Unbound

The Revenants were running. Vess' spears caught two of them in their variegated backs, tips piercing their scaled hides. The subsequent explosions of air Mana shredded one completely and brought the other to the ground.

You Have Killed A Manawarped Revanent!

XP Earned!

Spear of Tribulations is level 48!

The other Revenants didn't even bother stopping. They fled in a mad dash, down the steep tunnel left by the Larval Ravager's evaporated body. It was easy enough to send a final spear to finish the downed monster.

You Have Killed A Manawarped Revanent!

XP Earned!

You Have Gained 1 Level!

You are now Level 35!

The energy of the gods rushed through her veins, buoying her spirits for a brief, powerful moment. Then it fled, back to the heavens once again. She came back down, and Vess panted with Mana and Stamina drain.

Three levels in as many hours, and dozens of Skill gains.This is a far harder Domain than Pax'Vrell offers.

Admittedly, that was likely because Pax'Vrell didn't have legions of mutated Manawarped creatures infesting it. The challenge they had presented had her Skills advancing at a rapid pace. Dragoon's Footwork, Pierce the Sky, Dragon's Descent, and even her Elemental Eye had all jumped at least five levels. Spear of Tribulations, her lone Legendary Skill, was nearly Journeyman Tier!

But the reality of her situation was less exciting, and far more grim.

Turning back, Vess saw her friends strung out among the broken courtyard, each picking off stray Revenants as they fled. They were almost all injured, their armor and robes showing more than a little sign of the battles they'd undergone. The Iron Rank Guilders, Lilian and Dabney were both in better condition than the rest, though the young man looked as exhausted as Vess felt. Alister and Atar, along with Evie and herself had put up much of the offense in this last push, not to mention the rush to reach Felix.

Felix...

The man was still hovering nearly fifty feet above the ground, suspending by...something? Her Elemental Eye couldn't pierce the veil of swirling black smoke that, for some reason, had yet to dissipate. Instead it crackled with red and blue lightning, discharges of intense power.

Ever since Pit had disappeared a few minutes ago, it was as if Felix had become frozen up there in the sky. Vess had been concerned when the chimera had vanished, but reminded herself that it was a feature of their shared Skill. Now they had to figure out how to help him.

"Just jump up there," Harn said gesturing to Felix. "Whatever's happening doesn't look good. I can't Analyze him fer some reason, but it don't take a scholar to know he's hurtin'."

"Jump up there? And what, get electrocuted?" Evie scoffed, though her eyes flicked guiltily toward Felix's arched form, his face (what little they could see) frozen in a grimace of pain. "We don't know what's happening to him!"

"Whatever it is, we gotta keep movin'. We don't got a lotta time." Harn tapped his belt, where his wardstone sat. Vess had checked it only moments ago. They had a little over three glasses until its protection faded. And then...

"What does that mean?" Lilian demanded, her voice shrill. Harn grunted noncommittally but otherwise ignored her. "Excuse me! I asked a question!"

"Lilian, stop," Atar warned waspishly. The man's curled blond locks were askew and horribly frizzly. If he had possessed a mirror, Vess imagined his mood would be a great deal more sour.

"Stuff it up your robes, Atar!" Lilian stomped forward, her sleight five-span form barely reaching Harn's chest as she thrust her finger in his face. "You need to explain! I wake up after helping Yvette keep us alive to find you killing her and the Captain! I'll not have you plotting to kill us too!"

"You think if we wanted you dead, we wouldn't have done that already?" Evie said, the blood on her face making her grin positively ghoulish. "You think you could face me, let along the Onslaught?"

"Enough!"

Atar pushed the both of them apart, though for her part Evie clearly let it happen. Vess knew she could have refused to move for the fire mage; he did not have the brawn to face her physically.

"We're not gonna bicker! We can't! Not if we want to survive this place," Atar scratched at his forearms, where Vess could see the skin had reddened and flaked. Like a sunburn or rash. She quickly spotted a similar burn on all of the Guilders.

Evidence of the Domain's corrupting influence? Vess had felt the burning sensation in the air, but it was nothing more than that. Her wardstone protected her from the worst of it, but the Guilders had nothing of the sort.

