Unbound

“Monster! Master Tier!” Evie howled, her voice nearly drowned out by the thing that followed her.

Their responses varied. The Chanters were busy at Harn’s side, hands glowing as they applied some Skill to the unconscious man. The Eidolons were already on their feet, arms lifted in defensive postures as they advanced toward the beast. Hallow flowed onto Beef, forming into his breastplate as he gripped Bedlam in his meaty fists. Archie…Archie backed up, putting Yintarion and his core between him and the threat.

Felix moved.

“Behind me!” he shouted, interposing himself as Evie’s shield failed. Lightning blasted him, coursing across his chest and arms and burning away half of his Garment. The beast followed, jaws open but already snapping closed onto his exposed head and torso.

He grabbed its jaws and stopped it cold.

“Cardinal Flame!” Felix growled, and red-gold flame fountained from his maw—right into the monster’s gullet. It rampaged through its insides, bashing aside crackling electricity and flooding the beast with a ravenous inferno.

Cardinal Flame is level 100!

Master Tier!

Felix gasped as power flooded through him, bearing down on his core space from the System itself. He threw aside the writhing Bethir, letting it crash onto the ground as he grappled with his pouch.

You Gain:

+20 WIL

+15 INT

+...

He unsealed another Essence Draught and threw it back, downing it in one go. The Spirit Fruit derived concoction burned as it went down, setting the back of his throat ablaze as his core answered with its own raging storm.

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...

WARNING!

Felix’s head jerked back as the System sent a jolt of liquid agony through his center. Words unfurled across his Mind, but only after a second of focusing could he make them out.

Your Essence Draught Is Influenced By The Mote Of Frenzy!

Calculating Effects…

Shit.

Choose A Feature:

Sonata - A Flame Among Fields

Symphony - The Inferno, Unrelenting

Syncopate - Let Rage The Stars

Insight blossomed within him, unbidden. The Features resonated within his chest, unfolding from words to vivid, pulsating images of flame. Those images seared through him, intensifying beat after beat, as violent energies speared through his center. It hurt far more than the previous Tempering had, and Felix retreated down into his Void Sanctuary.

Walls of opal rose around him, blocking away the fire in the sky—but it was unable to block the sheer sense of havoc. Above him, the midday heavens had turned to sunset, filled as they were with rays of chaotic light.

The Mote of Frenzy was going wild.

The second sun stabbed through his opal forest, igniting it into a glowing forge that gave birth to vivid streamers of elemental power. These ribbons of shifting primal energies rippled above the horizon, stretching high enough that Felix could see them over his city’s walls. His Void Sanctuary flexed, bending inward toward those ribbons as if sucked in…and the walls trembled.

Void Sanctuary is level 101!

Deep Mind is level 81!

Felix clamped on it, his Will throttling the agony while Affinity identified the rarified strains of Dissonance and Harmony within the chaos. His Intent shaped it away from his center, and those images within clarified.

Sonata - A Flame Among Fields. Images of light came with it, but they were far off. Pinpricks in a blanket of darkest velvet. In a rush, one light grew until it dominated all of Felix’s vision. A star, picked out in red-gold and filled with a sound that stung his ears. Flames jumped from its surface like prominences off the sun, wisps of plasma that curled back inward, unable to reach far beyond its glowing halo. Understanding flooded him, the images pulsating into a song that filled his Mind. To choose Sonata was to choose self-reliance and isolation. A single star, cut off in the endless vacuum of space.

Symphony - The Inferno, Unrelenting. The image changed…or perhaps Felix did. Things shifted, the blank Void now filled with an unending sea of red-gold flames. All around him was more of the same, as if millions of stars had been drawn into orbit with one another, so close that they seemed one continuous whole. Again, understanding came: Symphony was the many working as one, toward a singular goal.

Syncopate - Let Rage The Stars. The images burst, thrust from Felix’s viewpoint as if he were rushing through a field of neverending galaxies. The flames burned colder, faster, and alien. He could tell that this Feature meant change, and perhaps change would elevate him toward a new, distant horizon. Change and versatility at the risk of losing the Skill’s power.

WARNING!

The Mote Of Frenzy Is Volatile!

Effects On Tempering Unknown!

Words turned to meaningless soup as he grappled with the agony in his core.

He had to choose. Now.

When Felix sank to his knees, Vess was only just standing up. When he burst into flame, she just about fell over again.

