Unbound

Chapter Seven Hundred And Eighty Six – 786

Chapter Seven Hundred And Eighty Six – 786

After tea was had, and nerves had settled as much as Felix imagined they would, Tern set his saucer down and grimaced.

"I suppose it is time for me to fulfill my end of the bargain," he said.

that would be nice.

The Elf narrowed his eyes at Atar. "Such a strange, chatty Urge for something bent on destruction."

"Undying Flame," Atar corrected. "He just likes to burn.”

“Ah, my mistake. At any rate, I'm allowing myself to be distracted.” Tern took a breath and let it go. “I do not know why I left the Tower."

"Excuse me?" Atar blurted.

"What do you mean?" Felix interjected, raising a hand to cut off the mage. "You don't know why you left the Tower. What does that mean, exactly?"

Tern looked nervous, not so much out of fear as it was out of discomfort. "Tower Master Tiir discovered an artifact," he explained. "A weapon, though I do not know its shape or provenance. Developing it has become an obsession for him, and everyone in the Tower, save the apprentices, have been pulled into working on it, each of them Oathbound to keep it secret.

“I should have known where this artifact originated, yet I cannot recall.” He gripped his robes hard, just above his knees. “I saw it. I was there when it was tested."

Zara sucked in a breath. "Tested? On what?"

"I do not know.”

“If you worked on it, then you swore an Oath as well," Felix reasoned. "What was the Oath?"

"I only recall that it bound me. All else was burned away when I left the Tower. My memories of the artifact and the Oath itself are gone, as well as a span of weeks that are like the Void itself to me.” He looked to Zara, and his elderly features were worn. “You ask me why I have not left the city, and this is it. Only a horrible calamity could chase me away from my home, and I cannot recall any of it. That, more than anything else, drives me mad."

"What can you remember?" Felix asked.

"Faint flashes. A color. A stray sound.” Tern shook himself. “In my bones, I know the artifact was powerful and ancient. I recall feeling...humbled by its majesty."

"So, a Grandmaster Tier artifact, at least. If it is as strong as you say, the cost to power such an artifact would be astronomical. How would it—" Zara stopped herself. "They're using the Vent, aren't they?”

“The giant geyser of Mana?" Atar whistled. "Ambitious.”

“Yes. They’ve continued to test it, typically at the height of day, when the glow from the Vent is least visible. Each time, the Vent's stream slackens for a few moments."

"Doesn't the Vent power all the enchantments in this city?" Alister asked. Tern nodded. "What is the source?"

"A deep pool of the purest liquid Mana we've ever encountered. We do not know why it exists, or what seems to produce the endless bounty, but it has been the source of Levantier’s strength since the first days. It's a natural treasure that cannot be touched or even approached without specially enchanted equipment, otherwise your flesh melts from your bones."

Sounds like a stronger Mana Well, he thought. Aloud, he asked, “What happens if this artifact uses it all up?"

"This city is powered by the Vent. All of its enchantments, the flow of magic that moves between Towers and neighborhoods—if the Vent is used up, then the city will fail...and the Towers will fall out of the sky.”

Felix sat back. "Killing countless thousands."

Atar gritted his teeth. "Then we need to stop it."

yes.

Atar tilted his head. "Really? No arguments?"

do you think me a monster, atar? i do not revel in death. we will save these pathetic wretches, and they will worship our majesty.

"Ah, there it is.” Atar rolled his eyes. "Is this is why you won’t help us access the Violet Tower, Tern? Because of your Oath?"

"My Oath does not prevent me from returning. However, the Violet is locked tight against all visitors and has been for some time. Normally, petitioners would be allowed within the halls, but now the few who are allowed are highly vetted and limited in number. Were you to try and stray from the group, you'd be at risk of imprisonment, or worse, if caught."

"Then we won't get caught," Atar said.

Alister put a hand on the mage's arm. "I'm not keen on being imprisoned again so soon. We should find out what we're headed into before deciding to bust down their doors."

"Bust down—How do you plan on doing that?" Tern snapped. "The wards around the Violet Tower are powerful and have only grown more complex in the months since I left. They are paranoid of anyone learning anything about their project. No matter how hard I've tried to coax details from their people—friends that I've known almost all my life—it has failed. Their Oath binds them as tightly as the wards of protection binds their Tower. There is no way in."

"What we need is more information," Felix said. "And I think I have a way."

"What could you possibly do?"

"I can get your memories back."

"Impossible.” Tern closed his eyes and sighed. “Blind gods, what’s happened to me? I once refuted the very idea of impossibilities. It is only lack of knowledge that holds us back...and you are Unbound.” He took a breath as if girding himself. “How?”

“Well, it would...um..." Felix scratched his jaw. "It would require your blood."

"How exactly would my blood help you recover my memories?”

“I don't think memories can be destroyed. Not by Oaths, anyway. Taken, sure. Suppressed, absolutely. But our Bodies remember something about it. I'm not sure what, but the memories linger on. I've seen it.” Felix forced a smile. “If there's a chance the Oath didn't destroy the memories, I can get them out."

"This is a Skill of yours?"

"It is."

"Curious. Is that a feature of being Unbound, or is it something to do with being Nymean?"

"Neither. Just something I picked up along the way."

"It's worth a shot. I do agree with that. How do we do this?"

