Unbound

Felix considered his hands.

Felix didn't feel stronger, really. He felt steadier though, more solid. Like he was braced against himself, somehow, moored against whatever winds might tear at him. It was much the same sensation as when he ingested a large amount of significance, that same phantom weight.

Congratulations. Siva’s ghostly silhouette hovered a few feet away, an odd fluid shiver rippling through her body and jittering across her upsetting limbs. You Have Prevailed.

"You sound thrilled," Felix replied, baring his teeth at her.

I Am Simply Impressed. You Have A Way Of Upsetting…Expectations.

"Didn’t you hear?" He cracked his neck. "I'm real special."

Felix slammed his arms forward, pushing at the barrier with all of his incredible Strength. The force of the blow bounced back, redirecting across his arms and down his legs, shoved him back across the floor, oblitering the polished stone behind his heels.

Empyrean Embrace!

His Skill snapped at the barrier, pulling at it, but it didn't come close to breaking it.

You Cannot Oppose Ouranic Law, Nevarre.

The System Does Not Allow It.

"I'm not a god. Ouranic Law doesn't apply to me.”

I Beg To Differ. You Cannot Deny The Path You Tread. The silhouette ghost tapped a long finger against her lips. How About A Deal, Unbound?

Felix narrowed his eyes but said nothing.

I Appreciate The Silence.

I Can Allow You Through My Domain, Giving A Chance At Escape To You And Your Friends…If You Give Yourself Over To me.

As My Vessel.

"No," Felix said immediately. "That's not happening."

Then You Can Remain Here…And All That You Care About Will Die.

Felix licked his lips. “Why do you need a Vessel?”

Why Else? To Be Free.

“Free from your moon? Then why does the Pathless need Vessels?”

The goddess did not answer, just twisted in ways his eyes couldn’t comprehend. Her gaze, however, never wavered from his own.

Stupid piece of—

Hmm. Again.

Hunger? The darkness inside of him rumbled pensively. Do what again?

Eat. Wall.

Felix blinked. The barrier? You got something from that?

Yes. Again. Please.

Since you asked so nicely.Empyrean Embrace!

The Skill once again grasped at the hazy, yet frustratingly solid barrier before him. It stretched as before, fleeing his Will but not shifting from its place or breaking through. Faint, almost imperceptible streamers of smoke shot back into his mouth and this time he felt it.

What Are You Doing?

Felix smacked his lips. It wasn't Divine power, but it was potent. Within, his Hunger hummed in pleasure, and Felix tried again. This time, a small speck was pulled free, and he could taste the Essence, Mana, and the tiniest flow of significance.

Holy shit.

GET BACK!

A shimmering silver force hurled him backward, but Felix planted his feet, tearing furrows into the stone floor with his heels. When her power faded, he stomped back, bleeding from the nose and teeth bared.

Empyrean Embrace!

Another miniscule bite, another piece of significance in his belly. His Hunger roared in anticipation, and Felix flared his Skill.

Siva struck out again, that prismatic potency transmitting through the barrier directly at him. Felix couldn't eat it, though he tried. It washed over him, sending him staggering back—but not nearly as far as before. Was she weakened that much by what the Pathless’ Priests did to her Shrine?

Emperor’s Vigilance!

The Skill errored out, unable to glean anything from the shadow of a goddess.

You Dare To Pry Into My Secrets? she demanded. Her limbs twisted, displaying too many joints across her arms and legs. Begone, Thief!

Felix grunted, taking her power head on, and was smashed into the ground. It cratered fully, and blood gushed from his mouth.

Armored Skin Is Level 102!

He leveraged himself back up and glared at the ghostly silhouette. “You’ll have to try harder than that to stop me, lady.”

Very Well.

Another crushing blast forced him to the earth, breaking polished stone with the hammer of his sternum. Even still, Felix kept his head up and his eyes fixed on his quarry.

Emperor’s Vigilance!