Stop. He’s fine. She could feel it echoing across their Link. He was Tempering himself.

“Are you alright?” Evie asked, still holding onto Vess’ shoulders. “That thing rang your bell pretty good.”

“I am unhurt.” Vess felt at the back of her head, finding her hair matted down with blood. She clucked her tongue. “Foolish risk, attacking it head on.”

“Brave, too. Though Mags always said you couldn’t find one without the other. The foolish and the brave.”

“A wise woman, your sister.”

“You’re tellin’ me.”

The Bethir was still alive, having fought off Felix’s terrible power, but it had withered, its slick blue skin now charred in many places. That did not reduce its might overmuch, though, as it shrugged off the fists of the stone Eidolons and the ice-hammer Bedlam. The thing’s twelve feet moved in eerie concert with its wriggling salamander-like body, giving it a deceptive quickness that Vess would have appreciated on another day.

Currently, however, she was simply incensed. “I find myself eager for retribution. Shall we?”

Evie grinned, a bit of that manic light back in her eyes. “Let’s spill some blood.”

Together they shot off, Evie by alternating lightening her Body and chain, allowing her to catapult herself forward, and Vess by calling upon her mobility Skill.

“On The Wing!”

Vess zipped forward as spectral Dragon wings emerged from her back. She lifted entirely from the cavern floor, tearing across the distance while Spears manifested around her like a flock of dire avians. “Pin it down!” she commanded.

“Bindings of the White Waste!”

Once again, icy chains lashed across the Bethir’s hide, and this time they stuck. The monster jerked, unable to flee the first few punishing blows from Beef and the Eidolons before it could shatter Evie’s bindings.

“Jump on it!” Beef shouted, before throwing himself onto the huge creature’s back. The Eidolons followed suit, the three of them falling atop its legs and tail. The Bethir screeched, lightning spewing from its throat in a desperate attempt to drive off its attackers.

From atop its back, Beef hollered as he slammed Bedlam into one of its charred legs. It screeched in pain as skin and bone crumpled, but the Bethir did not relent.

“Hah!” Vess bellowed, frustration tearing her throat raw. Spears shot sideways, piercing the Bethir’s dried out flesh and driving deep into the meat of its tube-like body. “Ten Tribulations!”

Each Spear exploded into a five pace wide storm of air and metal Mana, tearing huge chunks from the Bethir’s neck and shoulders. The thing fell, its strength of limb abruptly gone, though it wriggled like a worm on a hook. It snapped its jaws, attempting to twist at them until Vess landed at its side, partisan chopping down like an executioner's blade.

Its angry cries went silent as she severed its head.

You Have Killed A Bethir!

XP Earned!

On The Wing is level 82!

Spear of Tribulations is level 83!You Have Gained A Level!You Are Now Level 65!

A vivid rush of experience jolted through her core, pushing her up and over another level. The others too, judging by how all but the Eidolons let out a surprised gasp.

“Oh hey, I leveled up,” Beef said, leaning against his hammer.

“I as well,” Hallow admitted. She had somehow become more elaborate on Beef’s chest, forming pauldrons now from craggy stone and crystal. Two blackened green crystals manifested by Beef’s collarbone, and they glimmered with consciousness. “I am pleased.”

Archie’s voice came from behind the large, faintly smoking Elemental core. His goggle-wearing face poked out from the side. “Hey. Um. You killed that thing right?”

“Yeah,” Evie said with a snort. “You can come out now. It’s safe.”

Archie lifted his small hand, pointing into the dark. “Then what’s that?”

In the distant shadows, a set of bright blue eyes had opened. Without iris or sclera, they shined like a patch of midday sky…and they were joined by two, three, four more. A distant, rumbling growl followed as those eyes were joined by long, wedge-shaped snouts and the crackle of lightning.

They rushed as one, directly toward Felix’s kneeling form.

Void Sanctuary is level 102!

Deep Mind is level 82!

…

Deep Mind is level 93!

Felix wasn’t sure if it had been seconds or hours since he’d sunk into his internal world of raging flame and bitter shadow. His Tempering battered at him, empowered by the wild brawn of the Mote of Frenzy. His channels had ignited as Mana rushed out of him and through every single one of his gates, and Felix was dimly aware that his Body was burning.

He couldn’t stop it.

He could only choose.

