant touch. The power requirement wasn’t an issue due to Vale Auras’s unique properties, but the task was one of the most difficult I had ever attempted.

Somehow, through inching the city down, little by little, adjusting, trying again, and straining the shields with every hit, we managed to set the city down on the Abyss’s floor. It was a herculanean task, taking nearly twenty four hours just to navigate the city down. Starswirl needed to take breaks in between monitoring the shields, though there was no respite for me.

And we then had to cast the spell. Thankfully, our preparation paid off because we didn’t need to aim our casting. Linked to the city, we were able to cast the sealing spell that we had designed and while it didn’t seem to decrease the influence that came from the Abyss… the strength of it had… well… at least we hope, a good chance of stopping Yoth-Atal from ever escaping.

With that, Starswirl and I shook fins… well he shook my fin and I shook his hoof. Apparently it’s a quaint surface world custom and congratulated ourselves. Of course, we would need to monitor Yoth-Atal, but at least we had finished this mission.

Comments

[Theta52775]

I thought the Empress wasn’t able to go down into the trench because of the pressure.

[nioniosbbbb]

8653672
She was guarded by the city.

[TartarusFire]

8653672

It says that she guided it in blindly with the shields telling when to not move in a direction or not