Unbound

Why are there so many giants here!

When Felix broke open the door, he expected Grimmar and his witches, but not an entire...platoon of warriors to flood the place. He'd reacted, bringing the fight to them before he could get swarmed. Miraculously, it was working so far.

Felix's notifications blinked rapidly at him again.

Gah! That's gonna drive me nuts! He ducked under another clumsy blow from one of the Risi Warriors. He couldn't afford to Tier up at that moment; he didn't have the time! I could have outside though, he realized as he kicked the left knee of the giant before him. Why didn't I...?

Screams arrested his attention. More warriors were swarming his position as Grimmar spat out some rage-fueled diatribe that Felix couldn't hear over the roar of combat. He could probably focus on it, but that seemed pointless. Instead he dropped a final Corrosive Strike onto the prone giant before him, before he diverted all of his attention on the four new charging warriors.

Relentless Charge!

Felix zipped forward again, his Stamina and Mana taking a hit, but he closed the distance with two of the giants in a fraction of a second. The closest barely had time to react when Felix buried a Corrosive Strike into his solar plexus, crumpling its iron armor and knocking the bastard onto his ass. Senses flaring in warning, he dropped into a crouch as a metal club swung at his head, before bouncing back up to cast Shadow Whip.

The black tendril shot outward, attaching to the giant's hand and wrist. With a mighty yank, Felix overbalanced the warrior and sent them stumbling to his left.

Stone Shaping!

The ground exploded upward, a craggy column bursting forward to bash into the giant's falling face. The Risi hit so hard the stone itself broke in two. Felix winced, involuntarily, though his sympathy for the brutes had run out long ago. Instead he only felt a sudden welling of...hunger. His appetite surged, apparently not satisfied with the dried meat he'd downed only a few hours ago.

However, Felix was starting to worry that this was something else entirely.

The last two giants screamed a challenge as they raced toward him, and Felix pushed back his hunger with an effort of will. He focused entirely on the approaching enemy, but for some reason they were moving...not slow, exactly. But predictably? Felix couldn't figure out why. He hadn't improved his Perception that much, only a hair over two points. How would that affect anything?

He thought back to his tabletop gaming days with a sudden, vivid Born Trait-induced clarity. Terms and phrases tumbled through his mind within a fraction of a heartbeat. Is that it? Opposed rolls? That particular concept sprang to the fore. My Perception is going up against their, what? Agility? Since they aren't faster than I can perceive, they appear slower than normal. Add in the fact that my Agility is nearly 90, then huh. Felix grinned.

Influence of the Wisp!

The Skill affected two Risi this time, freezing them in place for two whole seconds. More than enough time for Felix to blast them with dual casted Acid Streams. The powerful spell ate away at their exposed flesh with alacrity, turning their blue skin to green paste within seconds. They fell to the ground clutching their throats and gurgling fluid from their melted tracheae. After a moment even that went still.

For half a beat, Felix waited for the kill notification, but remembered he was suppressing them. Which meant he wasn't getting ANY experience or rank ups just yet. He groaned in annoyance, mostly at himself. Why didn't I check my notifications on the scaffolding? I could have taken whatever draught I needed! Felix looked up from the presumably dead bodies (they didn't seem to be breathing) and saw a crowd of Risi pouring steadily into the capital building. Ahead a thick knot of them were congregating around a flashing yellow dome of energy, and Felix grinned in relief.

They're still here.Gotta get to them and get outta this hellhole!

Felix started running, pushing his Agility and Dexterity to the limit, dodging around giants and ducking between legs. He didn't have any sort of advanced movement technique like Vessilia and Evie, but his Acrobatics pulled its weight; each tumble and spin, cartwheel and flip had Felix reveling in the power at his fingertips. Even here, in the midst of a battle he might not survive, he felt that same heady rush.

Something is definitely wrong with me, he thought, though his face was fixed in a wild grin.

He was close to the dome. If he could clear up a few more of them, then Magda and the prisoners could get out. They all could.

Skidding to a stop, Felix raised both of his hands as azure lightning gathered along his arms.

Reign of Vel--!

A wave of unformed, malicious ice Mana sheared across the chamber, forming a wall of jagged, razor sharp ice inches before him. It was thick and over ten feet tall, cutting Felix off from the others. The wall was bone-chillingly cold and felt like it was sucking the warmth out of him. Felix stepped back, turning toward the source.

"Grimmar," Felix swallowed, fear flashing down his spine. The giant stood twenty feet away, only a couple strides for the huge Risi.

The giant chieftain looked at the shard floating above Felix's shoulder and snarled his displeasure. "Of course. Your stolen shard. No wonder you barely took damage." He thrust his meaty hand forward. "I'll have that back now, vermin!"

"Sorry pal," Felix said, facing the giant fully and raising his fists. "Won this fair and square."

