Chapter Five Hundred And Forty One – 541
Felix exploded from the pool. Heavy droplets of silver flung in all directions as his naked form breached the still waters.
Guh! he managed between great, gulping breaths. His hand found the first step out and Felix clung to it. That was shitty.
Light flashed and soon Pits beak clamped around Felixs forearm, helping the man drag himself further up and out of the pool entirely. The mercury-like liquid sloughed from him, leaving nothing of itself behind save the ghost of dampness. Felix shivered as he regarded its surface, now returned to glassy tranquility despite his chaotic emergence.
Felix! Are you alright? Karys marched into the room, breath puffing through his metal chest like a bellows. I came as soon as I sensed your return.
How long? Felix asked. His voice was a little hoarse after all that screaming.
Four glasses.
Damn. Felix leaned back, still on his knees. Karys handed him Garment, folded up into a palm-sized square. The enchanted cloth squirmed the moment his Mana touched it and spread over Felixs body in seconds, until he was once again wearing a tunic, jacket, and pants. Thanks.
Your gauntlets and greaves are off to the side. How, Karys took a measured breath. How do you feel?
A little wrung out. That wasnt a great experience. Pit? You good?
The tenku chirruped, but it wasnt nearly as bright as usual. Im fine.
No he isnt. Felix kept that thought to himself, guarded in the vault of his Mind. He checked Pits status, but everything looked fine. That unravelingthat was way too close to what happened in my Omen Path.
Back then, some facsimile of the gods had unmade Felix, and it had taken every ounce of his Willpower to pull himself back together. He had done so, and it had made him stronger in the endbut now all Felix felt was tired. Seeing Siva had taken its toll, and the memory of her nightmarish form clung to him like hot wax. His thoughts brushed against her image and Felix flinched, just like he had at first with the Creature in the Breach. This time, Pit flinched as well.
I hate them, the tenku whispered.
Me too. Felix forced his jaw to unclench and his shoulders to relax. Me too.
A bell rang out, a deep tolling that resonated across the Inner Sanctum and through Felixs chest. He whirled toward its source, where Knowledge stood at the edge of the silvery pool, hands clasped behind itself.
Lord Autarch Felix Nevarre, Inheritor of the Nymeans Will, Chosen of Veridaan! You have embraced the Pool of Halcyon Oaths and emerged transformed.
Felix stalked toward the illusion. Chosen of who?
Veridaan. Primordial of Oaths, She Who Cannot Be Broken. Knowledge waved a furry claw at the still pool. All who survive the Halcyon Oath take a piece of her power, binding to themselves in order to access the Bonds of Fellowship.
Primordial of Oaths? Siva is the Goddess of Oaths. Youre saying theres a Primordial that has power over that same thing?
Knowledge tilted its weasel-like head, small brows drawn down. The Goddess of Fortune holds no sway over oaths.
Felix opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted by the almighty wave of sizzling energy that screamed into his Body. Potency surged in his channels, swirling through the center of him like a vast whirlpool as notification windows obscured his vision.
New Title!
Blessed of the Halcyon Oath II (Epic)
You have embraced the waters of connection in the Luminous Void and emerged whole! You have gained the Skill: Territorial Skimming (Rare)!
New Skill!Territorial Skimming (Rare), Level 1!
The Cognitive and Ethereal Realms rest within, atop, and behind the Corporeal Realm all at once. It is only your Perceptions that lie to youor they once did. You can now sense the Dark Passages that thread the Corporeal Realm, tunnels in the surface of the world that tread the line between all three Realms. Skimming allows you alone to traverse the edges of the Corporeal and exit through the points where the barriers between things are thinnest. Stabilization and speed of transit through Dark Passages increase minutely per level.
Before Felix could parse the entirety of his new Title and Skill, another pulse of energy exploded within him, harder and sharper than the last. It ricocheted off his cores like a thousand pieces of deadly hail before piercing directly into his brand new Skill.
Skill: Abyssal Skein Detected!
Title: Chthonic Traveler Detected!
Vein of Divinity Detected!
Due To A Confluence Of Titles, Skills, And Stolen Potency, Your Skill Has Upgraded!
Pain, his constant companion, seared through him. It was a familiar burn, one of evolution and combination that Felix had endured countless times, and he felt it surge as Territorial Skimming transformed.
