Unbound

Chapter Seven Hundred And Forty Four – 744

Chapter Seven Hundred And Forty Four – 744

As quickly as he left, the light resolved once more, and Felix found himself far away from the jungles of Jaast. The world around him took on darker tones, and the sound of rushing water filled his ears as his feet found solid ground. He stood on the precipice of a slanted underground reservoir. Hundreds of feet below, thousands of tons of water roared out of a sluice gate and into a glittering underground lake.

However, these were minor, forgettable details. Far more pressing was the swarm of horse-sized rats that rushed across the top of the reservoir. Their Bodies were corrupted and diseased, covered in oozing boils and scabs—and every single one of them was trying to dive into the lake far below...but were held back by a lone figure.

A bipedal lizard with green scales and bright orange markings stood in the gap. He resembled a crocodile more than anything else, with a heavy jaw and jutting teeth that were bared in a snarl. At least ten feet tall and wielding two glowing swords, the lizard-man ended a rat with every swing. They were bisected, lopped apart with shocking ease and sizzling fluids.

"Echoed slash!"

A Skill sent his first blow careening through two rats before replicating it. The exact same slash multiplied in a wide wave, echoed across the swarm with decreasing strength. It was more than enough, and even the last whisper of his power obliterated his opponents, felling at least thirty monstrous rats all at once.

Yet that was only a piece of the horde. More followed on their heels.

“Burning Barricade!”

The lizard hissed, crossing his blades and erecting a barrier of orange and silver light. The rats fell onto it, their fur burning and splitting themselves on the shield as if it were made of red-hot razors. More piled on, hurling themselves without care or concern upon the lizardman’s defenses even as they bubbled and split and died. Grunting with effort, he turned, his yellow eyes finding Felix across the reservoir.

"Are you just going to watch? Are you going to help?"

Felix started. "You can see me?"

"Yes, and either you help me ghost or leave me alone!" The rats swarmed his shield, nearly overwhelming it, and he was forced to throw out two Echoed Slashes.

Felix clenched his jaw. "Where are you? I can't do anything from here."

"I'm below the white city," he grunted, splitting another rat down the middle. "In Amaranth!"

Felix was tugged back as the array pulled him onward, but he dug in his heels. "I'll find you!"

The reservoir vanished and he was yanked into a tunnel of light. The sensation of insane speed filled his head before he came to a sudden halt once more. His feet touched stone again, but this time it was uneven and the wind howled.

“A storm,” he muttered to himself as his Perception flared. He was standing on a narrow column of natural stone in the middle of a hurricane. The storm winds didn’t touch him, but he could still feel their incredible strength and it was a wonder the rock he was on had not been obliterated.

Rain fell in dense sheets around him, punctuated only by whipping hailstones propelled by the ferocious winds and the raging waves from what appeared to be an ocean. Other solitary rocks populated the area, upthrust from the sea that churned itself apart. Lights swirled among the wind and rain like motes of color, and it took perhaps a full second before Felix realized that they were, in fact, Sprites of air, water, and ice. The sharp-toothed creatures were blurs even to his advanced Perception, but they clearly were frolicking among the violent chaos.

Mostly, though, the Sprites followed one woman.

She flew past him, her hair like liquid silver and wide, colorless eyes that flashed in the Sprite's light like diamonds. Great feathered wings extended from her back, as muscled and powerful as they were colorful. Her wingspan was easily twice her height, which looked only slightly more than five feet, and they were spread, swirling with air Sprites as she flew into the hurricane winds even as they threw other creatures back.

And there were other creatures: strange shadow beasts pursued her through the storm. Faceless serpents and winged behemoths alike fought against the winds, clawed hands reaching for the woman. Red lightning surged with their every undulation, filling their forms with a terrible potency that only emphasized the unnatural holes where their faces should have existed.

Felix snarled. He had seen a face like that before.

Air, earth, and water magic surged in the winged woman’s wake, cast by other Sylphaens as they swooped in from above or below. The shadow beasts shrieked in pain and frustration as they were hit, and black shadow-stuff was torn from their forms. Red lightning answered their cries however, and several of the Sylphaen were blasted out of the sky.

"No!" the Unbound cried out, her body half-turning the way she had come, only to barely dodge the jaws of a twisted beast from the waters below. It was a shadowy mix of crocodile, shark, and writhing squid, and where it’s eyes should have been was only a vast, unending hole.

Jesus, he swore. It's an execution.

Behind him stood two women, a giant Gigas and a relatively small Human. They were both wearing white, though the human was in robes and the eleven-foot-tall Gigas was set in a set of enameled plate armor.

It was the Hierophant...and his sister.

The fall of thirteen simultaneous axes shook the courtyard, and the crowd burst into cheers.

"A simple solution, but effective," the Hierophant said. She looked no older than her mid-twenties, though she carried herself proudly. A staff of white stone was in her hand, and she gestured with it. "You gathered up all the ringleaders of the riots?"

"Yes," Imara said. Her voice was rough. "This is everyone."

"Good. Next we can focus our efforts abroad."

The Hierophant's words were important. Felix knew that, but he couldn't keep his attention off his sister. She had never once looked at those condemned to die. And when the final blow fell, she had flinched.

Felix's mouth went dry. Imara would have watched the execution without issue. She wouldn't have felt a thing to see people die.

Gabby?

The light of his array flared again, pulling him onward, but Felix refused. He clung to the street of Amaranth, taking in the shape of his sister’s face as the Hierophant kept talking. The woman’s words were lost to the roar of distant winds, but Felix flared his Perception.

“...take them, and secure the Territory. I refuse to lose...footholds in...war...”

Flashes of black and silver burst around him, forcing Felix back. He shrugged them off but they persisted, clinging to him like paint and securing around his limbs like manacles. Blue and bronze light followed closely after, bashing into his head and chest, as distant voices intoned in an ancient tongue.

SHE IS OURS.

Red lightning blasted into him, and Felix lost his grip. The array burst, igniting the air with whirling lights that burned the sky, and blackened his chest. He fell, but landed only seconds later as he was thrust back into his body.

Felix’s eyes snapped open and he gasped for breath that, for a moment, wouldn’t come. Around him, the chamber was filled with steam and stone dust in great obscuring clouds, but he couldn’t care less. He slammed on his chest and he gagged as a streamer of black ichor poured from his mouth. Gallons of vile liquid ejected onto the array, sizzling like putrefied remains on the steaming array, but Felix couldn’t care less for the smell. He took deep, grateful gulps of air and steadied himself against the ground.

Archie ran up to him, waving off the smoke in the air. "Felix, are you okay? The whole thing just started burning through the rock!"

Felix looked around, ichor still dripping from his lips. Undifferentiated Mana sparked from various points of his array, where it was clear the entire thing had warped out of true. Before him, the stone itself had melted beneath what he’d expelled, and he grimaced.

“Whoa, that’s nasty. What the hell is that?”

Felix pulled in a sharp breath, and all of the smoke and steam was sucked into his Hunger. The air cleared almost instantly, though the stink of ichor remained.

Tzfell walked up, Laur in her wake. “My Lord, did you—?”

"I found them. All of them." Felix stood up and met all of their gazes one by one. "And we're in trouble."