Unbound

"I do not support this decision," Karys said.

“I heard you the first time.”

“It bears repeating.”

They had not traveled far. They now stood before the silver waters of his special indoor swimming pool, complete with a holographic lifeguard.

"Knowledge, tell him it's totally safe," Felix said.

The illusory robed Geist lifted its lifeless gaze to meet Karys'. "To step into the Pool is to invite death upon your very soul."

Felix grimaced and waved off the construct's words. "He’s kidding. It'll be fine."

The Pool of Halcyon Oaths was dangerous, but he had used it before to strengthen his connection to his Territories and allow him to traverse the Dark Passages. It had been dangerous because he wasn't a Grandmaster, just an Adept at the time. Still, he’d managed to muddle through without too much issue. Sure, he was almost unspooled into nothingness by an eldritch goddess, but he got better.

"I will be the first to admit that Knowledge has proven his worth to us a thousand times over," Zara said, coming up behind them. "The construct's ability to sort and search the information within the Librarium has made them invaluable to our efforts to find anything on the Ruin. Indeed, our efforts for learning in general. But the Pool is an unnecessary risk."

"It does. Binding the Elder Spirit Tree to the Shadowgate network has been a boost to my processes. I can feel information trickling in from all nine gates now."

"And if I dive into the Pool again and improve my connection to it, will that help you?"

“Depending on the depth of your new connection, yes."

"See? It's—"

"If you die, however, I will be reduced until another Territorial Lord makes the attempt anew. All bonuses will be lost."

Karys folded his arms, and Felix could literally feel Zara's judgy gaze. Or her Spirit, anyway.

"What's the chance we’ll survive this time?" Pit asked. When Felix looked at him, he squawked, "What? I'm going, too."

Felix smiled and looked to Knowledge for the answer. The illusory construct looked like a Geist, a bipedal weasel-like person, and its sharp features and large, single-color eyes made it look a bit menacing whenever it processed a question. Felix was surprised to see its small, white-furred hand stroke its chin. It had been improving its mannerisms over the recent weeks, becoming less and less robotic as time wore on.

"You are still not a Grandmaster, so your official chances of survival are 7.2%. However,” Knowledge raised a tiny, furry finger. "As you survived your first dive into the Pool, I would estimate a second plunge to have a 20% survival rate."

Felix’s stomach twinged. "I'm a lot stronger now than I was the first time." He sent Knowledge his status page, and the construct flicked his silver eyes over it. "And I have successfully used my Core Manifestation several times now. Does that change your estimation?"

The Geist's form twitched, like a shiver running through the projected image. "That does change things. For greater surety, please allow me to scan your foundation once more."

"No." The word was out of Felix's mouth before Knowledge completed its sentence. "No thanks." The first time had hurt terribly, wasted six hours of his life, and the memory construct still hadn't been able to give him an accurate reading. Felix would rather pass on that.

"Then my new estimation is a 51.4% chance of survival. Grandmaster Tier would buffer you far more, and Paragon Tier would remove all but the deepest threats."

"Felix, recall your contentious Title," Zara said. "You are the Nemesis of Siva, and it is she who governs over these depths. You learned that last time."

"Oaths can't touch me," Felix pointed out.

"But goddesses can. Have, in fact.” “I agree with Zara. Putting yourself into her grasp is a reckless choice," Karys said, folding his arms.

Felix ignored them both. "Knowledge, I have a voidbeast problem when I use the Shadowgates. If I am able to deepen my connection to the Pool, would that strengthen the Heart of Shadows enough to keep them out?"

The construct froze in place, not like a person might, but literally stopped moving in every single way. Then, without explanation, it nodded. “Depending on the depth of your connection to the Pool, you will indeed strengthen all sojourns you personally take into the Void. As the Shadowgate network is connected to you and the Atlantes Anima, that protection will pass along to the entire network, so long as you hold Authority."

Felix smiled, happy to hear the good news. "What sort of depth do I have to reach to get to that point?"

Knowledge tilted its head. "Fifty percent deeper than your last attempt."

Felix's smile dropped, and Zara caught his eye. “Do you think you can press so far? From what Karas told me, your first dive was harrowing."

"It was." Felix didn't need his born trait to help him recall that particular event. He and Pit had nearly unraveled within Siva's domain. Down in the Pool, they had been transported into the half-realm where the gods existed. Or were trapped. He wasn't quite sure. Either way, it was where their power was the mightiest.

"If it was Siva's power that undid us, then my Bondbreaker title will keep us safe. I didn't have it last time. And I know the secret of its tests now." Felix straightened and met his friend's gaze. "We're going, and we'll return."