Avet's teeth. Vess rarely cursed, but she felt it appropriate. We have to get them out of here.

"Fine! No bickering!" Lilian threw up her hands, her robes flaring as she spun in a frustrated half-turn. "Just answer me truthfully, Onslaught: did you kill the Inquisitors that were outside the Domain?"

"Lilian!" Atar hissed, but stopped when Alister touched his shoulder.

"Let her ask. We need to know," the young nobleman said. "Answer, if you please, Ser Kastos."

Out of the corner of her eye, Vess saw Evie grip her spiked chain. Purple-white Mana crawled along her forearms as she primed a Skill. Her own conjured spear floated along side her. If they attacked, they'd be ready.

Please do not attack, she silently pled. Believe Harn's words.Do not make us--

"Yes," Harn said, surprising them all. "Yes we killed them."

Siva's grace, Harn. Vess' Elemental Eye picked out surges of Mana gathering within the Guilders' auras. They were just as ready for this fight.

"And you were sent in here ta sweep up intruders, right?" Harn continued, and Alister gave the man a sharp look. That surprised him.

Slowly, Alister nodded. "Elder Teine's orders."

"Did Teine tell you this was in here?" Harn gestured to the smoking Revenant corpses all around them. "Did he prep you at all for it?"

The Iron Ranks didn't answer, but it was clear. The Elder had done neither.

"We're here because this Domain's goin' ta shit," Harn said, sheathing his two axes at his waist. "The shell is gonna burst soon, and we gotta stop it."

Atar's eye's fairly bulged from his skull at that. "What? The shell--? If that bursts then--!"

"Exactly," Evie said with an uncharacteristically serious nod. She put her hand on the fire mage's shoulder. "When we passed through it was at thirty-five percent."

"That's...that's horrifically low," the nobleman muttered, hand leaving his rapier and drifting to his chin. "How? Why?"

"We can explain in a bit. First I want to make sure our friend is well," Vess interrupted, focusing them all. She pointed at Dabney. "You. Can you make me a stair case?"

Dabney looked to Lilian, who gave him the slightest of nods. He grunted in agreement.

"Good. Then--"

A sudden screaming pierced the air. Vess spun toward Felix and saw him arch his back as a cascade of furious red lightning burst from his chest. It hurled off into the distance, howling all the while.

"Pathless forfend," Dabney gasped. "What was that?"

Ripping the black threads felt like ripping apart his soul.

A deep, apocalyptic ache tore through him, deeper than flesh and bone. Felix and Pit's screams were synchronized, their bond ensuring they shared in the agony. Pieces of the threads slipped back into Felix's chest, but the rest snapped like a strained bungee cord.

And the Maw went with it.

Crimson Mana gathered around his core before it blasted outward, off into the interminable dark. Carried upon its wave of power was the Maw as it truly was: a skeletal beast more bone and sinew than substance, a dozen blue-green eyes bubbling along its wedge-shaped head as it bellowed out its defiance.

YOU CANNOT! I AM ETERNAL!

Its dire, triangular head snapped forward in an attempt to latch back onto Felix, but before it could reach him, a wave of black-gold melody discharged from the center of his chest. Words couched in birdsong flowed behind it.

You are nothing, Pit trilled.

The shimmering song, as liquid-light as the System's own power, crashed into the Maw's teeth and shattered them. Broken, the Maw was cast out.

Felix was free.

+2 RES

+4 INE

+6 AFI

New Titles!

Fatebreaker (Legendary)!

You have banished the remnant Mind of a Primordial, freeing yourself from a dire fate! +10% All Stats, +10% Journeyman Tier Bonus

The Shape of Fate II (Epic)!

You have formed a second Skill by the power of your Will and Intent! +10% INE, WIL, INT

A tsunami of colorless Mana crashed into him, hitting his core fire over and over, sending waves of gold and blue power rippling throughout his overtaxed Body, Mind, and Spirit. Overwhelmed by the pain and an uncomfortable amount of pleasure, Felix couldn't breathe. He could barely think. All the while, his Etheric Concordance hummed in his chest, a pleasant vibration that somewhat countered the severed link with the Maw.

Etheric Concordance is level 39!

...

Etheric Concordance is level 42!

