Unbound

"My lord Champion!"

Grimmar paused his inspection of the Song, which crooned so lovely into the air, and turned to his subordinate. "What is it?"

The kin before him was older and seasoned, a battle veteran Grimmar had taken out on many raids against their enemies. However, the elder kin's name slipped from Grimmar's mind almost instantly, leaving only a curious blank in his memories. The old kin cleared his throat and pointed to a few smudges on the floor. "They were here, my lord. They fled that way."

Grimmar straightened to his full twenty five foot height and grinned, pushing his massive teeth outward in a display that he knew all of his men found extremely upsetting.

"Good. They're close. I know it." Grimmar turned to his men, each of which avoided direct eye contact. "We run! The enemy has revealed themselves!"

This would all end, soon.

Felix woke up and felt like twelve pieces of shit held together with scotch tape and dryer lint. Everything hurt. Even his hair.

"Uglhgbl," he groaned. His lips and tongue felt a little numb, as if the nerves had been blasted to smithereens. He opened his eyes to black feathers and huge golden orbs that stared wetly at him from an inch away.

"SQUAWK!" A rush of warmth flooded his chest, and Pit nuzzled his glossy head against Felix's face for an entire minute, scratching at him with his sharp beak. Luckily Felix had grown more than strong enough to withstand a few pokes, otherwise the tenku's razor sharp beak would have ripped him open.

"Okay," Felix croaked as he waved the affable chimera away and sat up. Or tried to; his core muscles were like jelly, lasting no longer than a simple flex before going wobbly and dropping Felix back to the ground. "UNF!"

"Alright alright. Take it easy," Magda stepped over from his left and helped the Nym to a sitting position. "That was a nasty Temper. Maybe those Rare Essences hit you harder than you thought."

Felix's mouth felt dry as if stuffed with sand. "What do you mean?"

"I said Rare Essences would strain ya, right? Too much Mana in your channels can stretch and tear em, burn em out if your not careful. And unless I miss my guess, you just Tempered your Spirit," Felix nodded and she continued. "Temperin' in the middle of a fight...you got some balls. That's usually a sure way to get dead."

Felix grimaced and looked around himself, noting the dark greasy smoke still wafting into the air all around them. It was a dark counterpoint to the pale fog, thicker and more potent. He sighed. "Thank you for keeping me alive. If you hadn't shielded me..."

"You woulda pulled something outta your hat, I'm sure. Frankly kid, you're ridiculous. I've never met someone who advanced so quickly or accumulated so much strength as fast as you." Magda shook her head and sat on a tilted stone. "But still...there's something wrong with you. Your Spirit I mean. But...huh, it's more than Mana strain, since your channels don't seem the worse for wear. My senses ain't the best, my Ironblood Body and Stonesteel Mind were formed for durability not sensitivity. Story of my life," She added in a mutter, still peering at him. Felix felt exposed under that gaze, piercing even without the green glow of her Nighteye spell.

"Did somethin' happen to you? Was it that giant fuck? Did he break one of your Skills too?"

Felix swallowed painfully, throat still dry. "No. Grimmar didn't do anything to me, thankfully."

"Well somethin' nasty got you at one point. Maybe scarred your Spirit. It has to be why your Temper went so bad."

Unbidden, the image of the Dread swam up from the dark depths of his mind, a mass of tentacles and eyes that extended into infinity, orange and inhuman. Of hooks and barbs and deadly danger mere moments after his arrival.

"Yes," he said in a quiet voice as events started to replay behind his eyes. "Something did."

Magda watched him closely, Felix's tone drawing her brows down contemplatively. She waited, letting him gather his thoughts, but a few minutes passed before he spoke. Felix, caught up in memories, vividly remembered the Dread's dire form in the brackish waters of the Bitter Sea. Moreover, he recalled the horror and pain he felt when the thing had wrapped its hooked tentacles into his flesh, piercing his left forearm and left ankle as it pulled him slowly deeper into the water.

Felix shuddered within the power of his perfect memory, almost surprised that he was not choking on the Dread's acidic ichor but breathing cold, humid air instead. The pain of those wounds and of the sharp, burning blood as it coursed down his throat echoed into the present. Felix felt his core flare with a terrible, aching hunger. The dark smoke swirled around them, and for a second all he could envision was tearing into one of those insectoid fish hybrids. With his teeth.

