Unbound

Chapter Twenty Seven - 027

"Down!"

Magda dove forward, left shield extended to deflect an acidic projectile from a hissing Tree Serpent. The kite shield didn't quite reach, but the attack deflected anyway, much to the surprise of Atar cowering behind her.

"How'd--?"

"Get back behind the wall!" Magda shouted, ignoring her own advice and charging forward at the serpent. She didn't look back to see if he listened; if he didn't, he'd likely die.

Magda wasn't worried about the boy.

Evie and the Dayne girl were fighting off the Tree Serpent on their own; Harn was too busy fending off the marauding chimeras behind them. Evie swung her spiked chain around her body, expertly weaving the twenty foot long weapon through her arms, legs, and around her torso; each rotation added momentum to its strikes, and in an expert's hands it was a deadly implement. Magda felt pride wash over her, even as she desperately charged toward the battle. Evie was good, but she was still only barely into Apprentice Tier for Chain Mastery; the thirty foot long Tree Serpent easily bobbed and weaved through her assault, wedge-shaped head and single flame colored eye staring fixedly at the nimble fighter.

Vessilia was moving about with almost as much grace as Evie, hopping here and there, lining up strikes with her eight-foot spear. She was strong too, as each hit did considerable damage when it connected. The Tree Serpent threw it's looping coils up and away from the vicious duo, dodging Evie's latest attack while lunging to bite Vessilia.

"No you don't! Wall of Force!"

A shimmering field of energy suddenly warped the light between Vessilia and the Tree Serpent, cutting short its lunge as it bounced off. Rearing back in anger, the serpent moved to strike again but Magda was already on it.

"Clarion Call!" She held her twin kite shields in front of her as she emitted a high pitched wail. The Serpent froze in it's tracks, it's single eye widening as if mesmerized. Then it went wild, snapping and lunging at Magda with abandon. The Shieldwitch punched outward with her shields, each time meeting the attacks at an angle, deflecting the majority of the strikes to either side of her body. "I've got it's attention! Flank it!"

Evie and Vessilia looked at each other and took off. Evie ran along the ground, nimbly negotiating the root-filled terrain despite the pervasive fog that limited her Perception to a measly half-dozen yards. She came up beneath the serpent, near the tree where the majority of its body was tethered. Whipping her spiked chain in a tight loop around her shoulder, she launched the weighted end of it straight up. The chain flew far faster than it should have, bridging the gap in a fraction of a second and hitting with the power of an Iron Guilder. The Tree Serpent cried out in sudden pain.

Then Vessilia came down on it.

Somehow the girl had climbed atop the nearest tree, and using it as a springboard, she jumped a full twelve yards into the sky. She landed on the serpent's head spear first, the eight foot polearm sinking three feet deep into the serpent's glowing eye.

SCREEEEEEEEE--

Vessilia twisted her blade, and the serpent suddenly fell limp. The Duke's daughter rode the corpse to the ground, where it hit with a boom of displaced fog.

"Yeah! You kicked his ass, Vess!" Evie was ebullient, but then she always was; Magda let the Force Wall drop as Vessilia pulled her spear free of the gooey remains of the serpent.

"Well, I would say we did it together," Vessilia smiled brightly, her teeth straight and extra white against the dark orange blood that streaked her face.

"Yes good job, now back to the group! Now!" Magda cut them off and hustled them back to the first Force Wall she had put up. Evie rolled her eyes and nodded her head at her friend. The two smiled and ran back to Atar and Harn.

Blind gods, that girl can make friends with the Herald himself. Magda shook her head ruefully, thundering behind the pair as they retreated to her temporary bulwark. A hazy orb appeared out of the mists, visible mostly due to the fog that rolled up and over it. The orb became permeable as Magda approached, and all three quickly entered. "Harn! Report!"

"Chimeras have been routed, and the fliers have been scared off for now," Harn growled, still watching the darkening skies. Night was coming on them quickly. "How'd you kill the snake?"

"Didn't," came the reply, Magda jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Vessilia. "She did."

"Oh aye?" Harn's grim face watched the Dayne girl look proud, blush, and then look wilt under his stony expression. Magda suppressed a smile. The man was a brute, stubborn as an ox, and as hard to impress as any Guilder trainer she'd ever met. Which made sense, considering his background.

