Unbound

The massive door, more like a circular bank vault than anything else, pulled upward slowly with the sound of shrieking metal and grinding stone. Beyond was a soft darkness that almost seemed to...breathe. Felix flared his Manasight (a task that had become far easier), and he perceived a whirlwind: streams of multicolored vapor and light were being pulled into the doorway, all of the ambient Mana in the area gone in an instant.

Devoured.

Bastion of Will is level 35!

Felix gulped audibly, his pulse a rapid tattoo in his neck and chest. In the few moments before his Bastion of Will reestablished itself, he had heard that entrancing song, louder and more persuasive than ever. It sent through him a wave of dizziness that, coupled with his copious blood loss was enough to stagger him. But then it was gone, and Felix was left staring at the void beyond the doorway.

Another notification hit him.

Quest Complete!

Advance Five Spells To Apprentice Level!

You have proven yourself an apprentice mage!

You Gain The Following:

You have shown the bare minimum required of a Magus. You advance...for now. Gain +10 to Mental Stats, +10 to RES, +10 to ALA

ERROR!

...Rewards Increased Due to Advancing 6 Spells to Apprentice Tier

...Rewards Increased Due to Advancing 6 Spells of Rare or Higher Rarity

...Rewards Increased Due to Advancing 2 Spells of Epic or Higher Rarity

Unlocking Resonance and Alacrity...

Already Unlocked!

Accessing Options...

Unlocking Intent and Affinity...

+10 To All Harmonic Stats

+25% XP Gain Toward Next Level

You Have Unlocked A Harmonic Stat!

Intent - Affects influence upon the Harmonics. Confluence of Willpower and Strength.

Current Value: INE - 63

You Have Unlocked A Harmonic Stat!

Affinity - Affects empathy and connection. Confluence of Vitality and Perception.

Current Value: AFI - 57

The usual currents of effervescent energy boiled through him, expanding Felix in ways he could neither see nor understand. He simply felt...more. The music swelled higher and higher, the pure and crystalline sound sweeping away the breathy dissonance of the dark doorway. Vibrating through his entire being, as if he were the worlds biggest tuning fork, struck upon the bones of the earth.

When the rush faded he was on his hands and knees, blinking at the cracked and riven ground. Before him was a crimson gemstone the size of a plum. It glittered in the glowlight of the Labyrinth's moss and fog, bright with a certain vitality that attracted him even as it repelled him. Instinctively, he Analyzed it.

Name: Bloodstone (Complete)

Type: Core

Lore: A complete bloodstone, made of a powerful creature's raw, immutable essence.

Felix picked it up, certain he knew what it was; another notification soon followed, confirming his suspicions.

Quest Complete!

A Light In The Dark!

You have collected 4/4 Blood Remnants! All four Remnants have fused into a single Bloodstone.

You Gain The Following:

x1 Essence Stone of Consumption (Mind Essence)

Name: Essence Stone of Consumption

Type: Essence Stone (Mythic)

Lore: A rarefied and crystallized Essence from a high tier source. It will grant the Essence of Consumption, a Mind Essence.

The Bloodstone dissolved in his hand, transmuting from a plum-sized gem to an oblong rock approximately an inch long and a half inch in diameter.

Essence...stone? Mythic?! Felix shook his head and palmed it as he got to his feet. He'd worry about it later. For now he was more concerned about Pit...and Magda.

The two of them were fifty feet away, and Magda was still on the ground. She wasn't moving at all. Felix walked a bit, then when his body didn't fall apart he started to jog over. Pit was nervously pacing around her downed form, and he gave a small chirp at Felix when he approached. Felix couldn't tell if she was breathing, her armor too bulky. There was a slow ooze of blood from a nasty gash in her forehead, but that was the least of her wounds. Her left shield was broken, just a hunk of twisted metal, and the arm underneath it was mangled too. The armor was rent even further than before, the script seal nearly gone. Gashes extended all over her mail and leather kit, the edges melted or burnt by the Guardian's dark lightning. It had been a powerful spell, capable of blasting apart her mundane and magical shields, its dark energy having left clear marks where it traveled up her left arm and discharging from her shoulder. Both were a charred mess, and Felix imagined her left side was basically shot at this point.

"Magda? Magda?" Felix knelt down, but his leg muscles a little shaky so it was more of a sudden squat. "Are you-?"

