Unbound

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty Two - 282

City of Naevis? Felix looked down again, into the hidden valley of fire and soot. The ruins?

Pit warbled. Dead city?

Apparently. Felix had Pit bank to the right until he was flying parallel with the outer cliffs. What do you think? Last time I tried to take Authority it almost killed me.

Do it. There was zero hesitation behind Pit's thoughts. If it bites, you kill it.

Felix grinned. He still had his Tyrant of Choice Title, which meant he could break Oaths as he wished. A nasty power in the hands of someone less scrupulous or more ambitious, and it had come in handy twice now.

He accepted.

Congratulations!

You Have Established Local Authority!

Authority Accessed

ERROR.

That didn't take long. Felix readied himself mentally to engage his Title.

Unbound Detected.

Primordial Detected.

Nymean Detected.

...

Inheritor Status Supersedes All Bloodlines!

Authority Accessed.

Huh! Some good news, finally.

A sudden series of windows populated Felix's vision, dozens of them opening and closing rapidly as text scrolled and flashed across them. Felix widened his eyes and tried to capture it all in his inviolate memory, until only a single window remained, scrolling through a series of seemingly random numbers.

Abruptly, colorless System energy thundered into Felix's cores, slamming through his rings of molten flame with a ferocity that surprised him. It mingled with the Essence he'd stolen from the Arcid and his Reforged, burning him from within, but not nearly as badly as before. His cores were humming together, [Thunderflame Core] and [Cardinal Beast Core] together in something approaching harmony.

The swirling energy shot up and into his channelsEssence and System power both. It surged higher, into Felix's head before settling at the base of his skull.

*TRING!*

Local Authority Established!

You Have Claimed The City Of Naevis!

Welcome, Inheritor!

His vision went blue-white and red-gold suddenly as his own cores' energies surged behind his eyes. When it resolved, his heads up display was different. Typically there was only the three bars indicating his Health, Stamina, and Mana, and the icons for Quests and Status (one for him and one for Pit). Now Felix could see a fourth icon, this one in the shape of a small, crenelated tower. Felix opened it immediately.

A dozen windows opened, but all of them were greyed out. It was clear why, too. [City Defenses] and [City Resources] were obviously no longer accessible. The City of Naevis was gone, little more than a few charred stones after their latest encounter. But there was one option that wasn't greyed out.

[Access Vault]

"Oh, dang. Pit. We're gonna have to make a landing."

In the light of the Twins, Evie and the Henaari scouts spotted one another at the same time. She waved at them and leaped from the tree she had been traversing, lessening her mass until she touched down with a slight tap. The needle-strewn hillock hardly rustled at her landing, though Alister started.

"Farwalker's group is ahead. Holed up around some statues."

"Thank you, Evie," Vess said with a smile. "Seems they found a more secured position."

"Mm," Evie said. She flicked a piece of char from her armor. She'd have to clean it before long; the Reforged were bleeders. "Statues seemed pretty loud."

"Loud?" Atar asked.

Evie waved her hand vaguely. "You know. Like a group of church bells from a few streets over. Not ear-splittin' or nothin', but loud."

"None of what you said made sense to me," Atar said. "Is this more of that Harmonic mumbo jumbo?"

Evie shrugged and walked ahead. "Maybe."

They traversed the distance rapidly, the five of them reaching a low hill and a series of tall, monolithic statues surrounded by leafy trees and covered in ivy. The statues were vaguely Human-looking, but wore a curious mix of armor and robes, and each were carved holding a large orb. The sound of bells only increased as they drew nearer, and Evie was tempted to shove her fingers in her ears after a while. However, the instant they passed the statues and into the inner circle, the sound cut off entirely.

It was almost disorienting, and Evie spun, looking up at the backs of the weird statues. Behind their backs, hidden from the world outside, were huge, snarling faces. The snouts and teeth and glaring eyes filled the inner circle with the sound of violent fury, a bated hatred so deep it made Evie tremble.

