Unbound

The rocky tunnel was short, compared to what his team had traversed so far. In thirty minutes, Eagin had stepped through the opening of a cave and into a bright and sunny afternoon. The rest followed closely after.

“It’s warmer out than I expected,” Beef said, lifting a thick hand to block out the orange sunlight. “And later. Is that west?”

“Aye,” Telys confirmed. “Is this where we wished to end up?”

“It is,” Vess said. The setting sun bathed her features in flame as she smiled. “We’ve reached the southernmost tip of the Rimefang Mountains. Down there, in fifty leagues as the Ffen flies, we shall find the borders of my father’s Territory.”

“Home sweet home,” Archie muttered. He adjusted his goggles against the glare. “At least it’s warmer here.”

Felix had noticed that. There was still a chill in the air, but the breeze wasn’t nearly as bitter as it had been near Birchstone. It even carried a hint of damp and the furtive scent of greenery.

“‘Bout time for it to be spring,” Evie said. “Winter felt like it lasted all year.”

“Feels good,” Beef agreed.

“Not all of us have fur,” Archie said, clutching his woolen cloak. “If we don’t get outta this wind, I think my balls are gonna fall off.”

Felix rolled his eyes, but set about scouting a path down the mountain. Ahead of them was the valley between peaks, with a few lesser mountains between them and what looked like a dark smudge on the horizon. Even with his advanced eyesight the area was devoid of much detail, though he could make out a mess of trees and the faint glint of water.

Maybe it’s enchanted, like the Foglands. He sounded his Voracious Eye, intent on finding out—only to have a deep, stabbing pain strike at his innards.

Fly Fast, Navarre.

Events Are Catching Up To You.

It Is Dangerous To Go Alone.

Take This As A Gesture Of Goodwill.

He gasped, clutching his belly, and everyone around him began shouting in alarm. Scalding heat clawed through his pathways, scorching them even as they seemed to freeze solid. Felix ripped at his Garment, his shirt and jacket shredding beneath his claws as he bared his naked chest. Wild power pulsed from beneath his skin, and his core was going crazy. Black scales crawled across his torso, pulsing back and forth from the edges to the center, as if chased away by the hammering of chaotic energies.

A Touch Of Divinity Detected!

Your Companion’s Evolution Has Changed!

Vess ran to him while the others stared, mouths open, as time slowed to a crawl and color drained from the world all around him.

“Felix, what is h a p p e n i n g ?”

The world around him shattered.

Pit opened his bright golden eye. He was still huddled in the hollow of a tree, the same one he had found on that first day. It was busted apart, broken to splinters where it stuck above the dirt. He’d had to revert himself to his smallest size to fit, and then only barely, but he found a measure of safety beneath the earth.

Above, the entirety of Creation shook apart.

After that final blow against Imara, Pit had fallen into his core space, which had originally been a replica of the forests in the Foglands. Then the Mote of Frenzy had made itself known, and it had taken all of Pit’s Agility and Strength to escape its onslaught.

His core space had been turned into a wasteland. Up above, trenches were constantly torn up by errant blasts of raw elemental forces, trees were reduced to charred stumps, and even the cliffs were frozen until they exploded. The ground was churned dirt, all but lifeless, and the Mote of Frenzy soaked everything with power.

Roiling energies stabbed through the ground, sparking off the roots and onto his tiny shoulders. Pit let out a high pitched whistle of pain, but tried once again to pull the power into himself. Shifting lights flickered around him, flaring where they met his Mana Gates…before dispersing.

Barely anything. Pit had been trying to take in the power of the Mote for…days? Weeks? He’d been soaked in pain and mud for too long. Time had ceased to have meaning. All that mattered was his progress.

Evolution Progress: 9%

Pit moaned. Like the forest, his wings were stumps charred and frozen. His legs were bloody. His crest nearly plucked clean. But he wouldn’t stop. Not now. Not ever. You can do this, he reminded himself. You’re a tenku. A Guardian Beast. You gotta do this. For Felix.

Breath of the Wild.

Breath of the Wild is level 49!

Healing energy flowed through him, closing small rents and lessening the brunt of his burns. He hung onto his healing and mantra by the tips of his talons. They were all he had. Without their relief and guiding focus, he’d long have fallen—

Pit jerked his head up and stared as if he could see through the packed soil. Something’s changed.

The constant pain had lessened.

The Mote of Frenzy was…distracted?

Pit’s Mind was filled with a distinct, vivid image. A hand, vast as a continent, reached out and grabbed the condensed might of the Mote of Frenzy. A piece of him thrilled at the sight…only to recoil in horror as he spotted too many fingers, each with too many joints. He had seen hands like that before, and wished never to see them again.

Stand, Guardian. Stand And Fight.

Golden eyes wide, Pit didn’t realize he was standing until the voice’s words had ended. “I’ll fight you!”

A deep, thunderous chuckle answered his threat. So Much Alike. Perhaps You Will Surprise Me Too.

The world above went utterly silent.