"I'm...alive," she wheezed. "For now."

Felix breathed a sigh of relief, dearly wishing he could get a read on the woman with Analyze. "You got any more of those script seal things? You've got an awful lotta wounds." Felix felt a pang of worry from Pit. When had the tenku gotten so close to Magda?

"Side pouch...right hip," Magda offered. Her eyes were scrunched closed with what looked like concentration. "You know...how to use em, Unbound?"

Felix was already at her hip, pulling out a supply of cloth bundles, each marked with a different symbol in red. "Not a clue, Shieldwitch."

She grunted, annoyed and amused in equal measure. "Grab...the one labeled...with yarrow."

Felix's attention pinged at the word. Yarrow, his favorite herb. The only problem was that he still couldn't read their language. "What's that look like?"

"Blind gods...you can't read?" Magda groaned. "Circle...with seven hooks. Two lines....at the bottom...like legs."

Felix quickly found what she spoke of, a roll of thin cloth that was held closed by a red wax seal. "Got it."

"Good. Put...put it on me. Arm...and shoulder. Wrap it up."

To do that, Felix had to pull off her armor. It was fairly straight forward, but Felix had to bend and rip apart a couple straps he couldn't figure out. After five minutes, he had her left shoulder and arm completely bare, the clothing (Gambison?) beneath having also been ruined by the Guardian's dark power. Magda's naked skin was all inflamed and bloody, the armor removal causing some more sluggish bleeding as it tore open some of her more minor wounds. With great care, Felix broke the wax seal and began to wrap Magda's arm and shoulder. The bundle didn't seem particularly large, but it had more than enough to secure her wounds. At the end, Felix was left with a small red character inscribed on the edge of the bandage.

"Now prick your finger...put your...your blood on the script," Maga wheezed through her teeth, which had been grinding the entire time he'd worked. Felix did just that, but nothing happened.

"It's not working. What do I do?" Felix felt a touch of panic settle onto his mind. As much as the woman had annoyed him, he didn't want her to die. "What does the blood do?"

"Wha...it charges the...script. Like a...fire."

A spark to ignite it. Then it's transferring Mana. What if I just pour Mana directly into it? Would that work, or would it ruin it? Felix ran his hand over his face in frustration. "How much blood does it take?"

"Just...a drop is...fine," Magda breathed.

Then say...a hundred Mana should be good, right? Felix didn't ask, he just held a hand over the inscription and willed out a portion of his unattributed Mana. It poured from his hand like a cloud of crackling blue, a tiny storm cloud in his palm. Felix pushed the Mana down and into the inscription itself.

The bandages suddenly clung to her should and arm, tightening as if vacuum sealed. Magda hissed in pain before relaxing, while the script seal began to glow with a bright green gold writing all down its length. The light traced the script being written (revealed?) before fading into a dark black ink, and it terminated at the far end of the seal bandage.

Mana Manipulation is level 5!

Mana Manipulation is level 6!

After a moment, Felix helped Magda to her feet. She wobbled a bit, but quickly regained her composure.

"I'll be...ach, alright. I think. That damn poison is still screwin' with my Body. Can't heal properly with all this muck in my system," she grunted, still treating her left side gingerly.

Felix eyed his own Health. He'd only gained around 26 points back in the ten minutes since the battle, and his aches were slow to dissipate. Stamina moved a lot faster however, having regenerated all of his 721 points, and his Mana was simply insane at this point. In the last ten minutes he'd regenerated not only enough to refill his Mana pool, but to also recharge his shard back to full.

Gotta do something about that Health Regen. Either that or find a way to boost the hell out of my Meditation Skill.

"C'mon. We should get moving," Felix nodded at the open door. "I'm willing to bet that's the center we've been after."

Magda followed his gaze and nodded, her expression warring between pained and trepidatious. Felix didn't blame her. He wasn't relishing the idea of entering that doorway either.

Suddenly, Pit's head perked up and swiveled to look behind them. Moments later, Felix heard it too.

Something was shaking the ground. And it was getting closer.

"Yyero's ass, what now?" Magda muttered, readying her lone shield and turning toward the source, the same path they had traversed.

Less than two seconds later, a massive figure emerged from the fog, dark and near featureless despite the glowlight of the maze. Teeth that reminded Felix vividly of a shark with boar-tusks led the way, the giant's blue skin and dark iron armor the same as ever.

