Unbound

Chapter Nine - 009

Felix plummeted into a raging river.

He tumbled, ass over teakettle, the water surging around him violently. He briefly saw the surface, but was so disoriented that he couldn't tell which way he had to swim. The water around him was murky, churned into a swirling froth of bubbles. It was absolutely frigid, and his skin quickly turned numb. Felix kicked, straining against the current to orient himself, pushing toward the bright light that flashed across his eyes. Bursting back to the surface, Felix reoriented himself just as the Skinks zipped to the edge of the embankment.

Then they buzzed toward him.

"Oh what the hell," Felix gasped. He had no choice. Unfortunately, his guess had been correct: the river was wide, too wide to swim across before the lizards took him out. He took several quick breaths before inhaling as large a lungful as he could. He dove beneath the surface just as the first Skink slashed its razor sharp wings at him.

Below the water, the world was suddenly quiet. A faint rumble he could feel in his chest was all that remained of the surface noise. Felix pushed down toward the bottom of the river, a good six or seven feet below. Straining, even as the current pulled him along, he was able to grab onto the edge of a mossy rock. Clinging with all his strength, Felix pulled himself down toward the bottom of the river and he waited.

And waited.

From this vantage he could see everything. The water wasn't murky here so much as roiling; once he was deep enough it was like a strange other world. Weeds and moss grew all around him, filling in the spaces between large river-round boulders. From his angle he could just barely look up and behind himself, and could see the blurry shapes of the lizards zipping to and fro above the surface, like obese dragonflies.

C'mon. Leave already.

His lungs were starting to burn. He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been down here, but it was definitely a couple minutes. His enhanced body was apparently better at holding its breath than Felix had ever been, but even so, he was pushing the limits of his Endurance. He tried to close his eyes, focusing only on controlling the burning ache in his chest.

Of course, that's when he slipped.

Felix's hands, one then the other, slipped away from the rock beneath him. He flailed, trying to latch onto another, even as the strong current ripped him off and away. His lungs screamed, his urge to inhale almost impossible to resist. Felix was spun about, arms spread as he careened off of one boulder after another. He smashed his elbow into one, then his ribs bashed against several upright rocks. The pain was like hot lava in his bones, burning him from the inside out.

Then, for one beautiful moment, all of the rocks around him disappeared. He floated, free, unimpeded. Consciousness dimming, his vision dark except for occasional flares of bright yellow and blue at the edges, Felix barely had time to register the sudden shape of the rushing water. He zoomed along, pulled at speed toward an edge where all the foaming water rocketed away.

Oh, he managed, a waterfall.

Felix started awake, slamming into something.

Laughter, muffled by cubicle walls. Bright fluorescent lighting smeared his eyesight, and he rubbed the heel of his hand against them, attempting to clear it.

He was at his desk at work, standing on a rubber mat in front of a chest high desk. This standing desk is what he had slammed into. His keyboard was askew, and the mouse was dangling by it's cord off the edge of the sliding tray. He righted them both and took a step back.

Why was he...?

"Felix~!"

A voice slithered across the cubicles, and the clip-clop of heels sounded on the hard linoleum flooring. Felix turned, just in time to see a woman with sandy brown hair step into his space, arms akimbo.

"Felix, what are you doing? The big meeting is starting in five minutes!"

Felix blinked several times, his vision still oddly blurry. "Uh, meeting?"

The woman rolled her eyes at him, a beautiful pair of blue-green eyes framed by thick lashes. "Yes, a meeting. This is your big chance! Designing the main attraction! You can't tell me you're getting cold feet?" She arched a perfect eyebrow at him.

"My--" This wasn't making sense. He was--he had been--

Then he remembered. A water park. Yes, of course.

At some point the woman had guided him out of his cubicle and into the aisle. They were halfway to a large picture window looking out over the city skyline. Bright, beautiful sun filled the office. Felix found it blinding.

The water park. He was working on it. Right? The main attraction, called--

"Roaring Waterfall, right?" The woman prompted, nudging his ribs. Felix flinched, his chest aching for some reason.

Must have hit it on the desk....

"Crazy what you engineers come up with," she continued, her hands never stopping moving. She mimed someone going down a slide, then off a sharp edge. "I mean, sending a man off a waterfall would be death in your world. Good thing this isn't, yeah?"

"Hm? Yeah. Ah--" Felix's head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. He was fuzzy and the light from the window was so bright. What was she saying?

Hands grabbed his shoulders and soft blue-green eyes stared into his dull brown ones. Felix couldn't quite make out her face, but she was...she was...words were spoken. He couldn't make them out.

"what?"

"You've got a long way to go, Felix. I can't have you giving up yet."

"What? What do you mean?" Felix's head spun, but her words were like fire. He felt like he was burning up. "Why are you calling me--?"

Then, in an instant, the fog burned away. His eyes cleared, his mind sharpened. They stood at the end of the aisle, the view of the city spread out beneath them.

