Unbound

Relentless Resolution is level 71!

Felix kept an eye on the landscape behind them for the next six hours, through the darkest parts of the night. It was a fairly boring view, all told. Sand and dunes and dotted with the occasional rocky crags. The skies even remained dark and cloudy, the strange Mana currents of their formation pushing ever outward toward the Stormeaters.

The Legionnaires and Dawnguard had been changed out multiple times, but all of the Frost Giants still plodded along steadily, never much altering their gait as their carried the barrels and crates strapped to their broad backs. For his part, Felix made sure to vary up his speed and stride, leaping atop neighboring dunes and sliding down the sides, moving twice the distance for every step made by one of the others. It wasn't just because he was bored, guilty, and bored of feeling guilty, but those helped. He also wanted to push himself as best he could, and in the Stamina eating sands of the Expanse, he found it was easier than ever to waste that resource.

For the first time in several months, he was panting. If he played his cards right, he figured he might even feel sore the coming day.

However, Felix never forgot his purpose during all that exertion. No birds or lizards of any sort had filled the skies, at least not in miles of their location, and the few monsters they encountered were herd beasts that bolted as soon as their column came close. Pit was up ahead, serving as a sort of vanguard with Vess and Evie, the latter having fallen asleep on the tenku's broad back at some point. He too had noticed very little in the way of life in the Expanse.

That's weird, right? The Prioress had said not to travel in the daylight though...was that just because of the undead? Or because of the lack of monsters?But isn't night time the prime time for animal activity in deserts? I thought I read that somewhere. Felix jumped, kicking off a platform of condensed Mana and into the air over the caravan.

Cloudstep is level 43!

It was not a Skill he used much, but why have the spell if he wasn't going to utilize it? He came down on the far side of the caravan, arresting his fall with nothing but a triple stack of Cloudsteps. The first two layers shattered and cracked respectively beneath his weight, but the last held—barely. Felix hopped neatly off of its swirling blue-white surface and onto the sands.

No matter how far into the earth he pushed his Perception or listened with his Affinity, he felt nothing. No slumbering animals or prowling creatures. It made him nervous.

A member of the Dawnguard loped up the side of his dune, approaching Felix at a steady if beleaguered pace. Everyone was tired. "My Lord! We've found a camp."

A thrill of fear raced up Felix's spine, but he squashed it. "Paladins?"

"Perhaps once. There is little of anything left, and few threats to be seen."

"Threats?"

"Monsters, minor Tier I and II beasts holed up near the waters. None left their dens at our approach, but our Blessings tell us that they will not attack unless threatened themselves," the scout said.

"A handy Blessing to have," Felix murmured.

"The Raven protects and guides us."

"Indeed. Are we headed toward it?" Felix asked.

"Yes, my Lord. Mage V'as is guiding the first wagons into the oasis now."

Oasis, huh. "Alright," he said. "Thanks."

"It is my honor, Lord Autarch," the Henaari said, bowing.

Cloudstep!

A series of self-contained hexagons appeared in mid-air, and Felix raced up them, slapping more down with every stride. The platforms were stronger now that he'd leveled them properly, and wasn't falling at speed. They still flexed beneath his tread, but that was part of the training he supposed, as each footfall cost him a bunch of Mana to maintain its integrity. By the time he reached the front of the caravan, they were already winding into a series of those rocky ridges.

Cloudstep is level 44!

Felix landed just outside a narrow defile, where the wagons could only barely fit through. Their people were cautiously guiding the avum into the opening, but still the sound of wooden wheels scraping against the rock was unpleasant and entirely too loud. He followed along between the wagons, senses spread for any threats the scouts might have missed.

Within the defile there was little but stone and sand, but once the passage opened up and Felix got a glimpse of the oasis, he almost gasped. Life Mana swarmed the area, crowding the air with water and earth and shadow and heat all mingling in a wild, lively chaos. It smelled of growing things, and for the first time since entering the Expanse, Felix spotted shoots of green grasses, ferns, and...and he heard insects. It was practically a forest, and all of it was bounded by cliffs on all sides. The oasis was perhaps a thousand feet in diameter if he were to guess. Plenty of room for their people, even if most of that space was taken up by water. After the dryness of the Expanse, the air felt almost liquid with humidity, feeding off of the lake.

