Unbound

Chapter Thirty Four - 034

They made it out onto the street quietly enough.

Since they didn't know how to deactivate the wardstones and weren't planning on straying too far, they simply walked out. Passing through the ward was awfully similar to passing through the rock-turned-liquid of his Stone Shaping spell; the air was thick like pudding, charged with a certain warmth, though it smelled distinctly of rain.

Petrichor, that's what it's called.

Thankfully, Felix was able to shift the door despite how heavy it appeared. It was a strain but not unmanageable. After they had filed out and he closed the door again, making sure to lift slightly to prevent it from squealing, Felix caught Atar staring at him his eyes green in the deep shadows. "What?"

Atar said nothing, just frowned and turned away.

Bemused, Felix walks past the haughty mage and steps onto the uneven cobbles above. The street was empty and the hollowed out buildings leaned drunkenly together in places, deepening the shadows that covered them all. However, through gaping holes in the various facades Felix could see patches of blue sky and a bright sun streaming from the east. It was beautiful, like waking up in a new city. A city ruined for centuries and filled to the brim with murderous giants.

But still, he insisted to himself. Blue sky, sunlight. Could be worse.

He paused a moment, the edges of his smile fading. "Do you all still see the fog?"

Vessilia looked at him over her shoulder, eyebrow raised. "Yes? Do you--oh that is right! You said you do not!"

Evie eyeballed him again, and made a point of looking around. "You blind? It's everywhere."

"Not to me. All I see is clear cobbles, dark alleys, and a bright blue sky."

"No way. Blue?" Evie craned her neck, looking up. "All I see is overcast grey. That's a good hallucination you've got. I'd kill for some real sunshine."

"It's not--" Felix started, but didn't feel it was worth it to continue. Maybe he was hallucinating. I mean, this entire journey has been one bonkers thing after another. It'd make a certain kind of sense if I was tripping balls.

He shook himself, unwilling to follow that thought. It led nowhere productive. Instead, Felix focused his Manasight, reveling at the sudden color and crispness everything around him attained. His sense of Mana flows had increased a lot since he began, and the morning sun (even when not shining directly onto him) seemed to amplify everything. The Mana haze still drifted atop of everything, floating everywhere across his vision without moving at all somehow. As before, he focused on the haze with his peripheral vision, willing himself to see beyond the obvious.

I know you're there. Show yourself...

Felix's Mana suddenly dropped, the blue bar in his vision losing about twenty percent as a thick cloud of white fog utterly pervaded his vision. As if the world was wrapped in white cotton, distances were difficult to perceive, sounds appeared muffled, and even the patches of sky above became monotonous shades of grey.

Holy shit. This is what they see? How do they do anything?

Something whirled above him, disturbing a layer of mist atop one of the ruined buildings. Felix turned, startled, but only got the impression of a dark form slipping away.

A bird?

The vision stuttered and crackled, quickly fading away into static like on an old television. In seconds it was gone.

It's an illusion! Right? Do those exist--?

Manasight is level 27!

...

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Manasight is level 31!

Felix's eyes widened. He was right.

Evie clapped her gloved hands together, the sound soft and muted. "Ok, Felix. Do you have a sneaky Skill?"

"Mm?" Felix turned back toward the group, having made his way into the middle of the alley. "I have Stealth, yeah."

"Oh good! That's two of us. We'll have to account for the stompers over here."

"I do not stomp," argued Vessilia, her voice slightly exasperated. Then she tipped her head to the side, conceding the point. "But I am wearing heavier armor than you."

Atar, surprising no one, snorted in derision. "Stealth is a tool for liars and ruffians. Doesn't surprise me that you'd have it, Aren!"

"Cram it up your ass, flame boy~," Evie said in a sing-song voice.

"Hey!" Felix hissed, spreading his hands out toward the both of them. "Cool it! Stealth does jack all if you're shouting."