Zara clenched her jaw and pursed her lips, but she nodded. Karys, though devoid of a mouth entirely, did a fair job at the same expression.

"Come on, bud. Hop in." Pit vanished in a flash of light as he converged and settled into Felix's spirit.

Abyssal Skein!

The oily embrace of the Void wrapped around Felix, tinting his vision only slightly as it settled across his entire being. He could tell he was fading from his friend's awareness, so he spoke extra loud. "We'll be back soon."

"I hope so," Karys muttered.

Felix eased himself over the edge of the silver Pool. The water was almost exactly the same temperature as his skin, so it felt like nothing so much as a soft breeze, even as it rose up over his chest. "Here goes nothing."

Dive! Pit screeched, and the Pool swallowed them both.

He dropped into a world of silvered shadows and refracted light.

Currents pulled him down, stronger than he could fight, but he remembered his fruitless efforts from the last time. This time, he swam with them. He dove into the deeper dark. Felix wasn't sure, but it felt like they touched him a little less.

Abyssal Skein seems to be working. It was still running. In the past, entering the Pool cut off his ability to use Skills, as his Mana wouldn’t even push out of his channels. By casting it before he dove in and holding it, he’d bypassed that little hurdle. Felix allowed himself to feel a sense of accomplishment before he focused entirely on swimming.

Just as before, there was a point where the crushing dark lightened and direction became unsure. Things twisted as lights danced below him—or was it above him?—before he plunged headlong into a vast river of roaring silver. His awareness flip-flopped as waves surged over his form, a river of black clouds streaming across his sight. Felix whipped around, trying to find his bearings as he was sent hurtling across the sky, given nothing to orient himself save a charred expanse and the impression of once-mighty mountains now ground into foothills.

The river raged, carrying him off into the endless horizon at incredible speeds, toward a silver disc that hung motionless in the heavens. Even with his Perception, he had barely any notice before that disc filled his entire vision. The moon that was not appeared, filled with the organic shapes of limbs bound by golden chains, secured by hooks driven into Divine flesh.

He was far closer than he should be.

Felix could make out the maze of spines and crisscrossing bones on Scylla's moon body. Networks of cavernous holes surrounded him, bound with enough silver threads to nearly drown out the mountainous golden chains.

Panicked, he looked to the goddess's head, but his heart stilled. Myriad eyes were turned away from him, examining instead a distant blue marble, suspended in the black. Understanding swept through him.

She's distracted. Is it Levantier? Is it the Theron Unbound? Whatever it was, it meant that there was an opportunity before him. He couldn't squander it.

Go, Pit urged.

He shot forward, pushing his Strength and Endurance to their limits, and the river parted before him. He shot through the pale bones of her back, slipping through the open holes in her flesh and into the depths of a web of silver strands beneath the surface of the moon. Oaths surrounded him, but in a way he'd never experienced. It wasn't just a physical representation, but something more. Visions coiled off their lengths like smoke, glimpses of lives that were utterly unlike his own, gone too fast to fully understand. A young girl over a dead animal, an old man in a burning home, a figure with a bloody blade surrounded by six fallen men. Their Oaths resonated, shuddering as he passed, as if reacting to Felix's presence.

Felix dodged them, swimming around their tangled lengths with all the Agility he could muster, but the strands grew more numerous by the second. He swam through caverns of bone and grinning alien skulls wrapped in cocoons of glittering thread, each a leering monument to a sinister power. He pressed deeper through the darkness of broken femurs and shattered, clutching hands. Old visions coiled here, a mirage of ancient impressions that made even less sense than before. Thought and sound and shape tangled together before him, cluttering his vision as he struggled to avoid the webs of silver.

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He slipped through them just barely, his limbs inches from contact. Lungs burned and muscles strained, and yet the worst of it all was the mounting pressure. It crushed him, squeezing the very blood in his veins as he pressed closer into the presence of a being so far beyond him that he could not understand it. The way grew twisted, confusing as flesh and bone drew nearer, pulsating as if alive. And that presence pushed him back, the jellied liquid around him thickening in resistance to his progress. A drumbeat created by the rush of dark fluid through pale golden-veined flesh. His chest burned, and he ached for breath.

Pit screeched, a wordless spur against his flagging Body.

Felix swam.

He reached farther, kicking through viscous waters, but they were filled with more webbing. It clung to him like spider silk, too close to avoid now. A shiver of awareness spread, like a bell ringing in a silent chapel. Red lines of inquiry flashed across the waters, refracting into a thousand glittering stars along the threads tangled onto his limbs.

Siva's attention was being drawn to him.

Title: Bondbreaker is Active!

The threads fell away from him, slackening like unraveling yarn…yet things within them scurried forth, drawn to his disruption.

