Unbound

A great many things happened all at once.

Evie, Pit, and Beef sped backward, each of them unleashing their Skills. Chains of ice and legs of chitin snagged against the Eidolons’ feet while crescents of radiance burst against their chests.

Harn rushed forward, axes out, to cut into an Eidolon’s elbow joint. His axes, though imbued with Adept Tier power and silver flame, merely bounced off the dark stone. Tzfell spat, and a flurry of geometric shapes flew toward the Eidolon Exults, popping and sizzling off their purple aura with no effect. Laur lifted his hands, and Felix shouted.

“Stop! They’re Grandmasters!”

The Eidolon’s exploded with Mana. A wave of solid purple light hurtled outward, demolishing workstations as the concussive force chased down his friends. Most frantically dodged back, but Beef shielded Evie and Pit, getting slammed in the back for his trouble. He was thrown across the room, impacted face first onto the craggy stone floor before skidding through two metal tables.

Harn and the Chanters evaded it, the latter protecting the former as a shield of orange, blue, and dusty brown intercepted the purple wave. It fizzled out almost immediately, but they were tossed aside rather than obliterated.

“Adherents of Ophidia!”

Swirling Dragons of water Mana shot down from above, engulfing the Eidolons. They froze the moment they came into contact with their icy aura, stopping the spell in its tracks…and effectively tangling the constructs in their own power.

“Draconic Stormfall!”

Vess and all ten of her Spears dropped down. Lightning surged, bursting from the point of impact and ricocheting off of the insulating ice Dragons. To Felix’s great surprise, the Eidolons sagged, their sigaldry flickering wildly.

That shouldn’t have worked as well as it did. Felix checked the Eidolons with his Voracious Eye again. Feeling out advancement had always been an imprecise ability, but they felt incredibly strong. And incredibly unstable—their limbs jerked as sparks jumped between their scratched up chests, his sense of their power increasing and decreasing by turns. He could fight them, maybe, but he’d have to unleash everything he had.

He couldn’t afford to do that. Not yet.

Vess and Yin leaped toward the group, now running toward the sole door into the elemental butchershop. It was a short distance, and even though the Eidolons started moving again, Felix started formulating how to reinforce the secret door.

“It’s locked!”

Ahead, Evie kicked at the once-open door, only to have the force of her blow sent rippling across the wall. Rainbow shimmers described the edges of a massive and supremely complicated ward.

They were sealed in.

“New plan!” Felix spun through ideas. “Harn! Still got those keystones?”

“Aye. But I thought we were saving them—”

“Let’s survive this fight before worrying about the next. Evie, Harn, Pit, and Vess. I need you to place them on the Eidolons. It’ll buy us time.”

There were no questions. They took off, plate-sized hexagons in their hands.

“Laur, start trying to open that ward.”

“The time required—” Laur started.

“Try. We’ll buy you time.”

“I’ll help,” Archie said, stepping up next to the Chanter.

Felix gripped his sword. “Karys. Karys pick up, man.”

Golden-green vapor swirled around his Inheritor’s Will, but it was fuzzy and erratic. The voice that came through was the same, but mostly cleared by the end. “F…lix. Felix? What is going on?”

“Karys! Eidolon Exults! How do I shut them down?”

“You face one?”

“Try four!”

“Oh dear.” Something shuffled on the other end, and metal groaned. “That is dire. Shutting them down is impossible unless you destroy their armored cores, which is where the Mind and Spirit of their driving force is stored. That is hard. But we…they are ruled by the arrays upon their chests. That is the access point for Territorial Lords to earn their loyalty.”

“Earn? I don’t have time to chat with them, dude.”

“It is about Authority! You must access the array by placing your Mana in direct contact with it. Interface with the Memories that constitute their glyph markings. If you can find the central Memory, the one that binds the rest, you can demonstrate your Authority, and they might break out of this loop.”

“Their chests look scratched to hell…they’re covered in Dwarven sigaldry.”