Felix found his friends quickly. Small fires had been kindled, the first in their long, cold march. They cast a surprisingly bright glow out into the fronds and palms.

"...and you have been here before?" Vess was asking. Pit had apparently landed earlier, though Evie was still snoring against his saddlebags. Vess had her spear out and was slowly prodding the shallows of the lake. "You are sure of the water?"

"It is clean," Zara said. She had waded ten steps out into the water and the glow of her magic was around her hands and legs. Felix blinked. The Naiad was standing on top of the water. "Other than an abundance of Mana, the waters are as pure as any other."

"Like I said," Atar griped. "The oases are all repositories of water and life Mana. They are spots of fertility in a barren landscape."

"Does that mean monsters?" Felix asked, stepping forward. He could see Alister and Harn too, now that he'd left the bulk of the wagons behind. "Dawnguard said there were some minor threats around the perimeter, but didn't spot anything else." He pointed out into the lake, where the water was almost black. "What about in there?"

"Perhaps," Zara said. "The waters are willful here. They do not give up their secrets easily, nor would I force them to do so. But monsters are always a threat where there is a source of water and food. This place represents both."

"The oases are the place where the chance of attack is both high and low. Monsters will gather here, but the undead will not, for whatever reason," Atar explained. "So I'd suggest we set out guards."

"A good idea. I'll take the first watch," Felix said.

"Surely you're tired, Felix?" Vess asked, wiping her spear with a cloth. "You have been running harder than all of us."

He waved off her concern. "I'm fine. Everyone should get some rest though."

"You're not takin' first watch alone, ki—Autarch," Harn said in his gravelly voice. He stomped up from beside the nearest wagons, and Felix was suddenly aware of the company spreading out all around them, looking fearfully into the patch of jungle and the dark waters. "If'n you beg my rudeness, your Lordship."

"Harn—" Felix began, but the warrior lifted a hand, palm out to cut him off.

"I'll be havin' some teams do watches as well. These louts can use the Perception training, eh?" He said the last loud enough to carry to everyone. Felix heard some grumbling and tired groaning, but no one objected. Harn nodded to himself. "That's that. Reed! Help me make the selections."

Darius split from the bulk of folk, head and shoulders taller than most. "Aye. Form up!"

Felix watched, bemused, as Legionnaires, Dawnguard, and giants alike shuffled about as if electrified. He read bottoming out Stamina on almost all of them, even the Risi, but they fell in line with one another without complaint. Felix did notice, however, that they always seemed to group themselves by affiliation. Dawnguards separate from the Frost Giants, often with the four societies of the Legion clustered together between them. Yet even they were segregated among society lines.

As Darius and Harn picked out those with decent stores of Stamina left, Felix watched the lot of them. They were all so different—of course they were. But that difference was causing issues. They leaned on their smaller groups, but none of them leaned on the whole company. They followed orders, but Felix could sense the threads of tension between each and every one of them. Contempt, derision, disgust, envy, even plain rivalry spiked across their Spirits. Felix wondered at recognizing them at all, but each flavor of emotion felt drawn from his own memory, intimately familiar even if his own experience with some of them were relatively minor.

How do I fix that? Felix watched the first watch step away, breaking into smaller groups and marching out to the edges of their camp. The others were dismissed to eat and rest. Even the watch groups are cliques.

"Harn, I think we should send teams out to explore the oasis," Felix said. "Maybe mix up the squads a bit?"

"Hm? Ain't a bad idea, but I'd save that for daylight. Even if day is more dangerous, I'd rather not have em face death in the dark." He paused. "Potential death, anyway."

"Alright. That makes sense," Felix said.

"C'mon, kid. Let's get some grub and some shut-eye."

