Chapter 291 (Patreon)

Enjoy!

* * *


Vvim? Felix's Mind flashed back to the ancient Geist in Shelim. Did Vvim send this construct?

"Felix? What is it?" Vess said as she jogged up to him. She grimaced at the pungent muck spread all around them. Not all of it had been absorbed by his Skill, for whatever reason. "Is that the creature's core? It was a Golem?"

"Or something," Felix agreed. He chose to save the Memory for now. He'd have to check it later. And don't eat it, he admonished his abyss. A quick check showed the mote of Memory sitting high in his Essence cloud, well away from the hungry rift between his cores. Felix imagined the thing growled at him unhappily, but the Memory didn't move. "I stole a Memory from it, but I don't want to check it here."

"Yes, that would be unwise. We are too exposed." She looked to the side, where Pit and Evie landed with a heavy thump. "Evie, can you signal the others to proceed along the bridge?"

"Yeah sure." She massaged her right forearm as she walked off. "I'm gonna be sore later. That thing hit harder than a Reforged."

She was right. It was strong, a lot stronger than Felix had expected. Comparing his memories, it was easily twice as strong as the Orichalcum Golem Felix had faced in Haarwatch. And Vvim...built this?

He had a lot of questions.

Felix?

"Yeah?"

Vvim is...a Geist?

Oh! "Yeah, he's an old Geist that has helped me out in the past. Well," Felix amended. "Helped is a generous way to put it, but he pointed me in the right direction. You probably know all about the Geist though, right?"

Yes. I...I did.

Felix raised an eyebrow at Karys' tone. At that moment, Vess stepped close to him and nodded to the rough spiral of wood still in his hands.

"Not to interrupt, Felix," she said. "But I would like to look at this. May I?"

"Sure." Felix handed it over. Just like the splatters of mud around them, the core hadn't been eaten by Ravenous Tithe. Which was strange. "I'm not sure why the core didn't dissolve into Essence and Mana when I used Ravenous Tithe on the rest of it."

"Yes, I am curious about that as well. And how was it able to shrug off our attacks so easily?" She turned the core in her hands, noting several deeply ingrained shapes that almost looked like sigils. "It looks grown rather than built."

"New method of Golem making?"

"Or a very old one." A frown of thought creased her face, but a smile flashed across it when she caught him staring. "We should set camp soon so you can review that Memory. There is no point in wasting time."

Felix coughed. "Right on that count. Harn!" Felix called, though his voice was mostly eaten by the wind across the chasm. Harn and the rest, however, were close enough now that he heard him fine. "Let's set camp for the evening. We have things to discuss."


* * *


What are they doing? Why are they resting? Had the mud monster truly given the Fiend such trouble?

Captain Ifre hunched lower in the mossy stones on the opposite side of the ravine. She had no idea how potent the Fiend's Perception was, and the last she wanted was to be caught. They'd kept their distance for the past week, well out of even the Farwalker's effective range. She saw no reason not to be cautious, not if they were to succeed.

"Captain, if they're setting camp, you should get some rest," Isyk said to her left. "I'll keep an eye on them. If they move I'll wake you."

Ifre hesitated, but it was true she was tired. Both because of the vigilance she demanded of the team, but also for...other reasons. Her eyes drifted down to an item at her waist. Her belt hung heavy, even bound with sealed wrappings as it was; it dragged at her.

"Very well. Wake me the moment they make a move." She crept backward from the ridge, and slid down into the secluded hollow they'd found. Tyrk was there, oiling his blades against all the rain. "Tyrk. Relieve Isyk after four glasses. I want all of us rested for the city ruin ahead."

"You really think they're headed there?" Tyrk asked.

"At this point there is little doubt. I just don't know why." Ifre laid down on her bedroll and pulled an oilskin over her shoulders to ward off the constant misting spray.

"Captain?"

"What is it, Tyrk?"

"Why are we here?" She looked at the man, and he was nervously licking his lips. He was a proven warrior of the clan, but he was clearly nervous. "Following that man doesn't feel right. He saved us."

Ifre sighed and sat back up. "He did save us. I would have died had he not intervened. But the Matriarch set us a task, and her word binds us. The Dawnguard serve the Wander, and the Wander is the demesne of the Matriarch."

"Of course. Blessed be the Raven's chosen."

"Blessed be."

Ifre rolled over, determined to wrangle an ounce of sleep if she could. She tried to let her doubts settle, pushing them aside for the relief of silent dreams.

The Matriarch has her reasons, I'm sure.

Yet item at her waist pulsed like a heartbeat, and sleep was the furthest thing from her mind.