“Then they’ve been tampered with…meaning all I’ve said might prove to be useless. Proceed with caution, and remember that their Spirits house their power. Exhaust it, and they are just stone shells. But Felix, those are people. They live within that shell, as I once did. You must save them.”

“They seem mindless, but I’ll try.” Felix looked to Tzfell, the only one without a task. “Keep them safe, okay?”

The Dwarven Chanter was a rock in a raging sea. She nodded. “You have my word.”

At the same time, the last of the keystones were hurled onto the Eidolons’ backs. Purple beams followed his friends as they dodged, the constructs stiff and slower than Felix expected. The icy aura around them was still deadly, though, and none of them wanted to get caught in it.

Lightning surged, sealing the keystones to their backs with amplified connections. His friends retreated.

Felix charged forward, right into their midst.

Rime Shaping!

A web of ice jutted outward in a fan, slipping through their cold aura for an instant before touching all four Eidolons on the chest. His Intent rippled through his Mana, delivered into their fractured array in less than a heartbeat, and the world went crazy.

Felix’s guts clenched, his very being twisting as he fell inward. Lines of purple light surrounded him, sigils and glyphs flashing across his Mind as an intricate array spread out in all directions. Memories bloomed, glimpses into a familiar world of ice and mountains, but others were torn through. Great scars across foundational images and sensations that bore the distinct cadence of significance.

Not just scars, he realized.

The broken Memories were patched over with new, uncanny images in their place. False Memories, like jagged windows into incongruent terrain.

He settled on one at random. Within a stone room, Dwarves stood before their thrones. They bore coronets of silver across their brows and scepters of rule within the crook of their elbows. As one, they gave the order, and Dwarven craftsmen swarmed with raw materials. Before them, the Eidolon shells were built. Before them, veteran Dwarven warriors proved themselves worthy to join with the Eidolons, to obey their kings. To wait. To guard. For all of time.

Felix snarled, the Memory too sour and bitter to be true. He grasped the Memory with his Will and Intent.

Chthonic Tribute!

His Hunger ripped it apart, revealing the empty scar that lay beneath.

Unite the Lost.

Significance poured out of him, more than he ever expected, and Felix was left gasping. The sigaldry was healing, but it needed more. He braced himself to try again, but the gentle touch of another made him jerk backward.

We… the words faded like a distant echo. Help.

Felix felt the presence of four others, pressing closer than skin to him and the sigaldry all around. Phantom limbs reached outward, pulling at the half-healed scars, and pulses of liquid shadow poured through them. The cracks shuddered and snapped, their pieces reconstituting…and the empty spaces became people of a different sort.

Nymean. Risi. And yes, a few Dwarves.

These were the ones that were turned into Eidolons. The ones who chose it as their final duty before passing into the Ethereal Realm. A hand reached out to them, caramel skin and wreathed in a nimbus of power. Each volunteer fell to shaky knees in a chamber that Felix remembered well.

Ice rose, and stone fell.

And the Eidolon Exults walked among them.

Felix jerked back, cast out of the Memory array by a hard shove against his chest. He blinked, finding the Eidolons still looming over him. Their Spirits burned with a sudden confusion and rage.

“Enemy!” The Eidolon Exults slammed down at him, and he caught the blow across his shoulder.

Status Condition: Dislocated Shoulder

“Felix!” Vess shouted from far off.

“Don’t come closer—!”

“Enemy!”

He moved, pushing off the earth hard enough to crack it…but another Eidolon’s fist smashed into his ribs.

Status Condition: Shattered Ribs (Extreme)

Status Condition: Frostbite (Major)

Felix gasped in pain, the violence far exceeding his exceptional tolerance. At his hip, his sword blazed. “Exert your Authority, Felix! Remind them who you are!”

Unleashed and mindlessly enraged, the Eidolons didn’t stop. They rained blows onto Felix with a terrible precision and incredible strength. They were flawed, perhaps broken in some ways, but they hit hard. Felix burned through his Essence just to keep up and choked down his screams in order to be heard over the riot.

“In the name of Felix Nevarre, Autarch of Nagast, King of Ahkestria, and Colossus of Khalheim, I order you to stand down!”

