Unbound

"What do you mean, I am not allowed to train with Zara?" Vess demanded.

Darius Reed, Hand of the Duke and her personal minder, didn't bother to stop. He plodded onward toward their own training area Reed had secured hours before. "It is forbidden."

"You cannot be serious," Vess said. She hurried after him, careful to avoid the Untempered that wove in and out of the pathway. "My father would not turn down a chance at strength. And my mother clearly did not."

She may have been imagining it, but Vess thought she saw Darius' cheek twitch. An opening.

"Seek out Zara, then. She will tell you what she intends. But know this: no matter what your decision is, Hand, I will not be swayed." Vess planted her feet and ignored the butterflies in her stomach. "Not by you or my father."

Darius inclined his head at exactly the right angle to indicate acknowledgement without subservience. "Your core is only just coming along properly. I'll not have you put in harms way by some witch. I would speak with her and discover exactly what this training entails."

Without warning, the Hand pivoted and headed toward the main warehouse. Clamping down on the nervous trembling in her middle, Vess followed.

The impromptu courtyard teemed with Untempered citizens, a veritable sea of the displaced. Each of them bore a similar haggard expression, one that tore at her heart to see. These were people who had lost much in the span of a day, many of whom carried all that they owned on their backs. While the Hand moved through like a ship through a choppy sea, Vess lingered behind, offering small comforts to those she could see. A helping hand to stabilize a cart full of stone, a word of encouragement, even something as simple as a sympathetic smile worked their particular magic.

It helped, of course, that she had a Skill for it.

The Skill was meant for hashing out trade agreements and settling disputes, but she could make use of it here. It granted her bonuses to favorable interactions with allies, and a subsequent lesser bonus to interactions with those deemed her opposition. It was a Social Skill, or what many among the peerage referred to as a "soft Skill." Soft Skills were both in high demand as they were quite useful at high levels, but frowned upon as well; rare was the soft Skill that could turn the tide of a battle, after all. It was far from Mind control or anything like it, but such Skills leveraged the System in an unknown way, allowing her to present more favorably to others. Not to mention, it was far more useful the first time it was used on an individual than any subsequent uses, especially at its current level.

Still, Vess' passage through the crowd left a number of eased burdens and lingering smiles in her wake. She would consider that a success.

She made it through the main buildings doors only a minute or two behind the Hand. Vess had heard it referred to as the Training Hall by the Untempered, and they weren't entirely wrong. The entire place was filled with sandy fighting pits, inscribed combat mannequins, and the impressive bulk of the Gauntlet. The fighting pits were unremarkable, simple sand between raised walls, and the mannequins were far less advanced than even the common Clay Golems the Eyrie once boasted in their elite training grounds. But the Gauntlet was something else entirely. According to Evie, the heavily enchanted construct had been "borrowed" from the Guild by a wayward trainer. The Dwarf had intended to return it...but then things had gone sideways.

An understatement, to be sure.

When Vess had towed Evie out of the Domain, things had been bleak. The city center had collapsed into a warren of treacherously shifting rubble and gutted facades. Finding a path through the carnage had been difficult, let alone navigating to the warehouse Evie had described in the few minutes she retained consciousness. Dozens of Revenants stood in their way, with only Vess' spear between them an annihilation. But she was her mother's daughter, and though she was not yet a Dragoon, she channeled their Spirit and resolve. Over the course of three hours, Vess had slaughtered her way across the city, relying on stealth where she could but never shrinking from required carnage.

Haarwatch appeared to be transformed into a wilderness of death and monstrosities. The living were few and far between, often only screams in the distance, too far to find let alone help. Vess had made the brutal but necessary decision to prioritize her own Health, and that of her friend. She owed Evie much for lingering in the Domain so that Vess could land that strike against the Ravager King. Nevertheless, seeing the mass of refugees and their grim faces now made her heart clench in regret.

"Regret is the hallmark of the ruler, small one," her father once said. "The trick is figuring out how to ensure it's cause cannot take root again."

Power. Levels and Skills and advancing through the Tiers were the answer to nearly all of the Continent's brutalities. Conquering the Domain had rewarded that in spades. She had gained ten entire levels from those final fights, and numerous Skill increases. She'd even netted herself a Title:

Against the Tide (Epic)!

You foolishly set yourself against the oncoming tide. Yet you have persevered! Or, at least you didn't die. +5% END, VIT

It was a little...condescending, which was odd. None of her previous Titles were ever worded as such, but who was she to gainsay the System? Especially when it gifted them such bountiful rewards. Percentage bonuses to Endurance and Vitality were among the greatest of gifts for anyone, mage or warrior. Health and Stamina were always needed, as to run out of one was to be either dead, or soon to be dead.