Felix let Harn guide him back to the fires, where the less than enticing smell of salted travel rations were waiting.

As dawn rose in the Expanse, Felix walked the jungle.

After eating enough food to put the Risi to shame, Felix had refused the offer of a bedroll and had joined the first watch. Partially that was because he wasn't really tired—a little muscle fatigue notwithstanding—and partially it was because he didn't really trust that the oasis was safe. It was too dark and too strange for him to feel comfortable at all.

As a tertiary bonus, he figured it would also let him get to know his people a bit more. Figure out what made them tick, what separated them and drove them into their conflicting groups. He had even approached several of the watch pairs, intent on engaging them in conversation, but not a single one would say more than three words to him. Fear, awe, nervous stress, all of them contributed to their silence, and nothing Felix said was able to break that ice. Not even with the Frost Giants.

So, having exhausted that avenue, Felix had begun exploring the jungle himself. It was mostly woody plants and heavy, oversized fronds with a healthy dose of stringy, hanging moss. Vines curled off branches, looping from one tree to another, something that Felix mistook for giant snakes more times than he could count. No matter that his Perception saw them as plant fiber and his Voracious Eye catalogued just about everything he glanced at; the lizard-brain reaction to a snack on your face was probably the same from Beginner all the way to Paragon Tier.

Not to say that there weren't snakes. There were, but they hid higher in the branches of the trees, not interested in Felix or his face. There were also beetles, birds, and a plethora of rodent like creatures called Lesser Ratlings. They were all Tier II creatures, except the bugs, which were Tier I prey for just about everything despite their basketball size. The birds weren't nearly so large, but he caught surprisingly strong flashes of wind Mana surge in their tiny, flitting bodies. Twice he saw a Jeweled Thresher absolutely devastate one of the beetles with nothing more than its flapping wings.

Brutal.

Other wildlife was not so violent, but as the sun rose the activity in the oasis burst to a humming crescendo. Throaty calls, trilling shrieks, and the endless rustle and splash of things moving all around him. It was pretty cool, actually.

Eventually, Felix made his way to the edge of the basin, where the cliffs rose higher than the trees and seemed to reflect the oasis' life-giving moisture back on itself. Felix eyed the sky, able to see it without a canopy for the first time in a bit, and saw that the clouds that had plagued their journey had all but vanished. In its place was a white sky, barely touched with blue, and the warm, buttery yellow of a rising sun. The shadows of the oasis were long and deep, but growing lighter by the minute, and Felix took the moment to enjoy the heat as it pushed back the chill of night.

Felix sighed, loosening his sword and leaning back against the foot of the cliff. The edges of the oasis were raised just slightly, forming something like a bowl, and he could see a little ways into the center from this position. "Karys?"

"Yes, my Lord?" the green-gold light buzzed up from his blade.

"Relax. It's just us right now."

"As you wish. How might I be of service, Felix?" Karys said, his voice thick with...it wasn't sarcasm. Sort of the opposite, really, but somehow just as tongue in cheek? Felix shook his head.

"It's been a bit since my last check in. How is the Stronghold?" he asked.

"It is fine. The Risi and Henaari got into a minor tiff over a hunting accident, but other than a little bruised pride, no one had been hurt. The Legion has been...an irritant, but nothing I cannot handle."

Felix frowned. "An irritant how?"

"They have been consistently poking their noses where it is neither wanted nor needed, claiming a need to patrol 'the Fiend's holdings.' Thankfully, the wards on the Temple and Crafting Halls keeps their curiosity out. It was wise of you to restrict access to those areas, my—Felix," Karys said.

"That was more Vess' idea than mine," Felix protested.

"A wise ruler both listens to and puts into action the advice of trusted experts," Karys said, almost sounding like he was quoting a passage. "Vessilia Dayne is a valuable ally, but always remember that it is you who are Autarch. The credit—and the blame—will always be on you."

Felix shifted uncomfortably. "What else is the Legion doing? You said they were patrolling?"

