Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

203 - Behind the Mask of Flesh

Lex had just enough time to go rigid at the imposter’s taunting before she attacked him.

There was no outward warning of what she was doing. She didn’t gesture or chant. Her horn didn’t glow. There was only a split-second sense of magic gathering around her, of energy being shaped and directed, and then her spell took effect. Immediately, he lost sight of her as a fog descended over him, greenish vapors filling his vision.

And then pain enveloped him completely. His entire body was suddenly awash in a sizzling agony as the mist pressed against him from every side, burning him wherever it touched. Reflexively he thrashed, trying to scatter the viridian vapors, but the attempt accomplished nothing. Worse, he grasped through the haze of agony, the mist had a tangible substance to it, being thick like jelly. Acid! he realized then. She created a cloud of semi-solid acid!

“Nosey told me everything about you before I killed her.” The familiar voice cut through the mist, filled with casual mockery. “She went on and on about how you killed a green dragon all by yourself. As such, I thought you might enjoy a bit of nostalgia before you died.” Dimly, Lex registered that the origin of the voice was moving, trying to prevent him from getting a fix on her location to prevent any sort of easy counterattack. “Consider this my reward for your seeing through my disguise.”

But Lex wasn’t listening, knowing that he had to get out of the acidic fog immediately. Rather than trying to push his way through the dense mass, he grit his teeth and forced the pain aside, calling on the dark magic of his horn. Immediately, his body dissolved into shadow…but the pain abated only a little, the magical nature of the acid continuing to eat at him. But that sensation fell away completely as Lex dove straight down, slipping into the ground and leaving the deadly mist behind.

Nor did he stop there, flying through the packed earth toward where he’d last heard the imposter’s voice. If she knows how I fought that dragon, then she’ll know that I escaped its breath weapon like this, he knew, which meant that she’d be expecting him to slip away and counterattack. But first he’d need to use some of his defensive spells.

For a moment he cursed his lack of preparation in not layering himself with protective magic. But he thrust the thought aside; if whatever that was had seen him start layering defensive enchantments on himself, it likely would have attacked immediately. And given the short-term nature of most of those spells, using them before leading her away from the camp would have been futile. He’d just have to do it now…and hope that she didn’t have some way of detecting or attacking him while in this form. Fortunately, he had prepared a large complement of spells meant for a fight, and had only used a few of them back when he’d engaged those ghouls while tracking down Garden Gate back at that warehouse. Now he just had to make sure that the rest were enough to handle whatever it was he was up against…

First, a spell to create a minor probability bend in his favor when dodging attacks. Then a spell to increase his speed. He passed over other spells designed to fortify his physical self, deciding that it was far safer to stay in shadow-form. Instead, his next spell- “Are you just going to hide, Lex Legis?” The voice came from right beside him, making Lex start. But there was nothing there, just more dirt and rocks. Nevertheless, Nosey’s voice continued to speak, sounding as though she were right there, her voice dripping with condescension. “Those ponies you sent to Vanhoover were braver than this.” The words sent a shock through Lex, wiping all other thoughts from his mind. She knew! She knew what happened to Cloudbank and the others! But if she’d been ensconced in her tent, the rumors couldn’t possibly have reached her before he did. Which meant… “Before I killed them all, I mean,” she concluded nonchalantly.

In that moment Lex abandoned all thoughts of defense, surging upward as a scream of rage tore itself from his incorporeal throat. “YOU WILL PAY!” he screamed as he rose above the ground, spotting her a short distance away. “YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO THEM!” Her back had been to him, and as he saw her whirl to face him he knew that he’d given up a tactical advantage, but he didn’t care. Instead, he rattled off a magical chant, shadowy tendrils undulating to fulfill the necessary gestures, and a moment later he unleashed a spell at her.

But not an attack spell.

Controlling his emotions had never come easily for Lex. But over the course of his life, he’d found that his anger and frustration were easier to control when he had something to direct them against. So long as there was a concrete problem to be solved or an enemy to be fought, rage could be transformed into perseverance, and frustration into determination. It was why, when he’d seen the array of monsters that the kraken had arrayed against them, arguing with Aria had helped him to focus and come up with a plan that had ultimately led them to victory.

