Unbound

As he unsteadily walked the surprising length of the hallway, Felix gave a glance at the pillar now stretching beneath his dual cores. "This is a strange thing. I don't feel all that stronger."

You need only wait. The power from this one weaving will—it will surprise you, I am thinking.

"As long as it shows up soon. We've more than a few monsters to kill," Felix said with a displeased grunt. "Still. Weaving done. What's the next stage? Tapestry, right?"

Karys all but wagged his non-existent finger at him. You have the First Weaving of the First Pillar done. There are eight more to go. Though I warn you, it is harder with each successive attempt.

"Eight?" Felix blanched. One had been hard enough, but each one would be worse? "Great."

If you manage to weave nine Pillars of the same quality as your first? You might find the Tapestry Stage far lighter work. Your newest Skill, Cardinal Flame should help with that. I would suggest you focus on leveling it to the next Tier.

"I'll get right on that," he said wryly. "But I can't say it's not a cool Skill." Not only did it help with internal Mana control, such as weaving his First Pillar, but it helped with external manipulation. What's more, the flame in the title wasn't just for show. The Skill hummed, and the song it sang almost contained words, words that told him a bit of how it worked.

He summoned fire to his hands. It crackled, blue-white with red gold flecks throughout it. Pit cooed in tired appreciation. Felix let the flames fade. It wasn't the only Skill he'd gained, though Rain of Cataclysm had been learned because...because of the way he'd used a high leveled Wrack and Ruin in the last scenario. He knew it because he saw himself use it. He was tempted to try it out again, but not there.

Felix would be seeing monsters before long, after all.

Still tingling and jittery from his near destruction, there a curious numbness within him as he beheld the Chamber's...oddities. The room was three times the size of the last, and the white-marbled blue stone had been replaced with a red and gold decor, with accents of black and crimson all around. Hexagonal columns were gone, and instead there were massive statues of monstrous creatures, dozens of feet tall and no more than four feet in diameter. At first glance they appeared to be serpents or eels, but on closer inspection he saw manes of hair around their heads and stag-like antlers surmounting faces that were decidedly more dog-like than reptilian.

"Dragons?" he asked. Pit cooed in interest.

Indeed. They—have you not seen them before?

Felix shook his head. The closest he had come to were the carvings on Vess' partisan, which, now that he thought about it, did resemble these creatures a bit. "A Primordial called the Ravager King had a draconic look about him, but it wasn't like this at all."

That is a Primordial, that's why. They...follow their own rules. These, if I'm not mistaken, are Dusk Dragons found in—in the lands...It's gone. I had it but the memory is gone. I know them for Dusk Dragons, but that is all. Karys took a breath he didn't need. I am sorry.

"Karys, no. Don't be sorry. This isn't your fault and isn't under your control," Felix said. He was shaky and off-balance, but Felix tried to steady his legs long enough to stare down at his sword. "No more apologizing."

Ah...very well, Felix.

The draconic pillars were holding up the ceiling, which was carved with ever more wondrous creatures. All four types of chimera cavorted among winding, stylized greenery, all carved of golden stone and set with rubies for their eyes. In the center was an opulent chandelier made of some sort of glowing crystal, it branched out like an inverted tree, each limb glowing with a soft, warm radiance. Around the room, those dark tapestries were picked out in gold thread, each depicting various mountains and forests and oceans, all of them touched by a draconic figure and various (much smaller) humanoid shapes. What it all meant, he had no clue, but he was amused to find that there were no urns or vases anywhere.

"If this place is built for me specifically, does that mean the System still has a hand in things?" Felix asked.

It must. The Grand Harmony formed the System before the First Age. Before everything, Karys said.

"Why dragons, then? I've had nothing to do with them," Felix said as he stepped further into the chamber. Between the soaring dragon-pillars were deep alcoves holding bronze statues. Each one was of a being with weaponry and scaled armor, though the Race varied. He saw Elves, Humans, Hobgoblins, even a Gnome, all with weapons raised up at the sky while dragons writhed among their feet. "Oh. Oh. These are Dragoons."

