Unbound

“...and do not break her heart.”

“Stupid perfect recall,” Felix muttered, jogging up a staircase three steps at a time. As if he wasn’t nervous about his dinner date already, now he had Darius’ intimidating face seared into his memories. “And what changed his mind so much?”

Much as he appreciated the man’s aptitude and training, they didn’t really see eye to eye on…well, anything. The guy had become nicer back when they’d gone into Ahkestria, but other than training up his Legionnaires, Felix hadn’t had many words with the Hand. Now…this.

As if he wasn’t nervous about dinner with Vess already.

Felix was still scratching his head over it when he reached the gold and silver junction of his Seat and Seal. The room was dark as ever, with all of the light emanating from the insanely complicated lines of his array. Felix spotted his chancellor immediately. “Karys. Was it any trouble getting them down here?”

“No. The Nagafolk handled the stairs remarkably well, but we may wish to install a lift of some sort. Moving larger citizens as well as supplies might be challenging in the future.”

“That’s fair. This place isn’t really designed for visitors.” Yet if Felix planned on using the Shadowgates more often, that needed to change.

“It is a Stronghold. Making it easier to access is a perversion of its purpose.”

“Well, when you put it like that, I guess I’ll cancel the order to put a big open doorway out front.” Felix walked into the Second Chamber, trailed only slightly by his chancellor. “I had the welcome mat picked out and everything.”

A low murmur of conversation cut off the moment Felix walked into the Second Chamber and ran his Eye quickly over the lot. Between the nine Shadowgates were several wagons of supplies—food, water, potions and the like—all lined up in a neat row before one of the better appointed gates. Among it all, were twenty-five Nagafolk led by Lavix, and twenty-five members of the Fiend’s Claw. All of the latter saluted sharply while the former prostrated their serpentine bodies upon the smooth, inlaid floor.

“Please, at ease, everyone.” They did, and Felix clapped his hands, mustering up a measure of enthusiasm he didn’t entirely feel. “Alright! How’re we feeling? Everyone ready to go?”

“We are, my Lord,” said a swordsman at the front. He had shaved his tiny trash stache, but Felix recognized him easily. The cocky warrior’s hands rested easily on the twin swords at his hip, confidence belied only by his shuffling feet.

“Glad to hear it, Kylar.” He nodded at all of the former Haarguard—Kikri, Davum, Nevia, and Vyne—now Claw members. They were the ones that had helped him through the Foglands to face the Archon, and he was glad to see they had volunteered for this trip. “The journey might be a bit strange, but you’ll get the hang of the Shadowgates before long. You have the warding stones?” Sharp nods rippled across the space, the Nagafolk adding their sinuous bobs as well. “Keep them close, and stay in formation. While you’re in there, the Void is closer than we like.”

He walked forward, stepping right up to the Shadowgate linked to Haestus Temple. Like all of them, it was made of various precious and semi-precious stones, carved into a perfect circular shape before liberally decorated with dramatic sculpture. Fields of wild, malachite grasses and deep, swirling pools of cool, multi-colored kyanite. Pale, pinkish feldspar hills rose up above, framing the opaque shadows within the circular gate itself. It was one of four Shadowgates they had repaired in the months since their discovery, but the only one they had made use of; the others remained deactivated out of security. At least in Haestus they had an entire colony of Naga to keep out threats.

“These pools…I recognized their shape,” Lavix said. She had slid forward and ran a thick-fingered hand across the multi-colored stone. “The artistry recalls the finest portions of our home. The gods made this, did they not?”

Felix cleared his throat a touch uncomfortably. “You mean the Nym? Yeah, pretty sure they built all this.”

“You do us a great honor to allow us to traverse these halls, my Lord.” She bowed her humanoid torso at the waist. “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re doing me a favor in turn. All of you are.” Felix pitched his voice to address the entire fifty person party. “You know the task, and you know the questions. You know how to signal when you need to return?”

Lavix nodded, as did Vyne, the defender warrior. He was wearing a water-warded satchel around his broad frame, no doubt containing the scrolls of inquiries they had for Paxus. They had all been given the rundown on how to use the Shadowgate itself to signal back to Karys—it was a feature of the gates they had found only a bit ago, and it made using them even more convenient. Vyne saluted again. “Yes, my Lord. We shall see it done and return quickly.”

“Good. Be safe out there.” With a flex of his Will and a smidgen of significance, the Shadowgate activated. The darkness at the center of the gate thickened and spun, becoming a curtain of liquid ink.

“Form up!” Kylar shouted, and the Claw and Nagafolk shuffled into place. “Activate ward!”

A high pitch note sang from the backs of a few of them, where basalt slabs hung from custom packs. A circle inscribed itself into the air before vanishing slowly.

“Forward march!”

Felix watched them all disappear into the Shadowgate, a gnawing worry in his gut. He couldn’t describe it or name it, but it was there.

