Unbound

Chapter Seven Hundred And Forty Nine – 749

Felix fell through the liquid darkness, landing in a roll on the other side where gold and silver sigaldry flashed along the ground.

"Are you all right?" Vess asked, stepping toward him.

“Stay back!” Before bothering to stand up, Felix hurled his Will at the Shadowgate. "Shut it down!"

The gate rippled and dimmed, the liquid black fading to a foggy, translucent gray. But not before a piece of something speared through the opening. The closing Shadowgate sliced it off, and it slapped into the ground like a piece of bloody meat.

"What is that?" Evie asked.

"Get back!"

The meat rippled outward, shooting spiked tendrils at Evie's throat, she fell back, dodging by mere inches. It grew strange, lopsided arms and legs and a maw that split across its entire body, filling with off-white teeth and bulbous, liquid-like eyes of purple goo. It snarled, now the size of a bear, and Felix stood before it.

Devour It!

Felix snarled. "Come on, then!”

“Adamant Discord!" He seized the piece of the Whalemaw with his powerful connection to it, and it froze in place, writhing against his control. The creature had immense Strength, but it felt…hollow.

Lightning coursed across his arms as Felix seized it’s hot, bloody face. It trembled, trying with all of its might to snap its jaws onto him…and failing. “Get outta my house.”

Felix ripped it in half. "Empyrean Embrace!"

The remnant creatures burst into luminescent smoke that thundered through his skull Mana Gate. It poured down into his core immediately and directly into his Hunger. Yet the moment it touched the darkness inside of him, the piece of the Whalemaw roared to sudden, terrible life. Mana, Essence and significance bucked against the swirling grasp of his Hunger, clawing for purchase wherever it could. Its presence speared outward, up into the roots of his Divine Tree, splintering opalescent bark with twisted, nameless power. Pieces came free, pulled into the thin funnel of its being.It ate.Pieces of his Divine Tree were pulled down, hurled into the presence like flotsam into the sea. They vanished...and the piece of Whalemaw pulsed.It grew.Felix hurled his Will against it, bashing the remnant creature into sudden somnolence...and it fell beyond the event horizon of his depthless Hunger.That hollow feeling returned—its Will was abruptly gone, like a puppet torn from a hand. His Hunger rumbled in pleasure, and a pleasant giddiness rose up inside his veins until the world swam around him. Felix bared his teeth, and he knew they’d grown sharp.

"What the hell was that?" Evie demanded.

"An old friend," Felix said, pushing away the euphoria. His teeth felt flat in his mouth. "Is… everyone all right?"

"We are fine, but that—" Vess swallowed. "Should that have happened?"

Pit emerged from Felix’s Spirit, landing on the floor with a clack of Dire Hound paws. "Anything that enters a gate can come out of it,” he said.

“All those monsters can just walk out?" Archie asked, stepping away from the Shadowgate. He glanced around, flinching from all the others in the chamber. "They're all over the place!"

"Calm down. They've got to be active to move through them," Harn said. "None of them are running now.”

“Anything other than the Whalemaw would just get devastated anyway. We proved that," Felix added.

“Whalemaw…this was that big nasty in the sky?” Archie asked.

"It was…and this was a piece of it. I'd suggest we avoid using the gate to Pax’Vrell for a little bit. Give it a chance to cool off."

Footsteps sounded from the edge of the Heart of Shadow, and Felix turned just in time to see a Naiad woman in black robes enter.

"Felix," she said, relief clear in her voice as much as her slumping shoulders. "You've returned…and with company."

"Zara.” His worries over Karys and his sword returned to him in a rush and he took several long strides to the Chanter’s side. “You're alright? Is everything okay here?"

"It..." she hesitated. "No. Things have changed."

Felix didn't like the sound of that. "Show me.”

She led them out into the primary chamber, where his Seat and Seal were located—only to find it severely damaged. Nearly half of the Seal was burnt out, covered over in jagged script that blackened the silver and gold while the rest flickered weakly. In the worst places, a sick crimson even pulsed through it like an infection.

"This is why my sword wouldn't work," he realized. "What the hell happened?"

"There was an attack. Elder Teine attacked and attempted to take out the Seal of Nagast, and almost succeeded.”

“Blighted Night,” Evie cursed. “Last I saw Teine he was barely conscious in the healer's ward back in Haarwatch. How’d he make it out here?"

"He had help,” Zara said. "He infiltrated Elderthrone using spies and hired mercenaries, the same ones that helped him plant explosives across the city."

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"Wait, what?" Felix said. "Explosives? What happened?"

Zara licked her lips. "Atar stopped them, but he was terribly hurt."

Felix growled. "Teine. Where is he?"

"Dead, burnt to ash right here, after he dropped a device covered with Profane Sigaldry onto the Seal. That is what caused all the damage."

“And Atar?” Vess asked. “Is he—?”

"He's holding on, but it doesn't look good."

Felix ran his hands through his hair. "Profane Sigaldry is how Teine fucked up the Domain beneath Haarwatch. How did he gain access to more?"

"We aren't sure. His allies haven't talked yet."

Felix’s eyes burned. "What allies?"

Felix hadn't known that there were jail cells in his Temple, not until Zara led him down the steps. The detainment level was far below even the housing and Storage Facility, deep within the bowels of the cliffs. There, he found a hub surrounded by hallways covered in hexagonal tiles pressed with a nine-sided star. The walls that extended radially from the center were grooved, and faint inscriptions filled them with a soft illumination that mimicked sunlight…and fed into more complex arrays that spread across heavy stone doors.