Moreover, Vess had also managed to Temper her Body into Journeyman once they had reached camp; a lucky break, that, as Darius had found her with the selection of curated Essence Draughts he'd secured months ago.

Body:

(J) Wings of Vitra

Mind:

(A) Risen Spear

Spirit:

(A) Everburn

The increase in power was not insignificant, and the effect upon her three Body Skills was astounding. She'd Tempered Spear of Tribulations (Legendary), Dragon's Descent (Rare), and Dragoon's Footwork (Epic). It had been a toss up between Dragon's Descent and Pierce the Sky, but ultimately Vess had wanted to end the battles she fought. End them decisively and with conviction. Her new Body was built upon the bones of her Pristine Might Body, adding explosive power to her limbs and specifically to her legs. With her newly Tempered Body, her ability to leap and maneuver was greatly enhanced, the true hallmark of the Dragoons.

She'd been infused with a bottomless energy since then, while the Hand put her through her paces. They'd still be training now, had he not got wind of Zara's proposed Chanter lessons. Vess shook her head in annoyance, watching as Darius led both Cal and Zara away into another room while talking in that maddeningly slow manner of his; likely berating them for having the gall to teach the Heir of Pax'Vrell anything.

"Stupid man," she sighed, not for the first time. The Hand was strong, well into Adept Tier, and he frightened her on many levels, but Vess found being told what to do had grown thoroughly stale. It was a crutch she no longer needed; she just had to convince Darius...and her father.

Turning from that particularly impossible thought, Vess regarded the Gauntlet again. It was impressive, though not as advanced as some of the better scripted equipment the Guild owned. Used to own, she corrected herself. It is all crushed in the rubble now.

Racing and dodging through the course now was a familiar figure in tattered tunic and trousers, crackling with hints of lightning. Felix flipped over a low beam, reorienting on a vertical surface for an instant before rebounding onto a taller beam that kept swinging toward the next section. He barely seemed to be breathing hard.

"Close your mouth, you're getting drool on the floor."

Vess yelped in surprise, turning to find Evie's face level with her own. And upside down. She looked up and saw the irrepressible girl was half wrapped in a flowering vine that extended all the way up to the ceiling.

"Evie!" Vess admonished. "What are you doing?"

"Just watching a noble lady go all gooey for our friend," Evie jabbed back, her wide grin full of mischief. "C'mon. The view is better up here."

The little monster spun her body and climbed back up the vine fast, like a Mana Vole zipping along a tree. Torn between annoyance and amusement, Vess gathered herself and leaped. She rose rapidly, nearly passing Evie before grabbing hold of the vine and hauling herself up the rest of the way. Even still, Evie was sitting atop the thick wooden rafter well before Vess clambered up over the edge.

"That's a bit of a climb," Vess said, though she barely felt out of breath at all. Her Journeyman Body certainly helped. "Why are you up here?"

"I come up here a lot, especially when I need to think," Evie said, gesturing down below, toward the room Darius and Cal had entered. "Cal said I couldn't stick around and listen to Felix's debriefing. Said I 'needed my rest' and to 'stay out of trouble for once in my life.' Twin's teeth! It's like she doesn't even know me!"

Vess let out a soft, tinkling laugh. "I'm sure she knows exactly who she's dealing with; you think she can't sense you up here?"

"You didn't," Evie countered.

"I'm not a Perception focused treasure hunter, either," Vess pointed out. "Did you get to hear what he said? Felix?"

"Oh yeah, most of it," Evie drummed her fingers along the four foot wide beam, idly kicking her legs below. "Nothing special really. This is the show."

Vess turned and watched as Felix wove between whirling blades, his shirt taking the brunt of the damage as the edged weapons sliced at him. Pieces of his tunic flew free and Vess blushed and looked away. "Ahem. Is this really what you've been doing?"

"Eh, more or less. I thought about trainin' but, honestly, I'm bone tired," Evie leaned back on her hands, still kicking her legs out into the thin air.

"I can understand that. How're you feeling?"

"Good enough, I suppose. Portia fussed with me about as much as Cal did, sticking me with all her contraptions and salves." Evie tapped her hip, hidden under her loose linen blouse and trousers. It was rare for Evie to forgo her leathers, but Vess supposed nearly losing her legs was one of those times. "They had to scrap my armor. A real shame. I'd just gotten it broken in."

"Do you have a new set?" Vess asked, her eyes drawn again down to Felix's lithe shape. "I might be able to get something of mine tailored--"

"Nah, we got a new pair of smiths here, apparently. The Coldfire Forge set up shop yesterday. I'm sure I can get somethin' from them." Evie shrugged. "Why're you here anyway? I thought your Handyman was putting you through your paces." Evie waggled her eyebrows at her.

"Gross, Evie," Vess made a face. "No he interrupted our training when he learned about Zara's Chanter training later today. Now he's off meeting with her and Cal."