Felix!

I know!

They clattered and clambered. Creatures with wagon-sized Bodies, segmented with armor plates and long, barbed legs. An unholy mix of centipede, spider, and people. They skittered closer, their limbs ending with Human hands that clung to silver strings. Human faces swam out of the silver dark, hair streaming around them in clouds of blonde, crimson, and brunette. Flat, expressionless eyes stared at him as he slipped through the threads and out of their immediate reach, but their mouths moved ceaselessly.

Whispers echoed through the liquid as if transmitted perfectly to his ears.

You should never have climbed onto that yacht.

The Unbound will fail.

You will fail.

Images of his friends crowded close, layered over reality until the monstrosities all but vanished. They reached bloody hands toward him, so viscerally real. The whispers twisted him like the currents, turning up into down. Pressure flexed against his skin—his organs and bones—enough that he could almost feel their fevered heat.

They will die, consumed by Ruin.

Purple-black flames ate through them all while the silver threads strummed, vibrating all around them. For a moment, Felix's Mind blanked entirely.

For a moment, he couldn't remember any of them.

Felix! They're still there! It's not real!

The creatures swam closer, sharp hands grabbing onto him, coiling around him, pushing him down. Rubbery lips pressed to his ears.

She is Lost, too.

Your sister cannot be brought back.

Your mother mourns you both.

She will never see your bodies.

"No!" He screamed into the silvered dark—and the water boiled.

Bubbles streamed in all directions as the creatures screeched in sudden agony. He threw them off, tearing through their carapaces with talons of midnight fury, and blood spilled like clouds around him. Their inhuman faces twisted, fangs glistening through blood and shadow, but Felix kicked away.

Swim! Pit urged.

Wings burst from his back, four of them, plumed with darkness and crackling lightning, and they shot Felix forward as they pumped—but the monsters weren’t done with him.

They leaped after, dropping from nests of argent wire onto his face and shoulders and back. Long enough that their segmented bodies wrapped around his limbs and torso, their sharp hands rent his Garment and clung to his flesh. Felix swung, slashing his talons through them until they recoiled in fear.

Ouranic Dominion!

A stormwind burst beneath his wings, flinging parts of the monstrosities away as he shot upward toward a glimmering rectangle high above.

You will fail!

He shot through.

His awareness spun as his Mind and Body told him opposing facts. He was upright, but he was falling. Airborne, but he crawled across the ground on his belly. His Body spasmed even as he gasped for glorious air.

"Felix!"

A hand grasped his own, well before he could see anything but motes of silver moonlight. He felt himself hauled through empty space, the thick liquid of the Pool sloughing off his limbs without a trace, leaving him bone-dry and shivering.

He was back where he started.

Felix blinked, confused but relieved, as he pressed his fingers into the smooth stone of the chamber floor. The world spun, twisted on itself, but the rock was an anchor. He breathed. In and out.

“Are you well?” Zara asked.

Felix coughed, throat aching though there was no water to choke back up. “I’m—”

An explosion stole his words.

Silver water shot into the air behind him, parting to reveal a trio of horrors. Centipede-spiders screeched with their not-Human mouths, unspooling from the depths like nightmare streamers. Felix spun, his Mind still whirling as he stood.

He was too slow.

Die, parasites!

Incandescence ripped from Felix’s chest, congealing mid-air into a bus-sized Tyrant. Pit roared, his crystalline talons dropping like an executioner’s blade. The leading monstrosity split, rendered into bloody slices.

“Begone!” Karys bellowed, his golden arm seizing the skull of the second creature while his black-bone fist drove through its yowling face.

Silver ichor sprayed in all directions, but it did not land. Instead, it was pulled inward into an orb of water that boiled around the third and final monster. Zara snapped her fingers, and the orb collapsed into a single speck. Severed insectoid ends flopped onto the ground, twitching erratically before dissolving entirely into a smear of tarnished silver.

Pit Has Killed A Fateweaver!

XP Earned!

“Damn.” Felix stood, his guts still clenching in remembered pain, and thrust his hand toward their mangled corpses. “Remind me not to get on your bad sides.”

Empyrean Embrace!

What remained of their flesh sublimated into vapor, a bright silver clouded by flecks of rust. He ate it all, and his Hunger growled in dark satisfaction as the unmistakable tang of Divine power shivered through him. It was a small taste, no more than a hint, but recognizable nonetheless.

"Siva," he muttered. "What a jerk.” Felix took another ragged breath and looked around. "How long have we been gone?"

"It has been an entire day," Karys said, his gaze fixed on the surface of the Pool. He was massaging his fists, as if they could hurt. "Knowledge! Will more of these abominations come through?"

