Unbound

Name: Felix Nevarre

Level: 68

Race: Primordial of the Unseen Tide (Greater)*

Omen: Magician

Path: Cardinal Fiend

Born Trait: Keen Mind

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Health: 16050/16050

Stamina: 15522/15522

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STR:4184

PER:3245

VIT:3240

END:2702

INT:3597

WIL:5346

AGL:2835

DEX:2957

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BODY - Chthonic Ascent (Adept)

Resistances: The Song of Absolution (L), Level 98

Combat Skills: Dodge (C), Level 94; Heavy Armor Mastery (C), Level 15; Blind Fighting (R), Level 85; Wild Threnody (E), Level 94; Hand of Calamity (L), Level 81

Physical Enhancements: Armored Skin (R), Level 98; Relentless Resolution (L), Level 98

MIND - Fiendforged (Adept)

Mental Enhancements: Deception (C), Level 49; Meditation (U), Level 80; Negotiation (U), Level 50; Deep Mind (E), Level 80; Manifestation of the Coronach (E), Level 80; Quiet Cacophony (E), Level 34; Chthonic Tribute (L), Level 99; Void Sanctuary (D), Level 100

Information Skills: Alchemy (C), Level 72; Tracking (C), Level 44; Exploration (U), Level 81; Ephemeral Evocation (E), Level 43; Voracious Eye (E), Level 96; Aria of the Green Wilds (L), Level 88

SPIRIT - Eldercrowned (Adept)

Spiritual Enhancements: Manasight (U), Level 92; Manaship Pilot (R), Level 46; Multi-Cast (E), Level 90; Etheric Concordance (L), Level 92; Last Cry Of The Chthonic Host (M), Level 5; Sovereign of Flesh (T), Level 97; Unite the Lost (T), Level 74; Fiendforge (Un), Level 68

Spells: Abyssal Skein (R), Level 90; Green Shaping (R), level 89; Illusory Double (R), Level 55; Invocation (R), Level 77; Shadow Whip (R), Level 74; Stone Shaping (R), Level 99; Rime Shaping (R), Level 94; Auroral Forge (E), Level 91; Ferric Shaping (E), Level 68; Mantle of the Infinite Revolution (E), Level 75; Labyrinthine Wing (E), Level 2; Storm Shaping (E), Level 58; Arrow of Perdition (L), Level 52; Cardinal Flame (L), Level 99; Rain of Cataclysm (L), Level 76; Skein of Fate (L), Level 81; Theurgist of the Rise (L), Level 98; Adamant Discord (T), Level 97

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Unused Stat Points: 0

Harmonic Stats

Resonance (RES): 2636

Intent (INE): 3412

Affinity (AFI): 5770

Resilience (REI): 3553

Evasion (EVA): 2028

Might (MIG): 2175

Alacrity (ALA): 2585

Felicity (FEL): 8612

Huh. Unite the Lost jumped up by a lot. That tracked; he had used it on a god. Almost at Adept Tier.

Karys scoffed. “Truly outrageous stats.”Felix could only shrug.

“So your Tempered Skills are very close. Even the lowest is within four levels of Master Tier…do you plan to press the issue?”

“As soon as I find worthy training targets.” Felix’s expression soured. “Imara was good for that, at least. If I could’ve fought her longer, perhaps I’d have Tiered up entirely.”

“Or you could be dead. Was it not this Elemental’s sacrifice that rescued you from the edge of oblivion?”

“Yeah.” Felix shook himself, forcing his thoughts into a new path. “And I plan to have my Tenth Pillar resolved before I hit full Master anyway.”

Karys nodded. “Good. That will net you greater rewards for each Aspect, too. Ten Pillars is not common, but I cannot imagine the rewards would be paltry for such an extraordinary core space.”

“Let’s hope.” Felix’s stats were already ridiculous—his Felicity had grown to over eight thousand. Perhaps that was due to his Void Sanctuary, as the Harmonic stat affected his mental defenses. Yet without properly Tempered Skills, stats didn’t seem to matter as much against the truly powerful. He could fight Grandmasters, true, but he’d been hurt every time. If Felix truly wanted to kill the Pathless, he needed to reach well beyond Grandmaster Tier.

“What Skill are you going to choose for your final Pillar?”

Felix’s thoughts touched on the book that was next to his real body, tucked into a pouch at his waist. “A new one, if I’m lucky.” He held up a hand, stopping Karys from speaking. “Don’t worry. I’ll remember to balance it with my other Skills. That’s why this has been taking me so long.”