An abrupt clatter sounded further down the alley. The sound of dislodged rubble, the scatter of debris. They all froze in place. Felix heard the click-clatter of claws on stone. Evie slowly reached up toward her spiked chain, carefully gripping its end as she scanned the thick morning shadows. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Felix's hand suddenly clamped onto her own, keeping her from drawing her chain. She pushed as hard as she could, but she couldn't make his arm budge an inch.

"Don't. It's a friend," he said, already stepping forward; because while the others had to contend with the cloying fog, his vision could clearly make out the winged form of his four-legged Companion.

"Heya, Pit. Who's a good boy?" Felix leaned over and patted his legs, urging the tenku to run to him. Pit let out a happy chirrup as he accepted a couple scratches on the side of his head.

"Yyero's blighted ass! That's a chimera!" Evie exclaimed, her voice less a whisper and more a high pitched cry.

"Ah, yeah," Felix scratched the back of his neck, feeling an uncomfortable flush heating his skin. "I was meaning to tell everyone, but with the way Vessilia reacted originally I didn't think it'd go over well. I just kept putting it off." He stood to the side and gestured down at the dog-sized tenku. "Everyone, this is Pit. Pit, everyone."

Pit warbled in a friendly way, but Felix saw all of them flinch. Even Vessilia, who had gotten a bit better about Pit previously.

"Oh, he uh, he won't hurt you. Unless you try to attack him, maybe. He's still a baby for the most part," Felix smiled down at his friend.

"A baby? That's a fog-touched chimera! They're feral killers!" Atar was backing up but stopped as his shoulder blades hit a stone wall behind him. "We've had to fight them all the way here."

"Atar's right, much as I hate saying that. I don't know how you got caught up with it, but it's best to just put that thing down," Evie's hand slowly crept back up to her chain.

Felix held out his hands in a placating gesture. "Look, it's fine. He's my Companion. We made a Pact."

Silence met his words, and all three of his new acquaintances gave him confused looks. "A what?" Evie asked.

Huh, I figured they'd know what it was...Hell, I was half convinced they'd start listing off reasons why it was a bad idea. He shook his head. "Doesn't matter, I guess. Just...stand down, folks. He's harmless."

Vessilia reached a hand out and placed it on Evie's shoulder, giving her a look. Biting her lip, Evie looked between Pit and her friend before reluctantly nodding. Vessilia smiled at Felix and nodded too. "You saved my life, Felix Nevarre. You have earned some trust here."

"Thank you," Felix said.

They all turned to Atar.

The teen mage swallowed, his adam's apple visibly bobbing, before he straightened himself under their gaze. "O-of course. I'm not afraid of some pet."

Felix caught Vessilia's eye. She shook her head, hiding a small smile.

"Good," Evie regained her joyful tone. "Let's go find what my sister is hiding."

Exploration is level 18!

The pathways were far clearer in the daylight, though the bright sunlight provided it's own issues. Unable to slink in the deep shadows, their Stealth had less useful applications.

Or so Felix thought.

When the first Risi Warrior crossed their path, they were traversing a wide thoroughfare with zero cover or shadows. Felix saw the giant walk casually out from a hidden side path, at an angle from their vantage, perfectly aligned to see their passage. The thump of its feet was unmistakable, and all of them froze on the spot.

The giant simply waltzed past them, a mere 60 feet away, trudging in another direction.

Analyze...

Name: Unknown Risi Warrior

Type: Giantfolk

Level: 28

"What? Why didn't it see us?"

"I'm not sure how close it was, exactly, but..." Evie gave him a look. "The fog can be used to hide us, too."

Felix's mouth made a silent 'O' as he realized what she was saying. The fog is affecting the giant's too. So it can't see us clear as day, because it's...not...a clear day.

He winced. He actually felt bad about that one. It wasn't even a good pun.

Pit slunk through the shadows with them, easily keeping pace as they moved across several city blocks. Felix was happy that the tenku was fine; he had been half convinced Pit was going to start a fight with one of these horse-sized hoarhounds, so it was nice to be wrong in this case. Still, he kept close to the chimera, making sure he was occasionally casting a glance back at him.