A hand landed on her shoulder, and Evie spun toward her attacker, Ice Spike already summoned to her fist. Only the hurried shout of a familiar voice stayed her blow.

"Forgiveness!" Wyvora shouted. The Ice Spike was a finger's breadth from her wide, shocked eye, and the cold it radiated was alarming even to Evie.

"Evie!" Vess hissed.

The chain-warrior blinked and dropped her Skill as she stepped back. What had come over her? She looked up, back at the monstrous faces above, now completely silent. Noctis' tits, what was that?

+5 AFI

"I believe our agile friend has been influenced by the true lesson of this formation," the Farwalker said. The man was bundled up against the slight chill of the night, and that hood covered his face in deepest shadow. Still, she swore she saw his eyes twinkling in that darkness. "The Nym left many lessons for those that came after."

"Nym?" Atar asked. Alister and he both looked up, immediately fascinated. "Are these monsters?"

"Threats," the Farwalker said. "Threats the Nym were said to ward against."

"Thus the stoic guardians facing outside, while abominations writhe within," Vess said. She nodded. "Yes. I see."

Evie stuck a finger in her own ear and wiggled it. A lot of words were being bandied about, but it didn't explain why the statues had growled. "Then why"

"You all survived?"

The Matriarch swept from the deeper shadows in the circle, hidden before by the press of people. And there were a lot of people there, with a few more groups trickling in from the north. The woman's makeup was streaked a bit with sweat, though Evie imagined she'd pretend it was tears. The lady was the worst sorta noble, all sweet smiles and false promises before they tightened the noose.

"Wasn't hard," Evie said. She enjoyed the vein that throbbed in the lady's temple. "Just had to kill everything we found."

Impressed murmurs filled the grove, followed by whispered comments she couldn't help but overhear.

"..the outsiders saved us..."

"...he killed everything. It was brutal..."

"...they don't even look tired..."

Evie rolled her eyes. Maybe she didn't look tired but she felt it. Her Stamina hadn't quite recovered from the fights, never being good at the Endurance thing for all that her Strength was growing.

"Then where is your leader? Thethe Raven Blessed." The Matriarch stumbled over the honorific, which Evie found funny. "I do not see him among your number. I truly hope he is well."

I'm sure you do, lady. Evie rolled her eyes. "He's fine. Probably." Felix was a big boy. He could take care of himself, though he rarely did. Usually got himself near dead or worse and drove all his friends to distraction. Stupid men. "Your little valley is clear of enemies now."

More appreciative murmurs, and the Matriarch smiled widely. "Well that is truly wonderful. We are glad to have trusted in your protection." The crowd around her nodded, and Evie heard the sounds of plucking strings and trilling flutes from them all. It was...weird, but she was increasingly certain of what the sounds all meant.

Emotions. Blech.

"Well if the valley is safe once more, then we must return!" The Matriarch said, and now her smile turned smug. A real cat that got the cream look. "It was our best redoubt in these lands. I would not abandon it without cause."

"If the enemy found us here once, it will do so again. There is little reason to believe it will remain safe," the Farwalker pointed out.

"Oh," added Evie. "It's also on fire."

"What!"

Evie chuckled at the woman's face, though the worry and anger that swept through the crowd was less pleasing. "Listen, the Arcid and his pet monsters did it. We stopped them, but not before the blaze was already lit."

"It is true," said another voice, deeper by far than hers. A'zek the cat-lizard-thing stepped from the night, at the head of a column of people. "Fires already raged when we arrived. The Fiend took all on the Arcid alone so that I would have time to evacuate our people."

"Fiend?" asked one of the Henaari.

"It is what they call him, no?" A'zek nodded to the Haarguard nearby. The lot of them were around the perimeter, helping guide the stragglers into their protective circle.

"Where is Felix?" Wyvora asked.

"Pit went after him. They should be back soon." Vess said smoothly.

"And he defeated the Tier III construct? How?"

"Probably hit him with his thick skull," Atar said. There was a measure of fondness there, but it was spoiled by the man's pinched expression. "Does anyone have any Mana potions left? I wore myself out on that array shield."