It failed again, but he kept activating the Skill. Over and over, each time enduring a greater pressure within his Mind as Siva rained blow after blow on his Body. He flared Sovereign of Flesh, burning Essence stolen from the Hierei to coat his skin in midnight scales and heal his wounds.

When Will You Learn?

Each strike was brutal, tearing scales from his back before pivoting to stab into his side and head. Yet her voice was calm, almost motherly, as if she were gently admonishing a stubborn child.

I Do Not Wish To Hurt You, Nevarre… But You Give Me No Choice.

Emperor’s Vigilance!

Emperor’s Vigilance is level 99!

He broke through—not all the way, but enough that the shimmering power she assaulted him with resolved into bundled threads that she wielded like a scourge. A whip of silver. Oaths that could no longer bind him, but through which her Will was enacted regardless. She slashed at him, catching Felix in the stomach and doubling him over onto fresh, unbroken flooring.

Felix laid there a second, catching his breath. He had also caught something else. “You’re weakened,” he said through bloody lips.

What?

“Your Shrine is messed up. A big chunk of Oaths just got sundered.” Felix smiled, and his sharp teeth were painted red. “You’re vulnerable—”

SILENCE!

The shadow upon the barrier grew larger, dominating Felix’s vision as if she grew beyond the bounds of her Shrine. Her hair was wild, and her skin became more than silhouette, turning pale and monstrous as limb upon limb stretched outward, each coiled with gleaming silver threads.

I AM BEYOND DEATH. I AM BEYOND LIFE. I HOLD THE FATE OF ALL THINGS IN THE PALM OF MY HAND.

Felix stood up and took a step forward. “Fate is bullshit. You’re just a puppeteer, lady, and I got scissors to use.”

Empyrean Embr—!

A bundle of silver Oath cords slammed into him from every conceivable direction, lifting him bodily from the ground before he could find traction. The pain was unbearable, overcoming all of his defenses and flensing scale and skin from muscle and bone. Essence raged, depleting his stores faster than ever and only barely able to keep up with the damage.

Armored Skin is level 103!

The Song of Absolution is level 99!

Sovereign of Flesh is level 99!

He would not stop.

Astrum Ascendance!

Sonata of Dominance!

The elemental Mana around him fell into his control and he wrenched the water and air around him, wrapping himself in a ball of swirling forces and cutting through the silver threads. He fell for a moment before he seized the air and pulled again, holding himself in place despite the silver lashes.

Sovereign of Flesh!

Cosmic flame wrapped around his scaled hands as he grew bulkier than ever, doubling in height and width as muscle and scale climbed across his frame. He pressed forward, through the flensing threads and slamming into the barrier.

Empyrean Embrace!

Siva leaped back, her silhouette fading. STOP THIS!

Divine Will crashed into Felix, sending his own stuttering for a single, heart-wrenching moment before a chorus of incandescent rejection burst from within him.

Title Activated: The Call of Defiance!

+25% Willpower When Contested By A Foe Of Divine Formation Or Greater

Felix screamed. Siva—weakened, drained, and overextended—found herself pushed back.

YOU—CANNOT—DO THIS!

“Try and stop me!” Felix said, before he latched his sharpened teeth directly onto the barrier…and tore a chunk out of it.

Power filled his core space, rioting through him like a parade, all noise and joyful chaos. It surged across his Divine Tree, overloading its branches until the nebula shined like diamonds and the opalescent bark ran brilliant with streaks of wild hue. The potency shot downward, through roots and cores and dark Hunger, down to his very foundational Pillars. An exultant knell shook the woven Pillars as they swelled with light and color, before the power shot right back up into his dual cores—and exploded outward.

Astrum Ascendence is level 100!

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…

Astrum Ascendence is level 110!

Skill Has Already Tempered!

Congratulations!

You Have Absorbed The Essence of [Symphony]!

Empyrean Embrace is level 100!

Master Tier!

You Gain:

+350 AGL

+250 VIT

+...

Sovereign of Flesh is level 100!

Master Tier!

You Gain:

+350 STR

+250 END

+...

Emperor’s Vigilance is level 100!

Master Tier!