Nearly twenty minutes passed as the five of them traversed the sprawling city in an ever-widening spiral. Felix was astounded at the variety of architecture; it was unlike anything he'd seen before. Large, wide windows surmounted complicated bas-relief sculptures on the face of nearly every building, the doorways and eaves all covered in tiny depictions of odd humanoid figures. He wandered close to one such example, and while time and weather had smoothed most of the features, it appeared each of these bumps and ridges were people. A tiny people, it seemed, as they were paired next to animals of all sorts ranging from quadrupeds to birds.

Analyze...

Name: Ruined Pavilion

Type: Structure

Lore: Little is known of the Foglands, especially of the interior portions. This ruin was built by sapient beings, but who they once were is lost to time.

So my guess is good as any? I say tiny people. Unless all animals are giant here? He wracked his brain a moment. There was that Tree Vole back near the shore...that wasn't too big. But was it a baby? Have I seen a normal bird since coming here?

He didn't think so. And he'd remember, obviously.

Felix acted as scout during their search, which Evie begrudgingly allowed after he stopped her from stepping into a fairly large sinkhole. While he could tell they didn't quite believe his claims regarding the fog, they listened to his warnings. Due to that, they skirted past several Risi Warriors on patrol through the streets. However it didn't look like any sort of patrol Felix had ever seen; they were listless and unaffected by anything around them. They simple walked, club or axe in hand, eyes fixed forward as they passed by.

Now, they were either extremely bad soldiers, didn't care about their jobs, or there was something wrong with them. Felix was leaning toward the latter as they progressed further in their search. He counted fourteen different Risi Warriors, and every single one seemed...distant, as if they weren't entirely present as they moved. When Felix explained his feeling, the women shrugged but Atar tilted his head thoughtfully. Surprisingly, he didn't spout anything awful, but kept his thoughts to himself.

Huh, guess he can't be the worst all the time.

That first sinkhole wasn't the last they found, as Felix noted an increasing number of buildings were half-subsumed by the earth. It reminded him of home.

Nothing like a sinkhole to make you feel nostalgic for Florida. Just need some more humidity and a shit load of mosquitoes.

Despite his snark, he felt a real pang for his home and family. What were doing at this point? Did they worry about him? Felix pulled back from those thoughts, like a hand from a hot stovetop. That was just pain for no reason.

Focus.

They had come to the largest sinkhole yet, and the ground fell away sharply, the street nearly whole but tilted at a wild angle down into the earth. Some buildings still stood, held somehow in place by what must have been astounding engineering.

"Blind gods, would you look at that?" Vessilia peered into the sinkhole, her eyes squinting. "Whatever structural magics were worked here must have been powerful to still hold those buildings together after all this time."

Oh right. Magic engineering.

"Where do we go from here?" Atar asked, looking around. "I don't see an easy way around this, it has to be at least a mile wide."

"I'm not sure," Evie chewed her lip, squatting at the edge of the sinkhole and peering down. "Do you think there's anything down there?" Pit wandered to the edge as well, sniffing the air curiously.

"Not for all the gold in Vanpuur," Atar vowed, slashing his hand in the air at what she was suggesting.

"Hey," Vessilia piped up, pointing forward, across the sinkhole. "What is that?"

Felix looked up and saw the sunlight gleam against a brassy colored dome on the far side of the sinkhole. It was squat and wide, and even from this distance he could see a number of blue-shaded figures moving around it. It was situated at the edge of the hole, and some sort of wooden scaffolding had been erected, leading straight down. Ice hung from all of it, and Felix found the disparity between it against the heat haze unsettling.

"I think that might be what we're looking for," Evie grinned after Felix described what he saw. "Let's go."

