Unbound

Climbing the mountain was a struggle. Felix hadn't expected that, but it was. Even his powerful Body had trouble, though that was in part because he'd strained it again and again in the last battle. His Mind and Spirit were in disarray, still reeling from the revelations set before him.

The Archon is Unbound.

The words were vivid, his Keen Mind holding them exactly as they were said, down to Vvim's thickened inflection. They haunted him, turning his thoughts down unfamiliar paths and avenues he'd rather not explore. Who had summoned the Archon, originally? Who had summoned Felix? Would he ever know?

Would he end up trapped in a Domain for three thousand years?

Felix. Help them.

The Nym glanced to his left, startled by Pit's intrusion. Below and behind him, at least fifty feet down the cliff, were the rest of his team. All of them were red-faced and grim-eyed, and some bore wounds far worse than Felix's own.

They need your help, Pit said from within his Spirit. Help them.

Cursing himself for being a fool, Felix sent a whisper of power into the stones and they...resisted. Though he detected no strong metals or oddness in it, the rock simply refused to move. No. You will listen. He sounded his Skill with his Affinity and Stone Shaping shone in his core space, reverberating with the echo of its power. He molded his Intent, hardened it, used his Willpower to sharpen its edge until it gleamed. You will move.

Stone Shaping is level 64!

Stone Shaping is level 66!

With a lurch in his gut, the cliff changed. It transformed from treacherous incline to a set of simple stairs, blocky but even and solid. There was no gelling or liquid-like interim, simply instantaneous alteration. Below, his friends reacted with surprise and delight, though heavily muted by an exhaustion that dogged them.

Felix stared at his hands, then again at the stairs below. He had put more Mana and Intent into that spell than any before...he hadn't even used the System to activate it. That was great, exciting even, but for one thing. He looked over at Harn, just topping the new staircase. Fear almost clenched shut his throat. "Would the Archon have heard that?"

"There's wards on this range. Stronger than I've seen so far from the Interior," Harn grunted. "If he had the power to hear anythin' over the noise of them, we'd be in far worse trouble." The warrior stepped up to Felix and gripped him by the shoulder. "Thanks for the stairs. I'm surprised you got your magic to work on this stone."

"No problem," Felix muttered. There was plenty of climbing left to do, all of it as awful as their current approach. There was a reason a pass existed through the range, as they were all finding out firsthand. Pit had been coiled within his Spirit for a while now, though Felix didn't recall it happening. He had been in a fog since their escape from Shelim, and his typically prodigious memory was hazy with their frantic flight. "Any sign of pursuit?"

"Not that I've spotted," Harn said. The sky was lightening with dawn's fast approach. "But the wards are messin' with my senses. I can't be sure there ain't somethin' out there."

Felix nodded wearily. His Stamina was more than half, and his other pools were full, but the straining had left him worn thin. Even his store of Essence sat strangely inert within his core space. His eyes drifted down, to where Evie and Vess labored. "I'll open the way further up. We need to rest."

The next hour was an exercise in discomfort as Felix Stone Shaped a way up the mountain. He would have simply stone shaped a cave for them to rest and hide within, but the rock would only accept so many changes. Even the stairs began to fail as they climbed higher and resistance mounted. Each step up was like a weight placed on his shoulders, and he wasn't the only one to feel that way. Wyvora, Atar, and Alister all struggled, while the Haarguard could barely keep their feet and Harn swore almost constantly under his breath. Vess was still unconscious, as she had been since they reached the mountain, and Evie had her slung over her shoulder like a sack of grain. Only A'zek was moving normally, but half his attention was on the Farhunter and trying to keep her from falling down the cliff-face.

Eventually they came to a horizontal stretch of the peak, a rock shelf well worn by the elements, but enough to rest. At least for a moment. The spot was high up on the mountain, one of a dozen in a range the pushed up into the clouds. Felix hadn't ever climbed it previously, instead risking it through a cave system below. That had, of course, resulted in his capture and desperate escape from the Archon's clutches originally, which was one of the reasons they knew not to take that path again.

"Beautiful," Kikri whispered, looking out over the sprawling valley where Shelim was located. It was thick forests, a heavy morning mist, and the grey-white shapes of ruins in the distance. "This far away, and I can almost forget we almost died down there."

"I can't," Nevia said. Her arms were literally trembling, a combination of Mana depletion and sheer exhaustion, no doubt. "Those monsters are one thing. The Arcids however..." She shuddered.

"Damn near killed us," Davum agreed. He stood nowhere near the edge, and instead had his back against the mountain as if he could glue himself there. Sweat beaded atop his dark green skin. "Now the mountain takes its turn."

"Don't be dramatic," Kylar said. His face was pale though, and he didn't venture any closer to the edge either. "It's simple stone. Steep, sure, but that's all."

"I'm not certain of that," Atar said. Felix had watched him and Alister running their hands over the coarse granite of the cliff, whispering to one another. Now they both walked toward the group, both of them looking concerned.

"What is it?" Felix asked.