"We must seek shelter for the night," came an insistent voice. Magda glanced over at Atar, eyeing his torn robes and mud splattered hems. He didn't have a single wound on him, or even any monster blood. The rest of them were practically painted orange and crimson, by comparison. It is getting too dark to keep going.

Harn looked over at Magda with a raised eyebrow. The Shieldwitch glanced at Atar before turning back toward the setting sun. We keep moving. Were close.

Muffled groans came from the Tin Guilders, but they hoisted their discarded packs and followed after. The five of them trudged along the darkening path, following game trails barely visible even to their enhanced senses.

Game trails, Magda snorted to herself. As if we're the ones doing the hunting. Even now, she could vaguely sense the prowling of chimera, sniffing them out.

They were deep into the interior of the Foglands, the terrain largely unmapped and unexplored. Not that the land could be trusted, for it appeared to shift and change randomly, moving tree or a hillock from one glance to another. Whatever cataclysm created these lands, it scarred them deeply; magic oozed from everything, confusing even their Skills at times. The chimeras were out en masse as well, and the Tree Serpent was only one of five such encounters they had endured over the past seven hours. Add in the strange commotion to the west earlier that afternoon, when rage boiled up from the earth like a near physical vapor, and all of them were on edge and due a rest.

But we're too close to rest. Magda's mouth thinned as she viewed the narrow ravine before them. It extended perhaps twenty yards before opening back up, and there didn't seem to be a convenient way around it. We have to take a chance.

Before she could step inside, the little shit stepped in front of her.

"That's enough! We've been following you blindly for nearly a week," Atar yelled, red in the face, making his wispy blonde mustache stand out. "You've let us kill one or two beasts between the three of us, keep us moving for hours on end, and what's worse, have yet to help us Reveal our Omens!"

Atar squared his shoulders and clenched his fists at his sides. "Now you expect us to keep moving, through a twisty and obviously trapped ravine as true night begins to fall! I demand to know just what is going on here?!"

Atar huffed and puffed, his skinny shoulders trembling with either rage or fear. Probably both. Magda looked back at Evie and Vessilia, seeing the same questions echoed in their eyes. Harn simply shrugged at her, his helm covering an expression that was surely some variation of "I told you so." Magda put her hands on her hips.

"You're an arrogant pissant, and you only deserve to know what I deem appropriate," she growled and the boy flinched as if struck, his thin arms crossing over his chest. Magda glared at all of them, her dark eyes barely visible through the slit of her half helmet. "From here on out, you are responsible for yourselves. We are encroaching upon a place that is truly dangerous. It is enough to put pressure on both Harn and myself, let alone the three of you. Follow my lead and do. Not. Stray."

She punctuated the last three words with a jab of her thick, gauntleted finger. The last was to Atar, who flinched again.

"Understand?"

Mute nods went all around, and Magda stomped past the small mage and into the ravine.

"Good."

He was back in the ocean.

Opaque green water, sizzling against his skin even as the last vestiges of his clothing dissolved away. Carmine lightning skittered across the skies, thunder following close on its heels. The storm was on top of him, and the waves swallowed him whole.

He fell, sinking faster and faster.

Into the darkness.

Slender shapes encircled him, twisted and slithering through the murk. A flash of scales, of spines, of awful claws and teeth. They spun closer and closer, appendages meant to rend and tear and eat and eat and eat and eat--

Then something brilliant shimmered beside him. The warmth of the light chased away the twisting creatures, sheltered him from the corrosive waters, and stilled the tossing seas. A hand laid on his shoulder, his muscles going soft and weak at its touch.

"You have survived...I am surprised."

Felix felt his body relax entirely, the feeling he mistook for weakness instead being a delightful relief in all of his muscles. But he couldn't quite look up into the blazing light. Who was this?

"This is good. You're strong. I'll need you to be stronger still."

The presence drifted closer to him, a blinding light just beyond his periphery, and he was struck by the impression of lips close to his ear as it spoke again.

"Can you do that, Felix Nevarre?"

Felix sucked in a breath, pulling in tainted water that suddenly wanted to dissolve his body from the inside. He reeled, the light fading, his body thrashing in the darkening depths.

He screamed.

Pit leaped backward with a startled squawk, fur rising and wings spreading wide.