His words barely surfaced over the grinding of stone, the crackle of ice, or the sound of fists on flesh…but he felt them catch. Something—the array, perhaps—pressed against him, testing his Will with its own presence. It was an absurd weight, a mountain attempting to crush him from four different directions. Though he was bloodied and broken, Felix was undeterred.

He hurled his Will against their restored arrays and felt something give. Recognition.

The beating stopped.

The Eidolon Exults straightened, their joints booming as they settled. “Authority acknowledged,” they said as one.

Fucking finally.

The Eidolons stepped back as his friends drew closer again. Harn had his axes out, and Beef hefted his hammer, but it was unnecessary. The constructs did nothing to them, and even their blazing auras vanished.

Vess and Pit rushed to his side, the latter still holding an orichalcum box in his beak. Vess gave him a Health Potion, and Felix drank it down. His Essence stores weren’t great. “Thanks.”

“Are these…friendly, now?” Evie asked and jumped when it answered.

“We serve the Colossus of Khalheim. Forgive our…confusion.” The Exult’s voice was deep but faded and scratchy, like an old speaker.

“You were tampered with,” Felix said, standing up with help from Vess. “The Hinterlords messed with your arrays. Your Memories. I’m not gonna hold it against you.”

As one, they bowed their armored heads, and the purple flames that made up their eyes dimmed as if closing. “Your compassion is cherished, Colossus.”

“What’re your names?”

“I am Eagin. This is Orun. She is Telys, and the last of us is Iiana.”

“Felix,” he said, introducing everyone present. “I’d update you on what exactly has been going on, but we’re running low on time.”

Eagin shifted, as if uncomfortable. “We retained a limited awareness of our actions these long centuries. An ‘update’ would likely be redundant. But I must ask: Khalheim still stands?”

“It has risen again,” Felix said.

A sigh of relief echoed from each of the Exults. “That is good. Now. How might we assist, my Lord?”

“Can you fight?” Evie asked. “We could use big bruisers like you if things go sideways.”

“Combat is within our purview…but we are limited, at present,” Eagin admitted. “The damage to our arrays has been miraculously restored by the Colossus, but we donated our own power to the process. It has left us reduced in capacity, leaving us only the Strength afforded by our stone Bodies.”

“That was you,” Felix said. Not a question. “I had wondered.”

“Would that we could have helped you more, Colossus. Such an act will have greatly deprived you of your foundation, and for that, we are sorry.”

Felix cleared his throat. “Don’t be. I happened to have extra foundation on hand.” Running a bit low, though. They took a lot more than I expected.

“I see. However, if the Colossus wishes us to engage in combat, we will do our best.”

“It would be helpful, but no. Our particular enemy is…The plan is to not fight her.”

“Running is good, yeah. Listen. Have you seen any arrays?” Archie asked abruptly. “They’d be inscribed on big, flat gemstones.”

Iiana nodded. “Yes. We have.”

Archie almost vibrated with the news. “Take me to them. Please!”

She looked to Felix for permission, and he jerked his chin. “Please do so.”

Archie scurried after the long stride of the Exult, and Felix turned to the rest. “Can you open the door up there? It sealed when you attacked.”

“We can. We retain our access to the security measures here.”

He scratched his jaw, grinning as an idea formed. “Tzfell, at least some of the treasure in this vault had to have come from Kingsrock, right?”

“Undoubtedly. I imagine the mundane riches were placed into coffers, but artifacts and enchanted items would likely remain here.”

“Then let’s return it to the rightful owners,” he said with a grin. “Eagin, Orun, Telys? Step out of this workshop and start scooping.”

“How do you tell which is from Kingsrock and which isn’t?” Beef asked.

Felix snapped his fingers. “You’re right. Better take as much as we can, just in case.”

Orun laughed, a great booming noise. “I like it!”

From the taste he had gotten of Dwarven culture, Felix had no compunctions about stealing from them.

