Lex felt a sense of dread wash over him at the Night Mare’s words, but he kept it from showing on his face. “My soul?”
“Yes.” The Night Mare’s expression didn’t change, but Lex had the distinct impression that she was aware of, and enjoying, his discomfort. “And I will have it, if you wish for this pact to be forged.”
Now it was Lex’s turn to narrow his eyes. “Forget it, then. There are other gods that I can traffic with.”
He expected the Night Mare to respond to that with rage, but to his surprise she simply gave him a condescending smirk. “Go ahead. Even if they found you palatable enough to deal with, and I can assure you that few of them would, they would still make the same demand. Only the wording would change.”
For the third time in as many minutes, Lex was caught off-guard. What did that mean? He could understand that there would be other gods who would refuse to deal with him on an ideological basis – he felt the same way about the vast majority of them – but the idea that all of them would demand his soul as part of any bargain struck didn’t seem like a logical conclusion to draw.
And yet, that was what the Night Mare seemed to be implying.
He was going to have to admit his ignorance if he wanted to learn what she meant, he knew. While he prioritized new knowledge, he hated being taught. It was far more reliable, and more soothing to his ego, to discover new knowledge on his own. But right now that alternative wasn’t available to him. “Why?”
Her reply was immediate, lifting a hoof to point at him. “You will be receiving and utilizing power that comes from me. That means that your soul will acclimate to that power, absorbing it and creating a tie between us. Once you die, and your soul has no body to anchor it, that tie will naturally cause it to gravitate to me.”
Lex paused at that, considering the Night Mare’s words. That certainly explained why she’d maintained that any god that would grant him power would necessarily claim his soul, since the process of receiving that power would make such a claim axiomatic. Which meant… “So this happens to everypony who draws strength from you, then?”
“Without exception. All of my faithful know that they give themselves to me after they die. Even the ones whose devotion is too shallow to create a channel between us still mark themselves as seeking my favor in the afterlife, and so have their souls delivered unto me. Either way, I keep them as my own, to endure my rulership and enjoy my protection for eternity. Unless, of course, I choose to reject them.” Her voice, already filled with callousness, turned particularly vicious at that last part.
“And what happens to them if you do?” Lex couldn’t keep himself from asking.
“Presuming I allow them to continue existing?” she snorted. “Then they’re cast out onto the planes, alone and unprotected. Few of them survive very long, as such unsheltered souls are the stuff of nourishment or entertainment for the denizens there.”
Lex fell silent again, digesting what he’d been told. “So should I agree to this stipulation, then you plan on claiming my soul only after I die?”
The Night Mare shrugged, as though the question were beneath her. “I suppose I could strike you down before then, since no other god would have legitimate grounds to protest my doing so, but that would benefit me not at all. Even if you failed me catastrophically, so long as you continue to live you might redeem yourself in my eyes later.” Her gaze became more pointed as she continued. “But that’s not what you meant, is it?”
Lex tensed. If she had seen through him…
But a dark laugh was her only reaction. “Your ambition to circumvent that particular cosmic law by gaining eternal life neither eludes nor concerns me. I’ve seen more capable ponies than you try to attain that particular prize. Very, very few have ever done so.”
Lex growled at her correctly discerning his plans. Was she reading his thoughts somehow? He had protections against mental intrusions in place, as he’d told Ribbon, but he questioned how effective they’d be against a god. Or did her nature as a deity grant her insight enough to make his motivations transparent? Either way, it made no difference now.
One way or another, Lex knew that he needed divine patronage. Even the small amount of sacerdotal thaumaturgy that he’d received before had been strongly oriented towards magic that could be used to protect and sustain others. Creating food and water from nothing. Banishing disease with a touch. Restoring sight or hearing to those that had lost it. All things that a leader should do for his subjects.
Moreover, developing a clerical organization with access to such magic would do a lot to restore order in Equestria. Able to be used by anypony that developed a strong faith in the Night Mare, it would require little direct training on his part. And Lex knew that such magic also had more martial spells as well, which could be used to defend the citizenry from attacks like what Tall Tale had suffered.
The benefits didn’t end there, either. By throwing his lot in with a deity, Lex was certain that it would become much more difficult for another god to take direct action against him. After all, the Night Mare had stated, when she’d pulled them from Kara’s realm, that by bringing the two deities into opposition the way he had, it had risked sparking a divine war. He was certain that would be the case if another deity directly lashed out at him now that he was working on the Night Mare’s behalf.