Dragoons? I have never heard of them.

"They hunt dragons, or fight them, or something," Felix said and fought down a blush. He had a feeling he knew why the room was dragon themed now. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, it's not important. Let's check out the doors."

Pit let out a teasing whistle before nudging Felix in the side. He grunted and smirked at the tenku. "Shut up."

The three doors before him were huge compared to the last two sets. More like palace gates than normal doors, they were made of metal and worked into fantastical designs, but just as the last, these also had locks. The first door was worked from a bright silvery material; Mithril according to his Voracious Eye, and it was worked with swirling dragons, all of them maned and antlered. The second door was made of orichalcum, red-gold and stamped with a rampaging tyrant, bigger than mountains and possessing twenty arms. The third door was made of a familiar bronze. Crescian Bronze, to be precise, and it only contained a single figure. Humanoid and hovering amid a shattered terrain, it had two eyes inset with gemstones. Sapphires.

"Is this...me?" Felix asked. He ran his fingers over the carving, but pulled it back with a startled oath. The door was burning hot to the touch. "What is this?"

The air crackled, filled with a sudden static that made Felix and Pit both flinch. A voice like ten thousand screaming trumpets surged into their Minds.

One Last Choice, Felix Nevarre.

Each Time, You Have Chosen The Hardest Path.

Each Time, You Have Seen That Which May Have Changed.

The Past, Had You Not Been Atop The Yacht.

The Present, Had You Not Found The Maw.

Now, For the Final Choice, You Must See That Which Could Change.

Which May Yet.

Choose.

The voice, if it could be called that, quietened. Felix looked at the chamber and the doors, but nothing had changed.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

The...System. It spoke to you. Karys quivered in his sheath. I've never heard of such a thing...I-I think. Perhaps it is because you are Unbound? Perhaps.

"It said the other doors..." Felix worked some moisture into his mouth; it had gone dry for some reason. "...the other doors were things that could have been. Which makes sense. Gabby getting yanked instead of me, and then...wait, did monsters attack Earth after I left?"

I wouldn't know, Felix.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Felix shouted into the vaulted ceiling, flaring his Affinity for all it was worth. Hunting whatever had just spoken. He felt...something, a soft sensation just beyond his periphery and tried to latch onto it...but it was like grabbing smoke. "System! Harmony! Whatever you are! Did Earth get attacked?"

There was a moment of surprise—not from him, his sword, or his Companion—before they were all hit with an avalanche of sound.

No.

You.

Chose.

The sheer volume of it threw Felix and Pit to the ground. Stone shattered, and cracks ran up the dragon columns beside them. It faded, slowly, but the ringing in his had persisted for long minutes after.

Feli...was not...wise....

Felix got to his knees, working his jaw as if it'd fix his ears or suddenly burdened Affinity. Pit just rolled on the ground, still dizzy.

Felix. Are you alright?

"Yeah, I'm good. Pit?"

Pit shook his head and let out a pulse of shaky agreement. I will be.

Felix grunted and took to his feet, though it was even harder than just a few minutes prior. "What the hell was that?"

A miracle. The System answered you.

"It sounded pissed off," he muttered.

As well it should, Karys sniffed. I understand your fears, Felix. But that was unwise.

"People don't really accuse me of being wise very often, Karys." Felix felt something pop inside his head, like a bubble disappearing, and his full hearing returned in a rush. "Oh that's better," he sighed. His Affinity still felt burnt, though that didn't stop him from reaching out again. Yet the soft presence he had felt was gone, as if it had never been. "It said I chose, and so Earth didn't get attacked by that...cloud thing. But if I had chosen not to go to that party, then it would have? Why?"

It sounds as if you are needed here. From what I have seen, the monsters that would have attacked Earth, or the unleashing of the Maw, none of it has happened because you have been there.

Fate, Pit sent.

"Choice. Fate. Seems contradictory to me," Felix said.