"Pit?" Felix realized he was sitting up, braced precariously between two thick branches. His heart thudded in his chest as he belatedly noticed the danger he was in; they had climbed this tree to sleep. Though it wasn't a magic tree, it was a very tall conifer with remarkably little sap on its bark, and that meant it was the winner. Felix looked at the night darkened forest around him and regarded Pit, who was delicately poised two branches away.

"What's up? What happened?" The skies were clear and filled with dazzling starlight, the majority of the moons having set already, leaving only the smallest two hovering over the horizon. It was early early morning, something like 3AM if he were to use Earth time here. As far as Felix could tell, the days and nights felt a good deal longer than back home, but he wasn't sure.

Pit rustled his feathers a few times, taking a moment to preen his wings with his eyes closed.

"Oh c'mon," Felix pled, rubbing an eye with the back of his hand. "I was having a nightmare. It was...it was not great. I'm sorry for scaring you. What happened?"

Pit chirped happily, regarding Felix with his big golden eyes. Felix couldn't help but smile. Then the tenku turned and gestured with his black-dipped front paw, toward the east. Felix turned.

It took him a minute to see it, but between the shifting branches and thick foliage, he could see fire.

"People," Felix gasped. "Pit! We've gotta check it out." Felix shifted to climb down but a blinking in his vision arrested his attention.

Oh right, my notifications. Guess I was too tired to go through them last night. This night? Earlier. He sighed. I should check them. There could be something useful in there.

Felix settled back against the tree and with a placating gesture to Pit, toggled his notifications.

Stone Shaping is level 16!

...

Stone Shaping is level 23!

Fire Within is level 25!

Fire Within is level 26!

Congratulations! You Have Reached Apprentice Tier In Fire Within!

You Have Gained:

+10 WIL

+5% Control Of Internal Mana

Deep Mind is level 24!

Felix clenched his body as a rush of information and power flooded his system. He reached a steadying hand to a nearby branch, but his sudden spastic grip snapped it in two. As the feeling faded, he regarded his hand with dull eyes.

I'll never get used to that. The burst of stats and Skill levels seemed to be hitting harder recently, and Felix wasn't sure if that was because he kept getting them in big batches or another reason. He had to get that under control. Now that his Strength was so high, he was afraid he'd hurt himself or others someday.

Shaking his head, he focused in on the last few notifications. He'd reached Apprentice Tier in Fire Within, which made sense after he'd used it to escape the mountain; if its past utility was any gauge, having that Skill in Apprentice Tier would be extremely useful. As a reward, he'd gained more Willpower and greater control of internal Mana. While the Willpower was welcome, he could honestly say it was his least needed stat. He almost wished he'd earned Strength or Vitality, but Felix wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially here; horses probably had razor sharp teeth and ate people on the Continent.

However, the percentage of increased control for "internal Mana" was definitely cool. Felix figured the pathways and looping of his Mana he sensed when using Skills was all internal Mana, and that had only brought him benefits so far. Sitting up in a tree, about to climb down and investigate a mysterious fire in a dark forest, Felix honestly felt excited to find out what else he could do.

How strange life had become.

Felix carefully climbed down, fully utilizing his Born Trait to recall the exact handholds it took to climb this tree in the first place. He made it to the ground easily enough, but not faster than Pit, who glided from tree to tree, bouncing here and there until the tenku padded quietly to the earth.

"Show off." Pit rubbed consolingly against his legs.

Quietly, the two of them crept forward into the dark, Stealth and Skulk both activated as they maneuvered through the plentiful shadows. They separated several times due to the terrain, but Felix could always feel the general location of his friend, like an extra limb or something.

Is this because of the Companion Pact? He could sense Pit like a warm bundle of emotion in his chest, comfortable in a way he couldn't quite verbalize. Pit felt like eagerness, joy, a little aggression and a lot of hunger. Whatever this Skill was, however it worked, Felix delighted in it. Pit was one of the few good things he'd encountered on the Continent.

Fifteen minutes of skulking through the darkness, and Felix started to notice stone structures rising from the wild overgrowth all around him. Vine choked walls and ivy covered archways that led into empty grottoes, they were the remnant marks of a place long abandoned. Trees dominated much of the spaces, greenery bursting up from stone pavers and filling the wind-worn cracks in the structures all around him. Felix felt a sinking feeling as he regarded the ruin of a stone causeway, pitted and overrun by tree roots as thick as his thigh.