"Talk about gross. Sounds like a room full of opinions I'd rather not hear." Evie conjured a dagger from somewhere and began digging at the beam. The divot she'd already created was quite deep. "What's your plan, Vess?"

"My plan?"

"Yeah, after all this. The Domain, Guild destroyed, city demolished, monsters run amok," Evie stabbed at the beam with each event listed. "Now we gotta, what, survive among the chaos?"

Vess watched her friend clench her jaw and take a deep, steadying breath. She wanted to answer, but the heiress had a feeling Evie wasn't exactly done.

"And what about my friends? You and Felix and Cal. What if the Revenants overrun us? I've heard the reports, ya know? There's thousands out there. No one knows why or how, 'cept us, kinda. And Atar and Alister are still hurt over in Portia's area!" Evie stabbed down hard into the wooden beam. The dagger sunk more than halfway. "I just feel...I dunno. Helpless, maybe."

"I understand. I do," Vess sighed. "I look at the people out there and wonder what more could we do? We are just two, and an entire city is falling. Had I my father's forces we could make short work of it and turn things to right again...but I do not have soldiers and healers. We have us, you and I, Felix and Cal, Harn and all the rest. Even Atar."

Evie snorted. Vess put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"We are strong, but we can be stronger. Perhaps we can't save the whole city, but we've got plenty of people here, right now, that need our help. Why don't we get to it, then?"

Evie put her own hand over Vess' and gave a firm, single nod.

"I can do that."

Then she jumped off the beam.

Lumber came swinging at Felix, a polished red wood studded with low metal spikes. Much of the Gauntlet seemed designed to swing at a person, which Felix found pushed his Physical Stats to the limit.

A quick perusal of the sigils had granted him a fast and dirty understanding of its arrays. The surface level, at least. Despite Tempering his Theurgist of the Rise, Felix realized he had far from a complete picture. He could tell there was far more going on under layers of scripted workings that he simply couldn't comprehend. The level of detail was astounding, easily surpassing the workings of the Envoy in complexity if not power. The gist of it was that somehow the magical training course adapted to his movements and speed, piling on more and more pressure.

Which meant he had to move faster than it adapted.

Reign of Vellus!

Tempered, it was no longer a messy wave of power that he had to brute force into shape. It became almost surgical. Potent and intense in a way that was hard to describe, but each time it released Felix felt a hard echo in his gut. Electricity was still a component, but it was less erratic, more purposeful.

A concentrated bolt of blue lightning roared silently from his outstretched hand, sending reverberations through his own core at the shock of it. The power hit the descending lumber and shattered it, sending the bottom half ricocheting out of the Gauntlet and into the metallic wall of the warehouse. It was glorious.

Except the top half was still coming.

*SLAM!*

"UFFHHK!" Felix managed and found himself careening out the opposite side of the Gauntlet. He hit the dirt hard, but managed to turn his rapid descent into a series of energy softening rolls. Dizzy and injured, he fetched back onto all fours nearly sixty feet away.

"Shit, ulp--" He clenched his guts, preventing a rush of bile from leaping from his throat. He was partially successful. "That didn't go as planned."

He laid down for a second, letting his muscles relax for just a little bit. The stone flooring wasn't exactly comfortable, but everything hurt on him, so it didn't really make a difference.

The Song of Absolution is level 56!

That made sense.

New Quest!

That, however, was a surprise.

He sat up. It had been quite a while since he'd seen a new quest pop up, at least ones that weren't of the hidden variety.

ERROR...

Lost Race Detected...

Adjusting Quest...

Felix rolled his eyes and waited for the gut punch.

The Proving!

You have been tested in the fires of battle, Apprentice! Slowly you are being forged into a pupil worthy of the Titles you bear. Can you prove you deserve it? Raise five spells, Rare or better, to Adept Tier. Show us what you got.

Rewards: Title, Variable

Felix blinked at the wording. His System messages had varied between staid and amusing throughout his time on the Continent, and he'd never really figured out why. In the beginning he'd entertained the thought that someone was sending him these messages, some person controlling the System itself. But that seemed, if not impossible, extremely far fetched.

Probably some Grand Harmony nonsense, he mused before abandoning that line of thinking. It was pointless. Instead he focused upon the quest itself.

Adept Tier, huh? That's not too bad. His last spell quest had been to get five spells to Apprentice Tier, netting him a Rare Title and unlocking two of his Harmonic Stats. Adept Tier was far away, but it was something to work toward.

Speaking of working toward, Felix still had a few open quests. He hadn't given either of them any thought in recent weeks. He pulled them up.

Active Quests

Home Sweet Home!

3 of 5 Threats Eliminated

Shrines of the Broken!

1 of 7 Shrines Found

The Proving!

