Unbound

Felix tested the ground, and watched the thick, stagnant water to either side bubble. “There’s a core of rock, but it’s definitely unstable.”

After hours of descent, they had reached the lower portion of the valley. Each step made the advent of spring more impossible to ignore, until the warm damp in the air clung to them like a second skin. Before him, the cliffs and muddy meadows had become an impenetrable swamp. A forest of twisted trees covered the flooded valley floor, so thick that their branches tangled together and their lifted roots created pockets of shadow and lapping currents. It was a maze of game trails and murky, waist-deep water, obscured further by withered vines and curtains of hanging moss.

The Eidolons stood some distance away, their weight entirely too much for the strange, floating ground. Chanters, Vess, Evie, and Beef had ventured a bit closer, while a small Pit, Yin, and Hallow balanced atop them all.

“Huh. Seems fine to me.” Archie bounced his full weight on the mass of mud, moss, and tangled roots. It barely shook.

“You weigh less than what’s left of my legs,” Harn grunted from Orun’s arms. He shifted himself until the cloth wrapped around his waist tugged tight. “Beef. Put your hoof down.”

“Sure.” The kid turned sideways to slip through the Eidolons, careful not to bump Orun or Telyn. “Just like, step here or—WHOA!” The seemingly solid trail squelched as it was immediately inundated. Beef pulled his leg back up, hoof now coated in muck, and it made a sound like a clogged toilet. “That’s just gross.”

“Can’t we just fly over it?” Evie asked.

“Ooh!” Pit perked right up. “I’m real big now! I could hold everyone, probably!”

“Wards.”

The Elven Chanter had his own eyes closed too, his hands turning in the empty air as if feeling his way through dense weeds. “They are thick about this place. Subtle, but strong. And very old.” He met Felix’s gaze. “If we fly too high, something will notice us.”

Archie spread his arms wide, as if to gesture to the world around them. “Who? We’re not exactly in the center of civilization here.”

“The thief’s got a point,” Evie said, begrudgingly.

Laur’s hands kept moving but now they wove closer and closer to the water. Then, with a sudden thrust, he shoved a hand below the surface. Mana pulsed from his palm, and the murk turned crystal clear for several paces in every direction…and revealed a sunken, bone-white statue.

“That looks like a Dragon,” Hallow said.

Vess sucked in a sharp breath before fumbling with the book she kept at her waist. She very nearly dropped her spear in her rush to flip through its thick pages.

“Vess?” Felix said, stepping closer. Instead of answering, she shoved the book into his hands, which had been opened to a page covered in a fine, looping script. More importantly, however, were the detailed drawings of a coiled Dragon statue, planted beside a wide road.

“This is the Gloaming Way,” she said, pointing to the unstable trail beneath their feet. “Or what’s left of it. We cannot stray from it, or else we will lose the path entirely.”

“But from the air—”

“The ward is tied to these statues, Master Pit. I can see the knots clearly here, and they are as convoluted as some of those I spied at the Vault of Nine Kings.” Laur flicked water from his fingers and stood. “This is what would notice us, I think, and its influence is wide. If it functions as Lady Dayne suggests, then we might end up lost even in the air.”

The Dire Hound pup crossed his forepaws and pouted hard. “But I wanna fly.”

Felix took in as much of their surroundings as he could with his Perception as well as flaring Manasight for good measure. Mana was everywhere, of course, but now that he knew what he was looking for, he could spot the tendrils flowing from the submerged statue…and even spotted a few more around a hundred yards distant.

“We have a path, we just need to walk it. Beef, Archie.” Felix waved the two Unbound closer. Archie stepped out onto the unsteady trail, but Beef hung back. “We need to talk about training.”

“Training? I thought we were just trying to get through this swamp.”

“We are Beef, and that’s why I called you in particular. I want you to bolster this trail with your Keratin Conception Skill.”

The kid looked nervously between the treacherous path and Felix. “You’re serious?”

“I am. While we came down the mountain, I spent my time thinking.” Felix gestured at them both. “All of us need to advance. I’m nearly at Master Tier, and my stats are good. Beef. You’re strong, and your Skills are keeping up, but you’re not nearly where you could be. And Archie; from what I’ve seen, you’re only brushing the edges of what you can do. Stress and challenge is what pushes our Skills to their limits, and I’ve devised a way to train you both.”

“Train? To fight your war?” Archie folded his arms. “Not interested.”

“It’s not Felix’s war, dude. It’s everyone’s war.”

“Says you. Some of us haven’t gone native.”