"Well, well, well," Grimmar chortled. "What's happened here?"

From behind him came twelve more giants, each visibly winded but grinning viciously at Felix and his friends. The Nym's sharp eyes picked out signs of battle damage, wear upon their armor and skin that indicated that they hadn't been as careful as Felix and Magda had in their advancement.

"Grimmar," Felix growled. "How great to see you. How's the eye?"

The chieftain snarled at him, his hand lifting halfway to his left eye before stopping. It was still a ruin, the four angry red claw-marks swollen and inflamed.

"I'll gut you for that, worm. You and your tame chimera." The giant glared at a space above Felix's left shoulder before flicking back to his face. "For that and so much more."

Oh right, the shard.

"I won this, fair and square," Felix said, trying to keep his voice mild as he glanced at the dissipating flesh of the Guardian beasts. The bronze spikes that had been within their necks were the only thing left from the first one, and the second was soon to follow. "You should have put more points into Willpower, Grimmy."

"Ta'katha! Riktu na fala!" One of the giants beside the chieftain surged forward, held back only by the hands of his fellows. The way the giant spit at him as he raged made it clear he took offense to Felix's flippant words. He didn't know why the others held the giant back, but he was happy for it.

Good. Gimme just a little longer.

Felix doubted he'd get that wish.

Grimmar held up a hand, and the snarling of his subordinates died away instantly. He fixed Felix with a smarmy, insincere grin...or something close to it. The amount of teeth in the giant's mouth made normal facial expressions a challenge. Felix didn't fully understand how the Risi even spoke coherently.

"This posturing bores me, and I have better places to be. Ossun," Grimmar signaled an older Risi that was nearly fifteen feet tall. A Commander. "Dispose of them."

All twelve giants rushed in.

Reign of Vellus!

Reign of Vellus!

Reign of Vellus!

The three bronze spikes, the only remnants of the first Bloodtainted Guardian zipped through the air, propelled by Felix's will toward the three giants leading the charge. Ossun dodged out of the way, but the next three took the spikes directly to the neck, chest, and gut respectively. The spikes were extremely sharp, preternaturally so, cutting through the armor like tissue paper. Which was what Felix was counting on...what he didn't expect was what happened after.

Eldritch Contaminant Found...

Isolation Wards Initiated

Bright yellow lightning discharged from the three spikes, the giants attached to them seizing as thousands of volts coursed through their massive bodies. Sigils illuminated along the sides of the spikes, words Felix could neither make out nor understand, and all three spikes were suddenly drawn together like magnets. This meant that the three electrified Risi Warriors were also slammed together, blue blood spraying in a fountain between them as the bronze spikes discharged another deadly charge of power. The crackle of buzzing dissonance was powerful and awful.

Holy shit.

The Risi didn't move for a beat, letting Felix and Magda seize the initiative. Magda grabbed a stone rod, left over from their previous fight, and hurled it among the largest cluster of giants.

"Stone Break!"

At the same time the giants were bombarded with rocky shrapnel, Felix entered range and hit them with Influence of the Wisp. Four giants were hit, all of them succumbing to the Enthrall status condition, even as a blue white fire rapidly ate at their exposed flesh. Their screams shocked the others into motion, and the visceral presence of fire seemed to bring out an unbridled rage in all of the giants. They ignored Magda and headed straight for Felix.

Guess they hate fire.

A Force Wall penned them in, but only resisted a few powerful blows from the Risi Warriors, amassed as they were; but by then, Magda was among them, using Shield Bash on anyone who came close.

Felix, meanwhile, was focused on Grimmar. The chieftain was attempting to bypass the fight completely, walking briskly toward the opened door and yawning darkness beyond. Felix cast out a Shadow Whip, intending to grab the massive Risi's leg and trip him up. Instead, something grabbed Felix's leg and hauled back. His aim was thrown, the spell falling short of the chieftain as his body was jerked backwards several steps. After those steps, Felix's new heavier Body helped him stop and brace, and he looked behind him. The prone form of Ossun had his outstretched hand clasped firmly around Felix's ankle. The older giant also had a surprised look on his face, as if he had expected that to go differently.

"Kill them all, Ossun," Grimmar said as he glanced backward without stopping. "Mother will forgive us."

He disappeared into the dark.

Shit!