They learned two things in quick succession after that. The first was that the Eidolons were fast when they wanted to be—they had the door unsealed and were moving about the main vault within seconds. The second was that each of them could sort of unhinge a part of their chests, revealing a huge cavity meant for storage. It acted as a very excellent way to collect gold, gems, and artifacts by the dozen.

His team joined in, scooping up what they could and putting them into satchels and bags they’d brought for the occasion. Pit’s saddlebags filled up quickly, though a large portion of one was dominated by the orichalcum box. Felix was tempted to open it up, but the Frostfather had considered it dangerous. They had enough on their plate already.

“Hey! Big man! Get over here!” Archie called from the workshop. Felix ran closer, finding the lavafall they had crossed was now diverted entirely. He hopped over the moat with ease and followed Archie’s voice.

Through one of the four doors that had released the Eidolons, Felix found Archie and Iiana in a long, thin chamber filled with array plates. They were stacked against the walls in discrete piles, many of them made of rare materials and precious metals. Archie and Iiana stood near the far end, where sigaldry inscribed a large door with a complex locking array. Yet it was already opened, and Felix could see the start of a staircase leading down.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“It is the entry point for the…craftsmen that work on the Superior Elemental,” Iiana said.

Felix blinked. “An exit? A secondary exit?”

“Seems like it,” Archie said with a grin. “And! I found them. I found the way home!”

Beside him was a stack of yellow-green gemstones, flattened and inscribed with golden sigaldry. Each one was two feet long and tapered to a point, and there were twenty of them.

Voracious Eye!

Name: Song of Exile

Type: Array Plate (enchanted)

Lore: The opposite of the Song of Arrival, these array plates assemble together to form the base of the Song of Exile. When utilized correctly, they will open a path through the Realms, through which travel is possible. Beware! The Realms are dangerous to wander freely.

“Holy crap,” Felix said. “You weren’t lying.”

“I wouldn’t lie about this.” Archie patted them. “My ticket home.”

Felix’s Mind spun, but he stamped those thoughts out. For now. “Iiana, put these in your storage cavity, please, and as many other arrays as you can fit.”

“As you wish, my Lord.”

Felix had no clue what many did and little time to study them, but they could be useful. Atar and Alister would be thrilled to see them, at least.

“Hey, those are mine!” Archie protested, when Iiana picked up the Song of Exile array.

“Do you plan on carrying them yourself?” Felix asked.

“Well…alright, fine. Just don’t go far from me, lady.”

Iiana tilted her stone head at the man. It was more quizzical than an acknowledgement, though. Suddenly, her head snapped up.

"Warning. A Hostile Spirit approaches."

A violent boom shook the air and tossed Archie to the ground. Tremors rattled the floor and walls around them, and a great cacophony sounded from the other rooms as metal and chains collapsed and crashed into walls.

“What the hell was that!?” Archie demanded, only to find Iiana and Felix already rushing back into the workshop. “Hey! Stay near me, lady!”

Vess and Yin were up by the Elemental core again, and they shouted down at Felix as he passed. "What happened?"

"Company," he answered, before racing through the workshop and back into the vault proper.

Fire had consumed the statues and stairs, so hot that the stone had turned cherry red. From within the golden flames, figures began to emerge. Dozens, then hundreds. More, marching down the sweeping stairs several hundred feet away.

“We need to go,” Harn bellowed.

Felix jerked his thumb back. “Everyone through the workshop, Eidolons included! Follow Iiana! Go!”

Before anyone could move though, something hurtled through the golden flames. Archie screamed and collapsed, a glowing orange shortsword through his left shoulder. The fire distorted again, and Felix moved, but the second blade was faster.

“Dark Glacial Guard!”

Pit was there, shielding the wounded thief. The heated blade sliced through his summoned ice armor and his barding, sinking halfway into the tenku. Pit yelped in surprised agony.

“Fiend!” Imara emerged from the flames at the head of her own Inquisition army. She bore two more swords, both glowing a bright orange. “It’s time for a rematch!”

“Yeah,” Felix said, his fury barely contained. Lightning coursed along his limbs. “I think it is.”

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