Felix held up his hands, cutting both of them off. “Look, this isn’t about the Ruin. Not really. It’s about today. Tomorrow. You saw how nasty those Bethir were, right? And those were just Master Tier equivalent monsters. What happens when you face a Grandmaster? A Paragon? Will you survive it, all on your own?”

Beef swallowed audibly. “No.”

Archie folded his arms.

“We’re Unbound. That means more options are open to us, and some of the rules don’t apply. We need to exploit that as hard as we can, as fast as we can. Even if some of us end up leaving, this will keep you alive.”

“I’m…not against staying alive,” Archie admitted slowly.

Beef growled. “What do you want me to do, Felix?”

“Focus on the trail and create chitin supports to keep it from sinking. You need to make it strong enough to hold all of us.” Felix pointed at the Eidolons. “Them too.”

The kid chewed at the inside of his cheek for a long second, then nodded. “Alright.”

As Beef strode ahead, summoning power into his hands, Felix raised an eyebrow at the Delven. “What about it? You in?”

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Archie sighed. “What did you have in mind?”

“Walk through the mud, here at the edges.” Felix pointed along the sides of the new Gloaming Way, where the broken stone and matted roots gave way to a foul-smelling goop. “Now that Beef’s establishing a bit of a runway, and since you don’t weigh much, you can practice ahead of everyone.”

“What the hell does walking through mud have to do with training?”

“I want you to use Stoneswim while you do it.”

Archie scowled. “It doesn’t work like that. I can move through rock and dirt and some metals. Doesn’t work if the ground’s covered in snow or water.”

“Why not? Have you tried it?”

“I was chased through a blizzard for months. You think I never tried to slip through the snow?” Archie lifted his goggles, and his ruby eyes flashed. “It doesn’t work.”

“What about water?”

“What about it? It’s not the ground.”

“Yeah, but it’s just water. You should be able to move through it just like anyone else, right? And mud is just dirt with extra water.” Archie opened his mouth twice before shutting it again, each time his scowl growing. Felix shrugged. “Look. I’m just asking you to try. Training is about pushing ourselves and using our Skills in new ways helps them grow. What do you have to lose?”

“Fine.” Archie jabbed a stubby finger at Felix. “But if I end up soaked, I’m gonna be pissed.”

An hour later they were well into the swamp. Beef was hard at work on the path, but it was slow going. Every five feet of progress he made was painstaking, requiring the kid to sink his Keratin Conception deep into the bed of the swamp waters before building upward into pillars and arches that could support their weight. The process was helped along by the Gloaming Way itself, which wasn’t entirely broken apart, and gave Beef something solid to anchor his Skill.

Knowing he could fashion a solid walkway with a fraction of his Will made watching Beef’s fumbling a test of endurance. Felix had to remind himself that easier wasn’t better, not in this case. He couldn’t solve everyone’s problems alone. So while Beef fought the swamp, Felix took to resting every hundred yards or so, allowing the Minotaur to gather enough of a head start before catching up.

Not everyone was so patient.

Evie, tired of scouting the same ground over and over, broke down and began to help an hour in. Bindings of the White Waste worked to freeze the water, securing portions of the muck so Beef could build on top of them, while her Undine Grace and Born Trait kept her nimble and light enough to avoid falling into the algae soup all around them.

Hallow took up defensive duty as monsters sought out the folks causing such a disturbance. Schools of lamprey-like fish surged at them every once in a while, dozens at a time, but each one was felled by a crystalline needle through their thick skulls.

Three dozen two foot long eel-monsters were soon under Hallow’s control, and proved to be more than enough to keep any other predators at bay. Together, the three of them pressed their pace from a crawl to limp.

Not bad. Ahead, something splashed heavily into the water. Felix glanced ahead, only to see Beef pulling himself back onto a platform of chitin. He was covered in muck up to his horns, and his fur hung from him like the world's biggest mop. More often than not, his structures would crack and collapse, which sent him tumbling into the swamp waters. To his credit, the kid never once gave up. Over and over he crafted struts and braces out of chitin, sinking their ends into the soft earth beneath the water and tangled roots.

In Felix’s estimation, it was going well. Archie’s training, on the other hand, was a bit more difficult.

“God damn mud!” Archie stumped back onto dry land, his legs a clumpy mess of clotted weeds and dripping muck. His boots remained dry, but only because they were set beside Felix.

Sitting on a stone plinth he molded from the earth, Felix scratched his jaw. “How’s it going, Arch? Did you flow through it this time?”

“What do you think?!”