Grimmar snarled toward someone Felix Analyzed as another Risi Commander. "Kill the others. This one is MINE." The Commander nodded and saluted before rushing toward the yellow bubble.

Felix gulped, the fear tingling across his body like sour lightning. Grimmar is level 50 at least. How the hell am I gonna live through this? Felix cast his eyes around the room, hoping for an answer, for someone to jump forward and offer to fight the massive chieftain in his place. No such luck.

Clenching his jaw and quelling his thunderous heartbeat, Felix took a slow, calming breath; he let Meditation wash over him, hoping that, if nothing else it'd help with healing up. The briefest of moments passed as he did so, but in that time the Risi chieftain surged forward and struck down with his insanely huge greatsword.

SMASH!

Felix threw himself out of the way, his Strength shattering the ice below him milliseconds before the sword did a far better job of it. One hit from that and I'm dead. Armored Skin or not. He slid to a stop, one hand on the ground to balance on increasingly slick ice. Step one: don't get hit.

Relentless Charge!

Being so big, Felix got inside Grimmar's guard instantly, a thin spray of melt water behind him the only evidence of his passage. Grimmar pulled back, startled for an instant.

Step two: hit him back.

Influence of the Wisp!

Both Felix and Grimmar lit up with blue-white fire and the Nym immediately channeled acid into his clenched fists.

Corrosive Strike!

Corrosive Strike!

Corrosive Strike!

Corrosive Strike!

Four hits were all he could manage before the giant backhanded Felix across the right shoulder. He was sent skidding across the ice at speed until he fetched painfully against the jagged ice wall Grimmar had conjured.

"AHH!" The cold was beyond freezing and it burned his neck and arm where it touched him. With another scream of pain, Felix tore himself from conjured wall, leaving red, fleshy patches on its surface.

"Mmm, the blood of cattle about to be culled," Grimmar practically purred, his nostrils wide. "It is a strange vintage. Different than other Humans. Why is that?" Grimmar was already stomping toward him, wide predatory grin plastered on his face.

"It is red, just as any other prey," Grimmar kicked out with a massive boot, crushing a section of the ice wall when he missed Felix. For his part, the boy scrambled forward on all fours, just barely avoiding the concussive force of the giant's stomps as they followed him. "Who trained you? Who taught you to fight back against your betters?"

Felix used Relentless Charge to hurl himself forward, only going half the usual distance but getting well and truly clear of Grimmar's boot. He stood, back of his arm and neck bleeding, though his Health didn't take a noticeable dive. "No one trained me, idiot. All natural talent," he smiled aiming for annoying.

The shot landed; Grimmar roared again, clearly unwilling to manage his temper. "TELL ME! You dared to walk the void, Human! That is not something that is just DONE! Who taught you this?!" The giant leaped toward him, sword leading the way.

"I'm more of a hands-on learner," Felix managed, ducking beneath the giant's massive blade. It sped by him like a semi-truck, buffeting him with the wind of its passage. "Same as you, probably!"

"NOT the same, I assure you!" The chieftain's eyes were manic, not that Felix could spare much attention. All of his considerable Agility and Dexterity was poured into not getting skewered. "I was Chosen! I have been blessed by the Mother's eternal voice! You are a weak, disgusting Human!"

"The Mother again? That wouldn't--" He threw a stream of acid at the giant, making Grimmar tilt his blade to deflect it. "--wouldn't be the same as the Grand Harmony, would it?"

Grimmar snarled. "You dare dishonor Her! That is a lie, pushed by the weak! The Mother is not Harmony. She is Dominance!"

"Potato tomato," Felix shrugged. Grimmar only screamed louder. He expended another blast of malignant ice Mana at him, and followed up with a savage kick. Felix got caught as he dove out of the Mana wave, his body careening back onto the smoking corpses of three giants. An icon of a ribcage with a jagged line through it flashed in his vision.

Status Condition: Broken Ribs (x2)

Oh holy fuck, he groaned. It was the hardest hit he'd ever taken, hands down. Even if the icon hadn't confirmed it, Felix was sure something was broken, and an unpleasant sensation in his guts felt like something was leaking. His head was spinning, but even still he could see his Health drop precipitously. It halted somewhere around 15%. God damn it. He reached out, blindly grasping until he found his satchel. It had gotten lifted and tangled with his left arm, but he was able to fumble out the one Health Potion he'd been given.

A blur of ice smashed it out of his hand, shattering the vial against the rocks beyond.

Stunned, Felix turned toward Grimmar who only sneered from behind his forked beard. One of his two remaining shards still glowed with a purple-white sigil circle that leaked Mana vapor into the air above.

"God, you're an asshole," Felix breathed.