It had been the same when Fiddlesticks had inadvertently helped him realize that Nosey wasn’t who she seemed to be. In the time it had taken him to track her down, he’d bent all of his thoughts toward analyzing and extrapolating everything about his last interaction with her, channeling his rage and grief over the ponies he’d sent back to Vanhoover into fierce concentration. By the time he’d analyzed the magic aura around Nosey, it had confirmed his initial suspicions and led him towards a tentative conclusion…that Nosey wasn’t Nosey anymore.

Everything about Block Party had been a mystery, from how his leadership had almost seemed designed to produce misery among the camp ponies to the necromantic aura that had clung to him. But the greatest riddle had been how, after he’d strangely surrendered the camp without a fight, he had inexplicably committed suicide. Even stranger, the wounds on his hooves had indicated that, in his last moments, he hadn’t wanted to die. None of it had made sense.

But in the immediate aftermath of Block Party’s death, Nosey had started acting strangely as well, being mysteriously reluctant to use the innate telekinesis that came naturally to all unicorns. That alone had been unusual enough to warrant asking her about, but it had been the search for her that had made Lex well and truly suspicious. That Nosey apparently hadn’t interviewed anypony during her time in the camp was very unlike her, and the way that she’d tried so hard to isolate herself had only made him more apprehensive about the peculiar changes in her behavior.

But seeing an aura of the same type and strength as Block Party’s around her had been what drove home the fact that both ponies had changed their behaviors in close proximity to each other. During the time that Nosey and Block Party had been alone, he had committed suicide only to try and live, while she had ceased using her unicorn magic and then gone on to lose interest in interviewing others. And both of them had possessed the same aura…one that reeked of magic that manipulated life and death.

Although Lex had never heard of magic that would let one person transfer their consciousness into someone else, that had been the conclusion that made the most sense. It would explain why Block Party had been willing to die, and then changed his mind…because that personality had fled his body just before the moment of death, leaving its unfortunate host behind to suffer the consequences. That rogue consciousness had then taken over Nosey, causing her to act in a manner that was not in keeping with her true self. And Lex had no doubt that Block Party had been himself a victim of possession; why else would he have had a necromantic aura around him when they’d first met?

Of course, that left the question of how that possessing consciousness’s necromantic aura had evaded his previous scan, back when he’d checked Nosey at the train station, but that didn’t matter now. What mattered was that, if he was right, Nosey was still alive. If Block Party’s original personality had reasserted itself when the possessing intelligence was gone, then it had still been there all along, which meant that the same was likely true for Nosey…and its saying she was dead had been a lie. Which meant that Lex’s first priority was saving her from whatever it was that had taken over her body, and he only had one idea about how to do that.

Concentrating with everything he had, Lex cast his dispelling spell at the necromantic aura clinging to Nosey. Designed to undo the structure that shaped and directed other spells, it was the same spell that he’d used to undo the magic that the dragon had used to bolster its physical endurance, allowing him to overcome it by the barest of margins during their fight. And it should work on this! he thought to himself desperately. It has to!

An instant later, his magic collided with Nosey’s aura, her eyes widening in realization as it struck her…and for an instant, Lex felt the sheer weight of the magic that he was trying to tear apart. Although he’d known that the necromancy clinging to Nosey was powerful, he hadn’t truly appreciated the degree of strength that it took to generate that level of magical energy. In that moment, he realized that he was dealing with an entity whose ability to wield magic surpassed his own…and that if this didn’t work, he wouldn’t be able to make it leave Nosey, because he didn’t have another dispelling spell prepared. That thought sent a thrill of terror through him.

…-ive…-ck…

Lex didn’t consciously register the voiceless words in his mind, the same way he hadn’t back when Spit Polish had almost killed him. Instead, he parroted them without realizing what he was doing. “Give her back!” Lex growled, focusing everything he had on making his spell work, trying to push it through with sheer willpower. “Give me Nosey BACK!” He could feel the aura around her roiling, undulating as though caught in a hurricane, and he concentrated as hard as he could-

And then the aura around Nosey collapsed into nothing.

Instantly, Nosey fell to her knees, gasping and choking as though she’d just come up from underwater. A moment later a wailing sound emerged from her throat, turning into a sob as her face twisted into a horrified expression, tears immediately running down her cheeks as her eyes locked onto the pony in front of her. “L-Lex!” she choked, stumbling forward as she reached a trembling hoof out toward him. “Help me!”