Karys inclined his head. “Very well.”

“What about home? If I have to choose whether to fight my way across the Rimefangs or try to sneak through the Hierocracy’s heartlands, I’d like to know things aren’t dire in Nagast.”

“No, nothing of the sort. Things are going well in Elderthrone. The administrative duties are simple, giving me plenty of time to work on my restoration projects. Knowledge, our resident Geist projection, has proven quite useful in repairing the Shadowgates and the deeper portions of the Temple.” Karys sighed and summoned a chair of simple wood. He sat in it with a groan. “Working with my hands is a balm, Felix. At times, it’s as if I’m a boy again, working hard beneath my father’s eye on the script for our Skimmers.”

“Skimmers?”

“Small transports. We used them in place of wagons or Avum. They let us glide over the ground through a complicated series of sigils that—” Karys made a face. Not pain, but discomfort. “I cannot recall the exact placements. Sometimes it feels as if it was not so much memories that were torn from me during my long stasis, but knowledge. Some remains but…I have noticed the patterns. As if the secrets of my people were stolen from me.”

Felix licked his lips. “Ruin.”

“Yes, I believe you’re right. Regardless, we press on.”

“How are Alister and Atar doing? Or the Chanters?”

“Ah. Yes. Poor Alister faces the constant demands of the most noisome of our city—the minor nobility that bicker and position themselves for favor. The man is quite capable, though, and seems to derive some sort of delight in refusing the worst of the demands.”

Felix chuckled. “That sounds right.”

“Likewise, Atar has been advancing the Glyphworks at breakneck pace. He’s already installed temperature control arrays throughout most of the city, and is well on his way to upgrading the defenses around Elderthrone’s perimeter. His inscriptionists scurry around the city like ants, trailing sigils wherever they go, but the people love them for it. The winter has been cold.”

“And Zara? Has she had any success with our plans?”

“Quite a bit, I would say. The lot of them were holed up in the Hall of Songs for three entire days, debating the nature of what you proposed…but in the end it seems she has convinced a majority of the Cantus Sodalus to agree.”

Felix blinked. “I shouldn’t have doubted her.”

“I must say it is a promising project, and is shaping up quite well. The Henaari have already constructed the residence wings, though the central training chambers will likely take longer.”

“Good. Plenty of people in Elderthrone with unlocked Harmonic stats. The sooner we can train them up, the better.” Felix couldn’t just rely on getting himself stronger, after all. He had Territories to bolster, too. “The Claw are the first to train, right?”

“Yes, then we open it up for the rest of the Legion.”

Ideas worked their way through Felix’s Mind, trains of logic that carried him thought to thought. “So then the question remains, Karys. Should I go north and risk the Dwarves and…and Imara? Or should I go south, into Pax’Vrell?”

Karys abruptly snapped his fingers as if something had just occurred to him. Felix raised an eyebrow. “What?”

He grinned, his dark eyes twinkling. “Let me show you something.”

He snapped his fingers again, but this time a hazy map appeared in the air before them. Reclining on his chair, the Nym held out his hands, as if presenting a gift. “This was the Continent as I recall it in Ages past. Not perfect, but it seems the Ruin had little need to strip my memories of amateur cartography.”

Felix glanced over it. The map was fuzzy, with many details more painterly suggestions than geographic landmarks, but he could still marvel at the sheer sense of scale. The Continent truly was a supercontinent, like Pangea back on Earth. In fact, it seemed even bigger than what Felix remembered from his high school earth science class. Karys snapped again, and a second map appeared, this one far less hazy and indistinct.

“And this is a map of the Continent, now.” The man frowned. “Also not perfect. I’ve pieced it together with what I could find in Ahkestria and Haarwatch, but for some reason none of the cities we have access to retains detailed maps. But no matter.” Karys gestured and the two maps converged until they overlapped one another perfectly. “This allows me to trace out how the world has truly changed across the Ages.”

“Oh wow.” Felix immediately spotted where parts of the ancient Continent had vanished, replaced by seas and deserts in the newer map. He could also see portions where the ground had risen up, forming into high mountains that cut through thousands of miles of once flat land. “What did all of this? That’s more than continental drift.”

“You mean the vibrations of the earth, slowly shifting the land? There is part of that at play, but you’re right. This features the results of many, many things. Wars, famine, plagues…even powerful monsters run amok. Even so, the changes are too drastic. Such wholesale upheaval would require substantially more power than Grandmasters and Paragons could bring to bear.”