Sweat poured down his face despite the cool air, and Felix realized that his hands were shaking. He clenched them together, the spasm flitting through his forearms and biceps like an electric shock. He felt a laugh bubble up from his chest, one that shook his weakened abs unpleasantly. A soft warmth butted against his back, nudging him before putting a raven-like head over his shoulder and cooing softly. Impressions flitted through his chest, his pact, compact messages of warmth, of a nest, of...safety.

Companion Pact is level 24!

"Love you too, little bird," Felix scritched the tenku's head, moving to the side of his neck as Pit's uninjured wing briefly wrapped around him. Leaning back against that comfort, Felix felt a weight drop off his chest, one he almost hadn't realized he'd been carrying. He starting talking, not filtering his words or gauging responses, the words pouring out of him in a deluge that had been a long time coming.

"I arrived here less than a month ago. I...woke up on a tiny spit of sand in the middle of a green ocean. I was alone, and I had no idea where I was or how I got there," Felix said.

Magda tilted her head but didn't interrupt.

"I uh, I fell in the water," he continued, the remembered splash and bite of the Bitter Sea washing over him. "Something grabbed me. A monster. It latched onto me and tried to...to pull me into the deep. I remember thinking that I was gonna die. I turned and saw its glowing orange eyes and tentacles, and I knew that this thing, this mythic bastard was gonna eat me. So, I did it first."

He laughed, a small sound in the echoing chamber. "Ate it, really. It's blood was nasty and burned, but it was worth it. The thing let go. I got out of the water and ran my ass off."

Magda's snort interrupted his narrative, and Felix was confused as she began to laugh. "You got grabbed by a Mythic? And you lived because you...you bit it? Haha!" She shouted in laughter, the echo of her voice carrying far in this strange lake room. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"

Felix blushed even as he frowned at the Shieldwitch. "That's what happened. I don't know why it let me go. Maybe I just surprised it, I don't know! It nearly killed me as I ran down the sand spit, though. It didn't let me off easy, and those wounds nearly killed me."

"From a Mythic creature? I would expect so. Never seen one myself but they should be able to kill either of us with a single swipe of their claw, paw, tentacle, whatever. What level were you when you got away?"

Felix swallowed again, forgetting that his throat was still dry. Magda caught his expression and tossed him a full waterskin; filled from the lake, no doubt. He took a swig. Here goes nothing. "I uh, I didn't have a level."

"What?"

"I didn't have a level at the time. Or a status screen. Or Skills or anything," Felix felt his heart pound in his chest as he admitted these things, watching the shield warrior's face and hands, half ready to run away. He knew he was faster than her, now. "Where I'm from, we don't have levels."

Magda stood up, wincing slightly as something twinged in her side. "What do you mean? Where are you from?"

Felix scratched his neck, uncomfortable under her stare. "I'm from a place called Florida. On Earth. And in my home there are no adventurers, Titles...no magic."

"Noctis wept," Magda's hand drifted closer to her mouth. "You're Unbound."

"What?" Felix straightened. Magda took a step backward as he did so, which didn't escape his attention. "I've head that term before. What does it mean?"

"Unbound. Unmoored. Untethered to this world but brought in just the same. How?" Magda watched him with wide eyes, refusing to blink. Felix saw her body language shift subtly, her arms in front of her torso. Shields out.

"I don't know how," he answered slowly. Last thing he wanted to do was spook her. "That's what I'm saying. I woke up on the beach, got attacked by a nightmare, and when I woke up everything starting going weird."

"Weird how?"

"Well I...I went through character creation," Felix shrugged a shoulder. At Magda's blank look he grunted. "Ugh. I got to choose my Race, my Omen, and my Born Trait."

"What!" Magda's voice boomed out, and this time her arms swept out in astonishment.

"Except I didn't. Not really," the words were coming fast now that he was saying them, the truth spilling out like leaking balloon. "For some reason, all I got was some error messages from the System, and then it told me that my Race and Omen were already picked. The only thing I really got to pick was by Born Trait."

Magda started pacing, the stone beneath her shifting and clattering with her every step. "Your Race...what...the stories talk about the Unbound, call them demons, monsters. Calamity personified. But you're so...."