Where am I? Im not an engineer... He looked at the woman, but could only make out her vivid blue-green eyes. The rest of her was blurry, occluded by a floater in his vision. She smiled and her teeth..."Who are you?"

"Felix, Felix, Felix," the stranger sighed. "If I told you that, this wouldn't be any fun."

Then she pushed him out of the window.

"WAKE UP."

"GHAAAAAAAAH!"

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Gasping like a fish, Felix emerged from the calm blue waters like a breaching whale. Splashing frantically, he flailed until he felt soft, yielding ground beneath his feet, half walking through the water until he fell, exhausted on the shore.

"Still...alive," he breathed.

Felix's pants were waterlogged, and his acid-raw chest was turning blue. The water was damn cold, far colder than the summer-like weather would suggest. He felt himself begin to shake, muscles contracting rapidly against his will. Two icons were flashing in his vision, a blue snowflake and a head silhouette with a jagged line through it. Teeth beginning to chatter, he toggled them.

Status Condition: Exposure (Mild)

Status Condition: Concussion (Mild)

"O-oh, c-cool," he managed. "N-n-new ways t-to die." Felix felt the warm air against his freezing skin like a Brillo pad, scraping him raw. Everything was too bright, and the ground wouldn't stay in place. It kept squirming around. Forcing himself to breath deeply, Felix clawed his way up the shore, pulling himself onto a large flat rock after a few minutes.

He must have passed out again. When he opened his eyes, the shadows all looked different and it wasn't as bright. More worryingly, the blue snowflake icon had turned red and was pulsing. And he was freezing.

Status Condition: Exposure (Severe)

Don't panic.

Felix could feel the warmth seeping into him from the rock he laid on, but it wasn't enough. His guts felt like ice, and his arms and legs were numb clubs. His breath hitched in his chest, coming out in stuttering gasps. This was it. After everything, he was gonna die. Not because he was sliced apart by a lizard or melted by acid or even because he fell down a huge waterfall.

But because he got too chilly.

"No," he growled, or tried to. It came out as a shaky whisper, but his eyes narrowed in anger. He refused to give up.

Pulling his arms and legs into the fetal position, he tried to marshal what remaining heat he had left. The sun-warmed rock helped, but a light breeze started up and chilled his skin even more. Felix grunted and tried to focus. How could he get out of this? He didn't know how to start a fire, and none of his Skills would be any help. He only had his tattered jeans and sneakers, and they were still damp and bitingly cold. He huddled there, fighting just to breathe without gasping.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Wait.

Something. Something was...there! He felt it. A flash of heat, dim and buried in a mountain of cold. The burning in his chest! He focused, trying to find it, visualizing a flickering flame right above his navel. Lower than he anticipated, but it was there. A candle flame he could cup with his hand, protecting it from the frigid wind. Yet Felix realized it was slowly dwindling, even as he felt his limbs shake harder. He doubled down, thinking warm thoughts; bonfires and sunlight and standing before a heater after walking a mile in the cold.

Did the flame grow? He wasn't sure but he kept on feeding it.

Red electric stove-tops, pizza pockets that were molten hot inside, hot soup that burned your back as you swallowed it. The flickering fire grew this time, he was sure of it. His core felt warm, nearly hot, burning with a brightening fire that Felix could almost see. It made no sense, but he persisted.

Limbs shivering, Felix pushed that heat from his core, moving it outward in big loops into his arms and legs, desperately trying to warm himself up.

You Have Learned A New Skill!

Fire Within (Rare), Level 1!

You have discovered the fire that burns within, animating the cold clay of your body and filling it with strength.

Felix could feel the warmth surge into his limbs, suddenly moving much more freely as the Skill activated. In twenty seconds, his limbs were awash in pins and needles as feeling and mobility returned.

"Ow ow ow ow." Felix gritted his teeth against the discomfort, but it was a small price to pay to see the blue snowflake disappear from his vision. He kept circulating the heat inside of him another thirty seconds before his Mana guttered out. A faint headache pounded at his temples, and the light was still a little too bright. Probably from the concussion.

Felix struggled to his feet, muscles tight and sore from the swim, the cold, and all the rest. Slowly stretching and practicing measured breathing, he had time to check his stored notifications.

You Have Learned A New Skill!

Swimming (Common), Level 1!

Swim like a fish, or sink like a stone. Wise choice.

Swimming is level 2!

Swimming is level 3!

Breath Control is level 2!

Breath Control is level 3!

...

Breath Control is level 8!

+1 STR

+1 END

+4 INT

+6 WIL

This time, the burning sensation didn't return, but he could feel that internal fire grow just a bit brighter. Strengthening.

"Intelligence? Willpower?" Felix was surprised at the sudden stat bump. Whatever the reason, he was grateful for anything that increased his chances at surviving this place.

You Have Earned A New Title!

Daredevil I (Uncommon)!

