Unbound

“Oof, you guys are heavy,” Pit complained, as the Eidolons were strapped down to his back. “Are those gonna hold?”

“They’re sturdy,” Felix said. He’d made the ropes with Green Shaping and Ferric Shaping, with a touch of Astrum Ascendence thrown in for good measure. “I’m more concerned that you’ll plummet down to the bottom of this hole.”

“Psh. I’m big.” Pit puffed himself up and stuck out his fluffy chest. “I got this.”

Evie leaned down and patted his shoulder. “You’re a lot softer than I expected.”

“Fuzzier too,” Archie complained. “If I hold onto your fur is it gonna come out?”

“Doubtful, but let’s not risk it,” Felix said as more ropes of vine and steel wrapped around their legs and waists. Only Felix, Vess, and Yin weren’t tied down, but instead bore a tether in their hand to keep them connected to Pit’s broad back.

“I’ve never flown atop a Chimera before,” Laur said with no small amount of excitement. “I am quite eager.”

“Me too,” Beef agreed. “SworeLore had gryphon mounts but it was kinda lame. And not nearly this big.”

“Your…game, correct?”

“Yeah. The one I told you about. With the uh, the magic scrying box that lets you fight fake monsters.”

Archie snorted. “Is that how you explained video games?”

“Oh, like you can do better? There’s like zero reference here for me to work with!”

“Beef…This entire world is a video game.”

Beef lifted a finger, but stalled out as his Mind worked at that. “Okay. One, no it isn’t. Two, some stuff is similar but it’s like…There’s this…” His hands grasped, as if reaching for words that weren’t there. “Fine. If it’s so easy, you do it.”

Laur looked to the Delven expectantly, but Archie closed his eyes. “Pass.”

Pit stood up, eliciting a collective gasp as everyone wobbled. He stepped toward the cataract of the tunnel, forepaws just barely dipping into the churning waters. “Everyone ready?”

“No,” Archie mumbled, tugging at his harness. He caught Beef’s grin and scowled. “Yes.”

Tzfell squirmed. “I will admit to being a touch nervous myself.”

“Vess and I will be here to catch anyone who falls,” Felix assured them, catching Vess’ eyes where she stood near Pit’s haunches. “You’ll be fine.”

“As you say, my Lord.” Tzfell clutched tight to the shaped ropes. “I trust your judgment.”

Felix grinned, inclining his head at the honor. “When you’re ready, Pit.”

“Yes!”

The air was rent by an explosion of wind so loud it drowned out several very panicked shouts. They shot outward past the rushing waters and into the empty void. For a moment Pit hung in the turbulent air, wings spread and a vibration of exultant glee radiating from his Spirit like heat from the sun.

Until they dropped into a harrowing dive.

Below them the pond had opened up into an abyss, hundreds of feet wide and filled with a fine mist that kicked off the walls. Pit descended like a stone dropped from a skyscraper, gaining speed with every second he hurtled into the dark. Felix squinted against the air and mist that filled his eyes, peering through it all toward the bottom.

Statue! he warned.

I see it! Below, the immense statue Vess had been standing on extended far deeper than they anticipated. Wings, each larger than Pit, filled parts of the misty tunnel. They’re too close to fly around! Hope your ropes are strong!

Pit extended the wings on his left side and flexed his neck and tail, throwing them into a roll. With a grace Felix had never seen his friend exhibit, they bypassed the edge of one Dragon wing, rotating first his wings and then legs over its bat-like shape. He steadied his spin before rocketing down once more. Sideways, he slipped through the gap between two sharpened stone claws.

Pit screeched in triumph.

Pit’s Ouranic Dominion is level 74!

Awesome job, buddy!

Beyond the jutting statue, the tunnel was clear save for the swirling water at the edges. Pit extended his wings once more, slowing their descent as he transitioned into a spiraling flight pattern. Buffeting winds slammed into the Chimera, forcing him to constantly adjust his trajectory, but compared to the adrenaline rush of their first dive, it was almost boring.

Wind is tricky, Pit sent. Even with four wings it’s like swimming through sand. Keeps trying to push me into the walls.

Pit was jostled by a fierce gust and the tips of his wings came dangerously close to the water walls.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

> Vess signed at him from Pit’s far end. They couldn’t hear each other’s voices over the roar of the water, but they’d all gotten quite good at handsign. >

Felix did see. Relatively small pieces of the water lashed about like angry tentacles, churning the already raging rapids into further chaos. >

>

You get that? he asked Pit.

I can’t see you guys signing. Gimme the gist.

Felix did, and Pit jerked aside, dropping several dozen feet unexpectedly. “Gah! Sorry! One of those tendrils tried to grab me!”

“What?” Beef yelled. “We can’t hear—”

“Look out!” Laur screamed, just as a massive wave of water surged from the walls.

Storm Shaping is level 78!

The wave split around them, blasted apart by Felix’s concentrated Will, yet it wasn’t done. While most of it returned to the walls or fell, thick tendrils continued onward, spinning around them in a net that was soon joined by a second wave.

“Everyone brace! Pit! Dive!”