Nevia finally managed to push her way to the fore, the slight Dwarf even shorter before the lanky Henaari. "Take mine."

"Oh," Atar said. His expression eased as he quaffed the potion, and the mage let out a deep sigh of relief. "Thank you, Nevia. I'm sure you know the pain of Mana drain."

"Don't thank me, but tell me more about the Reforged," Nevia said. Atar regarded her silently a moment before nodding.

"In the morning."

"What was that, by the by?" Alister asked, settling down next to his beau. "You never said you've been working on combat array formations."

"It was, ah, well, experimental," Atar admitted. He withered a bit under Alister's glare, and was almost relieved when Evie spoke up.

"Experimental? You never tried that before in battle?" Evie asked. She was impressed. He'd saved her friends with a desperate move, and Evie couldn't help but respect that. "That took balls. Thanks."

"IOh, yes. You're welcome," Atar said, a blush of color entering his olive cheeks.

Evie smirked. "Bought time they dropped."

"You!"

Felix and Pit made a landing, following the prompting of his Authority.

They quickly found the range and limits of his so-called Local Authority. It extended no further than the cliffs around the valley, though some of the greyed out menus indicated it had once spread farther. Deeper too. After toggling the [Access Vault] option, a light appeared far below, leading them to fly back down to the center once again.

The tower and tree were no more, turned to ash or melted by the unnatural heat of the Arcid's fire, and the entire area was a blackened ruin. It was still intensely hot, though the flames had mostly died away. Former trees abounded, filled with the rippling of emberlight and breathing a heat that would have cooked lesser men. Felix felt vaguely uncomfortable, and but it wasn't anything like the Arcid's Magma Chasm. It barely tickled his Song of Absolution, though Pit moaned at the heat on his paws.

We gotta get you some fire elemental cores. Get you some fire resistance. Pit chirruped in agonized agreement. Alright. Get in here.

Pit vanished in a flash of light, converging with Felix's Spirit once again. The tenku's trilling sigh of relief was almost comical.

Now on the ground, the light that had guided him bathed a specific section, now completely covered by the half-melted, half-tumbled remains of the tower itself. His Mana had recovered from his previous exertions, at least halfway, and a little Stone Shaping moved the lot of it back in a wave of liquified rock.

Hidden beneath it all was a door made of Crescian Bronze. It was heavily carved with a scene of a single, enormous tree rising above mountains. From the location and Felix's memory of the tower and tree, the door had been hidden directly underneath it's thick trunk. Now there was not even the hint of a root system left, the fire having scoured all of it clean.

A window appeared before him as he approached the trap door.

Access Vault?

Felix pulled free his Crescian Blade. Yes.

The door swung up on soundless hinges, and Felix could only sense the barest thread of Mana in it. Below were a set of stairs leading down into the earth, spiraling, and carvedor shapedinto the most delicate of lace-like designs. It was dark after only a few feet, a pitch blackness that not even his Manasight succeeded in piercing.

Pit warbled in curiosity and Felix agreed.

They walked down.

The stairs spiraled into a darkness so complete Felix felt lost. All he could do was hold a hand to the narrow walls and put one foot in front of the other. But after a hundred steps, the walls vanished and Felix's senses told him he was in a far larger room than he expected. Cavernous, even.

After another hundred steps Felix reached a landing, one that sang with the barest hint of channeled Mana. He guided a portion of his own Mana out of his pathways and into the structure he sensed. Suddenly, the darkness fell away like a dropped shroud, replaced by a brilliant, omnipresent light.

Felix squinted against the abrupt brightness, and found himself at the bottom of what looked like a huge, dry well. Stairs lined the walls, along with star-shaped archways leading to darkened interiors. The entire construction created a semicircle of man-made wonder, long abandoned, and in the magelight it appeared as little more than an enormous, alien skull with a thousand empty sockets staring him down.

Felix repressed a shudder. The bottom was tiled, but pools of water collected here and there. They were shallow basins filled with filtered rainwater, clearly dripping in from the extensive root system up above. It was unlikely the original well was filled in such a way. They place had been buried, somehow. Then someone had placed a door above it and turned it into a Vault, whatever that meant.