Immediately, a low hum rippled through the chamber, rising in pitch as the purple light of sigaldry faded all around them. Power was being diverted in bright, inscribed lines toward the artifact. Enough that the hairs on Tern’s arms lifted straight up.

Flitting thoughts came to Felix, snatches of Memory. Adjusting the Tower’s array that sat over the Vent—a key benefit to being the ruling Tower of Levantier. Of devising amplification channels across the lower levels so the Vent’s power wouldn’t be diminished. Tern had done a lot to make this artifact work, yet Felix felt the mage’s visceral fear. His concerns were real and earnest.

Felix felt the shift when it happened, as the flush of Mana drained from all around them. It gathered in the artifact—the Chthonic Star. The metal began to glow, the light of it swiftly becoming blinding and casting all of their facility into an impenetrable white.

Static tore across the fabric of the Memory, turning the edges of Felix’s vision jagged and blurry. Felix felt the Memory slipping from his grasp. He held on tightly, clamping his Will and flaring his Skill.

Ephemeral Evocation is level 49!

He lurched forward, skipping through time as the Memory ran into raw edges, only to resolve in Tern bent and bleeding from his ears.

What—how’d he get hurt?

Everyone was bloodied, including the Unbound and Tower Master. Mana gathered around the artifact like a shroud of liquid light, pulsating in time with a reckless hum. The sound and concentrated power beat at them, tearing across their protective wards and stabbing into their Spirits.

Still, the others watched the Chthonic Star with a joy Tern couldn’t match.

Without warning, the Star flared, and a concussive blast rocked them. The wards flared a bright, dangerous red as they absorbed the power of the artifact, and for a moment, Felix was relieved.

That wasn’t so bad—

A beam blasted from the triple-layered Star, and it was colorless and almost invisible. It tore through the aperture of the Tower, the only evidence of its passage the heat ripples it left behind.

Tern and the others ran to the windows.

In the distance, where the caldera of the city rose up, and the Umber Tower lifted barely above the skyline, wards shattered into a rainbow cascade of power. They were powerful, enough to stop even his Grandmaster's Skills for quite a while.

The invisible beam popped them like soap bubbles.

Through the blaze of light, Tern could see the target. He, too, sparked with colorful light for a brief moment before it was blasted away. The target fell, the Tower Master of Umber falling from atop his own private ship.

“Success,” Tiir said, low and savage. “Fall, you wretch.”

Yet the beam did not stop there. It shot through the city, clearing the buildings by mere feet before it seared into the countryside...and a neighboring mountain. A distant boom rolled across the city like thunder, louder than anything Tern had heard in his life. Dust and debris rose into the sky like a plume of smoke, and a distant fire caught upon the peak.

Beside him, Elowen laughed, joined swiftly by the Tower Master and crew as they swiftly devolved into a ragged cheer. Before them, the artifact flared, the Crescian Bronze glowing as Mana flowed through it. The orichalcum and mithril heated up, going from yellow to cherry red to a brilliant white, before the metal began to melt entirely.

"Shut it down, quickly!"

The Star went quiescent as the flow of Mana was cut off.

A Weapon Of The Enemy, Used Against Them Long After They Have Fallen. A Delicious Irony.

The voice was sourceless, and yet all around him. Felix knew it, and he fought to keep his presence as still as possible. He'd had more than one experience with higher powers in memories.

Tern, however, spun around, looking for it. All he saw was Elowen and Tiir standing next to him, lit from the still glowing star. Their shadows stretched before them like voids cut into the chamber, darkening their features until it was like he was staring at strangers.

Faces loomed from within the dark—women with long hair obscuring their features, and limbs that had too many joints, ending in hands with pale claws. Threads of silver wrapped them tight, though none tighter than Elowen herself. Her throat was bound, her antlers strung into knots, and it was she who turned to him.

"Thank You, Vilus Tern. It Will Suffice."

The Memory lurched once more, and Felix was suddenly racing down a hallway, wards flaring as mages cast spells at him.

Tern gripped his head as a silver thread weighed him down, tearing away pieces of his thoughts as they rose up. He was aflame, but it was a fire of the Mind.

Static speared across the Memory, covering parts of Tern as Felix tried to understand what he was seeing. Tern’s hand glitched away.

Chains wrapped around him, but they were illusions. Or perhaps they never were there to begin with...they shattered at Felix’s touch, and Tern flinched. The heavens burned, and the skies blackened.

He grasped his head and screamed.

Their thoughts were a mess, and Felix could only watch from within him as Tern collapsed.

The weapon...

It cannot be finished...

Felix knew, just as suddenly Tern did. The Memory was clear for a brief moment, before it, too, was consumed by static.

I know its purpose—

The Oath collapsed atop of him, and Vilas Tern shattered.

"I know," Felix gasped as the world reassembled itself. He lurched forward, shattering the low table before him with his heel. It collapsed as if it were made of paper.

"Did it work?" Tern asked, pushing to the front. "What did you see? What did I forget?"

Zara held him by the shoulders, though she was grimacing with the effort before Felix sat back of his own volition. "What do you know, Felix?"

"I know," he repeated, blinking away the afterimages of destruction, and the voice that still echoed in his head. "I know what the artifact is for. You figured it out, Tern. The pieces were all there."

Felix swallowed and Willed his heart to stop pounding.

Chains shattered at his touch...a star to fire into the heavens...

“Their chains,” he said. “The gods intend to sunder them completely.”