Unbound

The onset of full dark took the Foglands well before they glimpsed the waterfall, but they had been hearing it for miles. Felix crept through the thick underbrush, senses extended. The waterfall was loud, certainly, but he could hear other things over that sound, within it, things that put his back up.

He heard screams.

They weren't Human screams, or Elven, or Dwarven, but they were full of terror. It quivered on the air, more vivid than the scream itself. As Felix stole up a small ridge, he saw why.

Below, the river had been almost diverted into a complicated series of dank, stone-lined pits. Within was a slurry of run-off river water, rotting plants, and the pulped pieces of monsters. Felix fought back his gorge at the sight and smell of it—even with his Willpower, it was a close thing. Thin walkways had been erected over each pit, and half-starved creatures were being hauled onto them by tall, ice covered Reforged. The creatures were a mix of monsters Felix had remembered seeing in the Foglands, and each of them fought tooth and nail against the Reforged. As he watched, a large bear-like beast bellowed before it was clubbed over the head and tossed over the side. It splashed into the thickened goop, sinking like a boulder.

What the hell are they doing?

Pit merely growled in disgust and frustrated anger. Frustrated because he could fly down there and rip the Reforged apart. More monsters were thrown into the vile muck.

The pits are interconnected, Felix. Look, where the nearest one joins its neighbor? Sigaldry. Karys paused, as if uncertain. Not any sigaldry I have ever encountered.

Profane Sigaldry, Felix said by way of explanation.The Archon's own special blend of bad magic. What's the purpose of this, you think?

I...am uncertain. It is being funneled somewhere, clearly, based on the tiered designs of the...reservoirs.

Felix could see that. And as he scanned the Profane Sigaldry he was able to pick up a bit more of the symbols, but they were all tertiary markings, pieces of the whole. They made little sense without the uniting glyph.

Beyond the vile reservoirs, he could see the curve of the lake the river emptied into. It was heavy with willow-like trees, thick roots, and even thicker undergrowth. Due in part to the strange reservoirs, the banks of the lake were flooding over, spreading water several feet deep as far as a hundred yards from the old shoreline. More Reforged stomped through those muddy waters, either carrying beasts to the pits or hunting more. The waterfall pounded in the distance, barely visible through the trees.

Felix signed to Vess. She was the nearest in their little relay system. She signed an affirmative back at him and they both disappeared.

It took far less time to cover the same ground, but backwards, padding silently through ferns and roots to find the rest of his team. Atar and Alister were marking things out on the ground again, going over their part of the plan, and both of them started when Felix cleared his throat.

"Blind gods, Felix you scared me," Alister said. He slammed home his rapier, which he had half drawn out of its sheath at the noise. "What did you see?"

"Wait for the rest," he said.

The Haarguard had settled in some miles back after Harn and Vess had outlined their plans, intent on securing their get away if—when, he amended—things went wrong. Inside five minutes Vess, Evie, and Harn filed into the clearing, followed closely by Wyvora, A'zek and Kylar. The swordsman looked frustrated, but Felix didn't have the time to ask why. "What did everyone see?"

"Pits. Many of them, all marked up with those yellow-red sigils that hurt to look at," Evie said. Both she and Harn had gone a bit deeper than Felix had, relying on their Stealth Skills, but it sounded much the same. "Nasty things."

"They're disruptin' the river all along this bank, only I don't know why," Harn added. "Monster parts and plants and river water. What's it all for?"

"If it were less chaotic, I would think they were engaged in alchemy," A'zek rumbled. His dark eyes glittered in the moonlight. "As it stand, it looks simply as if they are denuding the area in preparation for something else."

"Something else? What would require such preparations?" Wyvora asked. "We went further afield, halfway to the mountains, and they had cleared large swaths of the forest. Only stumps remained."

"They're clear cutting the forest?" Felix asked. "Are they building something?"

"So it seems," A'zek said. "We saw evidence of the trunks being shorn and dragged off to the south-west."

"To the waterfall," Vess said.

Felix drummed his fingers on the bole of a fallen tree. "We must get closer. Atar? Is your working ready?"

"We've gone over the script a score of times, but almost. Almost." Atar gave him a considering glance. "Might move faster if you take a look."