"And you are a liar, and a thief," Grimmar sheathed his sword and placed his huge hands on his waist. "You stole your knowledge, somehow. But it doesn't matter if your lips are silent." Grimmar smiled, and it was goddamn creepy.

"I'll take the Memory from your blood myself."

Wait. What?

That was when a dagger exploded into the giant chieftain's throat.

It shimmered black and brown by turns in his Manasight, some strange combination of shadow and earth Mana he'd not seen before. Startled, Felix followed the trajectory and saw Callie grinning atop a pile of dead Risi Warriors. Her arm was outflung and her expression was utterly triumphant.

Grimmar staggered, drawing Felix's morbid attention. Blue blood poured thickly from his neck, like syrup, and only gushed further when the Risi pulled the blade out. A jagged hole so deep Felix swore he could see the giant's spine, Grimmar dropped to a knee.

Felix almost stepped forward, the sight of the blood nearly too enticing. It was his busted body that stopped him, sending javelins of pain up through his chest. Don't be an idiot.

"C'mon kid! Time to go!" Magda's voice grabbed him as she jogged over, her armor scuffed and scored but unbroken. "Can you walk?" She reached down and helped him to his feet.

"Maybe, but why risk it?" Felix tried to laugh, but it sent a jagged pain through his abdomen.

"Keep it up and I'll just leave ya here," Magda said, some warmth in her voice. Felix was rather shocked. "That was some impressive fighting you did."

"Uh, thanks," Felix replied, feeling short of breath. They took several steps further before the sound of hacking and spitting drew their attention. They didn't stop, but when it became a sort of rhythmic grunting Felix paused to look back. It reminded him of something, tickling his brain. What he saw behind them was a large inverted cone made of unattributed Mana swirling above Grimmar who had collapsed onto all fours. As he watched, the smell of rot and taste of corruption nearly overpowered his senses, and Felix knew the stench. It was tainted blood Mana. And it wasn't coming from Grimmar.

It was coming from the corpses all around them.

"We need to run," Felix insisted, moving faster and trying to keep his breathing even. It hurt enough that it was blazing past his Pain Resistance almost completely. At least whatever else that had torn inside him was patching up; he didn't feel leaky anymore.

"What's happening? What's he doing?" Magda asked as they quickly approached Callie. The blonde woman answered instead, brow furrowed and jaw clenched.

"Blood magic. Fuck."

Suddenly blood rose from the corpses of the dozens of Risi Warriors that surrounded the wounded chieftain. It drifted up into the sky and was sucked into a tornado of blood, spinning around until it funneled directly into Grimmar's open mouth.

"Shiiit," said Magda. They moved faster.

Felix's chest was in agony, but he didn't slow down. The similarities between Grimmar and the Seven Legged Orit were suddenly clear, his strange mind drawing immediate parallels between their words and actions. But it wasn't fear of the giant's blood magic that propelled Felix forward, it was the fact that the smell of it, the awful rotten sickness scent of it was making him hungry.

Once they got passed Grimmar's ice wall, Felix could see the survivors up ahead. They were battling four Risi Warriors, all of them engaged by the powerful giants' attacks. Whispering a sudden curse, Callie zipped forward with outrageous speed, appearing as if by magic behind the Risi Warriors. Her single dagger flared with power as she stabbed, once, twice, three times. The giant's fell, like puppets with their strings cut, and Callie dropped to the ground some distance away, clearly exhausted.

Magda rushed forward, Felix close behind. She aimed a shield bash at the last giant, knocking them back and providing an opportunity for the short guy with two swords to run him through.

"Why'd you do that?" she asked, looking at Callie on the ground.

"Gotta...gotta be quick," Callie huffed, clearly spent. She looked up at Magda. "Got any extra?"

"Just one. How many've you had already?"

"Two."

"That'll barely put a dent in it," Magda started, but Callie held up her hand.

"It'll let me run, and won't slow you down," Callie panted. Magda reached into one of the two potions cases on her belt and pulled out a small vial of yellow liquid. She handed it to Callie, who immediately knocked it back.

"You folks ready? We gotta go now," Felix insisted, turning toward the other survivors who appeared close to breaking through the ice. "Hey you need help or--"

Felix's senses went haywire as a presence gathered behind him.

He threw himself forward, landing on his chest with a pained grunt, but avoiding the ten foot length of sword that hurled where his head once was.

A short scream cut off, but the pain made Felix's eyes go watery. All he saw was red blood pooling ahead of him. With extreme effort, he rolled onto his side, but before he could get up he saw a nightmare looming above him. Grimmar stood there, but it wasn't Grimmar, not any more. Still huge, but red corruption poured from his body like smoke, and his eyes were completely black. Sharp teeth jutted out of his face, sticking out at strange angles and varying length; it was the jaw of some sort of deep sea monstrosity. It's face was torn all around the mouth and cheeks, as if it split apart when the extra teeth grew in.

