Chapter Three Hundred And Fifteen – 315
The door flashed, and Pit found himself falling free, Convergence failed.
Felix!
He tumbled through the air, seeing nothing but blurring blue streaks all around him. Pit extended his wings, their tips spreading farther than ever, but he scraped and smashed into the sides of some invisible structure, too dark to see.
Felix!
Through their bond, Pit sensed him far below. And getting farther. He tried again, snapping out his wings more carefully, cupping the invisible wind as it buffeted against his feathers. He spun once, twice more, then success!
Flight is level 58!
Steadied, Pit still spiraled down what seemed an endless shaft into nothing. The blue streaks, however, settled into windows that were furiously blinking for his attention.
Your Companion Has Chosen His Path!
Now You Must Do The Same.
Choose.
Path of the Companion - Gain +7 STR, END, VIT, WIL, AGL per level, Skill level gain increased in concordance with Companion's core composition/attunement. Etheric Concordance +10 Levels.
Path of the Berserker - Gain +20 STR, +15 END, VIT per level. Skill gain in offensive abilities increased.
Path of the Void - Gain +10 WIL, ALA, AGL per level. Protection from the Void increases to 50%. All Stats are doubled while within the Void.
Path of the Faithful - Gain +10 To All Primary Stats Per Level. One Time Boost Of +30 To All Harmonic Stats.
Path of the Guardian Beast - Gain +10 STR, AGL, DEX, +5 END, PER, AFI, RES, REI Per Level - All Harmonic Stats are doubled upon acceptance of this Path. Skill level gain increased in concordance with Companion's core composition/attunement.
Pit tried to surge past the notification box, but it arrested him.
Choose.
Felix was falling farther ahead. Pit could care less about the stat bonuses. He understood them, but he needed to catch Felix, he was falling while Pit was hemmed in by the burning lights and rarefied vibrations this Path. He slammed his claw upon the choice he'd seen spoke a thousand times, one which he still did not understand.
And he dove.
Adamant Discord is level 70!
...
Adamant Discord is level 74!
Cardinal Flame is level 64!
...
Cardinal Flame is level 71!
The world became a series of flashing, spinning lights, a vortex of color and sound that hurled Felix along like a rocket. Thingsfeelingssparked and bloomed in his chest, his core. Harmonies and Dissonance yowled at one another in unholy noise, and the things that made up Felix resounded with their confrontation.
Path of the Cardinal Fiend Chosen...
Unique Path Forged!
Unique Path Detected...
Core Compatibility 100%
Stat Compatibility 100%
Energy Required For Conversion...
Stand By.
Agony speared through him, but Felix bore it silently as he fell. Pain and him were old friends, and he knew how to handle it all. Yet even his Song of Absolution and insane Willpower weren't enough; a moan of distress squeezed from his lungs as his core space was wrung dry. What little Essence remained was pulled from him, funneled into his new Path, before it began taking his Mana and Stamina and Health. It was slow at first, nothing his regeneration couldn't maintain, but it sped up. The Path he had forged was powerfultoo powerful, it seemed.
It was going to kill him.
Path Conversion in Progress...
Felix clenched his Will, cutting off his screams before they began, and flared his Skills in rapid order.
Bastion of Will!
Cardinal Flame!
Adamant Discord!
Those three would help him, he hoped. Mana swirled and burst all around him, splashing against him and through him in constant waves invisible to the normal eye. To all others, it would be a featureless black in all directions. To him it was a riot of powerand possibility.
Ravenous Tithe!
Mana was sucked into his channels, through his palms and elbows, knees and feet. It soaked into his core space...only to be ripped right back out by the System. The Path grew, a weighty sun behind his eyes that felt likely to burn out his skull. It was nowhere and everywhere, within him and without.
It drained him even more, but his the First Pillar below his double-stacked ring cores burst into furious light. A dark vein among it shuddered to life, adding a piercing, gossamer cry to the hammer of his Will. Even the abyss joined in, its voice a song of absences and buzzing Dissonance that howled into the melody, filling the spaces between glorious Harmony.
Felix screamed again, pulling at the connections he'd forged. Titles and Skills and stats all strained, rooted within him, as the threads to his Path hauled itself together. Lightning crackled across his limbs, chased by red-gold fire that speared through the Path, heating it into a brilliant white. His Will crashed down upon it, his Bastion gates slamming into the blazing Path and forcing into place. The Wild Songthe Grand Harmony, Final Dirge, all of itresounded within him, showing Felix where the Path should go.
And then it was done.
Pain transmuted to brilliant ecstasy in an instant. The Path lit up his Aspects, his cores, everything that was Felix.
+50% Essence Gain Per Foe Devoured, +50% Skill Gain Per Foe Devoured, +5 Levels To All Primordial-Touched Skills, +20 All Primary and Harmonic Stats Per Level. Increase XP Penalty to 50%.
The benefits and penalties sank into him, changing Felix at a fundamental level. Things blurred and shook, vibrations through the center of his being, hitting his dual cores and redirecting everywhere. Harmony and Dissonance, mismatched pairs, thrummed through his being as he fell on.
Voracious Eye is level 64!
...
Voracious Eye is level 68!
Sovereign of Flesh is level 59!
...
Sovereign of Flesh is level 63!
Ravenous Tithe is level 73!
...
Ravenous Tithe is level 77!
Adamant Discord is level 75!
...
Adamant Discord is level 79!
Cardinal Flame is level 72!
...
Cardinal Flame is level 76!
Ravenous Tithe - Adept Tier!
Adamant Discord - Adept Tier!
Cardinal Flame - Adept Tier!