"I'll do that. Harn, take A'zek and scout the waterfall. I'd know more of what we're walking into." The warrior nodded and jerked his head at the big chimera. They both slid off into the darkness. "Evie and Vess, find a path around these reservoirs."

Evie gave him a mocking salute and a grin before she too slipped off into the moon shadows. Vess gave him a smile too, though it was threaded with pain. Both of them ignored it though, and she followed Evie into the dark. Felix sighed.

"What about me, sir?"

Kylar stood to the side, conspicuous now that everyone else had a task. The swordsman still had that frustrated aura about him, as if he wanted to charge something and get some use out of the two longswords at his waist. It wasn't that he was useless, but Kylar's primary function was offense, and he wasn't particularly good at any sort of stealth. Felix wracked his brain for something to keep him occupied.

"Kylar, I need you to guard us," Felix said. He gestured to where Atar and Alister were still going over sigils and drawings on the ground. "We'll be absorbed in this for a bit. We—I—will need your protection during that time. Can you do that?"

The swordsman puffed up his chest, pride and a puppy dog's eagerness rising in his Spirit. "Of course. You needn't worry. My blades will stop any beast from disturbing you or the others, sir."

Felix nodded, happy to have that work. Then he turned to the collection of rubbings and sigaldry his team had been working on.

It was another hour before everyone returned to their hideaway, but by then the kinks in Atar's array had been ironed out.

Mostly, he amended. There were a few places that it could get...tricky, but Felix trusted the two mages to work it out in the casting.

Your friends are quite clever, given their disadvantages, Karys said.

"Disadvantages?" Felix asked.

Nothing a proper education in the fundamentals of sigaldry wouldn't correct. But then, this part of the Continent is more desolate than what I recall. I imagine institutes of higher learning are harder to come by in this Age.

"Certainly seems so," Felix agreed. "Regardless, our plan is solid. We only have to not screw it up."

Karys laughed and Felix couldn't help a gallows smile. Something always went wrong. This time, at least, he was prepared for it. The last thing he wanted was to get his friends hurt, or killed.

As it was, all of them were battered in some way, even himself. There were parts of him that wanted to lay down and sleep for a month, for all that his Stamina and Health were at full. Vess was still bandaged, and the most visibly hurt out of all of them. They had run low on Health Potions during their headlong flight through the mountains. More than anything, Felix wanted to ask her to stay behind, to stay safe. But he meant what he'd said to the Haarguard: they all had to decide for themselves whether to take on this fight. Vess had made her choice, and he wouldn't be the one to gainsay it.

Evie punched him lightly on the shoulder, a lop-sided grin on her face. "What's that for?" he asked.

"You're doin' good."

"With what?"

"She expected you to tell her she can't come, you know?"

Felix looked to Vess, who was talking softly with Atar and Alister. She was intent. "I couldn't do that. I just finished telling the others it was their choice to come or hang back."

"You wanted to though," Evie pointed out.

Felix rolled his eyes. "Of course I did."

Evie grinned.

"What?"

"Nothin'. Look sharp, Harn's got an eye out for you." She was right, Harn was plodding his way to them, but the chain-fighter slipped away before Felix could stop her.

"Felix. Are we set?" Harn asked. His Spirit was flat to Felix's senses, and the man seemed calm as a cucumber.

"Yeah. Get everyone set," Felix said with a nod. "It's show time."

Harn led them along a path that skirted east, deeper into the forest. Felix thought he would recognized the area, but while some of the trees were familiar, the land had been warped and reshaped by the Archon's forces. Hillocks of dirt and stone contrasted with trees knocked down by the errant strike of something far larger, ice on the trunk evidence of a Reforged's weapon. It was decidedly unnerving, like seeing an old, familiar playground overturned by construction equipment.

Not that I'd call what we did out here 'fun,' Felix sent to Pit, still nestled in his Spirit. Sense memories of a small tenku attacking smaller lizards and insects twitched through their bond. That's true. It's your home more than mine. How's it feel, coming back?

Sad. I miss her.

Felix new who he meant even without the image that came along with Pit's thoughts, of a much larger tenku nuzzling her small pup. His mother. Felix sent warmth and comfort along their bond, wishing he could do more. Pit just went a bit more silent, as if thinking.

All Felix could do was leave him to it.