Territorial Skimming (Rare) Has Become Labyrinthine Wing (Epic)!
Labyrinthine Wing (Epic), Level 1!
An evolution of Territorial Skimming due to the presence of the Void within your core space. Your grasp over the connections to your people has transcended its former limitations, and you have begun to wend your way into the potency of the Halcyon Oath. Stabilization of all Passages has doubled, and speed of transit has tripled. Both qualities increase minutely per level.
Viable Entry Dark Passage Entry Points Have Been Added To Your Territorial Maps!
Okay, he said, after a moment. The System energy within him subsided, eaten up by the rapidfire changes to his newest Skill. He flared his Song of Absolution, and even the pain faded to nothing. Okay, that was intense.
Pit squawked. Felix! More is coming!
Power shot through him, not like a wave but a comet. It blazed into his being, trailing a resplendent mantle of triumphant horns and furiously playing cellos that smashed right into his dual cores.
New Title!
Chosen of Unbroken Vows (Legendary)!
You
ERROR!
[REDACTED] Is Lost!
New Title!
Chosen of Siva (Legendary)!
You
ERROR!
Title: Chain-Breaker Detected!
Title: Chosen of Siva (L) Has Been Revoked!
YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED, FELIX NEVARRE!
Window after blue window appeared before Felix, each one overlapping the last as error supplanted error, until those last words ripped through it all. They were louder than any bell, stabbing through Felix like a knife from brainstem to gut.
Worse, he could feel that comet of powerthat piece of System energy that had wanted to coalesce into a Titleturn away from him. Siva was taking it back.
Title: The Call of Defiance Is Active!
+25% Willpower When Contested By A Foe Of Divine Or Greater Advancement!
Title: Born of Will Is Active!
What Is Beyond You, If You Have The Will?
The threads of their connection came into brilliant focus for him, revealed as heavy cords that slithered between his chest and the pool itself. That connection flared, a goddess leveraging the other side, but it went both ways.
MINE! Felix thrust the totality of his Willpower and Intent against her fragmented one, and piece by piece, felt a shearing across intervening space.
Title: Chain-Breaker Is Active!
No Oath Can Hold You!
Outrage thundered across Felixs Affinity. CHAIN-BREAKER!
Skein of Fate!
More where that came from! A discordant chaos ballooned outward from his chest, weakening the claws the Siva had dug deep into the comet of potency. Hunger!
Darkness swelled, grasping greedy hooks into the brilliant fireball and dragging it down. It vanished into the swirling event horizon. Consumed.
Felixs notification windows shattered to pieces, and all went silent.
What Knowledges illusory image stuttered with static. Waves of discordant sparks broke up his long, weasel-like body. Inheritor. Please explain.
Felix wiped a trickle of blood from beneath his nose and stood, again. The goddess words had driven him to his knees without him noticing. I was hoping you would do that. Veridaan. Who is that?
Knowledges eyes blanked before rattling off the information. Veridaan. The Primordial of Oaths, a Scion of the Unseen Tide.
I know that name, Felix said. Thats what his Race entry said, after all. I know it real well. What is a Scion of the Unseen Tide?
Unknown. Most information on the Primordials is Lost. Not even memory can withstand the purging flames of Ruin.
Felix grunted. Figures. But Veridaan wasnt Lost?
Again, the illusory Geist froze, as if accessing some deeper part of itself. Veridaan remains. She resides within the Halcyon Oath, a
No she doesnt, Felix said. That was Siva down there. Id know that damn moon anywhere.
The Goddess of Fortune is not tied to oaths. She Knowledge gained that distant look again, freezing in place like hed glitched. The sigaldry around the pool flared up, as did a few connecting lines that led into the wall the Third Chamber shared with the Heart of Darkness. When the light died away, Knowledge unfroze with a jolt. Siva. Goddess of Fortuneand Oaths. She was not contained within the pools scope when it was last used.
Did he just update himself? Throughthe Shadowgates? Hows that work? What does that mean?
The Memories which compose my being are only updated when the pool is in use. It has remained in stasis for a great deal of time. Now that you have accessed the Third Chamber, my knowledge shall growbut the process is a gradual one. Until this moment, I was unaware that her dominion had extended to oaths as well.
