Unbound

Chapter Six Hundred And Fifty One – 651

WHERE IS IT?

Felix jolted back, kicking off the ground and landing a solid ten feet away before he realized the screaming howl had come from inside of him.

Hunger?

I SMELL IT,she bellowed. FOOD!

He stared at the scattered powder that was once a robed corpse. You just missed him.

The abyss within churned, which was a new and terrible feeling for Felix. IWas Asleep.

You were? Felix belatedly realized that his Hunger hadnt made a peep during his conversation with Avet. You sleep?

No.

Meaning Avet was suppressing you. I didnt know that could happen. That was troubling for a variety of reasons, top among them being the fact that Felix didnt even notice. He said he was weaker than the other gods, and that his Vessel was subpar. I mean, it fell apart after he left. Sowas he stronger in his Shrine? Are all the gods stronger in their Shrines?

Felix committed that to memory. That fact alone was good enough reason to avoid any Shrine in the future.

Mm. Food.

The bone dust swirled around Felixs feet, and he felt the same temptation. No. If Avet is stronger here than other placesI dont want to risk offending him. The others are too close.

Hunger grumbled again, but she settled down. Felix let out a relieved breath, and started searching.

He hadnt spent a lot of time investigating the Shrine before Avet had arrived, and he doubted he had a ton of time now. But if the Shrine somehow boosted the gods power, then Felix intended to know how.

The walls were broken and pressed askew by time and erosion, with bits of dirt and vines peeking out. The root systems were all sliced through when the Shrine shifted locations, and a few stones were clearly sheared off, leaving one side glassy and smooth. What little architecture remained was very simplistic and extremely worn.

The altar in the center of the chamber was broken in half, as hed noticed originally, and the once squared edges were rounded and shiny by the touch of hundreds or thousands. The sides were in better condition though, and contained dozens of small carvings. Felix knelt down, and could pick out lines of people holding bags and buckets and baskets, all piled high with objects that could be anything from fruit to small animals. Some of them looked like deer-headed folks, and others were short and slender. Goblins, maybe. All of the people were marching toward a central figure, picked out in strange swirling shapes.

Avet, I assume, he muttered.

The altar had split right through the amorphous shape, and the grime of millennia clung to the vast majority of the details. Felix dragged his claw against some of it, chipping away dirt and sediment. The figures took on more clarity, somehow better preserved under the layersyet Felix almost wished it hadnt been. Closest to the cracked form of Avet were the largest of all the offerings, bound in cages or chains. People.

Sacrifices.

A sudden spark jumped between his claw and the altar, which wasnt half surprising as the notification that nearly blinded him.

Authority Recognized.

Traces Of Divinity Detected.

Do You Wish To Restore And Reactivate This Shrine?

Y/N

Are you kidding me? Felix glared at the pile of dust.

Felix chose No.

A grinding rumble shook the Shrine, and Felix lurched to his feet. Fine powder rained down from the ceiling in rivulets, and something dry and ancient cracked. Then it ceased. Felix spread his Perception, poking his attention in every direction he could as fast as possibleyet other than a faint haze of filth to the air, he found nothing amiss.

If this place comes down on me, Im gonna be pissed, he muttered. Avet said the place wouldnt hang around long, and clearly it hadnt liked his refusal. Better be quick.

The altar revealed little else. More scenes of sacrifice were carved into the thing, but the vast majority of them were food, animals, or even piles of what Felix assumed was treasure. It told him nothing else, and the prompt to restore the Shrine did not return.

Beyond the altar, there was only the obelisk. It rose high from the floor, taller even than Felixs six and a half foot height, had four sides and came to a point. The corners were all sharp, untouched by however many centuries had passed since its construction, but cracks did mar its sides. They spiderwebbed from the top, where a series of circular symbols ran in a ring around the entire obelisk.

Phases of the moon. Felix recognized them from the lask obelisk hed seen. Vellus had also contained many images of the moons, though most were of her ownthe Bloodmoon. I thought Avet didnt have a moon, though?

Below that were a great many symbols. Some were emblems or images, things like a burning flame or a broken tower, and they didnt make much sense without context. Felix fixed them in his Mind regardless. They could be useful someday.

The most intriguing part of the obelisk, however, was also the most obvious. In a wide band around its center, three glyphs were carved deep into the stone. The symbols were archaic and oddly shaped compared to the sigaldry he knew, but not illegible. They said imprisonment, thief, and betrayal. Dimly, Felix could recall similar glyphs on Vellus obelisk, but he hadnt given them any thought at the time. His memories of that time were almost a year old at that point, and he hadnt known how to read sigaldry that well back thenbut overall, the design of this obelisk and Vellus were eerily similar.