Syncopate was a risk, and while Felix gambled on the battlefield, he couldn’t stomach it now, at the cusp of Master Tier. Sonata had potential, as it spoke to his increasing personal power and self-reliance…but it also twisted his gut to consider. Felix wasn’t alone, and if he had any say over it, he never would be again.

Understanding chased the torment in his core, a whirling tangle of meaning that sank into his Mind with a sudden insistence. Out of all the choices, one spoke to Felix the most. Symphony was Sonata’s opposite, even as it encompassed pieces of its message. They were not mutually exclusive. One could rely on themselves even as they leaned on another.

I choose Symphony.

Wild Mana surged through Felix’s core as the power of the Essence Draught and Mote combined into something altogether more. A song began, something between an atonal buzzing and an orchestral swell that stabbed at his eyes and heart. Pieces of him, Skills within his core, took up the song. They thrummed in tune with it.

WARNING!

Dissonance Detected! May Result In Deterioration Of Skill Patterns—!

ERROR!

Mote Of Frenzy Is Volatile!

Within his chest and without his conscious Will behind it, another Skill engaged. Its pattern hummed to insistent life, releasing a single, piercing note that cut through the dross. A large measure of significance drained from him, funneled through the Skill and into the spinning rings at the very center of his being.

The Mote of Frenzy’s chaotic power and the shrieking burr of Dissonance were folded together and, for a moment, melded completely with a vast, interconnected song that Felix couldn’t comprehend.

Harmonic Resonance Preserved!

All Is Not Lost.

Unite the Lost is level 75!

Adept Tier!

You Gain:

+Reduction Of Significance Consumed Per Use

+5% RES

+5% INE

Like a door had been opened in his Mind, Felix suddenly grasped a fraction of what occurred. The Dissonance and Harmony produced by his cores had rioted, reacting to the Mote of Frenzy and the Tempering of his Cardinal Flame. Now, however, Unite the Lost worked to correct it all. More than that…it was changing things.

Patterns shifted, turning back on themselves into new waveforms, new shapes. For a brief, utterly insane moment, Felix heard a song unlike anything else. Not Harmony or Dissonance. It sank into his senses like bliss incarnate, fading after less than a fraction of a second, and taking with it all memory of its rhythm.

It vanished, but its effects remained.

SYNERGY DETECTED!

The Skills Auroral Forge, Mantle of the Infinite Revolution, and Rime Shaping Have Synergy With Cardinal Flame! Do You Wish To Evolve Them?Warning! Evolution May Result In Death And Cannot Be Stopped Once Begun.

All Choices Have Consequences.

Continue? Y/N

Felix didn’t hesitate. Yes!

Evolution In Progress…

System energy flooded his core, pouring in from the darkness outside of himself, and it was a familiar torment. A tidal wave of colorless radiance slammed into his spinning rings before exploding back out in a collection of near-solid beams of pure potency. Cardinal Flame, Auroral Forge, Mantle of the Infinite Revolution, and Rime Shaping were all ignited with the light of a dozen suns—just as they collided with one another. Yet instead of annihilating one another, the power they exuded grasped and pulled, merging their patterns into something entirely new.

Evolution Complete!Level Is Averaged!

New Skill!

Astrum Ascendence (Transcendent), Level 90!

By dint of Will, deed, and Temper, you have bound the song of multiple elements together. Seized from the heavens, the fires of the astrum heed your call…but they are not the flames you once knew. Increases control over the elements of cosmic flame per level. Increases internal and external Mana control greatly per level. Skill consumes Mana and Essence to function.

WARNING!

Skill Must Reach Level 100 Before Fully Tempering Your Spirit!Failure To Comply Will Result In Sundering Or Death.

Fiendforge is level 69!

…

Fiendforge is level 73!

Shaping Array Is Maintained!Due To Unite The Lost, No Damage Is Suffered To Remaining Array!

Astrum Ascendence (T) Is Added To Shaping Array!

The new Skill thrummed, a piece of its pattern sounded in the depths of his core as it settled into place. The vibrations set fire to every single one of his nerve endings, igniting an agony so severe that it passed beyond definition. His vision went white…before being filled entirely by the dizzying light of cosmic nebulae. It filled Felix’s Mind, Spirit, and Body in equal measure, rolling most severely through the other Skills in the Shaping Array…but then it ceased.

And silence reigned.

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