Felix's mind seized as the creature stared down at him. The presence of its Mana alone was pressing him into the ice, and that was only compacted when Grimmar grabbed him by the shirt and pushed.

"AGGH!"

"Such sweet mewling cries," the thing that was Grimmar said, it's voice guttural and strange. It spoke like it had three voices, each a slightly different pitch. "Almost a song, you might say."

"Fuck off!" Above Felix, the massive greatsword Grimmar had thrown was used against him. Magda swung it horizontally, but Grimmar simply held out a hand and deflected the blow. Then he grabbed her by the arm and threw her behind him. Then with a wave of his hand, Grimmar summoned another wave of Mana that crashed against the others.

Magda disappeared from Felix's field of vision, but his ears picked up a distant crash around forty feet away. Of the other survivors, he heard nothing.

Holy shit he's strong. Felix's thoughts raced through his pain, trying to come up with anything.

"I should thank you, boy. You have given me cause to use this form, a blessing from the Mother." The toothy maw of the giant loomed forward, his hot breath reeking of corruption and rot. "A piece of the Song, handed down Champion to Champion, waiting for the day it could be reunited in our flesh." A dark, snaking tongue slithered from Grimmar's now cavernous mouth.

"You look...like shit," Felix painfully laughed.

"Disrespectful til the end, aren't you?" Grimmar spat in his face, tongue lolling. Then he gripped his chest in a single fist and lifted Felix up into the air. Felix screamed in pain, his vision almost whiting out from the intensity of it. Dimly, Felix could hear shouts and the clatter of metal, but for a moment, none of it mattered. Only the pain.

He came to not far from where they started, the giant simply striding farther toward the back end of the building. Felix's breath came in short, excruciating gasps.

Status Condition: Broken Ribs (x3)

Oh...great...

The giant was speaking, and had been for a while, Felix assumed.

"--bask forever more in Her glory. I--" Grimmar stopped speaking abruptly, and Felix swiveled his head to see the giant's ruined face. His expression was...rapturous. Disgustingly so. "Yes! Your Will be done, Song of Songs!" Grimmar adjusted his grip on him, easing pressure off Felix's damaged ribs. He looked into the young man's eyes, his black orbs eerie in the pale light of his elemental shards. "You've been chosen, boy. A great honor, whispered to me by the Mother Herself."

The giant scoffed, but his teeth made the sound wet and sloppy. "I do not dare oppose her will, as much as I'd like to crush your pathetic skull. Still," he mused, placing a meaty hand on either of Felix's arms. "She did not require you to be whole."

Felix was given no time to respond before Grimmar began to pull. White hot pain splintered up his arms, muscles tearing and bones creaking audibly. He screamed.

REIGN OF VELLUS!

Blue lightning arced out of him, dancing across Felix's body and Grimmar's too, but the giant didn't flinch, barely moved at all. The azure lightning, the kinetic force itself, was drawn like a magnet directly into the giant's fanged mouth. Felix's eyes widened. Grimmar laughed, even as he pulled excruciatingly slowly on Felix's limbs.

"So stupid, little fawn. The Mother has made me perfect. A true predator, I do not simply eat. I devour!"

A red and black blur flashed across Felix's vision, and Grimmar screamed. Felix fell to the ground, just barely able to land on his feet though his arms felt torn and useless. He looked up, just in time to see a dog-sized tenku clawing at the giant's face.

"PIT!"

The little chimera furiously slashed at Grimmar's head, and the giant sported a large gash across his left eye where dark sclera ran like pus down his face. Still screaming, Grimmar caught Pit by the tail and threw him to the ground. The ice beneath the tenku shattered, cracking in a wide radius.

"No!" Felix rushed over, utilizing Relentless Charge to appear next to his Companion. Felix tried to grab his friend, but couldn't get his hands to close properly around him. The chimera seemed dazed, and though he lifted his head, Pit seemed unable to move his legs for some reason. Felix toggled Pit's status and saw his friend's Health had dropped to barely above 10%.

The ground shook. Felix looked up at Grimmar, who approached slowly. His left eye was a ruin, and his right eye stared with terrible intent.

"Vile chimeras. Worth less than Humans," the elemental shards above Grimmar's head shimmered with purple-white light as an nebulous sphere of ice Mana appeared in the giant's right hand. "You want to save the boy? Fine! Then you both die!"

A wave of familiar, malicious energy burst from the giant, massive spears exploding in a line toward them.

"FORCE WALL!"

A bubble of yellow energy appeared around them, and Felix had only a bare moment to see that Magda, bleeding and half frozen, had placed herself in the path of the giant's spell.

Then the wave hit.

The three of them were sent flying, bursting through the open doors at the back of the chamber and shattering a portion of the wooden scaffolding before shooting straight out into the air.

Then they dropped, into the abyss.

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