//------------------------------// // 738 - Tour de Life Force // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “This is such a bad idea.” Thermal Draft didn’t have the luxury of replying to Akna’s murmured statement, keeping the shaman’s tail clenched lightly between her teeth as she followed the adlet across the cavern. Strictly speaking, there was no reason she couldn’t have spat Akna’s tail out and made a response. But even though Drafty could still see in the dark thanks to the spell she’d used earlier, she wasn’t sure how much longer it would hold out, and had no intention of finding herself alone in the dark in the middle of the Shrine when her spell suddenly gave out. Even if that wasn’t likely to happen – while it was difficult to keep track of the time in a place with no natural light, let alone timepieces, she knew it hadn’t been that long – recent events had left her feeling exceptionally risk-averse. She wasn’t so cowed, however, that she didn’t turn her head to glance around at the Shrine of the Starless Sky in all its splendor. While it was her first time seeing a monument to one of the pony gods that governed Everglow, and so didn’t know if such grandeur was normal for a place of worship, she couldn’t help but feel impressed. The darkened walls and ceiling, the central spire in the shape of a claw, the massive statues atop the surrounding buildings...all served to give the place a sense of majesty and power that perfectly characterized what she knew of the Night Mare. But as awe-inspiring as the Shrine was, Thermal Draft had another goddess on her mind at the moment. The way we came in is outside of the Shrine proper. That’s how Akna said Lex was able to kill that spider that took Solvei’s body. So if I can just get there, I should be able to talk to Kara again. At least, that was her hope... “Light can be quenched at the source, but darkness never can be.” Akna’s quiet whisper drew Thermal Draft’s eyes back toward the adlet, who had led them to the edge of the massive tunnel that was the main – and, as far as she’d seen – only point of egress from the Shrine. Except, she saw an instant later, that wasn’t the case; in response to the adlet’s incantation, a portion of the wall just inside the tunnel’s entrance faded away as though it were made of smoke rather than rock, revealing a stone staircase heading down. From the bottom, she could hear the sound of water running. “I still don’t see why you wanted to do this so badly,” grumbled Akna, glancing back to give the pegasus a sour look. “Lex conjured plenty of drinking water, and it’s not like there’s anything down here except the river, which from here doesn’t go anywhere except outside...” Her eyes widened then, and she gave Thermal Draft a horrified look. “Wait, are you leaving?! Is that what-” “No!” Spitting the adlet’s tail out of her mouth, Drafty shook her head. “That’s not it at all! I just...I needed to be out of that room we were all in, after seeing Solvei...” She didn’t have to fake the catch in her voice, nor the shudder that ran through her then. The ice that the winter wolf’s final spell had surrounded her, Littleknight, and the mares of Fail Forward with – save for Valor, who’d already gone into the river – had put them all into a torpor; only Akna had been conscious, since the cold didn’t adversely affect her. As such, the adlet had been the only one to see Solvei’s dead body after dragging them out of the river and into the Shrine. At least until Valor had brought the winter wolf back just now. But while it was true that the sight of her had brought tears to Drafty’s eyes, there was another reason why she’d begged Akna to take her here now, despite the strenuous objections from the adlet and the earth ponies. It was only when the brewing argument had caused her delve into another coughing fit that they’d backed off. Even then, Akna had acceded to Drafty’s request only with extreme reluctance...and more than a bit of fear. “I’m going down there with you,” announced Akna as Thermal Draft stepped around her. Thermal Draft shook her head. “That’s not necessary. I just need a little space to clear my head.” “It is necessary,” insisted Akna. “Lex is already angry at me for what happened with Solvei! If something happens to you now-” “Nothing will happen.” “You don’t know that! What if that ugly creature that Valor dragged down here swims upstream? Or what if you have another coughing fit and lurch into the water? Or what if-” “Alright.” Drafty could feel another coughing fit coming on, taking a deep breath as she tried to avoid wearing her frayed nerves even thinner. “Alright, listen...how about we compromise? I’m planning on sitting at the bottom of the steps, near the water, so how about you come down far enough that I’m in your sight the entire time. Does that sound good?” Akna frowned at that, and it was only after several seconds’ consideration that she finally nodded. “Just do whatever it is you need to do to ‘clear your head’ quickly, alright? This is a risk we don’t need to be taking.” “I’ll try not to take too long,” nodded Drafty, wings flapping as she slowly moved into the tunnel that the adlet had opened. Not having been conscious when they’d been taken inside, she took the trip down slowly, despite the short distance. Unlike the main section of the temple, the steps here had been crafted