Run.

The word sparked something primal inside of Pit. Before he could make sense of the word, he was racing up the short tunnel, back to the surface. He burst through the last foot of dirt, sending clods cascading onto a war torn landscape.

Holy nuts. It’s worse than I thought.

His core space was absolutely leveled, until it was an endless plain of disturbed earth, half charred and half frozen. Hung above him, set into a sky of blackened clouds, was the Mote of Frenzy. It appeared as a sun though was constantly changing in size and shape and composition. It was also grasped firmly by the hand of a god.

There was only one thing on the horizon apart from the shadowed hand and the eclipsed Mote. Only one chance.

Pit ran.

Too Slow.

Behind him, the hand spread its fingers, and the Mote shone through the gaps. Two rays of elemental Mana crashed into the dirt, spraying ice and flame in one, while another coursed with hurtling boulders and bubbling rivers of acid. They shot forward, angling with a distinct Intent to hit Pit before he could reach his destination.

He had to reach his core. Only then would he have a chance. It was leafless and battered, but still standing. The only thing standing. His [Four Star Core] shone like a beak from between multiple trees woven together into one—it had remained inviolate and unreachable for Pit’s entire time there…and hopefully would remain that way.

I’m here, buddy.

Pit nearly fell over. Felix?

I’m right beside you.

The faintest image of Felix appeared, running beside Pit with an easy, loping gait. Pit choked back tears. Felix!

What do we need to do? Felix asked.

I–I need to get to my core. I think I can complete my Evolution there.

Felix looked ahead, then back, toward the Mote and the horrendous hand. Alright. I’ll run interference. Run, buddy. Run as fast as you can.

His Companion peeled off, heading straight for the rays of raw elemental Mana. “Leave him be, Avet! Or you answer to me!”

Tsk.

Pit shot forward, flaring his Agility with everything he had as pure, unadulterated violence erupted behind him. That unnatural hand withdrew further, and the chaotic sun raged. Raw elemental Mana poured like a flood onto the earth, a pounding tidal wave seeking Pit’s tiny form.

But Felix was there, meeting the power in the breach. He held out his hands, and the riot of Mana froze in place…before getting pulled into his mouth.

Hey! No Cheating.

“Come and stop me, then!”

HAH! As You Wish!

The very air howled as power unleashed from the sky. Every hair on Pit’s body stood up and his instincts screamed at him, but he couldn’t stop. He could only run.

Pit leaped over gullies and ditches, through ravines populated by lifeless stone and broken roots. He dodged the barren terrain, as a roar shook the world.

I’m not fast enough! My legs are too small!

Behind him, Pit could feel Felix shift, his spectral image gaining substance and clarity even as it turned more and more bestial. A boom ripped through the ground, tearing through the dirt just behind the tenku’s feet as Felix shot into the sky and met Avet’s unnatural presence. Skin became an iron hide of midnight scales, and a mane of blue-white flame erupted in his wake.

Felix changed himself, growing claws and teeth enough to engage with a god.

I’m too small!

As far as revelations go, it wasn’t the most profound, but to Pit it was like lightning had struck his brain. Between one step and the next, his body shifted into his mature form, legs and stride lengthening in equal measure as he outpaced the ferocious battle behind him.

He’s risking it all for me. I need to embrace whatever I must in order to survive. He wove around light and shadow and the very earth that heaved all around him. For Felix!

The unbridled Essence and Mana of the Mote of Frenzy sheared through his path, forcing Pit to skirt around its chaotic beam. Lava and poison bubbled after him, reaching out like clawed hands to grasp his tail. Burning him. He kept running.

Felix roared, and pieces of the Mote vanished, suddenly consumed.

Pit stumbled, the incredible echo of pain sounding through their bond. The power Felix was devouring was burning him up from the inside. His best friend was in pain. He needed to stop, to help, to—

Go, Pit! I can handle it!

In that briefest of instants, while their attention was diverted, the Mote descended. The entirety of its might dropped like a blazing mountain from the sky. A word for it filtered into Pit’s Mind, along with a horror Pit hadn’t sensed from his friend in a long time.

A meteor…

It was aimed directly at Pit’s core.

No! Pit leaped through the branches of the Woven Tree, catching his burning wing stumps on a branch. It hurt, but no more than the rest of him. He looked up. Past the glowing hunk of his [Four Pointed Star Core], he could see the Mote’s descent. The meteor ripped through the air so fast it set the clouds aflame…and Pit could only watch in terror.

“Stone Shaping!”

A mass of flesh and scale hit the meteor. Cracks tore across its surface, each of them filled with molten lava—a near soundless whump shot outward, a concussive wave that slammed into Pit and his Woven Tree like a hurricane.

The meteor detonated.

A million pieces shot outward and down almost faster than Pit’s eyes could track…but most of them were still headed for his core.