You Gain:

+350 PER

+250 AFI

+...

The Song of Absolution is level 100!

Master Tier!

You Gain:

+350 EVA

+250 MIG

+...

Skill after Skill on the cusp of Master Tier was pushed over by stress and the stolen, roiling power of a goddess.

Gah!Empyrean Embrace!

The Essence Draughts in his pack burst apart, shattered by Felix’s Will and sucked through his channels in an instant. He gasped, struck by a gathering of pressure in his chest that felt alarmingly close to a heart attack. Crystal clear System energy howled toward his core space like a tsunami from all directions.

He braced and still wasn’t prepared for its haunting arrival. It filled up his dual cores to bursting, sending arcs of blue-white and red-gold light around it like a halo. Harmony and Dissonance warred together, and Felix leashed them into something resembling concordance as notifications cascaded across his senses.

His core revolted, spasming as it tried to sprint in three different directions all at once. Felix could do nothing but grapple with them, one at a time.

Sovereign of Flesh!

Legendary Essence Detected During Formation!

[Essence Draught of Atlantes (Pure)]

Broken Path and Fatebreaker Titles Found!

Master Tier Bonus Added!

Unbound Nature Resonates With [Essence Draught of Atlantes (Pure)]!

Calculating Effects...

Choose A Feature:

Ravager - Midnight Howl

Chimeric - Daybreak Call

Behemoth - Evenfall Roar

Words became images that unfolded into visions across Felix’s Mind. As always, understanding flowed with them.

Ravager - Midnight Howl. He saw a beast covered in scales that dripped darkness, long ebon talons that cut the air, and a vicious maw made for only one thing. Attack. It ran through the night like a dark wind, slashing through armored foes so fast that many fell before they knew they were dead. Eyes like blue flames burned within its sockets and its mouth hung open, panting or perhaps simply eager for its next meal.

Chimeric - Daybreak Call. The vision shifted with a surprising lurch, and Felix rolled onto deep moss and wet rocks. He was in the deep forest. A figure stood before him, leaning over the corpse of a monstrous bear thing covered in metal spikes. The figure reached out and stabbed his claws into the beast and his arms rapidly transformed into furry, spike covered appendages. Exactly the same as the monster before him.

Behemoth - Evenfall Roar. His perspective shifted shortly after, as the forest became a city of luminous towers floating above a wide cityscape. Lights dotted every street, moving about as if it was alive, or perhaps a river bound into the cobblestones below. Another creature, covered in large scales and horns, clung to one of the floating towers. It was massive, easily twenty feet tall if it were an inch, with muscles slabbed upon muscles and teeth that jutted like razor sharp tusks from an almighty jaw and prodigious snout. Robed figures attacked him, but the creature reached out and twisted its huge claws…and the figures were rent into crimson mist and dropped from the sky. It roared and struck the tower, guttering the lights that flowed over its sides as entire floors fell into the city below.

Felix gasped, brought back to himself as another devastating attack by Siva sent his blood and skin splattering against the ground below. He focused, thinking on his choices.

Ravager was an amplification of his speed and savagery inherent in Sovereign of Flesh, amplifying his teeth and claws and killing power. It was harsh but useful, especially in a pitched battle. Chimeric seemed to be focusing on stealing portions of other monsters, or maybe copying bits of their anatomy to add to his own. Also highly useful, but how much more deadly could he make himself? The final, Behemoth, seemed to go the opposite direction from Ravager and focused on size and strength over speed. It, above all, called to him the most.

I choose Behemoth.

Congratulations!

You Have Absorbed The Essence of [Behemoth]!

One Skill barely finished before another was thrust before him, crying out for his attention.

Emperor’s Vigilance!

Legendary Essence Detected During Formation!

[Essence Draught of Atlantes (Pure)]

Broken Path and Fatebreaker Titles Found!

Master Tier Bonus Added!

Unbound Nature Resonates With [Essence Draught of Atlantes (Pure)]!

Calculating Effects...