with no eye towards artisanship, being uneven and roughly cut. It was enough to make her glad that she had wings, hearing Akna step slowly and carefully behind her. But as she neared the bottom, the adlet’s footfalls were muffled by the sound of the river, which came into view a few moments later. Touching down, Thermal Draft paused for a moment to stare at the sight. Even though she’d seen any number of incredible things since coming to Everglow – not to mention several notable spectacles back on Equestria ever since the elemental bleeds had happened – the sight of a body of water rushing by an open space without moving in to fill it was still captivating for how bizarre it was. There isn’t even any spray, she realized, running her hoof across the ground to confirm that it was, in fact, completely dry. It was enough to make her realize, thanks to the smattering of magic that she’d been taught by Lex in order to help her use the “gifts” that Prevarius had given her, that whatever magic had been used here was an impressive bit of spellwork indeed. Her own magic was so limited that she couldn’t imagine ever being able to do anything close to this. But contemplating how little power she had wasn’t why she’d come down here. Glancing back at where Akna was watching her warily from where she was perched midway up the steps, Drafty gave the adlet – still in wolf-form, since she apparently couldn’t see in the dark otherwise – a reassuring wave before she moved back from the rushing water, sitting down against the far side of the alcove. Rather than putting her hindquarters on the ground and keeping her forelegs straight the way a pony normally would have, though, she instead leaned further back, pulling her knees up to her chest and folding her forelegs atop them. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but it let her hide her face, lowering it so that her forehead was resting against her forelegs. With her muzzle hidden, and any sounds she made muffled by the roar of the water, it was enough to let her try talking to Kara, since she still didn’t know if she needed to speak out loud or not in order to reach the goddess. “Kara,” she murmured quietly, keeping her voice barely above a whisper in case Akna’s ears were more sensitive than she was guessing. “Kara, please, can you hear me? I’m outside the Shrine now, and I really need to talk to you.” Her only answer was the roar of the river a few feet away. “C’mon, Kara, talk to me,” she groaned. “I’m really scared! The curse that Paska guy put on me when he transformed into that...thing, is making me cough up blood, and it hasn’t even been a full day since he hit me with it! And it’s not just that.” A shudder ran through her then, as she spoke out loud about what else had been happening to her for the first time. “I’m getting tired more than before. I mean, not much, but flying down these steps just now felt harder than it should have. Like I was flying in the face of a breeze instead of through still air. And I’ve got this horrible feeling that it’s all going to get worse.” Shifting in place a little, Drafty wrapped her tail around herself, pulling it so that it curled around her middle. “But it’s not me I’m scared for. It’s my baby. Lex’s baby. I don’t know if this curse is hurting them...hurting him or her, too. I mean, I know I’m barely a week along, but just the thought...just the thought that they’re...” She couldn’t finish, needing to take several slow breaths as she felt a coughing fit threatening to start up again. “Please Kara...Spinner and Mystaria might have found out I’m pregnant, but I don’t want to talk to them about this. I mean, they’re nice, and they promised to keep this a secret, but if we tried to talk now, back in that room we’re all staying in, Valor and Shadow and Akna would all find out, and I’m worried that one of them would end up telling Lex. Like, Shadow would say something just to be mean, or he’d make Akna do it with that divine authority the Night Mare gave him. So I’m begging you, please talk to me...” This is dangerous territory, sweetheart. “Kara!” The goddess’s name burst from her lips in a tidal wave of relief, causing Drafty to lift her head as she said it. A moment later she remembered that she was being watched, glancing at Akna. When she saw the adlet giving her a worried look, she managed to send a weak grin her way before putting her head back down. “I’m so glad you’re back! I was afraid you weren’t going to answer me at all!” I almost didn’t, murmured the goddess, her tone unusually pensive. You might be outside of the Night Mare’s hallowed ground, but only just barely. Reaching out to you when you’re this close might not be a violation of divine law, but it could still be considered provocative...and not in the way that I like, either. Under other circumstances, Drafty might have cracked a smile at the goddess’s joke, but at the moment she was too keyed up to appreciate the humor. “Kara, my baby-” I know, sweetheart, and you don’t need to worry. Your baby’s fine. This time Thermal Draft managed to keep her reaction under control, though she couldn’t prevent the tears of relief that gathered in her eyes. “You’re sure?” she whimpered. “You’re absolutely, positively sure?” I think I know a little something about pregnant mares, sweetheart, chuckled the goddess. But her voice turned serious