Felix seized, pushing against the Temper his Path was trying to force upon him. He hadn't an Essence at all, let alone Essence Motes or Draughts. His Intent shaped his Will, while his Affinity sounded out the thrumming signals of the System's notifications. He suppressed them; held them at bay, for just a little while longer.
Yet they kicked back, the System bucking against his manipulation. Not even his incredible Will was enough to cushion the blow of it. Felix spiraled through the darkness, falling ever faster as a sudden an immediate end loomed below. Hard stone and wood, barely visible, manifested from the sea of chaotic Mana around him. Had he the spare attention, Felix would have found it fascinating. As it was, he barely held onto consciousness as he careened into its surface.
At the very last second, a bundle of feathers the size of an SUV caught up by the hips and shoulders. Pit squawked in fear, his wings beating back, but it only proved enough to slow them both. Felix and Pit hit a hardened, stone floor with enough force to shatter bone and stone in equal measure, yet nothing was disturbed. They landed in a tangle of limbs and too heavy flesh, and Felix's sword went skittering across the ground.
"Thanks," he groaned.
Ye-yeah, Pit sent back with equal discontent. The both of them simply laid there for a time.
Then, achingly, Felix struggled to his feet. He was still clamping his Bastion around the processes of his newest Tier Up, and it took almost all of his concentration to maintain it, but he would have had to be blind to miss Pit's sudden transformation.
"You're bigger again, I think," he panted. Pit nodded. "Good. I'll need your help for the next part. My plan went...a little wild there, for a second. I didn'tdidn't expect the Paths to be like that."
You have achieved the impossible. Again. Karys buzzed from ten feet away. Perhaps someone should keep a running score.
"Sounds exhausting. How would you keep up?" Felix let himself grin as he stooped to pick up his blade. Karys glowed in his grip.
Indeed. Are youare you holding your Adept Formation at bay?
"Yeah," Felix grunted. "Some Skills I want to use went over thanks to my Path, but I'm fresh outta Essences." Felix was sweating, heavy enough that it was dripping down his face and neck. "Never been this hard before."
That is because you're not supposed to be able to hold off an Adept Temper. I believe you're only managing it due to your utterly ridiculous Willpower.
"Intent and Affinity are in the mix, too," he gasped. "I can feel more, just at the edge of my senses. Power waiting to flood my cores once I've left this place." He looked around, noticed the Mana still swirling in chaotic whirlwinds. Only the stone and wooden flooring was steady. Real. There was nothing else. "Another stop."
The final one, I believe.
Felix could feel it, like a draft through an old house. The walls were thin here, as if he could simply push his arm through that chaos and emerge back in the Mana pool. Back among six deadly threats. Felix's breathing was ragged as he strained to hold onto his Skills, but he had to confirm one last thing. One last task before they could leave.
"Pit." His Companion stood, looming larger than ever, and trotted to his side. "Karys when the plan starts, I'll need you to distract them. Can you do that?"
I can certainly try. This place has shown me a few new tricks; I simply hope I can manage them from within...this. The sword shook for emphasis.
From Pit's barding, Felix retrieved the Omen cards. "I only need a few seconds. I" The moment they were out of Pit's saddle bag, however, they flew from Felix's surprised grip. "Hey!"
The Omens slammed into the swirl of chaotic Mana above them, horizontally as if they struck a wall. Each one was face up and perfectly separated from its neighbor, as if...As if it's a tarot reading.
Yet Felix had received six Omens so far, and nine glimmered before him.
The Fool
The Tower
The Wheel
The Hermit
Strength
Death
The Moon
The Sun
The World
They were arranged in three rows and three columns. The last row were his recent acquisitions, and his Voracious Eye nabbed them.
Name: Omen of the Moon
Benefit: +2 INT, +1 PER, +1 DEX per level gained.
Name: Omen of the Sun
Benefit: +2 STR, +1 PER, +1 VIT per level gained.
Name: Omen of the World
Benefit: +2 END, +1 STR, +1 VIT per level gained.
If this is a tarot reading, what does it mean?
In answer, the chaos shuddered. An ascending note gathered in the distance, moving toward them in a steady, harmonic whine that set Felix's teeth on edge. It thundered through them all.
First, The Mind, Who You Are
Fourth, The Body, What You Face
Seventh, The Spirit, The Strength Within
First, The Past, What Has Been
Second, The Now, That Which Rises
Third, The Future, How Things May End
The voice was no less loud than before, and equally cryptic. Felix had no experience with tarot readings, despite his Aunt Cecelia that loved crystals and astronomy. He said the same thing now as he'd heard his mother once say to her sister.
"What does any of that mean?"
Remember, Felix Nevarre.
Go Forth.
And Remember.
Then the note was gone, as if it had never been.
Felix grumbled to himself while Karys made "ooing" sounds at another instance of the System directly addressing him. Maybe it was rare and amazing and notable, but it wasn't helpful. And people were going to die unless he did this right.
With a gesture, all nine Omens slid together, clanking into a single deck that hit Felix's outstretched palm.
The door manifested before him with a desperate flex of his Will. What little he could spare. He understood this place now, sorta. The door flickered with trapped light, fading in and out as if it were the memory of a door. Beyond, he could see a dark, murky green.
Terror hammered in his chest and a spike of adrenaline quivered along his limbs. "We ready? Do we all understand our roles?"
Pit's Spirit shook, just as Felix's own, but he stood tall beside him. Ready.
Do you truly mean to do this?
"What's the other option? Become Urge food?" Felix growled. "Not me. Not ever. If I'm going, I'm going down swinging."
A warrior's heart. You do the Nym proud, Felix. Karys buzzed with apprehension and slow burning excitement. Let us, then. Into the heart of the storm. May we live to tell the tale.
As one, they walked into the murk.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel