Unbound

Up close, the forest of the Verdant Pass spoke well of its name. It was lush and green, filled with ferns and fronds and all manner of plants. The trees themselves were huge, thick and tall and crowded close together. Felix could see green-gold life Mana coursing through their trunks, descending deep into the ground. Into the underbrush, the grasses and moss. Only the stones of the roadway, farther and farther away, only they were quiet. Dull.

Strange.

His senses could also pick out various small creatures, insects and rodents mostly, all well below level ten. It was a divergence from the Foglands, where the lowest level creature he'd ever encountered had been level thirteen, and the average was closer to twenty.

Does that mean anything? In games there were areas of maps that were higher leveled than others, but that was because it was all designed by people to be that way. According to everything he'd been told, the Continent and the System existed together organically. So why were some places more dangerous than others?

Mana, he abruptly realized. More Mana, higher levels, stronger monsters. Mana was just a different expression of the System's own energy, a byproduct of the Harmonies that created and maintained the universe. At least according to Zara.There's a lot of Mana here...but was there more in the Foglands?

Felix shook himself. None of that mattered. Not at that moment. Their group had drifted toward the back of the procession, letting the guards and Vess' carriage move on further ahead. Once they hit the rear, Felix concentrated.

Abyssal Skein!

Some of his friends had Stealth as a Skill, but not all of them, and there was little to be done for the giant bird mounts they rode. Instead, Felix activated one of his least used Skills, one he'd earned in the Void.

"What is—" Alister started, but Felix shushed him.

The Void crawled out of his core, so very unlike the burning song of his Mana. A feeling of nothing swept between him and the world around him, neither cold or hot, light or dark. Despite his Willpower and Alacrity—the Harmonic Stat for mental feats of strength—the Skill fought against him.

Abyssal Skein is level 37!

Felix buckled down, until he felt his Skein wind its way around Pit, following the course of their bond. In a fit of inspiration, he extending it along the threads of connection between himself and his friends. The oaths they had sworn him.

Abyssal Skein is level 38!

Abyssal Skein is level 39!

Power surged, the song of the Void a hungry quiescence that swallowed them all whole. Atar gasped. Ahead, a Haarguard looked back in alarm, but his eyes slid over where they stood. He turned and kept moving forward.

Felix felt his Abyssal Skein slithering over his friends and even their mounts, blending them into the environment. The Void stealth Skill wasn't active camouflage or a light distortion, though he'd thought it was at one point; instead he realized the Void was acting as a thin barrier that faded them from the Corporeal Realm entirely.

Abyssal Skein is level 40!

Abyssal Skein is level 41!

Abyssal Skein is level 42!

Abyssal Skein is level 43!

And there's the confirmation that I'm on the right path, Felix smiled to himself. He gestured to his friends.

he said in handsign. His perfect recall and increased Intelligence helped a lot in shoring up his communication skills, even if he wasn't completely sure how to say everything in the Continent's version of sign language.

The four of them headed north as Zara led the rest deeper east. At first it was simply putting distance between their two groups, but then he spotted the bright form of Keru flitting through the leaves. The kingfisher wove through the branches above, stopping every few feet to stare at them pointedly. Felix got the message, and followed.

Before long, they reached a craggy cliff face where several others were waiting in the arboreal shadows.

"Harn!" Evie said, disrupting the Abyssal Skein and causing the entire Skill to unravel. The Void slipped back into his core with a slimy lurch, and they were revealed.

Harn was unfazed, but the others with him were less stoic.

"Gah! Where'd they come from?"

"Blighted Night! That's the Fiend!"

"Hush, you idiot! We know!"

The five others were each wearing the dark uniform of the Haarguard. They lingered, unknown for a half second before his Keen Mind provided the answer. They were the guards he'd met at the training center, the one's who had failed to defeat the Steel Golems. The lot of them goggled Felix and crew, each atop their own mount, fully kitted out and packed with supplies.

"Harn?" Felix said, question in the name.

The warrior shrugged a single shoulder. "I told Cal I'd be going with you, and she insisted on sending...reinforcements to help with your Quest."

"Fodder," Evie snorted.

"I figured you'd stick with Zara," Felix said, ignoring Evie's outburst. He hopped down off Pit's back. "I'm glad to have you, man."

"Just don't go falling into any death mazes again, eh?" Harn grunted. "I've sworn off death mazes."

"Blue Eyed Fiend," the leader of the Haarguard group bowed. He was a Human named Kylar, sandy brown hair and thin mustache offset by a lingering black eye. "It is an absolute honor."

"Oh no no," Felix grabbed the man by the shoulders and straightened him. "None of that. I already have to deal with it from these guys. Call me Felix."

Atar and Evie smiled at each other. How nice, coming together to mock me. Glad I'm a unifying force.

Surprisingly, anger flashed across Kylar's face and Spirit but was quickly suppressed. "Very...very well. Felix. We were sent with you to assist on your mission, whatever that may be."

"Sure. Glad to have the help," Felix lied. He'd rather have his core group alone, but he'd been outranked, apparently. "You're all fully recovered from your training bout this morning?"

Kylar stiffened slightly, and the shield warrior Vyne rubbed surreptitiously at his shoulder. "We are in perfect fighting form, sir."

"Right," Felix turned to Harn. The man stood in front of the craggy cliff face, inspecting it. "What's the plan here?"

"Plan? Easy," Harn grunted. "We skirt the city and use the mines." He waved something in his hand, a cast metal object that fairly shone with Mana. "Cal gave me a ward key. Gonna get us into the mines and out again just shy of the Wall Quarter. Easy as kickin' a chimera. No offense."

Pit raised his hackled at Harn before turning his nose away in clear offense.

"This is the mine here? It's hidden?" Felix asked, and Harn nodded.

"No mine here though. Just a hole in the ground the mines linked up to accidentally. Wards keep the riffraff out and the city secure, especially now that Cal's got em back online." Harn waved that object in his hand and the impression of rock faded, revealing a wide open hole, perhaps twenty feet tall and fifteen feet wide. Felix's eyes picked out a path leading further in, his Manasight tracing the darkness easily enough.

Atar looked into the dark, eyeing it with some trepidation. "We'll all fit? Mounts and everything?"

"Eh," Harn shrugged. "It'll be fine. Or it won't. No use worryin' about it."

"You instill me with the greatest of confidence," Atar deadpanned and Harn clapped him on the back, nearly sending the mage sprawling.

"Glad to help, Sparky."

"Alright, then let's get going," Felix said. "Everyone, off the mounts, we move quickly."

The Haarguard were already dismounted and they simply moved closer to the cave entrance, while his friends clambered down. Packs were loaded onto avum, and Pit gave Felix an excited headbutt in his shoulder. It was time to begin.

"Leaving? Without me?"

Felix looked up, confused and surprised. A figure emerged from the forest shadows atop a pale avum wearing enameled armor and holding a blue-white spear. A dimple creased her cheek as their eyes met.

"Vess! How—?" Evie exclaimed, moments before a voice like thunder shook the trees around them. Literally shook them.

"FIEND!"

"We should flee," Vess said and her smile turned a tad brittle. "Now."

The cavern was completely dark and the ground rough and uneven. Neither feature stopped them, as most of them had Night Eye, a Mana Skill that allowed them to see in the dark. Aside from Vess and Felix, all of their eyes burned a bright, chemical green in the black. Vess utilized her Elemental Eye, which made her irises swirl with a combination of Mana colors.

For Felix, his Manasight served a similar purpose. With it, he could see the strings of Mana that composed everything in the world. Rocks were collections of earth Mana, threaded with various metal Mana types, and even the air and shadows swirled with their own magic. It was everywhere, but it wasn't uniform. For one, even strands of the same Mana type varied in their coloration. Potency and concentration of Mana meant the colors were richer, more saturated. For earth Mana, that meant where the rocks touched they were a deeper brown, and where the stones were exposed it faded to a dustier hue. Even the air was a mixture, white-green swirls interspersed with fainter blue motes and—at least in here—undercut by thick wafts of grey-black shadow.

Despite the chaos of color and movement, Felix had grown used to his Manasight. It let him look at the world as a series of contours and lights, reminding him every time that he was in a world of magic.

"So you gave him the slip?" Evie asked Vess. Her voice was low, but it couldn't help but carry in the caverns.

"Is now really the best time for this conversation?" Atar said, pointing all around them. "What if the Hand hears you and comes after?"

"Caverns are warded against sight and sound, Atar," Harn said from the front. "No one outside the caves are gonna hear you."

"Oh, well—"

"It's the monsters inside here that you should worry about," Harn continued.

"Something up ahead!" hissed one of the Haarguard. Kikri, he thought. The Elf.

"Name, Type, amount and level," Harn demanded.

"Water Beetles, Insect Type," she reported. "At least twelve of them. All level thirty plus."

Felix could see them, small bits of water, life, blood, and earth Mana congealed into the form of chihuahua-sized beetles. Horns jutted from their face and their bodies were covered in a dense exoskeleton. They skittered forward along the ground, quickly closing the distance.

"Stone's own, those are strong bugs," Nevia hissed. Purple-white Mana swirled atop her staff as she turned in the direction Kikri faced.

"Atar, Alister," Felix said. "Take care of them."

The two mages nodded and stepped forward, the latter unsheathing the thin silver rapier at his waist.

"Just two? That's a lot of enemies for—" Kylar started, but was interrupted by two brilliant bursts of fire and force. Felix watched as the Water Beetles were annihilated by Imbued Sparkbolts and kinetic lances. It was over in seconds.

"You conjured those quickly," Alister said in approval. "No Crown?"

"This many Sparkbolts is simple now, even without the Crown of Ignis," Atar said, tilting his nose into the air. "I noticed your blade work has improved as well."

"Kind of you to say, though I think I only got six of them."

"Five," Atar corrected, his face shifting to a grin. "I took care of the rest."

"Tch."

The Haarguard were clearly impressed, but they didn't waste time. The team kept moving forward, stepping nimbly through the charred and smeared remains of the Water Beetles.

"Are there many monsters in here?" Felix asked Harn.

The man shrugged. "Some, same as any place. The ward on the front doesn't stop things from coming in, so who knows. But we won't have to worry about em for long."

The further they walked, the colder it became. While above it was the height of summer, now it felt like a clammy cellar, cold and wet. It also became darker. Felix saw that the Mana was being leached from the grounds, not in huge amounts, but enough to dim the threads of vapor that thrummed through everything.

"Mana is thin here. I assume we're close?" Atar said. The others were all panting hard, though it hadn't been a tough trek. "It's like the air's too thin to breathe."

Harn grunted and pulled out the crest. It was like a flashlight in the dim surroundings, small enough to fit in his palm and stamped with some shape. Felix saw a flash from a point a ways down the path.

Wards.

"We're close. Come," Harn said and led the way.

Soon enough they came to a clear demarcation in the cavern. The rough floor gave way to smoother stone, and a few cross-braces were visible in the gloom. As the ward key in his hand passed near it, the invisible barrier became a riot of colors, like an oil spill. Reaching into his pouch, Harn pulled free a piece of jerky and held it up. When everyone was watching him, he threw it into the ward, where it was burnt up in a vivid rainbow display.

"Don't touch it," he warned. Then he tossed a loose rock at the ward, and it passed through without effect. "Keyed to living creatures, or once living. Keeps the monsters contained." Full helm and all, it was impossible to tell if Harn was smiling, at least for the others. Felix—and likely Vess and Evie—felt his Spirit spark with amusement as he looked at their faces. "I got the key, so c'mon."

Another wave of his hand and the rainbow shimmer parted like a curtain. Felix sent the Haarguard first, followed quickly by the mages and Evie. Vess lingered a tad as she passed him.

Pit cooed at her and nuzzled against Vess' shoulder. She smiled and scratched his jawline, which made him coo all the more.

"I am sorry for the deception, Felix," she said. In his Manasight, her eyes swirled with color, but they still clearly pinched at the edges as she gave him a nervous smile. "It was necessary. Darius is a...dedicated servant. He would have discovered—"

"Listen, it's okay," Felix said, smiling himself. "I'm uh, I'm just glad you're here."

The Heiress of Pax'Vrell, daughter of the Duke vanished for a moment. In her place, Vess smiled deeper, her cheek dimpling. "I'm glad I'm here too."

"Alright, enough jabberin'. Can't keep the wards down all day," Harn complained. The four of them—Pit and avum included—moved through the curtain of light, followed swiftly by Harn. "Let's keep movin'. And no talkin'. Can't have you wakin' up all the monsters down here."

"Wait, there's more?" Kylar said with surprise. "I thought we were inside the city mines?"

"Yeah. Didn't I mention it?"

"Monsters are everywhere, we can deal," Felix said, moving to the front again. "Harn is it a straight path back to the surface?"

"Eh, more or less. Can be confusin' at times." Harn shrugged.

"Sure. You take point with me then. Evie and Vess, cover our flanks. Pit, Atar, Alister take up the rear. Keep the mounts in the middle and the Haarguard can cover any other angles from there." Felix pointed at each of them in turn before spinning back around. "Eyes open, ears sharp."

Despite it all, however, as he walked to the front Felix had a big, dumb grin on his face.

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