a moment later. Right now, the curse that shuck put on you- “That what?” The one you called Paska. He’s a shuck, a witch-hound. That human form he uses is just a disguise, though it’s only a halfway-decent one. I mean, it’s better than that enchanted hat that griffon assassin was wearing back on Everglow, which was insultingly bad, but it’s still not exactly top-tier shapeshifting. The limits on how much mass he can displace alone- “Kara, the curse?” Ah, of course, sweetheart. What I was saying is that right now, that curse isn’t actually hurting your body. Not directly, at least. The symptoms you’re experiencing, the coughing and the fatigue? Those are...how can I put this? They’re not being caused by any sort of physical problems; it’s just that your body is experiencing...I suppose you could call it sympathetic distress due to the damage being done to your life force. This time Drafty was the one who couldn’t reply immediately. “My ‘life force’?” she managed at last. “You mean my soul?” Sweetheart, how is it that you come from a world that’s supposedly so much more advanced than Everglow, and you don’t know this? teased the goddess. Simply put, all living creatures – except for some of the really weird ones – are made of up three components: their body, their soul, and the life force that binds the two together. Right now, it’s that last one that curse is attacking. “I don’t understand,” murmured Drafty. “How does it ‘bind the two together’? And what does that have to do with my baby?” In her mind, Kara sighed. I can’t stay here much longer, sweetheart, so I’ll try and make this quick. Souls, by themselves, can’t easily remain in the mortal world; they’re what your lover would call ‘conceptual entities,’ beings of abstraction rather than physicality. They naturally gravitate toward planes that exist in similar modes, the same way water tends to flow downhill. With me so far? “I think so.” Good. Now, souls can be anchored to a physical existence by positive energy, which is the clinical term for your life force. The reason you have that to begin with is because your body is more than just a collection of parts that are fun to play with; things like breathing, eating, and all the other biological processes that keep you healthy are actually a series of functions that make it a receptacle for storing positive energy. That’s why fatal wounds cause death; those processes break down to the point of being unable to sustain your positive energy reserve, and without that, the soul departs. “Wait, hang on.” Biting her lip as she tried to digest the crash course in metaphysics that she was being given, Drafty did her best to tie that back to her current situation. “So, now that I’m pregnant...” You’re not just growing the body of another pony inside of you, confirmed Kara. You’re also giving it a tiny bit of your own life force, which it’s making its own. That’s why your baby isn’t in danger from that curse you’re dealing with; it doesn’t recognize your child’s life force as its target. Finally starting to understand what she was being told, Thermal Draft felt some of her tension ease. “Good. That’s...that’s good...” It’s really not, sweetheart. You don’t have nearly as much positive energy in your body as your boyfriend, so- “Wait, what?” interrupted Thermal Draft, brow furrowing as she tried to keep up with what she was being told. “We’re both ponies. We’re almost the exact same size. How can we have different amounts of positive energy? And why would anyone need more than someone else?” Because souls aren’t static things. They can grow and change over time, not just in disposition but in strength as well. At least so long as they work to develop themselves. And it’s only to be expected that a stronger soul requires more life force to anchor it to its body, which doesn’t require a larger physique; positive energy isn’t physical either, so your body can hold as much as it needs to in order to keep your soul anchored. It’s just that it naturally defaults to the minimum amount necessary to get the job done. Her head almost spinning now, Thermal Draft didn’t try to sort through all of what she’d just been told, instead latching onto what seemed like the most relevant point. “So Lex...?” He has a very strong soul, replied Kara, an appreciative tone in her mental voice. And he’s working hard to develop it further. That didn’t surprise Drafty in the least, but it did lead to a flood of new questions. “How do you do that? Develop your soul, I mean? And, wait, is my baby’s soul already there?! Or is it too early? When does your soul become attached to your body? It has to be before being born, right? And, come to think of it, where do souls come from? Are they-” She didn’t get a chance to keep speaking as Kara suddenly cut her off. I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I have to go. I’ve already lingered here too long. Just make sure that Lex fixes you soon. Your reserve of life force is already running dangerously low. A sudden rush of fear, this time for herself, shot through Drafty then. “How soon? Paska said he thought I had between ten days and two weeks.” He was probably comparing you to Lex. He’s strong enough that it would take roughly that long. But for you... Drafty held her breath as the goddess paused. Right now, I’d say you have just under forty-eight hours left.