Felix’s fingers hovered over what had become the Rimefangs, noting how smaller the range had become. “The Ruin.”

“Yes.” Karys waved his hand. A series of nine golden markers appeared on the map, followed by a number of straight lines that all lead back to a single point in the northwest.

“That’s Elderthrone. These…these are the Shadowgates?”

“The damaged pairs to the ones within our Heart of Darkness, yes.” Karys pointed to the joined map, where a mountain had once existed in the Nym’s memory, but now was a flattened plain. A golden marker pulsed beneath his finger. “And I believe there is one within Pax’Vrell.”

Hot damn. “And if there is, I can restore it! How sure are you?”

“Near one hundred percent certain. The landscape described by one of the Shadowgate’s artistic sculpture matches well with the terrain of the Rimefangs as they once were, when they were known as the Skysedge. A knife turned against the heavens.”

Felix sighed in relief. “Thank you, Karys. That solved my dilemma quite nicely…though it means we’ll have to risk sneaking into a Hierocratic Territory.”

“A challenge I am sure you are up for, my Lord. I—” Karys frowned. “What was that?”

“What?” Felix turned, following the old man’s line of sight. “What did you see?”

“Movement. There.” Karys pointed but it was unnecessary; Felix saw it too. “Is that smoke?”

Felix didn’t answer, but launched himself toward it. Willpower and Alacrity was all he needed to fly in the Void, but this place was his domain. He all but teleported to the location he’d spotted, sending shimmering ripples of light cascading outward through the opalescent stone at his feet.

Where’d it—There!

A smoky shape flitted within one of the houses, pressing close to a small window before slamming itself into a wall. The building didn’t so much as quiver.

“What the hell?”

The thing was filled with a vibrant light that pierced through the small window, and each time it moved, the light jittered and flared. That must have been what we saw, because it’s locked in there tight. But how’d it get in there in the first place?

Forget about latches or knobs, there wasn’t even a door on any of the buildings in his city. There was a window, as he’d seen, and the mostly-transparent crystal that covered it almost amplified the light within. The brightness was nauseating, yet Felix couldn’t look away. It sent a spike of panic through his lizard brain and that simmering rage he’d been ignoring suddenly boiled over.

The smoke creature howled. Vibrations thrummed through the crystal, through the air itself, before stabbing into Felix’s chest. The light rioted within the home, splashing up against the translucent window, sending out a wave of pressure that made Felix grunt. Trees swayed and plants flattened.

Karys landed next to him, and held out his hands. Immediately the sound quietened and the pressure vanished. “Felix. What is this?”

He didn’t answer at first. Instead, Felix ran his tongue over his teeth and controlled his breathing. Only once he had mastered himself again did he meet Karys’ eyes. “I think I realized what the empty buildings are for.”

The smoke creature had gone back to pacing frantically, and every once in a while limbs would form that would tear at itself in a fit of anxious destruction.

“Felix?”

“They’re for me. They are me. Pieces of my…I dunno. Subconscious?” Felix swallowed. “That…I can literally feel it in my bones. It’s angry and anxious and…guilty.”

Understanding dawned on Karys’ face and Felix hated to see it. “Oh, dear boy.”

Inside that house was all the awful turmoil he felt over Gabby. Felix knew, without question, that the purpose of at least some of these structures was to better contain pieces of Felix’s own Mind. He backed away. This was why he’d been able to function over the last few days, and he was in no mood to let it free.“I don’t have time to breakdown, Karys. I can’t—Not if we want to win this.”

“Win what? A war against the Hierocracy? Felix, we aren’t ready for that.”

“Then get ready,” he snapped, before relenting. “I’m sorry. Just—I’ll reach out soon.”

“Felix—”

Without another word, Felix vanished from his Void Sanctuary—

—and woke within the fungi-lit tunnel. He stood in one smooth motion and cleared his throat. “We’re heading southwest, to Pax’Vrell.”

Beef smiled around a mouthful of dried fruit and gave him a thumbs up. “Do you want me to wake everybody up, or…?”

Felix clenched his jaw. Everyone else was asleep, the remains of a meal scattered nearby. “No.” He forced himself to sit back down. “Let them rest. We’ll move later.”

Beef scratched his ear. “Oh. Alright.” He held out a withered apple. “Want one?”

“...Sure.”

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