A locking array. As they approached, the doors swung open on their own, revealing a long hallway.

Rage burned inside of him, and he fought hard to keep it tight in his chest—yet it only increased as Felix walked the corridor toward a collection of presences. It boiled in his veins, rising to the surface as if it would burn his skin from his bones.

There were a few people there, restrained by collars within cells fronted by a stone lattice with small star shapes punched out of it. Out of the dozens of cells, only three were occupied. The first had a sleeping woman, the second had a large man leaned against the bars, but it was the third that mattered.

He walked past the others, straight to the cell that contained three of the Sworn.

Each was bound by an elision collar and, unlike the others, mithril manacles attached to the far walls, unable to do much more than sit down. The collars blocked their Skills and the chains limited their movements, but Felix wouldn’t have cared if they were entirely free.

They were covered in burns and bandages, and blood slickened their limbs, but they were lucid. Fear stained their Spirits as they looked at him, but their mouths didn't open and their gazes held firm as Felix approached. "Open the door.”

Zara gestured, and the locking array released. The lattice split, folding into itself until an opening formed large enough to let Felix through. He stepped in, and a blue glow followed him into the cell’s shadow.

"Your contract," he said. "Is it still active?"

None of the Sworn so much as batted an eyelash.

Adamant Discord.

Lightning pulled all three of them to the edge of their chains, until their bodies were lifted onto their toes. All three of them gagged, the collars tightening against their necks as their arms were pulled backward.

"You don't have to talk," Felix said, letting lightning play between his fingers. "I was just being nice."

Skein of Fate.

Felix's vision took on a silver hue as Oaths swam into being around him. He himself was bound by his many alliances, enough to saturate the entire level in argent light, but those he ignored and they soon faded away. Instead, he focused on the Sworn. They bore a collection of Oaths, each of varying thicknesses and intensities, owing perhaps to the complexity or severity of what they had promised—he could almost taste the difference. One, the thickest of all, extended into the far distance, likely the Oath to their order. Others went off in various directions, but only one spun between all three of them before arcing through the walls towards somewhere close.

There it is.

"Now," he said, "tell me what I can expect from your friends."

Two of them stared at him, steady and unspeaking even as their faces turned blue from the collars at their throats. One, however, faltered. His eyes fluttered between his brethren, and uncertainty trickled across his Spirit.

Felix reached out and gripped his Oath with Skein of Fate and it felt like a hot brand beneath his palm. He withstood it and squeezed. The Sworn gasped in ragged, unexpected pain—the first sound to escape any of their lips.

"Tell me or I'll snap your Oaths, one at a time."

"You cannot do that," the man choked out.

Felix said nothing. Instead he seized the thinnest Oath he could and tore it asunder. The Sworn screamed as if Felix had ripped out his heart, but he didn’t die or dissolve into blackened char like the last Sworn he’d questioned.

He lifted the Sworn’s sagging chin, forcing the man to meet his eyes. “Let’s try that again.”

When the screams stopped, Felix had what he needed and more besides. He left the jail cell to find a grim-faced Zara standing there, arms on her hips.

“Did you leave them alive?” she asked.

“I did. It’s more than they deserve.” Felix turned to the other two cells, where a frightened man and a veiled woman stared at him. He knew now who they were…and what they had done.

"Why?" was all Felix asked.

Dabney swallowed and didn't answer—but the woman drew herself to full height. She had trouble standing though, and was forced to lean heavily against the wall.

"My family is dead because you brought down the Eyrie,” Lilian hissed from beneath her veil. “My friends are dead due to the Revenants you unleashed.”

She tore off the veil. Her face was scarred all across one side. It was old and healed, but the injury had rendered her nearly unrecognizable.

Lilian bared her teeth at him. "You took everything from me and were rewarded! That is not how it should be. This is not how I can leave it!”

Felix stared at her. His own anger warred against the swell of her Spirit, which contained such rage and grief that it overflowed from her cell and spilled into the hall. With a contemptuous slash of his hand, though, Felix exerted himself. She gasped and her Spirit fell back, retreating back into her core as Felix took a single step forward.

"The Eyrie fell because of Teine’s meddling with things he didn't understand. The Revenants were a direct result of that, as was his push to clear the Nest and claim the city.” Each word brought him closer, until he stood up against the stone lattice. “Teine was the only one worthy of your hatred, and he's dead. Your hatred is useless."

Lilian moved and Felix didn't flinch as a dagger bounced harmlessly off his throat. Instead he shoved his hands through the cell doors, demolishing the stone lattice and grabbing the woman by the skull. Lilian clawed at his hands, but she found no purchase against his smooth black scales.

"Don't kill her, please!" Dabney cried, straining against his own lattice.

Felix ignored them both, and felt for any traces of Oath that still lingered on her Spirit. There was a faint, familiar stench—a mingling of blue-lined connection and silver-thread Oath that had once gestured vaguely in the same direction as the Sworn. It was mostly dissolved now, however, and no other Oaths held sway over her Spirit. Dissatisfied, he let her go, dropping the woman onto her backside. He turned and walked away.

"You have your enemy in your hand, and you refuse to finish the job," Lilian spat from the floor. The stone lattice slowly reformed between them as an array engaged, but she didn’t make a run for it. "That is weakness, Nevarre."

"I'm not going to kill you, Lilian.”

"I don't want your pity.”

Felix half-turned and the woman jerked back. He could feel his eyes burn. "You're not worth my hatred." He looked to Zara. "Let's go."

He left them to rot in the dark.