“I’m guessing no.”

Archie’s eyes flew wide and he clutched at his wet shirt. “OH! Amazing! You got a mind reading Skill too?”

“Quit yappin’,” Harn groused from behind them. “You’ll draw more monsters.”

“You—!” The Unbound snapped his teeth shut on his words, as if biting them in half. He took a breath and continued on in a quieter tone. “You’re right. Sorry. I told you this wouldn’t work, Felix. I tried your idea out, but it’s gettin’ me nowhere.”

Harn let out a soft, surprised grunt; Felix supposed he was the only one who could hear it apart from the Eidolon that carried the warrior. He was surprised too. In the short span of time they’d known him, Archie had rarely apologized. “I have an idea. Will you let me help?”

Archie’s frown flattened into something guarded. “Help how?”

“I can guide you through a visualization process. Something that helps me. Do you have your Intent unlocked?”

“One of those Harmonic stats? No. Just Alacrity, whatever that is.”

“Alright. How about this,” Felix stood and waved his hand. With a sudden schlorp every bit of mud on the man was flung back into the swamp. Archie jolted in surprise, and Felix walked close. “Step back onto the bank, and listen to my words. If it doesn’t work, then we can try something else.”

“Fine.”

Archie stepped back into the shallows just alongside a portion of the ruined Gloaming Way where Beef hadn’t laid chitinous supports. A slab of stone that had once sat level was askew, jutting a corner of its pock-marked length up into the warm air. Plantlife clung to those cracks, filling them up with moss and grasping tendrils, anchoring dirt to the base of the road. Dirt became mud became shallow waters teeming with vivid green algae. Archie flexed his toes as he sank further.

“Okay. Shuffle your feet,” Felix said.

“Shuffle my—right. Fine.” Archie slowly slid his left foot forward, churning the mud and ankle-deep water. Then he slid his right foot.

“What do you feel?”

“Cold.”

“Describe it.”

Archie gritted his teeth, pushing the words through them. “It’s like someone stuck my feet in an ice block. The mud is oozing through my toes, and I’ve scraped myself against a dozen rocks and roots.”

“Focus on that,” Felix said. “Focus on the sensation of it. The grittiness of the mud.” Felix let the moment stretch as Archie kept shuffling forward, one slow step at a time. “Now, activate Stoneswim.”

“I told you—”

“This time, focus on moving through the mud. Not the water, ignore that. Pay attention to the earth and roots and stone all around your feet.”

Nothing happened. Archie continued to shuffle ahead, step after squelching step. His eyes were scrunched closed so hard that his nose wrinkled and his mustache quivered. Felix flared his Manasight.

Manasight is level 93!

Imperceptible flows of power coursed through the Delven, circulating through his pathways in a way that reminded Felix of his own Sovereign of Flesh. Another set of flows exited his channels at his feet, pulsing through the muck before dissipating a few feet from his body. It hummed a tune that reminded him of Stone Shaping, which made sense.

C’mon. I know this can work. Felix licked his lips. It might just need a little push.

Astrum Ascendence!

Cosmic flame sprouted from Felix’s fingers and jolted across the short space between him and Archie. Like a heat seeking missile, the ribbon of flame hit him square in the back of the neck, right at the base of his skull.

“Ah!” Archie gasped.

The ribbon of fire shot through his channels, spreading as it hummed its strange blend of Dissonance and Harmony. Felix hadn’t used the Skill on someone else before, but the flame seemed to know what it was doing. He barely guided it at all once it reached Archie's channels, but it fanned out across the whole of the man’s Mana system before it struck home in his core.

Archie stumbled. The tune of his Skill twitched…and for a moment, he slid forward with all the ease of an ice skater.

Astrum Ascendence winked out. Archie stood there, at the edge of the swamp, and stared down into the mud at his feet. Felix raised his voice. “You okay?”

“Yeah I—I think I felt something.”

“You did?” Felix clenched his Spirit tight, despite knowing the guy didn’t have the ability to sense emotions yet. “What was it?”

“The Skill it…God, that crazy you’ve been spouting is infecting me now. It sounded like my Skill was singing.” Archie moved his feet, splashing them in the scummy water. “Singing.”

Without another word, Archie slid his foot forward again. The hum of his Skill switched on as he did it…and this time, there was no squelching. He moved as if gliding across a waxed floor in fresh, fluffy socks.

“Well damn. That’s annoying,” he said as he coasted to a stop. He looked back over his shoulder, at Felix. “You were right.”

Felix, over a hundred feet away, simply smiled.

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