The Geist appeared next to the Chancellor, a strange gleam in its eyes as it, too, stared into the silver waters.

"No," it replied. "They rode upon the waves of the Autarch's passage and were only able to leave the Pool due to his own hasty egress. All others remained below."

"Others," Pit said, shuddering. "There were so many others down there. That moon was crawling with them."

"Moon?" Zara asked. “Did you make it to Siva?"

"We passed through her," Felix replied.

That pulled Karys’ attention away from the Pool. "Truly? Without dissolution?”

“Mighta dissolved a little, but it was hard to notice at the end.”

“Did you reach the required depths of connection?"

Instead of answering, Felix looked to Knowledge. "Tell me."

A bell rang throughout the chamber, sparking waves of Mana from the fractal array just beyond the entryway. The Geist looked at him and bowed.

"Lord Autarch Felix Nevarre, Inheritor of the Nymean's Will, you have embraced the Pool of Halcyon Oaths and emerged transformed."

Title Upgraded!

Blessed of the Halcyon Oath V (Legendary)

You have embraced the waters of connection in the Luminous Void and emerged whole for a second time! Labyrinthine Wing has gained five levels!

A sharper burst of energy rolled through Felix's chest, sinking its claws into one of his humming Skills.

Skill: Abyssal Skein Detected!

Title: Chthonic Traveler Detected!

Vein Of Divinity Detected (x4)!

Crown Of Elysium Detected!

Authority Requisite Met!

Due To A Confluence Of Titles, Skills, And Claimed Potency, Your Skill Has Upgraded!

Labyrinthine Wing (Epic) Has Upgraded To Void Nexus (Mythic)!

Level Is Maintained!

Void Nexus (Mythic), Level 7!

An evolution of Labyrinthine Wing due to a growing Authority over the Void. Your grasp of the connections you bear has grown, and the Links tied to your heart have strengthened. You have dove into the turbulent waters of the Halcyon Oath, and in their depths, you have had revelations. Only time will tell if you can make sense of them. Stabilization of all Passages has doubled, and speed of transit has quadrupled. Both qualities increase minutely per level. Stabilization cost of significance is reduced per level.

When it looked up, Knowledge's expression was intense, almost reverential. "Your connection to the Halcyon Oath has become more profound. Your Territories are bound to you tighter than ever before, and though you have not delved into its true depths, you have approached the zenith."

Felix wanted to rub at his chest, but the ache had spread through his entire Body. Everything felt pinched and prodded, as if he were a single step away from turning into a single giant bruise. "Will it help protect my Shadowgates?"

Knowledge gave a sharp nod. "The walls of your Dark Passages and the inferior Shadowgates will hold with greater strength now, but you must engage the Skill. It is not a passive effect. Significance is required to fuel it."

Felix closed his eyes. It was what he'd hoped for, but another drain on his significance wasn't welcome. "How much does it take?"

"A number of factors are involved with its cost, including the Mind Skill the Shadowgate relies upon. Dark Passages will remain easier, as they are the superior structure."

"You keep saying that," Pit said, lifting his beak from the edge of the Pool. "Why?"

Knowledge turned toward the tenku, and that same intensity remained in its expression. "The progenitor of the Halcyon Oath grew the Dark Passages herself, and they are tied intrinsically to her power. The Shadowgates are an...innovation by the Nym. It utilizes the concepts of liminal travel and leverages it into a more uniform network."

"Wild fecundity versus cultivated growth," Zara said slowly.

Knowledge smiled. Actually, truly smiled, and Felix swallowed. It was eerie as hell.

"Precisely."

"You said 'she,’” Felix pointed out. "You're talking about Veridaan?"

"Yes. The Primordial of Oaths was the progenitor of the Pool."

"Why isn't she tied to it anymore?"

Knowledge did that little twitch, like the illusion around him was glitching. "Information flows into my construct slowly but steadily, but it is disparate and lackluster. Too much has been Lost. But," the Geist lifted a fuzzy finger. "The Primordial remains."

Felix frowned. "There's only Siva in there now."

"The beasts. The Fateweavers," Karys said suddenly. "What were they?"

"Remnants of something greater. Diminished by time and the appetites of the unworthy." Knowledge looked at the Pool with his flat, silver eyes. "The power over Oaths is Veridaan's still. Primordials cannot be killed. Only changed."

Felix licked his lips, and deep inside of his core space, his Hunger rumbled contentedly.

WARNING!

DANGEROUS ENTITY DETECTED!

The notification appeared before them all. It was blue tinged with an urgent red. Karys looked up, eye-fires wide.

“What is it?” Felix asked.

"There is… an Elemental in the Glyphworks.”

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