"Human-looking?" Felix asked. Magda only stared. "Are you asking what Race got picked for me?"

She nodded, and Felix grimaced.

"Nym."

Magda went remarkably still, but the tension in the air was suddenly thicker than the fog. Felix felt sweat pour down his back and he had the very serious urge to run as far away as he could. "I'm not Nym though! Not really. I was human before I cam here. The System just...changed it on me. Like I said, I didn't get to choose. Didn't even get to see many other options."

There was a long minute of silence, a time that stretched on for several eternities to Felix. Then, unexpectedly, the tension eased by the barest fraction, something loosening in the air. Magda took a shaky breath. "A Lost Race...No wonder you're so damn strong."

"What?" Felix asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Your ignorance makes so much more sense now," Magda half-muttered. "A Lost Race is one that fell to Ruin, and Ruin only comes to those who...reach too far. Burn too bright. Humans have been around for Ages, longer than history is recorded. That's because we're weak, all things considered. We only get three free stats each level, after all."

"Really? No bonuses?" Felix asked.

"Nothing else. We're shafted compared to almost any other Race, we just make up for it by sheer numbers. Talent too, that counts for a lot. But we're safe from the Ruin." She laughed, a trace of wildness in her tone. "We thought you were a noble who lost his retinue. Hah! You're just a kid in over his head, Lost race or no."

Weirdly, Magda seemed almost happy about it all. Felix felt his chest loosen. "Is being Unbound a bad thing?"

Magda hesitated before she shrugged. "Old folk, specially the religious kind, they say the Unbound were demons sent by the gods to ravage the world."

"I'm not planning on any ravaging any time soon," Felix offered with a tentative smile.

"No didn't--didn't think you were," she coughed, hacking something wet and phlegmy onto the ground. "Achem. You're probably the least terrifying demon I've ever met. And the first."

Felix, finally feeling stronger, leveraged himself to his feet. "Glad of that. I certainly wouldn't want you for an enemy."

"Damn straight."

"Is this better or worse than a spy for your Guild?" Felix asked.

"About an even split. One the one hand, you're a cursed Unbound monster sent by the Blind Gods. On the other, you're not a boot-licking toady for the Elders." Magda fixed him with a grin. "Tall tales or no, not being the latter is heavily in your favor."

Felix laughed, a bit awkwardly, but he could feel that last of the tension drain away. Pit cautiously nosed his way between the two of them, cooing as both of them starting petting him.

"Still doesn't change the fact that your Spirit is fucked up," Magda added. "You shouldn't Temper the last bit just yet. No telling how bad it might go. Even for a Nym."

Felix bit his lip and eyeballed his two, no three Spirit Skills that were close to Tier. Acid Stream, Shadow Whip, and Companion Pact. With a deep sigh he dismissed his Skills and rubbed his temples. "So what next?" Felix asked after a moment, looking out over the waters.

"Next we figure out a way across the water. Got any ideas?"

Felix did, in fact, have an idea.

Using Stone Shaping he formed a wide boat to hold the three of them. It took exactly twenty-three tries before he figured out the air to stone ratio, feeling out the shape until the thing was thin enough to float but strong enough to hold all of their weight. Felix got absolutely soaked and wasted a bunch of Mana, but the thrill of creation was almost a reward in and of itself. The end result was a wide rowboat with a deep draft, and he even added a few bits of carvings to the edges, little geometric shapes that had no real rhyme or reason. He also made two oars out of the same stone, which was the easiest part.

However, his Stone Shaping was greatly improved since it Tempered. Whatever the hell Chiaroscuro did for his Spirit Formation, it somehow increased his dexterity with the spell by an order of magnitude. Shaping stone felt as natural as breathing and Felix had to devote less mental energy to sounding out the spellform with Fire Within. So far all of his Tempered Skills had improved greatly in some way, which Magda explained as one of the main effects of Tempering aside from forging yourself anew.