He had been expecting treasures. But all he saw was empty stonework and wet, star-shaped tile.

Inheritor...

Felix's head snapped up, looking for the notification box in his vision. But there was none. Instead, he heard this voice in his Mind.

Step Forward And Claim...

Destiny...

Itself.

A section of the well, one he'd not even noticed despite his Perception and empowered senses, illuminated. Revealed was a low platform that rose level by level until it became a set of stairs. The stairs vanished into a dim crevasse, carved with fluted columns and surmounted by an elaborate entablature. The pediment of it was filled with detailed relief sculptures, depicting large, bulky figures among groves of fruiting trees.

The crevasse breathed, as if some great beast waited within. Pit warbled in nervous fear. Felix wasn't much better.

This is feeling like a bad idea.

But they'd committed. Felix doubted they would return to this little valley any time soon, and now was the time to find out what he'd earned. If he was lucky, he'd even survive it.

Fingers crossed.

He leaped to the top of the stairs, landing heavily enough to sent dust and stone ships flying outward, but his feet barely thumped against the stone dias. Felix paused, senses extended to their limit.

Nothing. Only the soft, almost wet breeze from within the cave. Still, his Manasight was curiously dulled here, like it was being blocked. He fought against it, surging his Skill, but to no avail. He could sense a sluggish sort of earth Mana pervading everything, but other than that he was surrounded by inert matter. Manaless.

Which was impossible. Everything was made of Mana in some form.

He walked in, Perception at full burn, his hands balled into fists and various spells spinning faster within his core space. Pit coiled as well, wings and limbs ready to burst forth. The gloom enveloped him, and he took one careful step after another, down what turned out to be a tiled pathway through the craggy rock. Fifty steps in, it opened back up, and this time the chamber was dozens of times larger.

Soft green and gold lights flitted about the space, so many that they created a soft but powerful illumination. They were like fireflies, or seemed to be, yet his Voracious Eye said otherwise.

Name: Sprite

Type: Spirit (Life)

Level: 343

HP: ?????????/?????????

SP: ??????/??????

MP: ????????????/????????????

Lore: Sprites are spirits of nature, elemental Mana given form and function by the Song of Creation. They are as mysterious as they are rare, but their elemental type typically informs their attitudes.

Strength: More Data Required

Weakness: More Data Required

Holylevel 343?

Felix tried not to flinch as the Sprite he'd Eyed landed on his shoulder. It looked like a small person made of green-gold glass. It's body was slender and sexless, and its head empty of hair, only retaining two small, sharp ears and large glowing eyes. Around its shoulders was a collar of crystalline spikes, rising high behind its head like some sort of Victorian mistress. The Sprite stepped lightly, but each felt like a tiny stab at Felix's Spirit.

His Aspects were tougher than they looked, however, and it took the jabs easily. Didn't feel great, though.

"Hello," Felix said. The Sprite looked at him and tilted it's tiny head. Felix slowly, carefully waved.

It waved back.

"I'm looking for the Vault," he explained. He felt foolish the moment he said it aloud, but well, the Continent was weird. If he had to talk to some magical life spirits to get some treasure, he'd do it with a smile.

The Sprite suddenly beamed, revealing tiny, jagged teeth. Then it flitted away, into the cloud of its fellows.

"Wait!" Felix shouted before thinking better of it. The cloud of Sprites, all of them over level 300, swirled and shifted, moving like a mumuration of birds in a fluid dance. It was mesmerizing, but Felix held his Skills at the ready, waiting to run at the first sign of aggression. He wouldn't survive a direct attack by that swarm of Sprites.

The swarm spun, until a space was opened up at the center, and the Sprites pushed up and away from the cavern floor. It revealed a gargantuan treefilled with more of the same green-gold glowand, at its base, a towering figure in armor.

Felix's hands blazed to life, crackling with acid and lightning.

"Archon," he gasped.

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