You've proven your bravery! Or was it stupidity? Survived a fall of 50 feet. +1 STR +1 VIT +1 AGL

You Have Earned A New Title!

Daredevil II (Uncommon)!

You're a madman! Survived a fall of at least 200 feet. +1 STR +2 VIT +1 AGL

He shook his head in disbelief, mouth flattening in a grim line. He kept earning Titles for not dying.

He felt dizzy for a moment, but it passed quickly.

Notifications through, Felix looked around at where he found himself. The lake before him was huge, easily miles across at the far end, and blue as the sky above. The forest surrounded it all, the same type of trees as the other parts he'd navigated. The shore was wide and empty of trees or even much undergrowth. He stood on a series of large rocks, but much of the shore was bare, sandy earth. Three hundred feet to his left, the waterfall pounded away at the lake, pouring its frigid waters from far above him.

I fell down THAT? Felix couldn't believe it. How was he not a bloody smear in the water? Did his enhanced Endurance and Strength allow him to survive? He glanced at his Health.

Health:

23/115

Stamina:

10/136

Mana:

3/199

Health almost gone, Mana nearly gone, Stamina bottoming out. It was a miracle he could even stand. His head pounded, temples throbbing, Felix leaned his arms against his knees and tried not to throw up. This was no good. He immediately began Analyzing the surrounding flora.

After a few minutes, he found a decent collection of yarrow, flitweed, two new herbs and a dozen strange fruit trees. The herbs were called bellock and aram leaf, and neither had straightforward lore entries.

Name: Bellock

Lore: Highly toxic, believed to disrupt Dark Murmurs.

Properties: Unknown.

Alchemical Properties: Unknown.

Name: Aram Leaf

Lore: A flower with sharp, angular leaves; powerfully affected by the Blood Moon.

Properties: Unknown.

Alchemical Properties: Unknown.

Luckily the yarrow and flitweed is what he needed at this point, and he was fortunate that it was common as weeds in this death forest. As he ate a handful of both, he investigated the nearest fruit tree.

Name: Kelaar Tree

Lore: Indigenous to the Foglands, the tree produces a fruit that was once a staple of the region.

Properties: Very nutritious.

Alchemical Properties: Unknown.

Analyze is level 12!

Foglands, eh? Is that where I am? Weird name for a place without a stitch of fog.

Feeling better as his Health and Stamina regenerated at a visible clip, Felix picked a low hanging Kelaar fruit and inspected it. It was red with white splotches radiating from the stem. He took a tentative bite, and a soft, savory flavor filled his mouth. It wasn't bad, just odd; he was expecting sweet. He ate the whole thing. At the center were a bunch of seeds that tasted sort of like peanuts. He grabbed another and sat down.

The sun was getting low by this point, and Felix eyed the shadowed forest with increasing unease. He had maybe three hours before full dark. He quickly ate the second Kelaar fruit and walked down the shore, back toward the cliff.

He Analyzed everything he could, the grass, ground, trees, water, everything. He made it nearly to the waterfall and cliff face before he felt his eyes being pulled toward a wild patch of shrubbery. Cautiously Felix stepped forward, moving as quietly as he could. He had lost his spear and leaf sacks in the river, so he only had a single grubsticker in hand as he carefully prodded at the undergrowth. His Perception had pegged something. But all he could find were vines and weeds, despite--

"AH!"

Felix recoiled, falling back onto his butt, nearly stabbing himself with his grubsticker. Buried in the weeds were the pale white bones of a skeleton.

"Fuck, I hope this skeleton isn't alive," Felix swallowed nervously, the plot of too many games and movies running through his head. But the pile of bones didn't move. Slowly, he approached the corpse. It was human-ish, he decided. Two arms, two legs, same general shape and position. It's skull looked odd. Long, with sharper cheekbones and a wide jaw. Probably not human. He tried to Analyze it.

Name: ???

Race: Henaari

Level: N/A

HP: N/A

MP: N/A

Lore: The Henaari are a matriarchy that reveres the Endless Raven, as such they long to explore the unexplored and find the unfound.

Endless Raven, dark murmurs, blood moons. Analyze's lore entry is getting more more specific. Felix sighed. And I have no idea what it all means.

Using his makeshift knife, Felix carefully cut away the weeds that grew up and through the bones of this Henaari corpse. Quickly it became clear that his Perception hadn't guided him wrong; lying beneath the skeleton was an intact leather satchel. Eyes wide, he pulled it free.

The satchel was made of a dark leather, still supple despite how long it must have laid out here in the elements. Despite the dried mud crusting the side, the satchel was in perfect condition. A simple bronze clasp secured the top, but before he could open it, Felix's eye caught on a metallic sheen from beneath the Henaari's pelvis. Tearing away a few more weeds and dirt, his hand closed on a simple wire-wrapped hilt that he slowly pulled from the earth.

"Whoa," Felix's eyes were wide and his heart raced.

He had found a sword.