Unbound

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Eight - 158

The Arcids were servants built by the Archon, a figure Felix had encountered back in the Foglands. Why was one here, in the middle of Haarwatch?

"Let us see, let us see! Cookpot or slab? What shall it be?" The Arcid scuttled between bodies, moving first toward the nobleman. "Ah so scrawny! All bones! But the taste of force, of twinned bindings on..aha!"

The metallic man, covered in glowing lines, pulled something free from Alister's body. Felix could make him out with his Perception, a combination of all of his senses, and it looked to be holding a circular band of metal. A bracelet?

"Enchanted, yes! And tasty too," the Arcid rocked back on its heels before poking around again. "Anything else, hmm?"

Voracious Eye.

Name: Arcid # 54770

Designation: Envoy

Type: Archonic Construct-Hybrid

Level: 62

HP: ?/#%

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--

Felix's head recoiled from the failed identification, his neck jamming painfully into the stone restraint. The Arcid, the Envoy, stood up and looked around wildly.

"Something's here! Something...it LOOKED AT US!" The Arcid's face, fashioned like a visored helmet, twisted on itself as the yellow-red lights of scriptwork writhed. "FIND IT!"

Felix felt the Bishop trundle away, as well as a numer of other, smaller creatures he hadn't sensed at all. Somehow, the construct had noticed Felix use his Skill, which suggested that anything he did might be sensed. It's level 62, nearly the same level as the Larval Ravager, and I had to kill that from the inside.

Felix wracked his brain, trying to think of some way to get out of this; more importantly, to prevent this strange Envoy from killing his friends.

He watched as the construct creature swayed on its feet, almost as if it was drunk, then it lurched in a seemingly random direction. Like a starving wolf, it pounced on one of the other captives. A woman, she was only mildly affected by the Domain's invasive Mana, though she was entirely insensate.

"Was it you, dearest Gerda?" The Envoy whispered harshly. "Did you dig your filthy eyes into me? Into my soul? That was not nice, Gerda. No no no no no."

The Arcid flourished a hand and a jagged length of metal appeared in it, an implement Felix recognized.

Inscription stylus. But why--?

The thing jabbed it down, into the flesh of "Gerda's" chest. The woman neither moved nor screamed; she might as well have been dead, though Felix could sense a steady rhythm from her chest. Horrified, he could only watch as the Envoy slowly carved into Gerda's flesh a series of upsettingly twisted sigils. Felix hadn't the vantage to see what they said, not precisely, but the feeling of their activation was like a new, terrible note in the discordant symphony inundating the platform. It began to recite in a sing-song voice a single breath apart from laughing outright. It's joy was neither infectious nor particularly joyful, though it contained within it a warped glee for the pain it caused.

"Marked and sent by the Master, we was. Mixed with the sick, and the dead. Hard to spot, we are. The gifts of the Master were great, let us shift ourself, change. Hard to pin down upon the board, like a fly cut open. Hmm?" A dark chuckle tumbled from its throat, like a file on a hollow metal cylinder. "Like you, we fell between the cracks. One among many in a city blind. Blind!"

Blood began to lift from Gerda's chest, defying gravity to float upwards in a trickling stream. It collected into a wobbling orb inches above her chest, perhaps only four or five inches in diameter.

"This cesspool city. Too busy, too wild and rotten. It was easy for us to find our way below, to the depths. To here," the Envoy reached out and lightly gripped the pooling blood orb. Crimson liquid rippled and wobbled between its fingers, and a soft, agonized moan came from the woman's lips.

What the hell is it doing?

Felix couldn't read the inscriptions the Arcid was making on the woman. Not only did he not have the vantage, but the ambient noise of the platform was too confusing, too busy. The scripts around them were screaming into the air, each one a mad note in a song that he had to actively suppress from his consciousness. Were it not for his experience with the Maw, Felix doubted he'd be able to do that much.

The Envoy laughed again.

"You'd think us cruel, were you awake. You'd call us monster. Killer. Butcher. That is our favorite title we've earned." It let out a soft, scraping sigh filled with an unmistakable yearning. "It was very hard for us, to step back into your city just to kill one or two pathetic mortals. Oh the blood we wished to spill, to sup upon."

The Butcher. Of course. Felix tensed against his restraints. He had to break the bonds somehow. This thing might be more dangerous than the Ravager King.

The Arcid let go of the blood orb, letting it grow above Gerda's chest. "But orders are orders, and the Master is not to be gainsaid. No no! A frenzy denied, we could but play with the mortals. Bleed them, mark them, lead them back here. To me."

The construct lurched back to its feet as if pulled by puppet strings. The movement was unnatural and, Felix sensed, entirely too fast for most to track. The blood orb above Gerda's chest siphoned off toward the pit, a red ribbon that eventually dwindled to nothing.

