Chapter 43: Path of the worms
For the first time in her life, Xhergis was crying.
She had seen Discord toss the apple towards the necromancer, just as she had seen him catch it with a baffled face. She had tried to warn him, but when the apple exploded in his hand... he had used his other hand to shield her. It had protected her from the main part of the explosion, but the sheer force of the blast had torn her wings to shreds.
When she finally regained consciousness, the necromancer was lying still on the ground, barely breathing and bleeding from cuts and burns all over his body, his robes torn and charred.
"Damn it, Aergad." she sobbed to herself as she clung to his hand, "Why didn't you protect yourself?"
She was sure he could have brought up some kind of protective spell in time, she had seen what he was capable of... but he had chosen to protect her instead... and it filled her with a feeling of guilt she could not comprehend.
"I guess I... always was one for foolish decisions..." a rasp broke through to her.
Xhergis turned her head to look at the necromancer's face, a pained expression on his lips as he breathed with ragged breaths.
"You're alive!" Xhergis shouted and ran to his face, "Can you get up?"
"Sorry, Buttercup." he coughed, "I don't think I'm going anywhere like this..." a small chuckle escaped him, "Damn chaos magic... can't protect yourself for shit... and absorbing that crap fucks you up beyond belief..."
"But you can heal yourself?"
"Too much damage..." he wheezed, "And I won't be able to put a hole into that arse while I'm alive, I'm afraid..."
Xhergis recoiled, "No! I can get help! I can..."
"Don't fuss so much, Buttercup." Aergad croaked, "There's still something I can do..." he slowly lifted his hand and held it over her. Before Xhergis knew what was happening, a soft glow escaped his hand and she felt a warm sensation run through her torn wings. When she turned her head to see what had happened, her wings were fully healed again.
"No! You need to heal yourself! Why did you..."
"Quiet, you..." he replied as he placed the hand on his own chest, "I'm trying to concentrate." slowly, a deep red glow started to seep over him.
"What are you doing?" Xhergis asked with worry.
"Giving myself an edge..." he whispered, "I'm not going to let that guy be the one to end me... but I can't run from fate either..." he pulled up his hand, a bright light following from his chest, "So I'm going to trick my old man... Fuck, that feels really, really weird."
Xhergis watched in terror as the necromancer grew deathly pale... and it almost seemed like his breathing was becoming more and more shallow, but he ignored her concerned expression and carefully turned his head to look around himself, "I need a focus..."
"A what?"
"Something to hold this..." he held the light in his hand.
"What is it?" Xhergis eyed the shining star with wonder.
"My soul..." he almost laughed when he saw her terrified expression, "This is probably a bad idea... but could you bring me that stone over there?"
---
Pipsqueak took a careful peak out of the window. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but it couldn't be good. One moment he and his family had enjoyed the paladin's parade, the next thing they knew chaos had descended.
Houses started to float upside down, pink clouds rained chocolate milk... and huge vegetables chased any ponies they found on the streets. Countless strangely deformed animals now roamed the streets of Ponyville, terrifying the population... but not the inhabitants of the necromancer's tower... nor the paladin.
They were fighting ferociously, doing their best to keep everyone protected... but at the same time Pipsqueak couldn't help but worry if the necromancer was safe and well.
---
"Drive back those carrots!" the paladin brought her sword down in a wide arch, cutting off the top portion of a carrot in a spray of orange juices, "Protect the ponies!" next to her, the kraken was using all of his arms to rain destruction on the rampaging fruit... the area around it looked like a huge bowl of salad by now.
"What in the world is Aergad doing?! Where is he?!" the paladin shouted over to the imps who were hoarding up long-legged bunnies and exploding pigeons with the help of Twilight Sparkle.
"This isn't the work of the boss!" one of the imps replied with a grunt, "This is chaos magic! The boss never touches that stuff!"
"Chaos magic?!" Twilight Sparkle replied with a shocked voice, "Oh, no! We need to get the girls together and get to Canterlot immediately!"
"How?!" the paladin bashed her shield onto a huge tomato, red juices covering her armor with a sickening sound, "We need to keep the population safe! Where is Tobie when you need him?!"
"Tobie is on a special mission..." a hollow voice spoke up. The ponies and the paladin turned around to see a small army of skeletons march up, armed to the teeth with swords and axes.
"Where did you come from?!" Calindria asked, "I saw you fall to ashes!"
"Different guys..." the head skeleton shrugged, "The boss called us in to help... also told us to tell you that if Twilight Sprinkle..."
"Sparkle!" Twilight corrected him.