0 of 5 Spells to Adept Tier

He hadn't gone over these with the others. Mostly because he wasn't sure how pertinent it was...and also because something told him to keep the Nym Temple a secret. Nothing more than a gut feeling, really.

He wanted to be honest and open with his friends. These past two months had proven that honesty was his best step forward...yet he hesitated. The Shrine Quest he'd likely share with Zara; she likely knew more about the locations of such places. Though ironically, he was least interested in following that particular thread. With Vellus stepping into his dreams now to deliver cryptic and frankly terrifying warnings about the gods, Felix's theological interest had plummeted even farther than before. Still, the Broken Path was a promising avenue toward strength, seeing as it contained the First Threshold.

Home Sweet Home, however, promised no such power. He planned to keep that in his back pocket, for now.

Home Sweet Home!

You have found a safe place in the wild Foglands, an ancient Temple long thought lost. You are charged with securing your ancestors' Temple from all threats. Be wary, young Nym for your trials have just begun.

3 of 5 Threats Eliminated

Reward: Title, Home, Variable

He'd made decent progress on that one, though Felix doubted he'd have a reason to head back into the Foglands. Why would he? He'd been after civilization and it was East, not to the West. That way laid the Bitter Sea and monsters. And the Dread.

He didn't think he'd ever forget the Dread.

Then again, having a place to call his own, a safe place, that was increasingly appealing to him. Safe, that is, if he could rid himself of the Fogland's pests.

Home Sweet Home!

3 of 5 Threats Eliminated

Threats:

Seven Legged Orit

The Archon

The Risi

The Unending Maw

Unknown

Of the five "threats" he had to eliminate, the Archon was predominant, but there was space for more. Only one more, as to his surprise, the Maw was listed as one of the "threats" and it was crossed out from the list.

Not sure if I can find a better argument that it's truly gone, he thought, looking at the slashed out name. I did it. I really did it.

Ruby embers flashed in his Mind's eye, little particles that clung to his Spirit like magical barnacles. The Maw was gone but its power remained in him and in the Revenants that were slowly flooding the city. A pang of Hunger rippled through him, emanating from the dark hollow in his core ring.

He wouldn't feel truly free until all the Revenants were gone too.

Motion flitted against his Perception, and Felix felt rather than saw a vibrantly green rope drop from the ceiling several paces behind him. Vine, he corrected. One of Portias, I think.

A figure in flexible steel armor slide down nearly soundlessly, her landing nothing more than a faint tapping on the stone. A second figure, far quieter than the first, alighted next to her as if nearly weightless.

"Were you guys up in the rafters this whole time?" He asked without turning.

Evie laughed. "Damn!"

"I told you he would sense us," Vess chided her. The both of them walked around until they stood before Felix. "You owe me two stone."

"Yeah yeah," Evie said, plopping down into a cross-legged seated position. Her Agility, higher even than his, made her every movement almost liquid-like. Evie didn't move, she flowed. "Cal sent me away after you got done screamin' your head off. Said they 'had important things to discuss.' Like I'm not part of the team or somethin'."

"So you crept onto the ceiling and eavesdropped," Felix said.

"Well, yeah," Evie grinned. "Cal may be the boss, but she's not my mom. I go where I please, damn it."

Vess sat as well, and while her movements weren't as fluid as Evie's, it was somehow more graceful. As if everything she did was purposeful and intentional. No one could make Vessilia Dayne do a thing she did not set out to do. "I missed all of it. My minder has had me on a particularly short leash."

"The Hand, right?" Felix asked and got a tight nod in response. "I'll tell you the rest later, maybe when your minder isn't around."

Vess smiled and it was...distracting. Her teeth were as white as anyone who had Tempered into Apprentice Tier, but her skin seemed even smoother and glowing than usual. Felix snapped his fingers. "Did you Temper your Body?"

Vess' smile brightened, if that were possible. "I did! You can tell?"

"Yeah, you're--I used my evolved Analyze," he lied, not entirely knowing why he was doing so. He looked at Evie and ignored her smirk. "I assume you didn't come down here just to talk about me getting by butt kicked by the Gauntlet. What's going on?"

"We, Vess and me, wanted to do somethin' for the camp. Since you don't have that Chanter trainin' til later, I figured you'd want to help."

"Uh, I had planned on training until later this afternoon. I've got some kinks I need to iron out, and--"

"What, you want to get beat up by the Gauntlet again?" Evie asked, arching her brow. "You can practice your Mana Skills in camp. I'm sure there's plenty to accomplish if we put our minds to it. Flexibility training, Cal calls it. Using your Skills in nonstandard ways."

Felix tilted his head and stuck out his lip in thought. It wasn't a bad idea. Plus he could help fix the wall, and the courtyard, and maybe...

"Yeah, okay. I'm in."

Felix should have said yes sooner. Vess' dimpled smile was a pretty good reward.

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