"Yes. The Farwalker has them patrolling the Stronghold same as the rest, going on hunts, getting stronger and increasing our stores little by little."

"They're not over hunting in any one area are they?" Felix asked. The Henaari had been adamant about that practice, as it depleted natural resources too fast for the Continent to reproduce them. Coming from Earth and the general shitshow of its own misused resources, Felix had latched onto the concept pretty quickly. "We need those plants and beasts to keep up with our production."

"Do not worry. The Dawnwalkers have sent at least a few of their members with every patrol, whether they are Legion or giant." Karys grunted, a metallic sort of sound from his Body transmitted through a sword. "No one is happy about that, but the Farwalker could not be swayed, even by his own Synod. I, however, believe it necessary. At this point, the Dawnwalkers know the area far better than anyone else."

"Make sure they keep it up. I'm running into similar issues here." Felix chewed on his lip, Voracious Eye scanning through the jungle. "Fractured factions. If we're all living together, then we're all gonna work together...nicely. They don't have to like each other, but make it clear I expect them to respect one another."

"It will be done."

"How's the healing stock coming?" Felix asked. "We had a good amount before, but I think we've found some buyers for the future. They've access to some interesting herbs out in the Ghreldan Hills. Called the Menders of the Blessed Fen."

"Healers? That is good news. Perhaps they may be swayed to join your Territory, like the Nagafolk."

Felix wasn't sure about that, but they were good allies anyway. From what he'd learned of the Continent, healers and surgeons weren't all that common. Karys confirmed that he'd heard the same from his various inquiries. The Paragon turned Archonic Construct was at best out of touch with the state of the world, and had apparently been interrogating people like A'zek and Wyvora for everyday information.

"How is the Mirk Enclosure doing? Still going strong?" Felix was most nervous about that one, even though they had figured out a temporary solution. The array that protected his Territory required him to feed it a ridiculous amount of Mana every twelve hours, an amount that no one in his Stronghold could produce so reliably. At some point in the future, he was told his Stronghold would generate vast amounts of ambient Mana, but that wasn't the case currently.

"I've had no issues donating the Spirit Fruit to the array," Karys said. That had been the temporary fix, though it was an expensive one. The rarefied Spirit Fruit would be rendered down to base Mana—which happened to be a lot—and fed into the Control Node once per day. "It has even afforded us a little surplus of energy, just in case the other arrays need to be used."

"That's...good, at least." Felix tried to suppress a grimace. The loss of one Spirit Fruit a day was a blow, as each one was several Essence Draughts he now couldn't use on his friends and allies. The Atlantes Anima may have been absolutely massive, but it wasn't infinite. It felt painful to waste it.

"Hopefully we can resolve this soon. We're already in the desert, and Atar has us a few days out from Ahkestria." A bubble of excitement rose in his chest, and Felix realized he was happy to be traveling to new places, even if it was dangerous and expensive.

"Ahkestria was one of the ancient cities, though it must have changed vastly since I last laid eyes upon it," Karys said.

"You didn't mention that before," Felix said.

"It did not feel pertinent to your preparations. At the time, it was a city nestled upon an island in the center of an inland sea. Clearly much has changed."

"Yeah, you could say that." A whole sea? It had been thousands of years since Karys' had fallen in stasis, but how did an entire sea dry up? Felix had an idea, and he didn't like it. "Did...have you heard of a Primordial in that inland sea?"

"A Primordial? Not that I—has something happened?"

"Yeah. I found—"

There was a scream, high and terrified.

"What was that?" Karys asked.

A dozen more voices joined the first, panic filling their throats. Felix scanned the jungle, pushing his Perception and Affinity to the limits. Ten thousand threads sprang into existence around him, some brighter than others, and some—There!

The earth jolted, and Felix fell to a knee it was so violent. Rocks tumbled down from the cliffs above, but he shattered them as they landed near him. The jungle swayed, and what little he could see of the water was sloshing up into turbulent waves.

His people were being attacked on the far side of camp.

Adamant Discord!

Felix shot into the sky.

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