“The worry of a leader,” Karys said.

“What?”

“I know that face, that feeling you are experiencing. I remember it from all of the times I sent soldiers on missions. These few, however, are not entering a battlefield. Take comfort in that, if you can.”

“I—” Felix scratched his jaw. “Thanks Karys.”

“Of course. The caravan is just about ready for you as well, my Lord.”

“Ah. Right.” Felix took a moment longer, peering into the inky void of the gate. It would remain open until they received a signal from the other gate that folks made it through, but that could take an hour or two. Through his Adamant Discord and Skein of Fate he could feel the people within moving away, a rumble in the bottom of his gut…but it was fading, fast.

With an effort he walked away, and Karys followed dutifully after him.

Pit lounged against a thick tree bole and burped. Before him, a bevy of food had been laid out on a wide stump, ranging from plump fruits and vegetables to slabs of cooked and seasoned meat. Wild monster meat, of course. It was far better tasting than those strange bird-lizard things so many people ate. All of it had been given to them by a clutch of Henaari hunters. An offering, they called it, and Pit had been more than happy to partake. Now though, he idly swatted a pair of wrinkled red things across the new-cut stump.

“What’s wrong, tenku? You’re not one to curb your appetite.”

Pit glanced at his…well, “friend” was a stretch. A’zek was a fellow Chimera, though his subtype was more cat-lizard compared to Pit’s fox-bird. A harnoq. A’zek was busy sharpening his claws against an iron-hard tree, and each drag produced sparks that danced across the snowy field.

“Just not too hungry, I guess.”

“Hm.” A’zek dropped back to all fours and padded closer. Despite the thick snow, the harnoq didn’t so much as dent it with his steps. “Unusual. Is this regarding your injuries? Or the trip you are about to embark upon?”

“No. Yes.” Pit shrugged, wincing at the pain that shot across his back. If he sat still long enough, he could forget about it entirely. “Have you ever heard us called Wardens of the Stars, A’zek? I think it’s important, but I don’t know how.”

“Ah. I am familiar with the term.” The great cat sat just on the other side of the wide stump and sniffed delicately at a piece of thick, blue-tinted meat. “A Nymean title, if I recall. To do with our cores.”

Pit sat up, forepaws sinking into the snow. “Yes! That’s it. What does it mean?”

“That I do not know.” A’zek released a cloud of Mana vapor from his mouth, and a three-pointed star gleamed. An illusion. “My core is the same. After my first Evolution it congealed into this, and my core space grew more detailed.”

“Just like mine, except mine is four-pointed. What about your second Evolution? What changed then?”

“More detail again, but the core itself remained the same. Instead, my changes were my Mind and Body.” A’zek stretched, putting his dark, spotted fur on display. Like Pit, his hide was a mixture of two kinds: fur and scales. His feet and hind quarters retained a lizardlike appearance, while his head and majority of his body resembled a panther. The main exception was his tail, which lashed behind him like a whip tipped with a cruel-looking barb. “But I have not progressed further than my second Evolution. My Path has stalled, my advancement too tied to my Companion. You are on the road toward learning more than I could ever know about our people.”

Pit warbled dejectedly. “Doesn’t feel like it. I only just figured out what a Guardian Beast is, and then only just.”

“The Path of the Guardian Beast is about choosing our goals. You know this. You chose yours in the desert. No longer the shield to your Companion, but the blade at his side. You chose magic and speed over brutal size and strength, just as I chose speed and greater gifts of Intelligence to better aid my own Companion.”

“Fat lot of good it’s doing me now,” Pit grumbled.

“That is enough of that,” the harnoq snapped. Pit flinched, and A’zek’s voice softened. “Without wings you question your place. How can you attack without advancing? How can you defend without moving into the path of violence? These are things you must answer yourself, with or without the Curse of Flame.”

Pit opened his beak to say something, anything to refute that, but found himself without words. He did miss his wings, though he was sure not to tell Felix that. If he had them during their confrontation with the Frostfather, Pit could have been far more effective. Gained more cores. More levels.

“Wings or no, you will soon soar into new lands, Pit. Answers will come, if you are but stalwart enough to bear them.” A’zek nudged Pit’s downcast head with his own. “You are a Chimera. A noble tenku. A Guardian Beast. Remember that when you face down these new threats…and know that while we are few and scattered, the Chimera are resilient. If you can find more of us, they might be able to tell you more of the Path ahead.”

Pit trilled, new thoughts tumbling through his head. Ideas. “Thanks, A’zek.” In the depths of his core, he felt a pull from the direction of the Stronghold. Felix. He stood up and shook snow from his fur and feathers. “Please watch over Elderthrone while I’m gone.”

“I swear it. None shall threaten our home.” The giant cat gazed at the spread still remaining on the stump. “You are leaving this?”

“What? Of course not.” Pit chomped down onto an overripe melon. “It’s a long trip.”

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