Yet dissonance returned.

A resonant crack very nearly split his core space, and yellow lines of light, like veins, traced through the darkness. Pain. Terrible, awful pain. Felix could sense his physical body was seizing. His thoughts stuttered as agony became his entire world.

Body Formation Compromised!

Essence of Inevitability (Poison Resistance) Has Been Lost!

New Essence Required Immediately!

It felt as if a piece of him had been cut away; his muscles were weak, and even his blood turn thick and slow. Even without the notification, it was clear his Body was no longer working as it had been. In fact he felt worse than normal, and as the veins of yellow light filled his core space, it only grew more pronounced.

The Song of Absolution is level 32!

...

The Song of Absolution is level 35!

The pain dimmed, countered by a faint melody that trilled around the edges of his core space. His new Skill, shining like a spotlight, revolved into view and dulled the edge of his suffering.

Terror took its place as he fully realized what he had done. In his haste, Felix had combined Poison Resistance with his other Resistances. He'd formed his Body with Poison Resistance, using the Inevitable Essence, one of three distinct Features of the poison that was killing him.

And now that pillar of his Body was gone.

The Song of Absolution is level 36!

The pain returned, fiercer than before, barely dimming as his Skill flared in response. His mind raced; Felix had precious few Skills close to Tiering, and The Song of Absolution was, somehow, already level 31 and had passed through Apprentice Tier retroactively.

Thinking was hard, but Felix brought up his Skill list. Felix wrestled with the remaining monster essence. The essence of its progenitor was strong in the Ravager, though not nearly at Maw levels, which should mean he'd be safe. Felix bucked at the thought of using it, but his only other option was to risk whatever might happen when his Body Formation completely failed.

That wasn't a real option.

Applying his monstrous Will, Felix took hold of the essence and fed it, bit by bit, to his core fire. It fought back against him, still imbued with the Maw's fractious will, but he held it tight.

He seized Unfettered Volition, the pattern of the Skill hovering closer to his core fire. It was the perfect Skill to use for his Body; the problem was that it was only level 22. Luckily, the answer was staring him right in the face.

Monster essence. Memories. And his own Keen Mind.

Bracing himself, Felix dove deeper. Delving within his perfect recall to find a true challenge for his Skill. He flitted through flashes of his previous encounters, from combating the Skinks within the forest to fighting Grimmar in the Maw's prison. The former netted him nothing, as he was too far advanced for them to prove much of a challenge, but Grimmar was another story.

The corrupted Risi Chieftain loomed enormously in his Mind, and the fight itself had been brutal. Felix relived the memory over and over, each time pushing himself to avoid Grimmar's most vicious attacks. Again. And Again.

Unfettered Volition is level 23!

Unfettered Volition is level 24!

He burned through the essence as fast as he could to fuel this strange technique, but Felix felt his Mind and Spirit stretching beyond his limits. A headache burned through him like lava, yet still he pushed. He pushed until Grimmar provided no more challenge than the Skinks. To advance beyond level 24, he would need a far greater opponent.

Or worse circumstances.

An idea germinated in Felix's head, one that terrified him far more than the Maw ever had. He had so little mental energy left after fighting the Maw and then his previous memories that he feared he'd have only a single shot at this last level. Did he truly wish to gamble it all? In answer and before he could convince himself otherwise, Felix plunged into his recollections.

Into the Bitter Sea.

Dark, brackish water surrounded him, though the coarse soil of a sandbar was within arms reach. Behind him, he knew, the enemy reached out it's hooked tentacles with intent to grapple and threaten him. He just wouldn't give it a chance.

Felix kicked to the side, his body moving slower in the water than on land, but the presence of Unfettered Volition made all the difference. Just as in the last memory, Felix didn't have the Skill at the time this memory occurred...or any Skills for that matter. But as a training technique that had no bearing. He had the Skill now.

A barbed tentacle flashed into his previous location, a knotted limb that only vaguely reminded him of an octopus from Earth. The dark water revealed little save for a series of brilliant orange eyes. Far too many eyes.

Come and get me, Dread.

Three more tentacles lashed out from the darkness, providing him with no warning. Flaring his Skill, Felix swam for all he was worth.