Things have truly changed with the Ages, Karys said in dismay. Choice is the way of the Grand Harmony. All choice is sacred, and to take away that choice is to do a great evil. What you call Fate or Destiny is but the accumulation of Choices. Not even the Prophets of old could truly determine the future, only the twisting, branching pathways that may or may not lead to it. This is a point of change, Felix. The System has told you so. Here, you get a glimpse into what may be and perhaps have a chance at changing it.

Felix regarded the doors, of his four options. Open the mithril, the orichalcum, the bronze, or do as he'd done before. Open them all. "The hardest path. That's what the System called it. That I'd chosen the hardest path each time...yet if I hadn't I wouldn't have gotten all three Omens."

Risk and reward, Pit sent.

"Tell me about it," Felix muttered. "Well, I'm not stopping now. All three, again. If this thing is gonna warn me about something, I'd rather to have all the facts I can. Now." He clapped his hands together. "Let's find the keys."

Smashing giant dragoon statues was, as it turns out, really hard. He started with the Gnome statue, but for all his Strength, he couldn't even dent it. Yet he felt a curious heat beneath his hands, and though his Manasight refused to tell him anything about these rooms, he swore it was pulsing with magic. The heat was coiling, just beneath the surface. Around a key, maybe?

What was it the Archon said? 'Crescian Bronze will not calmly go to forge, Nymean. It must be convinced. That willfullness does not degrade after it's worked, whether that is a weapon or not.' The words rolled back to him, perfect, as if the Archon were whispering them into his ear. Felix shuddered. "Ugh, downside of perfect recall."

He placed his hands against the statue and willed it to help. He was met, almost immediately, with a flat refusal. Felix blinked in surprise. He tried again, this time forming the image of his Inheritor's Will, of earning it. Still, the statue refused him, but it was less firm. Felix tried again, repeating himself, but the rigidity has reappeared. He almost growled in annoyance.

Stone Shaping!

His Mana poured from his sore channels, dusty brown now flecked with sparking silver as Felix altered the pattern of it. He'd affected metal this way before, and it was far easier to do now. Cardinal Flame burned in his core, aiding the process. Yet the Crescian Bronze was utterly unaffected.

Felix definitely did growl, this time. What does it take to get you to answer me? I didn't know I'd have to debate someone into helping me here. Where's Vess when I need her?

A connection snagged in his strained Affinity, strong but brief, between Felix and the statue. "What caused that? Mentioning debate? Vess?" Again the connection, stronger this time. "What does she have to do with—right. You're a Dragoon. I know a Dragoon, or an apprentice Dragoon, I think. She is waiting for me, she might be hurt—" Felix caught the thought and banished it. "She is fine, but I have to get out of here. Now. Please. Statue...thing. Help me out?"

The connection he felt spread outward, lines of it snaring the other statues. It rang like a bell in his ears, and from the Gnome before him emerged a foot long key made of ornate mithril. Felix took it, and heard Pit exclaim a few alcoves over.

"Thank you," Felix said to the statue. He wasn't sure why, but it felt right. "I'll make good use of this."

When he stepped out into the main area, Pit was carrying a red-gold key in his mouth, and a bronze one was just a few steps away, floating in mid-air. Felix snagged them all and, as carefully as before, placed them in their respective doors.

Shadow Whip!

Three tendrils, grasping keys and doors. Felix took a breath, to steady himself. Plans swirled in his head, ideas for what he could do to survive what dwelled outside the Path, back in the Mana pool. He thought about choices, about the little statue he found, and about the other item he'd tucked into his waistband along with the Omen Key.

Omens. You could only have one. He had an idea, but he'd have to get through the last bit of the Path first. He just hoped he was right

"Are we ready?" he asked, and received confirmation from both his friends. "One last turn."

Turning the keys were even harder than before, requiring every bit of his Strength and Dexterity to managed them at the same time. Yet he did it.

Ravenous Tithe!

Smoke and light exploded in all directions, before streaming into him.

The Final Door Is Open.

ERROR

Multiple Doors Open.

Reconfiguring Paths.

Stand By.

The world flexed, and all things turned to dust.

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