* * *


They travelled a short way from the bone bridge, finding a shallow depression for them to shelter from some of the wind and rain. Much as they'd seen throughout the deeper parts of the Foglands, there were parts of statues buried in the earth, appearing to be cousins to the Nymean men and women that stretched across the ravine. A large, glowering face tilted sideways out of the ridge behind them, its features unaffected by the passing of time or weathering of the seasons. The head itself was severed, which was a bit of a surprise.

"Huh, what could cut through that bone?" Kylar wondered aloud. His had been the sword to attempt to cut a previous bridge, resulting in nothing more than a strained arm and bruised pride as his sword vibrated right out of his grip. "Has to be magic, right?"

"Hard to say," Nevia said. "Crafting with bone isn't something I'm familiar with, but if it functions like stone there are a number of enchantments that can be worked into a structure to make it almost impervious to most Skills."

"Could you cut it, Felix?" Kylar asked. He brushed nervously at his thin moustache, one he kept fastidiously trimmed even out in the wilds. "With your magic, or one of your swords, surely you could."

Before Felix could answer, Atar laughed and smoothed his own mustache, one so pale it was hard to remember it existed. "Likely not. It's a Tempered material."

"Tempered—you mean it's System enforced?" Nevia asked in excitement.

Atar nodded sagely and adjusted his battlerobes. Felix smiled. The man did love to lecture. "It is the only process that makes sense. No bone should be so dense, unless it was once part of a beast that Tempered their Body into something greater. The Nym merely harvested the bone."

"They would have had to been of a greater Tier to defeat it, and the Skill needed to carve it..." Nevia trailed off as she contemplated the hollow eyed face. To Felix it looked remarkably similar to a Human, if with a slightly odd tilt to its features. "What Tier would that require?"

"High than Adept, I know," A'zek said in his soothing baritone. "My Companion wades in those shoals, and he cannot scratch their surface. He has tried."

"Remarkable," Nevia said in a half whisper.

"Yeah, great. Now help me with this fire," grumbled Davum. His thick fingers were fiddling with some kindling, but the flames kept extinguishing in the misting rain.

"Oh, allow me," Atar said. A wash of flame followed, sending Davum scrambling backwards. "Ah, sorry."

"Atar, stop burning our allies and come help me map out these etchings," Alister said. The man had taken shelter beneath a deeper outcropping that, upon further investigation, was definitely a carved hand. He had a series of parchments laid out on a dry mat. "I've almost pinned down how they modulate the expansion distance."

"Modulate the expansi-what?" Evie said. "You two've been over those sigils for weeks now. What's the point?"

"Knowledge is its own reward," Atar said. Evie snorted.

"Also, if we can understand these, we could push our Sigaldry Skills into Adept Tier," Alister added.

"Also that."

"That, I can square with," Evie said.

Felix let the chatter of their camp wash over him. As much as he wanted to delve into the Relay sigaldry, he hadn't the time. He sat a slight way apart with Pit at his side and let his senses spread out among them all. There were no dangers nearby, but he could feel Kikri, Vyne, and Vess watching the most likely approaches. He also sensed that deeper down there were a number of objects and shapes that felt different from the surrounding stone and earth. More bone, most likely. Perhaps he should excavate it?

Distracting yourself?

Felix looked up at Pit's enormous head, larger than any horse he'd seen. The tenku was staring down at him with soft golden eyes and no little admonishment. His Companion didn't think words very often, but his diction and vocabulary were growing fast. Felix smirked. "Yeah, a little bit."

You fear the Memory?

"Not fear, just—" Felix took a breath, pulling in the scents of dark soil, wet forest, and woodsmoke. "It's gonna get harder now."

Pit snorted.

"Yeah, okay. You have a point," Felix said. "It's never easy. But this will be a turning point, I know it. Vvim is...he knows more about the Nym than any of us. Except maybe you, Karys."

Vvim...that is a Geist name, the Paragon said slowly.

"Yeah," Felix said, just as slowly. "We talked about this, already, Karys."

We did?

Felix shared a look with Pit. He didn't know what the problem with the Paragon was, but it was getting worse. "Yes he's a Geist. Old though." Felix clapped his hands. One problem at a time. "Okay. Let's do this."

Felix clamped his Will and Intent upon the Memory, still stable within the cloudy expanse of his Essence store. He guided it down, near the rumbling abyss, and pushed it into his red-gold core. The star burst, consumed by the liquid flames of the ring-shaped core, before it spat out a wash of muted gray.

Everything around him froze for a single moment, before shattering.


* * *


Felix found himself in a familiar room. It was triangular in shape and had two large bas-relief murals carved onto the walls. A triangular depression in the center featured a merrily burning fire, and unlike his last visit to the tower, the place was lit up by magelights. It was also spotlessly clean.

A number of small, anthropomorphic weasel-like creatures walked around dressed in curiously wrapped robes and bearing staves topped with small Belais Crystals. They conversed in small groups, often attended by much larger animals. No. Felix looked again. Not animals.

Chimera.