Choose A Feature:

Charter - Claim The Wild

Codex - Grasp The Truth

Maxim - Seize The Heart

Charter - Claim The Wild. A man stood in a jungle, a storm raging about him while monsters roared in the distance. He stared up into the sun itself, nodded, and walked through the heaving wilderness, sidestepping carnivorous flowers, hungry serpents, and the chittering attacks of creatures crawling out of empty skulls. He never stops walking once, untouched by anything that comes for him, as if he had already seen it. Anticipated it.

Codex - Grasp The Truth. That vision faded too, and was soon replaced by a man with nothing but the shirt on his back, standing before a frog-like creature many times his size. The man did nothing but stare at it, but the creature cowered, until it bowed its head and opened its mouth. From its maw came a mote of gleaming light, wet and humid, but somehow Felix knew it contained pieces of the creatures being. Not just thoughts or memories, but a chunk of its soul. The man took it and placed it against his forehead…before absorbing it completely.

Maxim - Seize The Heart. Felix blinked, and the explorer was gone. Instead, a king sat atop a throne, and before him were rolls and rolls of paper festooned with ribbons and seals and all sort of scribbled words. Around him were countless people of many Races, all craning their necks to see the king sign his signature onto the papers, before breaking out into cheers. Figures were shackled and led away, while others were clad in armor bearing a burning eye and praised.

Pain shook through his Aspects, rattling the visions from his eyes. Felix winced. Chaotic power raged within him, sparking as it trailed off of each of his Tempering Skills, begging him to move faster.

Okay! Okay. The explorer is good. It’s…awareness? Or cataloging things around him. That’s great. The frog guy…I don’t even know. Absorbing thoughts of his enemies? That’s useful, but it seems overwhelming. The king was the worst. Laws and rules, establishing and enforcing them. That wasn’t him at all.

He considered his options again, trying to keep the urgency from making him panic. He felt for what resonated most with his Skill and himself, and it was a toss up. Situational awareness was beyond powerful but his Perception did that already…but pulling the soul from his enemies? How would that even work?

His head swam, and the core space around him briefly doubled as if he’d just gotten concussed. Felix flared his Willpower, focusing.

Enhance what I can do already, or try something new?

Damn it!I choose Codex!

Congratulations!

You Have Absorbed The Essence of [Codex]!

Felix became briefly, intensely aware of his Aspects and realized they were all screaming at him. His Mind shook, his Spirit was overburdened, and his Body was a mess of blood and regenerating flesh.

I can do this!

Empyrean Embrace!

Legendary Essence Detected During Formation!

[Essence Draught of Atlantes (Pure)]

Broken Path and Fatebreaker Titles Found!

Master Tier Bonus Added!

Unbound Nature Resonates With [Essence Draught of Atlantes (Pure)]!

Calculating Effects...

Choose A Feature:

Voracity - Eat The Sun

Infusion - Steal The Moon

Nexus - Share The World

Voracity - Eat The Sun. The visions came faster now and their edges were hazy. Unfinished. He witnessed a figure crawl across a marsh carrying a lantern to draw the attention of an immense, mossy monstrosity. The figure stood still as it approached, its bulk undeniably strong, as thousands of eyes split upon among its green, woody flesh. It moved, faster than Felix expected…and it burst into noxious, vile smoke before pouring right into the figure’s open mouth.

Infusion - Steal The Moon. The previous vision cut out abruptly, dropping Felix into another. He stood with a man in a dark room covered in mirrors. Glowing orbs passed through and around the mirrors like they were windows into other places. Other planes. Yet each time an orb came near him, it deposited more of its light into the figure’s mouth. He ate, and ate, until his chest was the brightest light of them all.

Nexus - Share The World. The light cut out and returned, now vibrant and colorful. A figure with a flower crown sat atop a throne made of a living tree, covered in blossoms and hanging fruit, while people sat around him, each peacefully attending their own duties. This one sharpening weapons, that one collecting statues. None had faces, yet he could feel their importance. Lines of liquid light were grown into the forest floor, each a root leading back to the throne. To the figure in a flower crown. The roots pulsed, pushing inward and then outward, like breath or blood. The light swelled, filling the faceless people around him until they all glowed…and the darkness was all but banished.