"The wards...there is something more than some arrays cast onto this mountain range. It's power is not like any I've seen," Atar said. He raised a hand to forestall Harn's open mouth. "I've seen the wards of the Interior. My old master would show me records of them, and they weren't half as complex as these, nor as sturdy."

"We can find no holes in its design, no place to exert our Wills and perhaps bypass them." Alister huffed a breath as he sat down. "They're as solid as the mountain itself."

"You saying we can't climb over this peak?" Evie asked quietly. Beside her Vess stirred but did not wake. "Can't Felix just fly up over it anyway?"

"Not unless he can bypass the wards," Atar said. "And not even Felix is strong enough to do that, especially not if they keep getting stronger than this. No offense."

"None taken," Felix said. "I'm more worried about our speed. The Archon could be after us even now, and we've barely made it a third of the way past the foothills."

"Well, we could always try the pass," Kylar suggested.

"Don't be a fool," A'zek growled and the swordsman jumped. Strange as it seemed, it was easy to forget the Great Dane sized chimera was there at times. He prowled out onto the ledge, spearing everyone with his dark eyes. "The pass through this range is death. We all saw it."

Indeed they had. Among the last few, hazy hours, Felix recalled climbing within sight of the pass. He focused, and the memory sharpened, of an immense structure built of metal and stone. Walls pulsing with yellow-red sigils and towers sharpened like spears. The sigladry—Profane Sigaldry, the Archon's own dire invention—it had pulsed with a malevolence that none of them dared test. There was no way through the pass, the Archon had planned too far in advance.

The only way was up and over.

"We will make it through," Vess said in a strained voice.

"Vess, you should rest," Evie said.

"I have rested long enough," she said with annoyance. A conjured spear formed from the air, slapping into her palm as she used it to sit up. "All of us have. The Archon is coming."

"We're as hidden by this damn mountain as a leaf in a forest," Harn said. "He ain't findin' us."

"I do not care to find out what exactly the Archon's limits are," Vess said.

"Vess is right," Felix said. He let his eyes roam upward, along the sheer cliff face. It bowed outward above them, and climbing it would have been impossible for him back on Earth. Now, pressured by whatever was going on with the range, Felix was not confident they'd all be able to scale it. "We've got rope. If I can scout ahead and secure some lines, then we can make it."

The others nodded, though he half-suspected some of it was simply a chance for them to rest longer. Felix couldn't begrudge them that, they had fought a hard battle before he'd finished with Vvim. Fighting Tier II and even a few Tier III was getting easier for Felix, but all of them lagged behind him in power.

You can't coddle them forever, Felix.

Zara's words surfaced in his thoughts once again, and his breath caught in his chest. Felix turned and started climbing, putting it out of his Mind. Time enough to think when they were beyond the mountain.

Wyvora watched the Fiend climb up the cliff as if it were a simple ladder. While she was more than adept at climbing up sheer rock, the suppression she was under made her insides quail at the thought of free climbing in such a way. Not for the first time, she wondered at Felix's stats and Temper.

He is wearing thin, A'zek sent.

Perhaps, she replied. A quirk of her apprenticeship to the Farwalker was a closer connection to his Companion, tied to Title and Skill. From what I have learned of this man, he has surprised everyone time and again with his strength.

So I have gathered as well. Yet he has not yet revealed what he learned in the Tower, only that his contact died. What was so important that a Geist under siege would send a message through enemy lines? A'zek rested his great head on his lightly patterned paws. All for a conversation. And now he returns to us and we run into the mountains. Toward this Temple.

Do you not trust him? Wyvora quirked any eyebrow at the harnoq. The Farwalker does.

It's not that. I am simply worried. A'zek lifted his head and stared out into the gathering light. Things are changing, Wyvora. Shifting into something new. Or perhaps something very old. Either way, I fear what may come with the dawn.

The Farhunter had little to say to that, so she rested a hand gently atop A'zek's pelt. They rested, while they could.

For once, Felix's plan was working out. Using Stone Shaping and his Intent and Willpower, he was able to create loops of thick stone to anchor the ropes and dangle them back down the side of the mountain. They only had approximately two hundred feet of rope, but it was enough to get started.

So it went, traversing from one section to another, the others resting a bit while Felix and Pit climbed ahead. The higher they went, the harder it was for him to affect the stone at all, with Stone Shaping or otherwise. By the time the sun was high in the sky, they had moved beyond the halfway point and onto a sunny meadow that spanned miles.

Grateful for the respite, Felix plopped to his rear the moment the rest of his team was atop the cliff. Tall trees surrounded them, thicker than most but not nearly the behemoths they had seen in the forests below. Wild grasses, thistle, and a smattering of white and yellow wildflowers filled the meadow. These were as tall as the grasslands near the edge of the Foglands, but Felix's senses detected no Kaltraps lying in wait. Or any beasts, for that matter. Certainly, there were small creatures and insects, much as anywhere, but none of them possessed the sort of aggression they would need to worry about. It was peaceful.

"Down!" Harn hissed.

Without questioning, all of them dropped to the earth. Felix landed on his belly in the long grass, enough that it extended well above his head. He scanned the skies, unsure what Harn was so worried about, but then he heard it. A buzzing of wings. The creature zipped up the cliff side and into the air, wobbling with a frenetic need to keep moving. It was more metal than flesh with four buzzing wings, and Felix knew it. Or rather, he knew what it had once been.