At least ten filled the sizable chamber, each one close to a robed Geist in a manner that suggested a tight bond. Felix saw several tenku, some harnoqs, and even a dragon-looking creature and a hulking, fur-covered beast bigger than Shelled Aurochs.

Wyvern and a Wendigo, Felix noted. He remembered their depiction in this very chamber.

"Felix Nevarre."

Felix spun toward the fire, where a plush bench was built into the recessed center. A single person was there, an old Geist.

"Vvim."

"Do you like this view of the Tower? It is a sight improved from how you first encountered it, I dare say."

"Certainly more occupied," Felix said, gesturing to the Geist and chimera that walked about. "This seems to be an old memory."

"This one is very old, Felix. These eyes have seen a great many things, this is but one of them. The night I finished one of our greatest works." Vvim looked around the chamber, smiling slightly. The expression crinkled his entire face like tissue paper. "Forgive this one a bit of maudlin self-indulgence. We merely wished to see our family again."

"I can't blame you for that," Felix said softly. Despite the clear signs of revelry and joy, Felix felt an eerie sense of doom. Like an axe was hanging above his neck. He refocused on Vvim. "But how are you talking to me?"

"A clever twist of Spirit added onto your curious ability and carried within the fecund mud of this one's construct. This one assumes you defeated and destroyed the Muckminder."

"It was called the Muckminder?" Felix asked.

"Mhm. This one wished to test the limits of your new Formation. Impressive to have defeated the construct so quickly." Vvim hummed and fiddled with his stave.

"You were testing me? For what?" Felix wasn't sure he liked being tested, especially when it put his friends in danger.

"You have not been quiet, Felix Nevarre. All of the Foglands felt the flare of power when Naevis was claimed. The Archon most certainly did."

Felix felt his stomach drop. "Is he moving?"

"Not yet. This one finds the Archon...confusing, for many reasons. More on it we cannot say. Not here." Vvim stood and climbed out of the recessed lounge area. "Come."

They stepped to a door Felix had not seen in his original survey of the room. A door he wasn't positive actually existed in Vvim's Tower. It opened out onto a balcony, and Felix's breath caught.

Shelim spread out before them, lit up and filled with a life that was more than just well made buildings and neat streets. People were down there, thousands, millions. The city swept outward in all direction, for miles and miles, way larger than Felix recalled.

"The city was all the world to us. Our life. You see how it was in this one's youth, when the Nym were almighty and the barriers held true." Vvim sighed. "It was not like this, not truly. This is but a reflection of  our memories, stretched and held up before you. The reality was more...harsh. Pain and despair still existed in the Empire, we were simply ignorant of it. Or perhaps inured. No matter." Vvim's small, wizened head lifted to catch Felix's gaze. "What the Archon seeks, what it is, we must tell you these things. You must find this one's body, Felix Nevarre. There is much you must know, and little time to tell it."

"Why not tell me now?" Felix asked.

"This one cannot. Not even this method is truly safe, and especially not for this. You must find us. Before the Archon breaches our Tower." Vvim's ancient eyes turned dull as a sharp whistling filled the air. He turned back to the cityscape and sighed. "You have one day."

From the sky, the whistling resolved into the fall of a Stygian darkness. Studded with violet, it fell in comets of shadow that engulfed entire city blocks, leaving nothing behind but ruin.

"W-what is that?" Felix gasped.

"An end. Go, Felix. Find us." Vvim repeated, slamming his stave into the balcony and the Memory cracked around it. "Before it is too late."

Then the darkness consumed them both.


* * *


Felix surfaced from the Memory, sucking in an abrupt, haggard breath. For an instant, he couldn't tell what was real, Shelim or the sheltered camp around him. His skin burned, sizzling with the remembered pain of...of—

When had he come to the bridge?

Felix spun in a circle, confused. The rain was coming down harder, soaking through his tunic and pants, his cloak no where in sight. It felt glorious against his skin, but he was concerned. Felix didn't remember walking out to the bridge and that wasn't normal. Not for him.

Felix focused, thinking back. He experienced the Memory, spoke to Vvim, and then the—

—He had woken up. And...somehow walked five minutes back to the bridge to do...what? Why was he out here?

"Kerys?"

Yes, Felix?

"What have I been doing the last few minutes?"

You ran from the camp after groaning about some sort of fire. You seemed fine, but the cold rain was apparently soothing. You took your cloak off soon after that and came out here.

A fire? There hadn't been any sort of fire in the Memory, and the one in camp was farther away, near everyone else. "Kerys, did you see the Memory I interacted with?"

No. I cannot sense these Memories you access. This one seemed quite potent however. Your Spirit seems to be in considerable distress.

It was, and for a couple reasons. He tried to put this incident out of mind, at least for now. New problems had arisen. "Let's get back to the others. It appears we're on a deadline."