"Your blood, all of you, is important to us. To growth. That is the Master's order, yes? Survive. Grow. And as a reward, bathe in the blood of forty thousand mortals." That yearning grew in the construct's tone. "We have been patient. Yes. So patient. But the time for patience is ending, Gerta. Soon it shall be time for--"

"What...are you doin', you metal bastard?" Harn's voice was ragged and he strained against the shaped constraints, to no avail. "Keep yammerin' on and I'll...off myself."

Harn!

"Awake! Surprisingly strong!" The Arcid's shout was maniacally delighted. "Was it you, with the Eyes that touched us?"

Harn grunted. "Let me free and I'll do more'n touch you."

The Arcid laughed, a bell struck by iron rods. "Such fire! Who are you, warrior, to threaten us?"

A droning buzz swelled in the instant before Harn began screaming. The lights of the array around the man flared like erupting magma, and even Harn's strange armor began to glow with heat.

"Fire for fire, hmm?" The construct cackled. "Touch us not with your Eyes, mortal. WE DO NOT LIKE IT."

Felix swallowed and tried to control his racing heart. This thing is strong. And it's power over the arrays...

He could sense the others stirring as well, though Atar and Alister were still deeply unconscious. He assumed the corrupting influence of the Domain was working it's ill will on them far better than the rest. With a thought, Felix accessed his wardstone's timer.

Time Remaining: 58 Minutes

Fuck me. That was no time at all. How long were we out?

As he watched, the timer dropped by two minutes. The Domain was eroding the wardstones fast. Make that thirty minutes. Shit. Okay. Stop. Calm down and focus. Get rid of the bindings first, then...

Felix clenched his jaw. Then we take care of the rest.

Harn's screams cut off as his armor swelled from his body, pushing at the stone around himself. The Arcid tilted its helmeted head, twin sodium fires burning in interest. "You protect yourself? Fascinating. Such ingenuity in Humanity. A shame that you all must die."

"Ain't...dead...yet," Harn gasped, and the stone bands tightened against his thickened armor.

"Give it time." Harn's screams this time were far louder, but Felix tried to shut them out. He had to focus.

Slowly, Felix sounded out the pattern for Stone Shaping. He did not infuse his Will and Mana into it, merely followed along its familiar pattern etched within his core space. As he did so, he felt an answering reverberation from the bands of stone stretched across his neck. A thrum that could have been imagined, it was so faint. So he tried again, and once more he felt the vibration...except he could also sense that parts of the stone weren't responding at all. He pushed his Perception at the rock around his throat, angling his senses until he thought he could tell what the issue was: the bands were not only made of stone. There was a thick vein of unfamiliar metal through them.

Stone Shaping doesn't touch metal. It's in the name. Wrack and Ruin might melt it all, but it's too slow. Felix ran his thoughts along the pattern of the Skill again. Then how can I--?

He hit the point of vibration again, perhaps three quarters the way through the Skill's etched lines. Drilling down on that, he changed the pattern with Fire Within. Just a touch, and the vibrations dimmed away. So he reeled it back, altering the pitch. The vibrations returned and then strengthened ever so slightly. Permutation after permutation, he changed a crest to a trough, altering the wavelengths that made up his patterns. They were sounds translated into light and vision. He just had to find the right combination to...

There.

He had it. He hoped.

PIT! He could feel his Companion somewhere close, hiding from the beasts that even now rampaged for some intruder. I need a distraction. Can you make that happen?

Yes. The answer was quick and certain, no hesitation.

Just be careful.

"You...are resilent, Human," the Arcid said. It almost sounded impressed, and Harn's screams seemed to lessen. "It surprises us to find such capability...but your Body will only get you so far. Hee!"

"This..ain't nothin'...I ain't seen yet," Harn gasped through the reddening metal of his helmet.

"I plan to show you mortals something extraordinary," the construct gestured sharply, and four hooked claws of metal-laced stone rose up beside it. The claws were wrapped with glowing lines and smaller arrays. "The Master plans to crush this city beneath his heel and fuel his army with your people's wasted potential. But first...first WE get you."

Now!

The whine of displaced air was the only warning before ten five-foot long Frost Spears impacted against the Arcid's back. The construct leaned forward slightly, and turned. "What?"

It screamed, more furious than Felix had expected. "HOW DID A CHIMERA GET IN HERE!?"

The claws shot into the air, stretching from the earth around the platform. Pit wheeled high above, the distance allowing him to dodge the strikes. More Frost Spears rained down, but the Envoy shattered them with a wave of its hand.

Pit's Flight is level 10!