Imprisonment must refer to their moons. However that works. Felix was almost entirely positive that the gods werent actually chained to their respective moons. Like Avet had said, they could shape the structure of reality; any cage designed to hold them would have to be a lot more complicated.

Thief and betrayal, though. What did they steal? And who did they betray? Felix walked around the obelisk, committing it to memory as much as studying its details. I guess the real question is, who imprisoned the gods in the first place. Answer that, and maybe itll lead me to the rest of the truth.

A sharp trill assaulted his ears as a new, gold-edged notification popped into view.

New Quest!

Origins Of The Breaking!

You have discovered your second Shrine to the gods. As with Vellus own, this one lies shattered by time and disaster. Within you have found a clue toward their origins and the war that changed everything. Find the others and uncover what was Lost, Ascendent.

2 of 7 Found

Reward: Varies, Title, Orichalcum Chest

Is this why you wanted me here? he asked the thin air. Felix clenched his fists. More manipulation.

Hed once had a Quest about the Shrines, back before hed become a Primordial. That one had been about reactivating them, exactly as the altar had prompted him to do just a few minutes prior. But after his Race had changed again, and after hed stolen a bite of Vellus Divinity, the Shrines wouldnt let him near them. By that point though, Felix had been more than happy to give up that Questline. He had no interest in increasing the power of the gods.

This Quest, however, hinted at something totally different. Origins of the Breaking. What is Avets angle?

Out of the corner of Felixs eye, he spied movement. His heartrate ratcheted upward, but it was just the bone dust again. It eddied across the tumbled floor, kicked up by a sudden gust.

Felix frowned. Wind? Wheres it coming from?

He cast about once again, and sure enough there was a patch of shadows that had seemed completely innocuous at first. Now though, it all but thrummed with hidden power. The moment his attention fixed on it, the shadows shifted. Thinned. An empty doorframe was revealed where before there had been only an intersection of tumbled walls.

How the heck does he do that? Felix muttered. Another gust rolled through the frame, carrying with it a noise that sounded suspiciously like soft laughter.

The doorframe was twisted and bent as all the others, broken as if dropped from some terrible height. Beyond its lintel was another rocky corridor, though the rocks soon gave way to packed earth that sloped upward. Most notably: a fresh breeze wafted down it, and in the distance a pinprick of light.

Sunlight. They were near the surface. Bastard gave us a way out. Felix glanced at the pile of bone dust one last time and gave a reluctant nod.

He had to tell the team.

Mercy of the gods. A true Shrine, Laur said as they entered Avets rundown hovel. He looked around as if gazing at a long lost love, and Tzfell wasnt much different.

I have never encountered one before, the Dwarven Chanter admitted. Tzfells head was still heavily bandaged and she walked with a slight limp. Neither of the Chanters had escaped that fight uninjured. Even the temple to Noctis in Red Shield Hold is but a facsimile.

Hm. I had hoped youd be able to confirm if they all have these obelisks, Felix said, coming in right behind them. Watch your heads, this door is low.

Yes, an awkward fit. But one which we can manage, Eagin rumbled. He and his brethren squeezed themselves under the lintel and into the taller space around the broken altar. They jangled slightly with the treasure they carried. Harn remained slumbering in Oruns arms.

A Shrine, Yintarion hissed from atop the elemental core held by Iiana. Step carefully.

Obelisk? Oh, Tzfell said. She walked closer to the tall spire of dark stone. I have never seen something like this. Laur. Can you feel it?

The Elven Chanter lifted his hands and he closed his eyes. It sings with Divine power.

Good enough reason not to touch it, Evie said as she climbed in, followed closely by Vess, Archie, Beef, and Hallow.

But what if touching it gives you cool powers or like a Title? Beef asked.

It doesnt, Felix answered quickly.

From the state of this place, touching it will probably just give you tetanus, Archie said, wiping his hands against his jacket. Or itll just fall apart. Looks like spit and wishes are all thats holding it together.

The architecture is decayed, yes, but if its original, then it was built at least four Ages ago. That its still standing is a testament to the power in these stones, Laur explained.

So like thousands and thousands of years ago? Archie asked, before worriedly looking up at the ceiling. Why are we in here again?

Felix gestured to the exit. I only showed you this place because we have a path out. Look.

Is that daylight? Vess asked. Twins mercy, but that is a pleasant sight.