Voracity is…Hunger. It’s my Hunger and what? The limits of what it can take? That’d be useful. He grimaced against distant pain. Infusion was about memories. Those orbs of light are exactly how they look when they’re stuck in my Divine Tree. So it’s about taking more from memories? More Skills, maybe. Useful. Nexus… He clutched at his chest. Gah! Nexus is about my Links. The light…that guy was sharing his stolen power with his allies. I can do that already, but again, this would make it better.

Yet unlike his last Skill, this time Felix knew exactly which one he wanted.

I choose Nexus!

Congratulations!

You Have Absorbed The Essence of [Nexus]!

He gritted his teeth and fell from one Tempering to the next.

The last.

The Song of Absolution!

Legendary Essence Detected During Formation!

[Essence Draught of Atlantes (Pure)]

Broken Path and Fatebreaker Titles Found!

Master Tier Bonus Added!

Unbound Nature Resonates With [Essence Draught of Atlantes (Pure)]!

Calculating Effects...

Choose A Feature:

Refuge - Solace Of Harmony

Resonance - Beacon Of Peace

Invictus - Armor Of War

Refuge - Solace Of Harmony. The vision unfurled around him, bare gestures rather than rich details. His Mind buzzed, unable to contain the information, but Felix shook himself and held on. Around him others were huddled close, trembling in fear and sobbing. One figure stood above them, holding them save while a storm raged beyond their strange bubble. He was tall and resolute and never once bent his knee.

Resonance - Beacon Of Peace.Within that small space a second vision appeared, unraveling the storm and the sobbing survivors to replace them with a lone figure upon a mountainside. He sat upon a boulder, weathering winter gales and brutal summer sun, all while not stirring from his spot once. An immaculate sense of peace rolled off the figure, as if Felix stood in the center of a quiet grotto that had existed for hundreds of years, untouched.

Invictus - Armor Of War. The peace was shattered by the screams of the dying, and Felix stumbled into a splintered vision of a war. Fires burned and cities were crumbling, but the figure at the center was untouched. His armor covered him like scales, gleaming like the Crescian Bronze sword in his hand. He faced enemies all around him, creatures of shadow and dark purple violence that sought nothing but his end…yet he stood, triumphant.

Void Sanctuary is level 115!

The riot of his power tore at him, threatening to split him apart if his concentration lapsed for a single second, while an enraged goddess lashed at him.

I—I think…Refuge isn’t right. Resonance too. They protect and enhance, but I want more. I need more.

Fiendforge is level 98!

He held his core space as tight as he dared while his Mind screamed at the tasks it was undertaking. His Body was shutting down, and his Spirit was overloaded, but he didn’t let go of the Skill. Without it, his core space would have long since sundered.

The choice was clear. He made it.

Congratulations!

You Have Absorbed The Essence of [Invictus]!

Felix gagged as the Essence, Mana, and significance spun within him and around his four Tempering Skills. It sang, harmonizing among his core space in a way that sent shivers of vibration through every inch of his Aspects and quickening his formation.

3 of 3 Body Essences Formed!

3 of 3 Mind Essences Formed!

3 of 3 Spirit Essences Formed!

Tempering Has Begun!

The pain was unearthly and unending. It transcended time and space to strike at him from every conceivable angle since the day he was born.

He could no longer fight it back.

Felix howled, and the study around him was torn asunder. Cracks blasted through the floor and walls, severing bookshelves in half and scattering their tomes in explosions of paper and wooden boards. The ceiling shuddered, collapsing around him, but the aura of power that tormented him kept the debris from touching his form. Stone slabs fell atop Felix, but they shattered around him and he was none the wiser.

A resounding bell rang through him, met by a thousand instruments rising all at once into a blaring crescendo.

Tempering Into Master Tier All At Once Will Kill You!

Delirious with pain and nearly blind from the chaos within, Felix lifted his hands.

He flipped Siva off just as it all went black.

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