Stone Shaping!

Felix flared his Skill, sounding the altered pattern and sent it as far as he could reach. It was like pushing through an invisible barrier with each foot beyond his body, and his Mana dropped precipitously. He gritted his teeth and pushed though. A sustained, high pitched note pierced the air.

Stone Shaping!

Break, damn it!

All at once, the bonds around his body shattered, and Felix surged to his feet. Just in time to see Evie, Vess, Atar, and even Alister's bodies freed from the platform. Frost Spears rained down along with several Wingblades, but the Arcid had erected a moving shield of stone from the platform itself. The construct blinked its yellow-fire eyes in confusion as Felix stood up.

Make An Entrance is level 23!

"What? How do you stand, Human?"

Stone Shaping!

Felix tried to grab the stone shield the Arcid had formed, but couldn't grip it at all, even with his new pattern. It was like pushing on a wall with his old Earth strength.

"Interesting. Interesting! Your Will is strong!" The Archid giggled. "Not strong enough, no no, not nearly."

"Maybe not," Felix panted, releasing his attempted Skill. "I'll try anyway though."

"Stupid!"

The Arcid rushed through the air, it's heavy metal fist upraised. Felix braced himself and readied a number of Skills, but realized he had to keep this thing form killing his still-prone friends. As the Arcid left it's shielded position, Felix called through his bond.

Pit!

The Arcid barely had time to move as a ten foot Frost Spear impacted its metal body; force enough to even send its sturdy form into the ground.

"Harn! Evie! Vess! Get up!"

His friends began moving, but too slowly. And Evie's hip was still clearly messed up. They wouldn't have time to get out. Across the doughnut-shaped platform, ice shattered as the Arcid began to regain its feet.

Pit! Together!

"You work together with the chimera? You fool! We--" Its words cut off as Felix hit the thing with a series of Mana Skills.

Wrack and Ruin!

Reign of Vellus!

Influence of the Wisp!

Target Is Immune to Enthrall.

An orb of dark acid hit the Arcid in its left hip, followed by a wave of lightning that sent it spinning to the side. Yet not once did it lose its balance. The lines on its metal limbs flared with a malignant potency, and it appeared suddenly...bigger.

"We do not like being interrupted," it snarled like a lawnmower kicking over. "You tangle with things beyond you, child of--"

It suddenly tilted it's head, having grown nearly four feet taller than before. It's limbs were stretched and elongated, unnaturally thin for it's newly larger frame, yet the armor of its form still completely overlapped and interlocked. A crest of spikes lined its pauldrons and helm, and the eye-slits of the helmet had become more slanted and pronounced.

"You smell of...of death. Who are you?"

Felix hesitated. "I'm no one."

"No no no, you lie," the Arcid lifted its left arm and inspected it. Yellow-red lines crawled along it, sigils that somehow flowed like liquid up his form. "The Song tells it true. Dark Fate's howl has touch you, mortal. How? Why?"

"Both are insane questions," Felix's eyes flicked toward his friends. "Don't really have an answer."

The Envoy snarled again and the sodium light of its eyes brightened. "Then we shall have answers from your corpse!"

Like a blur, the Arcid flashed forward. As if the distance meant nothing, it gripped Felix by the throat before his senses registered it had arrived.

"Heurk!" So fast!

It lifted him up, and up, until he was suspended four feet from the ground. It pushed its dark head forward, closer to Felix's own and inhaled. The yellowed fires widened. "Strings of fate, cut through and through. A touch of the darkened Void and...and something familiar...

"A predator," it hummed. "Teeth upon teeth. We are fascinated."

Even suspended as he was, Felix felt something deep below them shift. The Envoy looked away, down into the gaping pit beside them as a hoarse, rattling groan rose up from the open shaft. A presence turned, just beyond Felix's senses, something incomprehensibly huge. A spike of terror jabbed through his Mind and Body as oxygen was slowly being choked out of him.

Status Condition: Asphyxiation

Status Condition: Fear

The Song of Absolution is level 46!

The Song of Absolution is level 47!

Bastion of Will is level 48!

Bastion of Will is level 49!

Status Condition: Fear Has Ended!

"It is almost time." The Arcid stepped back, still carrying Felix in his iron grip. Off the ring of sigils and atop one of the stones it had raised. Jostled and wrenched about, Felix could see the four distant tunnels on each side of the island, identical to the one they had traversed. "They come."

That's when he felt it, a rumbling through the Arcid's arm. The ground around them shook faintly. Felix's vision began to dim in the Arcid's grip, but it was still enough to see as three of the tunnels exploded into showers of white dust. Three worms the size of modest skyscrapers burst from the earth, undulating toward them at breakneck speed.

"My children return."