And of course, having access to the healing magic she’d granted him before, meager though it was, would have spared him the indignity of needing Fireflower’s brother to heal him after he’d slain that dragon. Which reminded him of one loose end that needed to be taken care of.
“Very well then. I’ll agree to your terms, but with one minor stipulation of my own.”
The Night Mare’s amusement died instantly. “You try my patience severely. You are already being granted more than even my most devout would dare ask for.”
“This one is a truly minor thing, not even a trifle.”
He named his remaining request then, and the Night Mare sneered with disdain. “Were that not so insignificant, I would deny you it just to spite you for your temerity.”
“Then I’m glad we can agree that it’s not worth abandoning such a mutually-beneficial arrangement over.”
“Hmph. So be it then.” The Night Mare flared her wings. “I will give you all that you have asked for, and in return you will deliver the faith of your people unto me. If you fail me in this, or try to renege on our bargain, I will be waiting for you to die so that you can endure an eternity of pain and degradation in penance. Succeed, and I might have further use for you.”
“I never break my word once I give it,” replied Lex, giving the Night Mare a level look. “And no matter what setbacks I may face, I never stop until I overcome them.”
“I hope so, for your sake.” She tapped a hoof against the ground lightly. “The magic that I withdrew from you has now been restored.”
She needn’t have said so. Lex could already feel the energy in his mind once again. It wasn’t very much, allowing for perhaps three spells in a single day if he didn’t use any of his energy-manipulation tricks to get more uses from them. But they had the utility that he remembered, beyond what his native magic, or his horn’s dark magic, were able to produce.
“As for your second request…” The Night Mare again lowered her hoof to the ground, but when she raised it she drew, seemingly from nowhere, a large scythe. Releasing it, the weapon hovered in the air of its own accord, before drifting gently over to Lex, resizing itself so as to be an appropriate size for a pony of less gigantic stature than the goddess.
“Allow me to introduce Severance. Continue to live as an example of my creed, and he will serve you well.”
Lex frowned at the odd statement, even as he reached out to grasp the scythe with his telekinesis. The way she was talking about the weapon almost made it sound as if it were-
His thoughts were interrupted as he took hold of the scythe, and felt a greeting slide across his consciousness.
Lex immediately released it and jumped back. “This thing is alive!” he yelled reflexively.
The Night Mare raised a brow. “Of course. The best tools are those that can execute orders without needing to be directly managed or constantly supervised.”
Lex regarded the floating blade warily. He concentrated for a moment, activating his circlet’s ability to let him see the magical spectrum, and looked at Severance…only to immediately wince and avert his eyes, now smarting in pain from how brightly the weapon glowed to his augmented vision. He shut down the magical sight and turned back to the weapon, frowning in thought. “What powers does it possess?”
“I thought you didn’t care, so long as it was able to serve as your battery?” replied the goddess tauntingly.
Lex glared at her reproachfully for just a moment, then tentatively reached out to telekinetically grasp the scythe again. If the goddess wouldn’t be forthcoming, then he’d have to appeal to the living weapon directly. As he grasped it for the second time, its words again came into his mind, and Lex frowned at the message. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he growled.
The Night Mare, overhearing the telepathic conversation, interjected with an explanation. “If Severance is wielded by one that he doesn’t consider worthy of me, he reshapes his wielder’s mentality to better please me. That he approves of you means that he doesn’t consider that necessary. You should feel honored.”
Honored was the furthest thing from Lex’s mind as he digested that thought. Pushing down his revulsion, he instead pulled the scythe to him. He felt a moment of resistance, just enough to let him know that it was there, and then it moved as he directed it, coming to float at his side in the roiling purple of Lex’s telekinetic aura.
“And now for the mark of my favor,” intoned the Night Mare, raising her right foreleg and holding it out towards Lex. “Touch me.”
For a moment, he felt confused. It looked almost like she wanted him to hoof-bump her. But there was no way she could be making such an informal gesture…could she? He moved forward slowly, glancing up at her for some sign of her intentions, but none was forthcoming. Finally he was close enough to make contact with her, Severance floating by his side of its own accord as he released it, and looked at her outstretched hoof again.
With no further instructions to guide him, Lex reached out with his left forehoof, and gently pressed it to hers. But as he did so, he found that he couldn’t pull it away, leaving his limb trapped against the goddess’s.
