Unbound

A sword wider than most benches lifted up from the ground, stopping a hairsbreadth from the lead Master mage’s throat.

“Let’s see who’s faster, yeah?” A boulder of a man stood up from a bench, a single hand holding that immense blade. Darius Reed sneered. “You cast your spell, and I’ll cast Slice.”

All at once, purple and blue cloaks appeared at every exit, hemming in the crowded commonroom as they unveiled their Spirits. Everyone staggered, the majority pressed over tables and against the scratched walls, while the mages and their guards gritted their teeth.

“If you dare, you—you’ll make yourself an enemy of the Umber Tower,” the Master mage choked out.

“I’ll take my chances. Now,” Darius adjusted his grip, pressing the sword against the mage’s throat. Blood welled up across its razor edge. “Make your choice.”

For a moment, Felix was positive the guy was going to make a move, but the mage was smart enough to know when he was outmatched. His Mana cut off, dispersing into wisps of vapor before he lowered his hand. “Very well. We are done here, then.”

Darius dropped his sword, but only by a foot or so.

“You will rue this day.”

“You said that.”

The Master mage pursed his lips and gestured to his people, and in a swish of his fancy robes, he marched out. As did the other mages and mageguards in the room, none of which boasted even a single Master Tier. The Legionnaires at the doors let them all pass, their smiles wide and Spirits smug.

Felix sighed. “Thanks Darius. I already had to deal with one group upstairs.”

“I saw them come down.” Darius stepped through the crowd, not even bothering to sidle through; they parted for him as the Legion’s Spirit suppression vanished. “They looked whiter than their armor. What did you do?”

“They asked me to go with them. I responded. Very calmly. By the way, how much does a wall cost? Asking for a friend.”

Darius eyed him. “I doubt they’ll charge their new king.”

“Warden, technically.”

“A strange Title.”

“It’s a strange Territory, turns out.” Felix offered him a smile. “Thanks for the save.”

“I doubt I was saving you much, but if they attacked everyone in this inn would’ve died.”

Felix’s skin prickled, anger rising in him like a hot wave. He clamped down on his Spirit with Fiendforge. “Yeah. It could’ve gotten very bad.”

Darius eyed him. “You’ve finished Tempering?”

“I did.”

“You feel…strained. I heard about your…” Darius gestured vaguely, and it took Felix three whole seconds to realize he was pantomiming a monster. “That’s not… You’re fine, yeah?”

“I am. It hasn’t bothered me since waking up. This is because of my stats. They’ve gotten a little out of control.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’ll show you later.” Felix nodded at the doors and lowered his voice. “That mage was from the Umber Tower. How many Legionnaires did you leave behind to guard the Shadowgate?”

“Enough to control the entire place. That mage will have a rude awakening when they return to their Tower.”

Felix was impressed. The commander had left Levantier back before they’d approached Tern’s home; the man knew he’d be little more than deadweight against a Tower full of mages, and they’d agreed he would fortify their escape route. “How’d you do that? We didn’t bring nearly enough people to take over an entire Tower.”

“I returned to Elderthrone and brought another two companies back. The Umber mages didn’t have nearly enough Master Tiers to fight us off, and when the Towers all dropped it disrupted a lot of their wards. Securing Umber was entirely bloodless.”

A piece of Felix was relieved to hear that, but it was a smaller one than he expected. The rest of him just didn’t care. He had too many things on his plate. “Everything good at home?”

“It is. Karys and the Eidolons send their regards. Your Chancellor was concerned that you would have trouble here with the Violet Tower.” Darius smiled. “I told him to rest easy.”

Felix looked around the room. Just about everyone had left, and the elderly bartender wouldn’t meet his gaze. “When’d you get back?”

“Yesterday. A full day after you passed out in the center of town after claiming its Seat and Seal.”

“Shit. I’ve been out for two days?”

“You needed the rest, I imagine. It’s not everyday you kill a goddess.”

Felix could literally feel the swell of emotions from the Legionnaires. Pride and awe rolled over him, enough to drown someone.

“I don’t think it’ll be the last,” he admitted. “Where’s Zara and the others?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

Down the block, outside a pleasant cafe and beneath an elegant silk umbrella, three mages sat at a wrought-iron table. There were a few other places to sit, but none were occupied. The cafe was barely open, though the smell of baking bread wafted out onto the street in enticing waves that made Felix's belly growl. It was surprising that the place was open at all, as many of the other shops on the street were closed and dark, despite the mid-morning sunlight filtering down through the thick, puffy clouds in the sky.

The Lucent Towers had all fallen only two days ago. He could feel folks hiding. Watching. Everyone’s scared.

Sitting at the cafe were Zara, Tern, and Elowen, the three of them sipping tea as they nibbled on a platter of pastries. As Felix and Darius drew closer, Zara immediately stood and embraced Felix.

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"You're well?" she asked, holding him at arm’s length as she ran her sharp eyes over him

"Best as can be expected," Felix said, not moving as she disengaged. He wasn't sure if he should hug her back, or if he even could. Stride of the King increased its tempo within him whenever he moved, echoing his worried heartbeat. "Where's Atar and Alister?"

"In that inn there," she said, pointing an ochre finger toward a red-roofed building two houses down. "With all those mages circling you like vultures, we figured it was best if we kept an eye on you while you rested."

"From a distance," Tern added. "No offense, son, but that monster inside you is terrifying."

"None taken, it very much is."

"Have you finished Tempering?" Zara asked, gesturing to one of the chairs.

Felix sat down carefully. The metal squeaked only slightly. "Yeah, I was just telling Darius about it. I’ve formed my Grandmaster Aspects, and it's come with a significant increase in stats—"

"And you're terrified of destroying everything around you?" Elowen interrupted knowingly.

"Yeah. Did you?"