Voracious Eye...

Name: Core-Slaved Skink

Type: Lizard/Construct

Level: 62

...

Felix let the information wash over him. Other than the changed name it gave him nothing new. The Razorwing Skinks had once been a bane of his, so he was familiar with how they fought. He focused his attention on the Skink as it jerked about in the sky, searching for them. His Affinity surged, catching hints of something, and Felix bore down on that sensation. Then he felt it: a solid thread of yellow-red light, wrapped about the Skink's metallic chest and leading back down the mountain. He didn't touch it with anything other than his eyes, but Felix knew what—or who—lay at the end of that thread.

Carefully, without using the System, he sounded the strains of his Abyssal Skein. Will-honed Intent grabbed hold of the dark vibrations within him, pulling it like taffy through his channels. It felt awful, were he being honest, but it worked. Slowly his Skein spread outward, beyond his channels and along the thin loam of the meadow. One by one, his friends were cloaked in it, until Felix was certain they were all of them covered. Then he simply held on.

The Skink did three more circuits of the meadow before it flew onward, the whisper of dissatisfaction evident in its Spirit. Or the Spirit of whoever was controlling it.

They did not rise up for another fifteen minutes, and when they did Felix kept his Abyssal Skein active. It was a stroke of luck they hadn't been found yet, but he wasn't willing to tempt fate by standing in the bright sunlight. At least with his Skein running, they stood a good chance of avoiding notice while they kept moving.

Yet Felix soon learned he couldn't keep that Skill going all day. It wasn't the Mana cost, but the extreme amount of discomfort he felt the longer he used it. Upset stomach, dizziness, it almost felt like he had a tiny fever. Still, he pressed on.

Felix this seems dangerous, Karys said. The touch of the Void is ominous.

Just a little longer, he said to the sword. To Pit too, who was whining somewhere in his Spirit. I can do it a little longer.

They climbed. Quickly, if not as carefully as before. Skinks returned, flitting about as if they knew his team was around, if not where. He held onto the Skill, tooth and nail, and forced himself ever higher. The pressure of the mountain increased with every inch, and his friends were failing against its pressure. The Haarguard especially, as their Apprentice Tier Bodies were in no condition to resist the wards that inundated the stone.

As the day pushed into afternoon, Felix and Harn were reduced to dragging the others behind them. Below, a barely recovered Vess and stubborn Evie were pushing the Haarguard up a craggy incline, while the two mages held tight to their own robes. Atar and Alister both looked peaked, pale from the pressure and flushed from the incredible exertion.

More Skink flew up. It seemed they were scouring the entire mountain now. How did they find him? Or...or were their so many Core-Slaved Skinks that the Archon could blanket an entire mountain range? The temptation to tear them all from the sky was extreme. He could do it too...he felt their connections to the earth, to the wind and sky, even to the blazing sun. He could fight.

And the Archon would know exactly where they were.

He turned from the sky, from the temptation of violence. He focused. Within his core space it felt like the Void was leaking into him. Pooling in the swirling darkness between the stars of his Skills. Or had it been there all along? Since his time in the Void? Did it matter?

He focused. He pulled his team along, inch by inch.

He climbed.

Time passed. The sun dimmed, and shadows grew long and cool atop the stone. They didn't stop, couldn't stop. Concentrating was harder, the nausea greater, yet strangely holding the Skill active grew easier and easier. Like a muscle that was slowly cramping. A muscle that faded the world around him, in a way he knew that the others didn't experience. It covered them, but it didn't invert the colors of their sight, or set their cores to boil.

Release it, Felix!

No! He'd hold until they were safe. Until—

Something inside him spasmed, the dark contracting inside his core space. It was a pain he'd never felt before, and distantly he felt a...presence. It brushed up against his Mind, huge as the mountain itself, and Felix forgot about the pain completely.

Release it!

Abyssal Skein dropped, and Felix felt the attention of two hundred Core-Slaved Skinks pivot on him immediately.

"Felix! What're you doin'?" Harn growled. "They've seen us! They'll return to their master!"

His vision cleared, returning the skies to their gorgeous sunset tones, and Felix heaved two quick breaths. Already, the Skinks were dropping, diving not toward him but back down the mountain. Back to the Archon.

"No. They won't."

Adamant Discord.

Those connections he sensed before shifted, twirled about in Felix's hands as lightning played between his fingers. Nebulous at first, they hardened to steel and all of them, every single one, was seized. His Body, Mind, and Spirit screamed with the strain of so many. Felix sharpened his Intent, honed it with a Will more powerful than all of the Skinks combined. He slammed his fists down, into the stone of the mountain.

The cliff shattered beneath him, and then detonated as if struck by hundreds of falling meteors.

You Have Killed A Core-Slaved Skink (x210)!

XP Earned!

Adamant Discord is level 62!

Adamant Discord is level 63!

Adamant Discord is level 64!

Adamant Discord is level 65!

You Have Gained A Level!

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