"Pfff... sure." the skeleton readied its sword, "The boss said that if you fleshies got anything planned to do against Discord, now is the time. We'll keep the veggies in check, he'll buy you as much time as he can."
"Buy us time?" the paladin replied with a growing feeling of dread, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you fleshies should hurry." the skeleton raised his sword, "Alright, boys! Let's make some salad! Boss said to make this messy! Chop and hack!"
"Chop and hack!" the skeletons cried in unison before storming towards the rampaging fruit.
---
It felt weird, not quite as weird as he had expected it to feel but still weird. Aergad clutched the small, smooth pebble under his robes to reassure himself it was still there. It was dangerous, more dangerous than he liked to admit. The transcendence required him to carry it on his body until the transformation was complete... and it worried him.
He could already feel his powers growing, but there simply wasn't enough time for him to wait until it was finished... so he would carry his soul with him and pray that it would not break in the battle that was about to take place. He had no notion of beating Discord, not even with himself on the verge of lichdom... but he would be damned if he wouldn't have the final word in this.
Aergad leaned against one of the walls, a frail hand that was already starting to rot leaning on it for support. He wasn't in any actual pain... of course not. His body was dead for all purposes. A sad sighed escaped his empty lungs... he would never feel the sun on his skin again.
As he continued his way he passed a mirror, the face staring back at him with dead eyes causing him to pull down his torn hood further to cover his features. How could he ever face his mother looking like this?
Aergad felt his anger rise within him as he remembered Discord's smile, "You just wait, fuckface..." the curtains next to him caught fire as his anger continued to grow, "You just wait till I'm through with you."
He paused for a moment as he realized how hollow his voice had become, "How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?" he chuckled, "Okay, at least that part is kinda cool."
The chuckle died on his lips though, when he came around a corner and face to face with two statues that looked exactly like princess Celestia and Luna, both with shocked expressions on their frozen faces.
"Ah... crap."
---
Discord leaned back on his throne with a happy laugh, "Ahh.. finally back on my rightful profession... It feels good to bring joy to everyone. A little chaos here and there to pick up the pace... So many ideas, so little time. Oh, wait... I forgot!" his laugh grew louder, "I have all the time in the world!"
Turning the alicorn sisters into stone, sending a raid of vegetables to take care of the element bearers... he couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't thought of this the last time. Not that it mattered now though, with the ponies trapped in Ponyville there was nothing that could stop him... he had won, he was sure of it. To top things off, he had even gotten to blow up something new... adding to his list of blowing up stuff. Discord scratched his head, "Do I have a list of blowing up stuff?"
His contemplation was cut off though, as something huge broke through the ceiling above him and fell down upon him... several stubby arms grabbing onto him and two eyes with too much space between them staring at him with rage.
"Evil lizard hurt father!" the foul smelling ball of flesh, muscles and arms shouted at him, "Now, Tobie does as father says and goes smash!" fifteen pudgy arms were raised into the air and pummeled down onto the surprised Discord with enough force to shatter stone... and a speed that made the air crack.
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It begins.
So close, yet so far away.
Noooooooo~
Now he can't have sexy fun times with Chrysalis anymore.......
Tobi : Kaioken!!!
Discord: Kaio-what?
BAM!
Tobie reminds me of the hulk... if he had more limbs
TOBIE SMASH
3271973
Why... Didn't... He...
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODGE!
3271954 So it does......
P.S. Tobie reminds me of Tobi.......
Discord, he's coming after you! So take your tyranny away!
Whoever gets that reference gets a cookie.
3272187 Ah Eurobrony :) Love that song so much.
This alone makes you wonder "What the hell am I reading"
3272409 Sometimes I surprise myself... and I think for just a moment: 'What the hell am I writing?' Then, I remember that I'm slightly insane and continue to write ^^
3272198
If you just started reading this fic, you should know that "Anon" has a name that is revealed in later chapters. I'm not going to tell you it for that would be spoiling it for you.
............so he's a lich now............
shirtsnob.com/pictures/snorgawesome.gif
3272614
Insanity is great isn't it!
TOBIE is best flesh golem
after that is Twist...
Sometimes I worry about your mental soundness... but then I realize I enjoy the absurdity and pure awesomeness of your stories. I hope to one day be at least one one-millionth as cool as you.
~TOBIE! TOBIE! TOBIE!~
3272143 haha
Mr. Piccolo will be so prou--YABLRGYAYA!
.........
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODGE!
oh, boy.
if Discord hurts Tobie... i can't even imagine how mad Aergad would be
I can just see the Reaper thinking, "So he's finally dead. About Tim- Wait, damnit he turned into a Lich."
I see you are going for the out of character Discord.