It was largely silent, save for the thunder of the distant river, though Felix sensed a number of beasts and monsters in their dens. None were higher leveled than 20 or 23, and all of them were scared. Felix thought they were scared of the Reforged and their strange reservoirs, but they soon realized it was the intense Spiritual pressure in the air.

Archon, Felix almost snarled. It felt the same as when the Shelled Aurochs stampeded or when the horde of avian monsters had fled the Foglands. He's here.

The others could feel it too, and Kylar had broken out into a heavy sweat. Felix was beginning to regret allowing him to come when the word came.

Around a twist of land smaller than a ridge but bigger than a hillock, Felix saw the waterfall. Or what was left of it. The land around the cliff and lake had been dug up and stripped bare, with more of those large, stone-lined reservoirs along the shore. The cliff itself was blasted apart and cut into, so much so that the waterfall itself was diverted off to the side, pounding into what was once dry land. An elaborate and oversized wooden scaffold was secured to its side, climbing the open cliff in wide steps not meant for Human tread. What was worse, the cavern that laid beyond the waterfall was exposed, ripped open along with everything else until Felix could clearly see the entrance to the Temple itself, even in the dark of night.

But are the protections still there? he wondered. Have they accessed the Temple?

He flared his Manasight and fought back a hiss of pain. The entire place reeked of the Archon's power and Profane Sigaldry, his magic just as twisted as his script. It smelled of metal and violence, tasted like isolation and servitude. It burned at him, until he cut off the Skill. He had seen enough.

He pulled back, behind the shadow of the rise.

"They've torn it apart. The Temple is wide open and its defenses are gone. I think—I think the Archon has cracked it open," Felix explained.

"Twin's teeth," Alister swore as he peered over the rise. "They've denuded the whole area, even worse than down river. And it's crawling with those monkeys and bugs, and...I count twenty Reforged. Atar, can you make out what that sigaldry is doing?"

"With time, maybe. Profane Sigaldry burns to read, and its unrelentingly twisted." Atar spat to the side. "It tastes like destruction and madness."

"It tastes...?" Kylar muttered to himself. Felix doubted anyone else heard him.

"So, what? We lost?" Evie said with a scowl. "That's not fair. We just got here."

"Is the Quest still active?" Harn asked.

Felix toggled it open.

The Door Of The Lidless Eye!

Seek out the Temple you once took refuge within, Ascendant. Dire secrets dwell within, waiting the Inheritor. It is your duty to prevent the darkness from escaping into the light. Do not tarry, for the Archon is close, and the darkness closer.

"It is. Hasn't changed," he said.

"Then we're in the clear. Either the big metal idiot just got in there, or he hasn't been able to figure out the door thing." Harn rolled his shoulders, unsheathing his axes with the same easy motion. "Either way, it means the plan ain't changed, yeah?"

After a moment, Felix nodded. The plan would still be good. I just hope it works.

A'zek growled, a low rumble. "We'll make them pay for damaging such a place. Such history." Wyvora gripped her spear in mute agreement.

"Are we ready?" he asked.

"Aye."

"Yes."

"Mhm."

"Y-yes."

To battle, Felix. To battle!

A chirrup from his Spirit and they were all in agreement. As one, they split up into separate teams, each one moving forward with determination. Felix ducked low, moving ahead of the rest; he and Pit were moving solo again, and not only because he bore the key to the Door of the Lidless Eye.

He had a feeling, a strong one, that the Archon would ignore his friends. He checked Inheritor's Will in its scabbard, unsheathing the blade for several inches before letting it slide back.

No turning back now.

"They're moving," Tyrk said. "Toward the open cliff face."

"Then we follow," Ifre replied.

"Into that?" Isyk said, his nerves obvious. "Those monsters will kill us as soon as look at us."

"We go to secure the Temple, as we've been charged," Ifre said, her voice iron. "Or did you think this journey would be without risk?"

"N-no, Captain, I just—"

"You are afraid," she stated. Isyk jerked back as if struck. "And that is acceptable. Let fear Temper you, strengthen you, but remember you are beyond it. Above it."

The man's tightened his grip on his spear, until his knuckled whitened. He nodded, once, with purpose.

"Very good. Now," Isyk said as she padded through the forest, spear at the ready. "Now we go, as the Raven wills."

"As the Raven wills," they both said in low tones.

The darkness rose up and enveloped them all, until only moonshadow and bobbing ferns could be seen. And then those stilled, too.

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