Pit braced his bloody legs on the roots around him and dug deep. All of his pain and rage bubbled to the surface, igniting up his throat like a conflagration of defiance. He loosed a terrible, Dissonant screech with all of his might. All around him, the Woven Tree shuddered, its branches tightening into a solid barrier just as his core surged, the crystalline star expanding, changing.

The shattered meteor struck—yet instead of fire and devastation, raw power surged through the tree. Mana and Essence coursed across bark, branch, and root before firing back upward into the central chamber where Pit stood. He howled, his vision going white with pain, but he endured. It felt nothing like the dregs of power he’d absorbed underground. This was the Mote of Frenzy unleashed…and cut with something else. Something even more primal.

Divinity.

Above him, Pit’s [Four Pointed Star Core] vibrated, altering pitch as the Divinity threaded within it resonated with Avet’s touch. Further, beyond his sight, a mighty clash shook Pit’s entire core space, followed by dual roars.

I can’t stop this, Pit. You need to endure, and you need to choose!

The meteor wasn’t done. More collided with Pit’s Woven Tree, thrashing its branches with physical force and searing, molten power. Yet Pit wasn’t done, either.

He screeched once again, and this time the sound flooded the Woven Tree like a command. It obeyed, sacrificing its clutched barrier to split open like a flower. The remains of the meteor dropped down…and the Woven Tree snatched them from the air.

Molten Mana and Essence flowed through the Woven Tree and into his core. Sound and fury spread into Pit, inundating his Mind, Body, and Spirit in waves too violent to comprehend. Light bloomed, chased by shadows and the beleaguered phantom of his own fears.

You can’t hold this…

You’ll die…

Reject it! Run from it…

No.Pit wouldn’t give into fear. He rejected those thoughts, and he endured. This is mine.

Evolution Progress: 15%

Like an unblocked drain, His [Four Star Core] suddenly accepted the power, drawing it in at a steady pace. Not exceedingly fast, but faster than he’d ever managed before.

Evolution Progress: 20%

Evolution Progress: 25%

Progress faded as the remains of the meteor was taken in, until nothing was left but the burning chaos sun in the sky. Just as it did, a drop of foreign power hits, like a thorn hidden behind a beautiful flower.

Take This, Chimera. With My Blessing.

A notification popped up, soon followed by a legion of others, all of them accompanied by a swell of brilliant Harmony.

Adjusting Evolution Choices…

Choose One Of The Following!

Chimeric Catalyst Tenku

Chaos Stormdeacon Tenku

Elemental Verger Tenku

Unlike before, knowledge of what those Evolution choices meant flooded Pit’s Mind. Chimeric Catalyst had a focus on transformation and the nature of his Race. Chaos Stormdeacon focused on a powerful control type skillset, with the potential to alter his Skills to match them. Elemental Verger was also focused on power, but specifically on all sorts of elemental magic, promising to offer him complete dominance over the field of battle. Pit found temptation in every single one…and yet was repulsed.

Every single option was tainted by Avet’s Divine touch.

Catalyst…deacon…verger, Pit listed out. All of them pieces of Avet’s influence. He—he wants to put chains on me. Or—Pit looked up, through the gap in his Woven Tree, and spied a monstrous Felix vying against the cascading power of the Mote. Or Felix, through me.

Pit slashed a claw through the window, rejecting them all.

“Felix!” he shouted into the storm. “More!”

The nightmare of flesh and scales in the sky turned a bright blue eye upon Pit, and smiled.

“More? You got it!”

Hm. Interesting. Would You Let Your Companion Die, Nevarre?

Felix laughed, and teeth rippled across his expanding, nightmare shape. “I would let him choose!”

A piece of Felix’s conceptual shape split, limbs and teeth pulling back to let through a cascade of the Mote’s power. It shot down, faster than the meteor, before snagging in the outspread branches of Pit’s Woven Tree. Mana and Essence were snagged, funneled down into his [Four Pointed Star Core].

Pit howled, the backlash burning his feathers to ashes and withering his once-bushy tail. “More! I can take more!”

Evolution Progress: 30%

Adjusting Evolution Choices…

Choose One Of The Following!

Avet’s touch only increased as the Mote flooded his core. More options appeared, but Pit rejected them again, not even taking the time to read them.

“More!”

Evolution Progress: 45%

Felix bellowed in sympathy, their Etheric Concordance blurring the lines between them. Pit regretted that, but he could barely form thoughts. All he could do was endure the Mote, as more and more power funneled into his Woven Tree and core.

Evolution Progress: 70%

More power. Absorption. Rejection.

Again, and again, and again.

I need to do this. Not for Felix. Pit clacked his curved beak. For me.

Evolution Progress: 85%

Pit set himself, fur and feathers turned to ash. His muscles quivered, and he might have fallen had the Woven Tree not pressed to tightly against his flanks.

“I am a tenku! A Guardian Beast! And I will not be stopped!”

The sky shook, as if it were a painting, and the clouds ran in rapid circles around his center. The very edges of them blackened.

Very Well. Let Us Cease Holding Back.

Mana, Essence, and unrivaled Divinity came crashing down.

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