And the tunnel looks more than wide enough for us, as well, Eagin noted. Howfortuitous.

Felix sighed. I think its a gift. Or a reward, maybe. From Avet.

Everyone but Archie tensed up, and after seeing their reactions he started looking between them all wildly. Whats happening? Whos Avet?

A god, Evie said.

What do you mean, a god? Like that Pathless asshole?

The Shrine shook again, and this time the rumbling seemed a touch more ominous to Felix. It also didnt stop, as more powdered stone rained down on them from the ceiling. Stop talking. Go. Take the tunnel toward the light. Eagin lead the way.

As you Will, Colossus.

The Eidolons trudged forward, their steps curiously silent in the Shrine. Once they had passed into the tunnel, however, their feet landed like distant, muffled thunder.

Avets Shrine, Tzfell said, lip curling.

Come. We must stick together. Laur pushed the shorter Chanter along, and she reluctantly went with him.

Beef followed, though he kept looking back at the altar and obelisk. Hallow, still wrapped around Beefs chest, watched too, but her blackened green eyes swiveled about as if seeking threats.

Evie and Vess went just before Felix. Vess reached back a hand and grasped Felixs own before pulling him along. In seconds, all of them had vacated the Shrine, and the rumbling simply ceased. Felix glanced back.

He stopped in his tracks. Behind them was nothing except a flat plane of seamless, striated stone.

W-what happened to the Shrine? Tzfell asked.

He said he couldnt keep it here long, Felix said. He tapped the rock. It thunked solidly.

The Shrine? Evie asked. The whole thing moved?

Yintarion alighted on her shoulder and sniffed at the stone. I see. I am familiar with this technique.

Truly, Yin?

Yes, little Dragoon. I used it myself, once upon a time. A piece of it swells inside the young Autarch too.

Felix thought on the shadows, on how they kept things hiddenor moved things about. Liminal spaces. Shadowgates. Avet used the same power Noctis claimed.

Indeed.

How? I thought the gods were all hyper specialized, Beef asked.

It is possible that the Divine all share certain aspects in common with one another, Tzfell mused. Or that their influence overlaps. As Yintarion said, the Lord Autarch has the ability to move us through the Void on a ship crafted from his power. If a mortal can do such a thing, then it stands to reason the Divine would find no trouble accomplishing something such as this.

Wait, wait. You never answered me, Archie said, waving his hands to get their attention. This is a god? An almighty being throwing thunderbolts around?

That is Vellus, Vess corrected.

What?

Vellus holds domain over storms and blood. The Pathless is of the sun and order. Siva rules over fortune and fate. The Twins favor justice and mercy. Yyero reigns over sickness and rot. And Noctis is the queen of the night.

Archie just stared at her for a second. Right. Okay. And this other god came here? To talk to you?

Yeah. Felix grimaced. Im real popular.

Apparently.

How? Tzfell demanded. The gods are gone. Trapped.

Everyone except the Pathless and Avet. They both evaded it, somehow.

Yeah, but this is according to him, right? How do we know hes telling the truth? Havent all the gods been, like, super huge dicks to us? Beef asked.

Avet is the god of change and revolution. He is not a god of liars, Vess pointed out.

I dont think any of them are as trapped as we think, Felix added. Ive faced Vellus and Noctis and Siva. Some of them were slivers cut off and trapped a long time ago, and Siva waswell that was mostly me going and messing with her, I guess. He shook his head, as much to clear the mental image of Sivas gnarly form from his mental palette as anything else. But Vellus snaked around her chains. If Avet says hes free, then Im gonna treat him as if thats the case.

And hows that? Beef asked. The kids heart rate had spiked the longer theyd spoken about the Divine.

Kick his ass if he comes for us, Felix said, and gripped the kids furry shoulder. Right?

Beef straightened and a smile bloomed across his snout. Right.

Felix nodded. Eidolons. Keep heading up and out.

Aye.

They all started walking, but Archie lingered back. He was staring at the bare stone and worrying at his lip with his teeth.

Archie. You good?

No. The Delven laughed. No, Im really fuckin not.

It gets better. Managing all this, Felix said.

Does it? This, Archie said, slapping the rock. This got teleported in, right?

More or less.

So if this Avet got his panties in a twist, he could justdrop a building on us outta nowhere? Archie shuddered.

Next time, maybe dont insult a god in their own Shrine, Evie suggested over her shoulder.

Archie pulled his hat down low and trudged after everyone else. Fuck this world, man.

Felix couldnt really blame him.