That was interesting. She got more powerful? How does a god get more power? Arent they the top of the food chain?
Knowledge was silent. Instead, a sound like pennies rattling around a metal grate filled the air. Karys was clearing his throat. The gods were not always as they are, Felix. You know this. They once pressed their thumbs upon the Continent, though their touch has not been felt in a great many Ages. We cannot know how they may have changed since this artifact was last active.
Felix could understand that, even as it made him nervous. The idea of gods getting stronger made his stomach drop, even if they were chained in the sky or whatever.
Knowledge continued, unaware or uncaring for Felixs worries. Its voice was dull as if reading a scripted message. Your connection to the Halcyon Oath is deep, if not as profound as it could be. To do that, one must pass entirely through the crucible and embrace the potency held within. You have earned the right to Territorial Skimming, which allows fast transit between two points within a Territory. Typically twice as fast as Manaship travel. Here it paused, and more sigils flashed across its illusory body. Your unusual circumstances have afforded you an evolution of Territorial Skimming. With Labyrinthine Wing, you will find your progress to be much improved.
Fast travel, but limited to only within my own Territories. Got it. Its a Skill, Felix said. Does that mean the more I use it, the better it gets?
The Bonds of Fellowship drive the Halcyon Oath, and it is only through serving the needs of your people that its power will grow.
Right. Connections. So much of his power recently had boiled down to the links hed established between himself and others. Felix could stand toe-to-toe with a giant monster, but relying on others let him do so much more. Theres probably a moral in there, somewhere. And only I can use this. Can I bring others along?
Correct. The amount varies upon the Skill level, rarity of the Skill, and personal strength. However, you may anoint up to nine Exemplars, granting them a reduced version of your Skill. I must warn you, however, that doing so will drain a portion of your significance and invest it within your followers. They, in turn, will gain the ability to bring others with them as determined by their own strength.
Exemplars, huh? That could be very useful.
Felix could feel it, the edges of his new ability. With a flex of his Will, he brought up his Territory Map. Sure enough, dark marks manifested all across it, even in the areas Felixs people hadnt scouted out yet. Dark Passages. He checked his map of Ahkestria, and spotted a ton over there too. None of the Passages jumped across Territorial borders, but he had his Shadowgates for that.
How fast would I be able to move across all of Nagast? he asked the illusion.
Unclear. Due to my interrupted delving, I can only surmise. Knowledge folded its fake hands inside its fake sleeves. Two or three days.
A lot faster than Manaship, thats for sure. Felix chewed at his lip, his thoughts turning away from the mysterious pool, goddesses, and toward his many other problems. Im already late leaving to get to Kimaris. With this I could get there and back in less time than a Manaship would take on the first leg of the trip.
For some reason, Felix was eager for a fight. Perhaps it was an effect of surviving Sivas attention, down in the pool. Hed fought the gods before, but only pieces of them, and he still ended up hurt each time. If that had been indicative of fighting a goddess at full strength? Felix couldnt handle them in a real fight.
Not yet, at least.
Knowledge. Can you compile information through the Shadowgates?
Disparate scraps slowly mingled into whole cloth. It takes a great deal of time, but it is a function of my array, yes.
Good. Collect everything you can about the gods and Primordials. Felix gazed into the bright, mirrored surface of the pool. Lost or not, anything is better than nothing.
As you wish, Inheritor.
Time to focus on smaller targets. For now.
I assume, my Lord, that you plan on utilizing your new Skill to reach the Boreal Pass? Karys interrupted his brooding with his usual polite tone.
Yeah. With this, I could take care of this Domain break and be back in time to take care of my lordly duties, Felix said. Its win-win.
Indeed. I cannot fault your logic, but might I suggest a nights rest? From what I have gleaned, you and your Companion have been through an ordeal. Some recuperation would benefit you both before tackling a dangerous journey.
IWell, I cant argue against that. Its already night, isnt it?
It is.
Felix sighed. Pit? What do you think? Well go handle the Domain break after a nap?
Pit was staring daggers at the silvery pool, and he blinked his big, golden eyes when Felix spoke. Hm? Yes. Alright. He warbled somewhere in the back of his throat. It sounded tired. Sleepthen food?
Are you joking? Felix asked. Food then sleep.
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