Lex heard her desperate plea, but at that moment he was incapable of responding. His eyes were directed behind her, his shadowy body roiling in utter revulsion as he took in the sight of the gruesome thing that had just appeared, knowing it was the monster that had taken over her body. It wasn’t surprising for it to be made to manifest directly in the physical world after being forcibly ejected from its host, but Lex had expected it to be something vaguely recognizable; some sort of equinoid, or even one of those humanoid creatures that he’d encountered on Everglow. But this…this was hideous beyond imagination!

“It seems I underestimated you, Lex Legis,” came a chorus of voices from the abomination. “You have managed to do what very few mortals have ever done.”

Despite himself, Lex couldn’t prevent a shiver from going through him as the creature spoke its next words.

“You have made me angry.”

Author's Note:

Lex sees through his enemy's deception and frees Nosey!

But has he sealed his fate in doing so?

Comments

[No one is home]

Old ones? I'm betting the Old Ones.

I briefly hoped it might be a Leering Sun from Tactics. But evidence quickly weighed against that and pointed to something more necromancy that feeds on misery. Now I'm betting Old One...

[Booster Spice]

Lex at least managed to fix one thing, unfortunately it was like fixing the button for the self destruct button which he just pressed?

Just how far away can Severance return from, and would he want to in case the Puppetmaster has set up the trap there?

[Not so New Brony]

A couple of theories confirmed and a more than a few disproved, much to my relief. Of course, since this entity lied about killing Nosey, then that means that Cloudbank and the others are as well though it still leaves the question of what exactly did this entity did to them.

Though the bigger question on my mind is who, or rather, what this entity is. As my knowledge on creatures and monsters are rather lacking, I can't guess that well but the fact that its magic surpassed Lex's own and it's apparent hideous appearance seems to indicate that it could potentially be Lex's toughest opponent to face so far.

The part where Lex demanded Nosey's release was rather fun to read, it felt almost like the moment where he held the Kraken in place long enough for Cloudbank to kill it with Severance. If Lex's words did hold power over this entity, this could narrow down the list for other readers who are far more knowledgeable than I am...or they happen to have a beastiary handy.

[David Silver]

Well, I will say you have my attention quite firmly. My guesses stew as to what sort of varmint it is, but that is, I feel, the least of the drama involved at current.

[Alzrius]

8713651 Presuming that the Great Old Ones tend to have Challenge Ratings of 26+, I certainly hope we can discount that particular theory!

[Alzrius]

8713863 Lex has managed to get whatever was possessing Nosey out of her...but that was just the opening exchange of the battle. I suspect that it's about to get a lot more intense from here on out.

[Alzrius]

8713867 I'll say that I dropped some more hints in this chapter as to what this thing is, but the next chapter will pull back the curtain on the true nature of the monster. I've had fun leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for Pathfinder aficionados for quite a while, showcasing the creature's powers (and a bit more) without saying what it was, but now it's been thrust out into the open, with nothing and no one to hide behind. Stay tuned for the big reveal!

That said, the fact that it lied about having killed Nosey does make a case for their being hope that Cloudbank and the others survived. Certainly, it plays into how Severance is also mysteriously absent. If that's the case, maybe Lex will be able to force it to give up their location? If so, a rescue mission may be paramount once this fight concludes...presuming that Lex wins, of course.

As for whether Lex was using the Night Mare's power to make that creature leave Nosey...I'll keep mum on that interpretation for now.

[Alzrius]

8714161 We're at the cusp of finding out what Lex is facing, but there's definitely going to be more action once the monster has been identified.

[howard035]

8714363 Dangit, I'm a Pathfinder aficionado and I still can't think of it! And I've read all the material there is on possession creatures! I feel like after the next chapter I'm going to be bashing my head against the screen.

[howard035]

8714365 Ok, final guess before next chapter: an Omnipath with a slightly customized spell list.

[Alzrius]

8714703 Hehe, I'm looking forward to hearing your take on things after the curtain gets pulled back!

[Alzrius]

8714710 An interesting guess, but I won't say yes or no right now. In just a few days, the answer will be made clear!

[smile444]

finally some action !

I suspect a lower plane denizen with a greater magic jar spell or spell-like-ability

[Alzrius]

8717619 Another entry added to the betting pool!

[harts fire]

some how i don't think Nosey is out of the woods quite yet that was a bit to easy.

[Alzrius]

8717850 Mmmaybe.

[James Fire]

Well shit.

[Alzrius]

9217245 Yeah, this looks bad.