Forty minutes later, the three of them moved confidently onto the calm waters of the Statue Sea, as Felix dubbed it. While at first the traversal seemed oddly easy, they soon found that each statue would shift alarmingly each time they drew close. Unsure whether they were designed to collapse onto them or something even more sinister, they made it a point to avoid them at all costs. The waves grew in strength as they drew deeper into the waters, and by the first mile their stone boat was riding up and down eight foot waves while swarms of monsters burst from below to attack them. While a few were Glassbone Stalkers, they were mostly those fly-fish amalgams that thoroughly grossed him out. They were called Felkies, apparently, and nothing about them was good except that they were easy to kill. They attacked in swarms, even. Felix's best tactic was simply blasting them with Reign of Vellus, often having to keep the kinetic spell up for several minutes while it discharged blue lightning all around them. Pit helped with well placed Frost Spears as often as he could, though the constant motion threw off his aim.

By the time they dragged their boat ashore on the other side, it had been two hours. Their strength was enough to propel them at great speed, despite the rough waters. They had also killed hundreds of Felkies, enough that Felix felt he was at the cusp of another level. Pit, meanwhile had already leveled up twice, to 13.

Smug bastard, Felix thought, feeling the tenku's exhilaration as he strut around on shore. He cracked a smile though, happy that at least his Companion was getting stronger. In fact, the double level ups had boosted the tenku's regeneration enough that his wing had healed completely, though not before Magda had insisted on rebreaking the malformed joint. It was painful, for Felix and Pit both, but necessary. Pit agreed to it, and despite the flare of pain he felt during it, the tenku was grateful toward the large shield warrior. Especially once the extra energy from the System helped heal it properly this time.

At the edge of the room was a set of stairs, twenty feet wide and going up at a steep angle until they disappeared into the fog. A smaller set of stairs was carved into the center, built for shorter legs and smaller feet.

Geist steps, Felix mused.

They climbed. For nearly an hour, they climbed. It was exhausting, even to Felix's quick Stamina regeneration. He didn't have a "stair climbing" Skill, so his usage soon outdrew his regen by a healthy measure. They had to take several breaks, mostly for Magda. She seemed...not great. Felix didn't mention it to her because he had no solutions, and surely she already knew what was going on. Whatever Grimmar had done to her plus the Rotvein Poison was taking its toll.

As they crested the staircase, Felix realized they were on top of a large platform, overlooking a substantial section of the Labyrinth. The fog blocked most sights, but looming nearby they could see a dark, ruined building. It was huge, big enough to be seen somewhat through layers of the damn mist, but close enough that it wasn't completely obscured. Trading nervous looks with Magda, they kept going.

The way forward was twisty and full of dead ends, as much of the rest had been, but it was remarkably lacking in traps of any sort. Or monsters. It was utterly quiet, save for their footsteps and Pit's clacking claws.

It was damn eerie.

When they finally came to the foot of the building, they found it to be a dark, dingy fortress made of blackened stone and bronze metal. It was monolithic, with not a single visible join or seam, rising far above them and disappearing into the fog. The plaza they entered was wide open with no standing stones or structures and it measured somewhere long the lines of three hundred foot square. Across the plaza, directly opposing Felix and Magda, was a massive circular door, easily fifty feet in diameter, and banded with strips of that same bronze metal. Metal that seemed very similar to Felix's hooked sword.

More Nymean structures? He'd noticed that they enjoyed building with that particular metal, for whatever reason.

Felix looked at Magda, who was busy inspecting the plaza before them.

"This feels like a trap," he said.

"Oh yeah. Big trap."

Felix flexed his Manasight, which had been coming a bit easier recently. He could see the faint impression of...something...that had rubbed against the ground nearby. Traces of thick crimson energy were splattered here and there, and Felix eyes went wide when he recognized the scent of it.

"Magda, there is--"

The screeching sound of metal on stone interrupted them, and they both whirled toward the source. A massive black and brown creature dropped from the wall, as long as a school bus and half as tall, and it's massive metallic claws rang unpleasantly on the ground. Eyes of black with red-irises stared at them with undisguised hunger, though any sound it tried to make was turned into a wheeze by its strange collar.

Wait, Felix looked again and noticed that it wasn't a collar at all. Someone had hammered three bronze-gold spikes through the creature's neck.

Analyze...

Name: Bloodtainted Guardian

Type: Blood Beast

Level: 49

HP: ???/???

SP: ???/???

MP: ???/???

Lore: Corrupted by blood rituals, this creature was punished by its own people.

Strength: ???

Weakness: ???

Then the screeching sound came again, and a second Guardian joined the first.

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