A moment later, the armor guarding her shin shimmered and flowed, as though it were made of water instead of metal. A fraction of it detached from the rest, formless like a liquid, and flowed down her hoof and over his as though it were alive. As it moved to just above his own hoof, still caught fast against the Night Mare’s, the liquid metal circled his lower leg like a bracelet and began to solidify.
An instant later, they became a coil of jagged iron wires, which then began to tighten around his hoof, still writhing. Bloody furrows were dug into Lex’s flesh, and he instinctively tried to pull his hoof away, but it was futile. All he could do was endure the pain and try not to scream as the iron wires dug deeper into his leg.
“This is the sign of my benediction,” intoned the Night Mare as the jagged metal sliced into him. “You shall contain a fragment of my essence within you, your very body a symbol of my power. As I am the goddess of the fell beasts that dwell in the dark, so shall you be their king. As I am clad in armor, so shall the protective magic you wear be augmented. As I make order out of anarchy, so shall you resist chaos.”
The iron wire dug deeper as she spoke, but the pain was eclipsed by her words. Lex didn’t so much hear them as he felt them, each syllable reverberating through him as though from the inside out. The sensation grew stronger as she spoke, and with each word Lex felt as though his body was being ripped apart from within, about to burst.
“As I will conquer all, so shall you rule this world, my Chosen.”
Suddenly Lex stumbled back from the Night Mare, now free. Glancing at his left foreleg, he saw that the iron wire was now deeply embedded in it, just above the hoof. It only hurt slightly, despite the blood flowing from his fresh wounds. As he stared at it, Lex somehow knew that it was there permanently, that it could never be removed so long as his deal with the Night Mare remained inviolate.
That wasn’t the only sensation making itself known to him though. As he calmed down, Lex realized that the power that had only moments ago felt like it was about to make him explode was now comfortably flowing through him, as natural as if it had always been a part of him. The feeling was heady, as though he was overflowing with vigor.
It was so exciting that it took Lex a moment to realize that something else was different. There were unfamiliar sensations against his skin, and a quick glance showed that there was an amulet around his neck, a cloak over his back, and an anklet around his right foreleg. Frowning as he realized they looked familiar, Lex quickly examined them, using his circlet to check their magical signatures, all of which were defensive in nature. That confirmed what he’d suspected: these were the magic items that he’d sacrificed to the Night Mare back when he’d summoned her in Kara’s realm.
He looked up at her, opening his mouth to ask about her unusual bout of generosity, but she beat him to it. “Lagniappe,” she explained. “Those trinkets mean nothing to me, whereas you have a new order to create.”
“And so I shall,” Lex murmured, more to himself than her. Floating close enough to let its handle touch his side, Lex heard Severance quietly echo the statement as well.
“As for your final request…” the Night Mare punctuated her statement with another stomp of her hoof, and suddenly the blue fire that had surrounded them was gone. Looking around, calling on the dark magic of his horn once again to enhance his sight, Lex could see that they were no longer on the field where he had slain the dragon, but instead deep in a forest.
Walking over to a large patch of dirt that looked like it had been dug up and filled in relatively recently, the Night Mare stood in front of it. For a moment, her horn glowed, the aura surrounding it a brilliant, bloody red. Then the glow was gone, and she looked up, as though already bored.
“With that, our bargain is complete. From this point on, you’ll be-”
In mid-sentence, the Night Mare cut herself off, her head snapping around to look off to her left. “That miserable little trollop!” she hissed, eyes blazing with sudden anger.
“What are-” Lex started to speak, but was interrupted as the Night Mare turned her attention back to him.
“I’ve given you what you asked for, now fulfill your promises to me! Or else!”
With that last outburst, a flash of blue fire erupted over the goddess, and then she was gone, leaving Lex alone in the woods save only for Severance.
But their isolation was short-lived. As Lex looked at where the Night Mare had disappeared, the patch of ground that she examined suddenly began to surge, the dirt displacing as a form rose from it, revealing a young mare. Underneath the soft light of the moon, Lex could see that her coat was the soft blue of a lake, and her mane and tail were a deep green. Shaking as she stood up, she looked around, eyes bright with confusion and more than a little fear. When she noticed him, she stopped moving, tensing up.
“Wh-what’s going on? Who are you? Where am I? Where’s everyone else?” She rattled the questions off rapidly, clearly unnerved.
Lex looked back at her steadily, the very picture of calm. “Your name is Waterlily, correct? I heard about what happened to you from your brother, Fireflower. I am Lex Legis, and it’s by my will that you’ve been resurrected. Welcome back to life.”