Exploration is level 17!

This place has been abandoned for decades. How long does it take for a forest to reclaim civilization? Ten years? Twenty? Again, magic threw his guesses off, but this place had not seen much settlement in a long time.

Maybe this is just the poorly maintained outskirts? He tried to remain hopeful as he moved closer to the fire, the light of which was starting to fill much of the causeway. Felix kept to the shadows as he crept closer, keeping his breathing even and his steps light. If he weren't moving so carefully, he was sure he would have missed it: there was a thin coating of ice on the ground.

Kneeling to inspect it, Felix was surprised to find how cold it felt. The evening was chill for late spring, but couldn't be colder than 60 degrees. Why isn't it melting? Waves of cold pulsed from the small bit of ice before him, and looking forward Felix saw the ice had coated a large portion of the road and even crept up the side of a few crumbling walls. Ahead the road opened up into a square of some sort, though it was mostly filled with fifty foot tall trees. The ice extended for some distance into the square, though it did not approach the trees themselves.

What is this? It wasn't natural, that was certain. Felix regarded the ice with his Manasight, and he discovered a whirling pattern of pale purple-white Mana that pulsed steadily outward. It's growing, he realized. What is doing this?

Felix padded into the remains of a building, barely more than two walls and a section of roof, and peered out of empty window casements. His breath caught, only moments from eliciting a loud gasp.

Breath Control is level 17!

Just beyond his ruined shelter, the world was absolutely coated in frost. Ice was several inches thick on the undulating pavers, exploding outward from the center of the half collapsed ruin of two large buildings. At some point the structures had fallen into one another, and now they supported the other's weight like a precarious stone tent. Ice covered the crumbling details of these buildings, cascading across their surfaces horizontally, as if a bomb of wintry weather had detonated here. A few foot long spikes dotted the ruins and ground, all angled away from the center where a cheery bonfire burned as bright as the sun in the dark night.

All of this would have been amazing, were it not for the two hulking figures within the ruin.

Eight feet tall with dark blue skin, they were bald save for scraggly beards of white hair. Overlarge ears stuck out from their heads, and their jaws were heavy and thick. The creatures wore dull iron armor covered in scraps of discolored fur, and Felix spotted a couple large blunt weapons laying on the ice.

Name: Unknown Risi Warrior

Type: Giantfolk

Level: 26

HP: ???/???

SP: ????/????

MP: ??/???

Lore: Giantfolk are known for their great strength, boundless stamina, and poor intelligence. Be wary.

Strength: Strength and Endurance

Weakness: Intelligence, Dexterity

Analyze is level 20!

Felix gulped. The two came up with the same information, both of them were level 26. One of the two stood up and paced, grabbing it's metal club off the ground. Muscles the size of Felix's head flexed as it easily hefted the club onto its shoulder.

"Ak tu shum rata," the Risi said to it's companion. It seemed agitated. The other waved its hand in their direction, still reclining against an ice covered rock.

"Eva ka ratu tel," the seated one said, it's voice languid and sleepy.

Felix eyed their armor, and Analyze didn't let him down:

Name: Crude Iron Armor

Type: Armor

Lore: Crudely made with the simplest of smithing techniques, this armor was meant to be mass produced. It is very heavy and trimmed with ice fiend fur found only in the Hoarfrost.

Big, strong, armed and armored to the teeth. That's a big ol' nope.

Felix decided to creep backward and get out of there fast. These Risi were more trouble than they were worth. Felix almost made it out of the small ruined building when a bright trilling noise sounded from his system. Seeing an icon for an open book in his vision, Felix reluctantly toggled it.

Active Quests

Advance Five Spells To Apprentice Level!

2 of 5 Apprentice Spells

Home Sweet Home!

1 of 5 Threats Eliminated

A Light In The Dark!

2 of 4 Remnants Found

Wait. What? When did these update? The Apprentice quest makes sense, but the rest...

Felix opened up the quest that worried him the most: Home Sweet Home.

Home Sweet Home!

1 of 5 Threats Eliminated

Threats:

Seven Legged Orit

The Archon

The Risi

Unknown

Unknown

Felix stared at his screen for a long moment, then closed his eyes.

"Fuck," he whispered.

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