"Rak len fala to'mak rati!" Ossun screamed at him, his rage reigniting from a momentary confusion. Felix felt the giant's grip strengthen on his leg, before he was sent sprawling to the side.

Felix's body impacted the ground with an almighty crash, the stone giving way beneath his strengthened Body and Ossun's enormous strength. Felix gasped in surprise, the impact driving the breath from his lungs yet again. However, Ossun had released Felix's leg as the Risi Commander regained his feet and loomed over the prone Nym.

"You...are...worthless," Ossun said in a stilted voice. Then he raised his right foot up high and drove it downward for a powerful stomp.

Rein of Vellus!

Lightning blasted all around him as Felix stopped the giant's boot with a thought and about 150 Mana. Even still, Ossun's leg began to shake and strain, moving closer with each moment. Still lying on his back, Felix cast his newest spell.

Wrack and Ruin!

A green orb condensed in his right hand, so dark it was nearly black, before launching with a powerful thunderclap at Ossun's enormous face. The blue bastard didn't even have a moment to blink before the fist-sized sphere punched directly through his forehead and shot out with a spray of blue gore.

You have defeated Ossun, Risi Commander!

You have earned XP!

Wrack and Ruin is level 26!

Felix gasped, stepping back from Ossun's death-slackened grip, surprised and a little sickened at the devastation of the giant's head. Yet he wasn't a fool, at least not always. He summoned two more dark orbs and sent them rocketing outward.

The deadly spheres were able to rip through a single enemy before they dissipated and he had to recast. As long as he hit them in an unarmored section, they died instantly, their flesh too weak to fight against the spell's powerful acid. Each casting, however, cost Felix upwards of a hundred Mana. He could manage about eight more shots before he'd be on empty, or relying on his shard's reserves.

I'll have to make em count, then.

Four more castings in rapid succession blasted out from his grasp, each one finding a giant's chest, head, or shoulder. Headshots were instantly fatal, but where the ball of highly condensed acid had to eat through armor it lost much of its penetrating power. It dissolved the crude iron armor the giant's wore, but only did moderate damage to whatever flesh was beneath. Pit, anticipating Felix's actions, used his Frost Spears and Wingblades to put the giants off balance. The tenku had embraced his Poisonfire as well, and was a green-lit torch on the dark battlefield, weaving between the relatively slow Risi like an immolating ghost.

Magda kept up her Force Walls and Stone Break projectiles as often as she could, trying to give them breathing space from the giants' massive reach advantage, but she was slower than ever. She was still strong though, and each blast of Stone Break or angled Shield Bash knocked back enemies, keeping them too occupied to properly assault Felix or Pit.

You have defeated an unknown Risi Warrior (x6)!

You have earned XP!

Less than thirty seconds into their fight, the ground started rumbling again, much louder this time. Only four Risi Warriors remained, but that was about to change; Felix could see a wave of dark shapes moving forward in the fog....from two different entrances.

"We have to run!" Felix shouted. "They're coming from all sides!"

Magda deflected a club strike, using the momentum to power her own spinning Shield Bash. The Risi facing her fell backward, it's knees smashed in at an awful angle.

"Into the doorway!" She started running in his direction immediately, and Felix made sure to whistle at Pit as well. They retreated.

"RAUKTA! Falla lokti! Falla!" a voice in the fog shouted, but Felix only ran harder. They were only twenty yards away from the door. So close. We can make it.

Then the air was filled with a whistling sort of hum, and Felix turned his head; just in time to see dozens upon dozens of crude iron clubs spin out of the fog, hurled with enough force to launch them like helicopter blades in a deadly arc. The ground ripped up, the heavy metal tearing through stone as they impacted, the clubs become tumbling dervishes of demolition. Debris exploded in every direction as blades of ice followed the clubs' paths.

Pit nimbly evaded two of them, but was only at the edge.

Felix and Magda were in the epicenter.

A bubble of yellow energy appeared around Magda and was instantly bombarded, flaring a dangerous orange-red. Another flickered around Felix as well, much smaller and tighter than Magda's usual, but then he was engulfed. Dozens of metallic clubs lashed into him and sent him flying, ricocheting within the storm of metal and rock and icy magic. Felix felt his Health drain precipitously, his skin tearing and muscles ripping, and a bone snapped in his right arm. Felix's HUD indicator had dropped to a bare 5% above empty.