He dove deeper and opened up the space around him for more maneuverability. Felix had expected swimming and dodging would be difficult, and it was, but Unfettered Volition made it far easier than it should have been. With no delay between his thoughts and action, he managed to be just beyond wherever the Dread struck.

Dodge is level 30!

...

Dodge is level 35!

Damn, not that one!

The notification distracted him for less than a second, but it was enough time for a tentacle to latch onto his right forearm and yank him closer. Like a fish on a line, Felix was towed into the darkness where the orange eyes pivoted and focused on him. Abruptly twisting, Felix let it's appendage shear the flesh from his forearm in order to keep moving.

Closer than ever before, the Dread belched out a cloud of corrosive liquid, far more potent than the ocean itself and hot enough to boil the water around it. Even with his movement Skill, he was unable to dodge fast enough. The cloud enveloped his chest.

The Song of Absolution is level 37!

The Song of Absolution is level 38!

Health dwindling to nearly nothing, Felix took a desperate gamble. He dove straight for the Dread, twisting himself wildly to avoid the creature's deadly barrage. The green deepened into nearly pitch black as he descended, and the monster's orange eyes loomed larger than ever before. From the green-black water, what looked like teeth flashed at him, and Felix kicked his legs to undulate his body up and around the strike. The burning hot sensation of a long, shallow wound opened up on his chest, but he avoided the bulk of the attack.

Unfettered Volition is level 25!

Congratulations!

Without wasting a single moment, Felix let the memory drop. Instantly he was catapulted back into his core space, but his Mind took a moment to catch up.

--Apprentice Tier in Unfettered Volition!

You Gain:

Frantic, Felix grappled with the remainder of the Larval Ravager's essence and hurled it, wholesale, into his core fire.

+10 END

+10 WIL

...

Epic Essence Detected During Formation!

[Essence of the Primal Seed]

Choose a Feature:

Elemental

Prime

Genesis

He chose.

Congratulations!

You have absorbed the Essence of Genesis!

His insides lurched, and his Body began to quake as if it were about to fall apart entirely. The monster essence was gone, he'd done it; so why did he feel like he was about to die?

Felix received two rapid-fire notifications:

Formation in Process!

You Have Fully Digested Your Opponent's Mana!

You Have Received A Memory From A Larval Ravager!

View Memory?

Y/Y

Great.

Reality shattered. Again.

Images flashed before his eyes, much of it degraded.

Verdant fields and desert dunes. Delicious prey and a dark predator. Felix was both the Larval Ravager and was outside of it, a first for him. The Larval Ravager was small, merely the size of a minivan, and it sat undulating on the rocky ground. He could smell water nearby, a lot of it, and by stretching his senses Felix can see a lake around them.

He was on an island. The Larval Ravager was only level twenty, and there were piles of corpses nearby. Two similar creatures dove into them, their relatively small mouths chomping away at beasts the size of grizzly bears.

The view shifted, crackles. Massive flaws cut through Felix's vision, half obscuring what he saw, but he noticed things had changed. The Larval Ravager was bigger, perhaps the size of a school bus now, and it had started digging a hole into the rocky soil. A thick, pulsating tube reached back out of the hole, up onto the center of the island. He knew it was connected to the Larval Ravager, just as he knew that there were three others just like it.

Three other Sub-Cores, each just as strong. Each constantly eating and growing and...and feeding. Felix knew that all of the energy wasn't going to the Sub-Cores alone, but that a significant portion was being siphoned off. Sent down the pulsating root at their base, toward this island.

Toward the Domain-Core. The Ravager King.

The moment that thought occurred to him, Felix's vision splintered again. This time, he floated above massive, undulating mass of pustules and gasping, gnashing mouths. It rose up from a deep crevasse at the very center of the island. It seemed too large to exist. Felix tried to focus on it, but the memory was terribly flawed. He could barely make it out.

However, at the base of the Domain Core stood a small, metal man. He seemed busy etching sigils into the stone around the Ravager King, complex scriptwork that glowed with a sickly yellow and crimson light.

Felix knew, in the way of dreams and invasive memory heists, that the Ravager King was growing strong. Fast. And that whatever that little metal man was doing, it was designed to evolve the creature.

It was building a new Maw.

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