"I did. Grandmaster Tier was rough on my wardrobe and the Tower's maintenance staff.” The Theron laughed, and Felix noticed that her antlers were strung up with small gold chains. “I kept putting my hooves through doors and cracking tiles, or worse, I'd move too fast and hurl books from their shelves in the library."

"It was the same for most of us," Tern agreed, sipping his tea. "A Temper is always an immense boon. How much is always dependent upon the rarity of their Skills and in my experience, anyone daring to reach Grandmaster will have long acquired Skills of exceptional note."

"How is your Hunger?" Zara asked, her bright blue eyes searching his face. "Have you heard its call?"

"No, it's been uncharacteristically silent," Felix paused. "Is that your doing?"

"I believe so. I laid my Challenger's Sea upon your dark passenger. It is a Skill designed to test the limits of my own Mind, but I’ve found it quite useful to trap others as well.” She reached out a hand toward Felix’s chest. “May I?”

“Sure.”

Zara touched two fingers just below Felix’s sternum and released a single pulse of sound through him. It pierced him like a gunshot, tearing past his Divine Tree and dual cores before plunging straight into the black hole beneath. The sensation was swallowed whole, as if it had never been, but Zara pulled her hand back and looked surprised. “It has taken hold.”

“What has, exactly?”

“I’ve formed a series of barriers around your Hunger that it must overcome before it can escape again. It should serve you well, at least for a time. I expect it to deteriorate eventually, but by then we might have a better handle on it."

"Not quite Grandmaster yourself, and yet you overcame that monstrosity." Tern set down his tea and took up a small pastry. "How?"

"It let me."

Felix swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. "You spoke to it?"

"I did. It seemed very much aware of me, of its surroundings, and of you most of all."

"Yeah, that tracks. It was very chatty during my Tempering visions."

"Visions?" Zara asked.

"Common enough during the Grandmaster tempering," Tern said offhandedly. "The leap from Master is one of strange portents, as the secrets of our core space begin to be revealed to us."

"Wait, so you both had visions?" Felix asked, looking between Elf and the Theron.

"I did, yes. It is part of why reaching for Grandmaster is not done alone, or without a resource array," Tern drew idle circles in a puddle of spilled tea on the table, and Felix made out the design of several glyphs. "But it seems your Beast did not require such precautions."

"My circumstances are unique," Felix agreed. “What is a resource array?”

“Designed to channel power into the individual situated at the central glyph. Typically via monster cores or artifacts or even other people. The Mana requirements for fully Tempering a single Aspect is staggering and would beggar some small Territories, let alone all three at once.”

Felix shrugged it off. “Things got a little out of hand. So these visions, were they useful? How detailed were they, and were they specific to the Essence Draughts you drank?”

Tern frowned. "Unbound or not, that is a very personal question—"

"They were hazy," Elowen said over the old Elf’s protests. "I never agreed with that old custom of hiding the secrets of advancement, Vilas. You know that."

Tern grumbled something, but didn't interrupt any further.

"Experiencing my visions for each feature was like gazing through foggy glass. Everything was slightly dreamlike and full of metaphors and symbols.” Elowen grimaced. “To be very honest, it was barely useful at all, and it was only with Vilas’ help that I managed to eke out a solid set of Aspects."

"Sounds like my Master Tier visions."

"I never had anything of the sort during any previous Tier. Is that because of your—” She gestured vaguely at all of Felix.

“Unusual circumstances?” Felix laughed. “Yeah, probably. You’re Unbound; you know how it goes.”

“I suppose I do,” Elowen said. “But those visions were the same as your Grandmaster ones?"

"No. In comparison, these recent ones were crystal clear and a lot less symbolic." Felix shook his head. "I'm pretty sure most of them were taken directly from Siva's memories."

Darius groaned. "I don't believe I'll enjoy hearing this. I'll go retrieve our wayward mages."

He left, his dark blue cloak flapping in the warm summer breeze as men and women shifted in the shadows beside nearby buildings and beneath lintel beams. Legionnaires, Felix noted, guarding them all. He pretended not to see them. They were trying very hard, after all.

Zara leaned closer. "You took Siva's memories?"

"Sort of. I have a Skill for that, but this was more like I absorbed her Essence and significance, and it formed into Motes of power." Felix grasped for more words to adequately describe it all, but found himself coming up short. "The basics of it are that I was in her memories, real ones, as far as I could tell. From back when she fought the Nym.

“The Golden Empire?" Tern sat up, nearly spilling his tea. "You saw it?”

“Pieces of it. Glimpses of their war against the gods.”

“Incredible.”

“The Beast didn’t think so.”

“Oh?” Zara quirked an eyebrow. “How so?”

“It kept trying to get me to reject Siva’s power and Temper with different Essences."

"Truly. Why?"

"I'm..." Felix shook his head. "I'm still not sure. In the end, though, I Tempered with what I stole from Siva, and it seems to have worked out. But I feel... fragile."

Zara narrowed her eyes, and he felt her Analyze Skill rake against him unsuccessfully. "You're injured?"

"The opposite. Still, my Aspects feel unfinished, somehow.”

“Asleep for two days, and still not done?"

Atar walked up, a smile across his tanned face, his robes black once more, and his white hair done up into a loose bun. Alister and Darius trailed behind him. "I fear you're losing your touch, Felix."

"Atar, Alister," Felix smiled wide. "Glad you’re both still alive."

"Not for lack of trying on your part," Alister pointed out.

"Wasn't me, technically. If that counts for anything."

"It doesn't, but I appreciate the effort.”

“Are we finally done here?" Atar asked. "I've gotten quite sick of this cesspool of a city."

"Ah, just about," Felix said. "There are a few more things to handle, though."

He stood carefully. "How far is the Vent from here?"

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