Above death.

Armored Skin is level 32!

Armored Skin is level 33!

Cold Resistance is level 18!

Pain Resistance is level 36!

Felix groaned as he came to a stop, half buried under rock and maybe forty different hunks of iron. He felt like a building had fallen on him. Dust and blood was in his eyes, but Felix could hear the thunder of approaching footsteps. Panicked, he shoved his way free, shifting enough of the clubs to squeeze out of his cage.

The area was devastated. Five foot spikes of dark metal stuck up everywhere, piled together or lying at angles where they impacted the stone enough to stand erect. Ice swarmed over it all, frost clinging to the metal and snaking trails of ice led back into the distance to either side of them. The fog swirled, thicker than ever with a haze of dust and the greasy smoke of dissolving monsters. Felix sent a quick pulse through his pact, and Pit emerged nearby, seemingly unharmed.

Thank god, Felix thought with relief. But where's...?

Then he spotted her. An armored hand sticking out from beneath a metric shit-ton of iron and ice. With a grunt, Felix leaped in her direction, his powerful legs easily carrying him the ten foot distance. With his left hand, Felix started yanking the metal away, careful not to cause any of it to collapse. The clang and clatter was deafening, but he didn't care. They had to move. Now.

Felix revealed enough of Magda that he was able to pull her out of the cocoon of crude iron, though it was a struggle with only a single arm. She was in rough shape, her armor further dented and torn, the leather portions almost completely chewed up. Her legs looked particularly bad, the metal having sheared in several places.

"Wake up, Magda!" Felix shook her gently before slapping her face with more urgency. The thundering was closer than ever.

Magda's eyes fluttered open, her blunt features creasing into a faint frown. "Don't need to yell."

Felix's breathing was harsh and loud, the pain of his arm and the thousands of lacerations on his body all screaming for attention. ""The giants are coming. Stand up! We have to go!"

"I can't."

Magda pushed and pulled herself into a sitting position, but she didn't use her legs at all. Felix looked, really looked at the damage, and noticed a heavy smear of blood stretched between Magda and the iron pile he'd pulled her from.

"You can't walk?" He asked.

Magda shook her head. "Something...tore into my legs. Broke one, and my muscles gone all loose in the other," she didn't make eye contact with Felix, instead staring out into the fog as the tromp of booted feet grew louder. "I'm not going any farther."

"What?" Felix asked, flustered. "But it's right there! The doorway is so close, I can drag you."

And he started to do just that, despite Magda's half-hearted arguments. They had only gotten a few feet when a new sound joined the cacophony: the grinding and squealing of stone and metal.

The door was closing.

"Aaaargh!" Felix shouted, wordlessly hurling his rage. "C'mon!"

He reached down and lifted Magda, throwing her into a fireman's carry. He staggered under her weight, her six and a half foot frame far heavier than he had anticipated.

I've got 131 in Strength. I can do this.

Step by plodding step, Felix drew closer to the doorway. The ground was littered with debris, iron, chunks of stone, and slick patches of ice. Each step was more hazardous than the last, and when Felix stumbled for the third time, Magda pushed him away. He looked at the door, more than halfway closed.

"Stop this! We won't make it!"

"No, we can do it. I'm not leaving you behind."

Pit crooned sympathetically, echoing Felix's tone. Felix turned to the tenku. "Pit, run ahead! I'll be right there, ok?"

The chimera hesitated a moment before dipping his beak and darting off. Felix turned back to the shield warrior, who was tightening the straps on her last remaining shield.

"Go, Felix. Get out of here. I've got this."

"Why?" Felix asked, his eyes flicking between the closing doorway and the approaching Risi, who even now he could see through the mist. Magda swallowed twice before answering.

"Someone's gotta survive to deactivate the artifact," she ripped her pendant off and handed it to Felix, closing his fist over it. "Give that back to Callie when..."

"No. You-"

Abruptly, an invisible forced smashed into him, throwing Felix backward nearly thirty feet. He landed hard, rolling on the ground before fetching up against a hard object. Dizzy and a little nauseous from the pain in his broken arm, Felix turned back to see Magda staring back at him, her shield arm extended as if pushing something. Then the round vault door slowly closed between them.

No!

Shadow Whip!

Felix saw Magda smile gently at him an instant before the vault door closed, and his Shadow Whip flailed against impervious stone.

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