Mana poured from Felix’s channels as he blasted away the now-constant stream of water, and the roar of the water was indistinguishable from the screams of his friends as they plummeted nearly a hundred feet in a second. It wasn’t enough to escape the waves, however, and more poured toward them like giant, grasping hands.

Vess, perched atop one of the Eidolons, snapped her book closed and called out into the torrent. “Fortress Fenwald! Allow us to pass!”

Music rose at her call, like the assembled mutterings of a gathering orchestra. Words formed from that noise, fluting and crashing by turns.

Authority Rejected.

“How dare you!” Yin roared.

Shit! Felix flared Storm Shaping to bat aside the tendrils that tried to seize them. Water turned aside, twisted onto itself before exploding into whirling droplets. Those he seized and shaped into floating shields that rippled with the whipping strikes of the tunnel’s new appendages. Laur’s hands were wrapped in rainbow lights as he contributed his wards, and Beef was throwing last minute barricades up around everyone else.

Pit spun, wings churning through the water as much as the air while his legs pumped, shoving them ever further downward.

Storm Shaping is level 79!

Astrum Ascendence is level 93!

It was clear that the defenses of this entrance were attempting to either restrain them or drown them. He had no intention of either happening, but the sheer volume of water was incredible. It battered against his shields and Will, not piercing them so much as surrounding every avenue of descent.

“I cannot breach these wards!” Laur shouted. “They shift constantly! I cannot find the center!”

“Keep. Trying!” Harn grunted. His axes were a blur, blazing with silver flame that evaporated any water that came close to him or anyone within reach. “We can’t fight a whole damn lake!”

All around them, thousands of waist-thick tendrils of water lashed onto and around them. Felix broke them again and again, but they’d hit Pit’s wings, soaking them until they were mired in thickening liquid.

“The water’s stopping me! I need it off my wings!” Pit screeched.

Below and directly ahead of Pit’s face, the final open space began to fill with threads of water. The net was closing on them.

Felix let his two Skills sing throughout his core, storm and cosmic flame feeding into one another until they reached a fever pitch. “I’m gonna burst it one more time. Be ready!”

“Do it!”

Power tore from every part of his body, Mana backed by an immutable Will and an unwavering Intent. It fell upon the defensive ward around them and sank into it within the span of a second, and Felix suddenly was the water itself. He flowed, coursing with the might of a hidden lake, the pressure of depths unknown for hundreds or thousands of years. He was changeable but rigid, held in place by the bounds of a magic that hummed from all around him, descending from the very walls. Water must flow, it told him. Water must hold. The song was convincing, carrying a cadence that could have sung the very oceans into existence, and he sank into it. He flowed. He held. He was water.

I…am…Felix.

His Will and Intent slammed forward, into a crevice that he could feel but could not see. The song squealed, its timbre changing into something new. He drove through it, shattering the bonds that held it together. Water must flow.

So be it.

The net below them exploded, rendered into a fine mist as the water was freed of its shaped constraints. Almost immediately, the edges began congealing, but for a moment it was undone.

Pit seized his chance. Four wings flapped in time, surging through the imprisoning liquid grip as if through thick mud, his powerful Strength enough to combat the ward’s sudden destabilization. With a final push, he hurled free and soared through the gap.

Pit’s Ouranic Dominion is level 75!

Adept Tier!

He Gains:

+100 AGL

+100 DEX

+100 END

The air screamed around Pit as his power grew. A halo of white clouds formed around the Chimera’s head and neck, and Felix’s eardrums buzzed. Congealing tendrils grasped at them, but Pit ripped through them with the force of a speeding jet.

Descend No Further Or Face The Consequences.

Words ripped through all of them, accompanied by a plethora of vibrant, excruciatingly detailed images. Water and air and acid, dispatching beasts and men in strange, unfamiliar armor. Thousands dead over the span of Ages. Below and approaching rapidly, an enormous stone Dragon statue glared at them with glowing eyes and a threatening, open maw.

Vess stood again, brandishing her spear and holding onto her tether with the other. The world thundered with her words, louder than even the storming waters. “Fortress Fenweld! I am Lady Vessilia Dayne! Daughter of Miera of Wyvarr! Descendent of the Wyvarran Royal line! Heir of Pax’Vrell! Dragoon apprentice and bondmate of Yintarion of the Cerulean Skies!”

All went silent as Pit fell toward that open maw, until eyes the color of the deepest sky flashed.

Authority Recognized.

Limited Authority Granted.

Fortress Fenweld Welcomes You, Dragoon.

The water retracted and the Dragon statue dimmed until it was nothing but unfeeling stone…just in time for Pit to bank hard against the still-swirling air currents.

“Crashing, crashing!” he shrieked, before landing in a tumble of limbs and feathers on an elevated platform a few hundred feet above the bottom of the water tunnel. He slid to an inglorious stop just shy of a set of massive, Dragon-sized doors.

“Woo,” he said with a warbling whistle. “I did it.”

Felix, panting and sweating, laughed in equal relief. “Good job.”

“Yes, yes, how sweet,” said an angry, muffled voice. Archie was half buried in the crease of bunched fur near Pit’s foreleg, enough that only his floppy hat and goggles could be seen. “Now can you please get us off of this furry trainwreck?”

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