The walk around the sinkhole took an hour, each of them having to pick their way across oversize debris and fallen buildings that hadn't stood the test of time. As they drew closer, they could hear the distinct sound of howling, as well as the grunts of the guttural giant language. Exchanging nervous glances, Evie and Felix took the lead, though Pit was not far behind. Leaving Vessilia and Atar some distance behind, Evie and Felix split around the tumbled ruin of what was once some sort of temple, if the fluted columns were anything to go by.

In near silence, Felix and Pit moved up along a broken rooftop nearly a block away from the bronze dome, his boot whispering against the stone. Peering over the edge, Felix had to fight back a gasp. Nearly a dozen Risi Warriors filled the open area before him, and he could see at least twenty more in the distance. Not only that, but a handful of huge blue-white hounds prowled alongside them, their jaws open and slavering steaming drool wherever they went. The hounds were the size of horses. The area was once a large rectangular plaza, but now was mostly dilapidated and utterly filled with ice, and drifts of snow collected in the various nooks and crannies. Only a few buildings still stood, one being the domed structure, and another was a circular construction with large fluted columns on the front that reminded him of a frost-rimed tholos. Very Hellenistic.

Exploration is level 19!

Didn't expect that knowledge to come in handy. Thanks Mrs. Thomlin.

The giants were loosely grouped together, some talking, others acting as lazy lookouts, while a few even had fallen asleep. They were distinctly different from the near-mindless giants he saw on patrol. A handful moved with purpose toward the round colonnade, disappearing quickly within.

Then he heard the horn.

Three long, measured blasts, the sound was deep and piercing, like a conch shell the size of a bus. The hoarhounds all picked up the note, howling in their terrifying voices until the horn stopped. The sound of chains replaced the horns, as two giants led a large line of prisoners out of the tholos and into the plaza. He couldn't make them out individually, but judging by their sizes and coloration, they were humans.

They ranged in age from mid twenties to sixties or seventies, if the silver hair was anything to go by. They wore ragged remnants of what might have once been armor, but would provide very little protection now. A few of the humans looked in better condition than the rest, but the majority of them looked dirty, beat up, and generally malnourished. Felix frowned as he counted, watching the procession creep toward the bronze dome.

Forty-seven. They have forty-seven captives. Why? How? I thought this place was super dangerous?

The giants stopped the prisoners directly in front of the squat building that seemed to be the center of the Risi's operation. There was some milling about for a minute or two, and Felix started to get nervous. He looked down at Pit to confirm the tenku was still nearby, but that was when he felt a sudden wash of icy air. Quickly looking back over the edge, Felix saw that an absolutely huge creature had emerged from the bronze dome. It was close to twenty-five feet tall and was covered in giant slabs of iron armor; it had to weigh several tons. Its head was as bald as the rest, and from its jaw grew a magnificent beard of wild white hair.

As he watched, the enormous giant was circled by several large shards of ice, orbiting him like a tiny solar system. Winds kicked up around the figure, blowing icy gusts in all directions as it glowered toward the assembled prisoners.

Holy fuck. That's a big boy. Felix's eyes were wide, fixed on the creature's craggy face, which had split open into a gaping, predatory smile. Then the giant surprised him again. It spoke; what's more, Felix could understand it.

"You have survived another night," it rumbled, it's smile sharpening. "Be thankful! Praise your dead gods! Consider it your great honor to be used as stepping stones on our path to victory." The Risi Warriors all cheered, their basso voices like a landslide. The leader (obviously it was the leader) let the cheering fade before continuing.

"We, the masters of ice and blood, predators of the eternal frost have long sought the rising note, the Song of the Deep." The giant's voice was a baritone so long it sounded like rocks rubbing together. Felix had only ever read of voices like that. "In the Hoarfrost, the Holy Depths are frozen, locked away and taken from us. But here, you pathetic creatures bask in her Song, even as you refuse to listen. Instead you follow a million untrue paths, relics of the Lost. The strong devour the weak, it is as it always was, time before time."

More cheers, and this time Felix heard an edge to the voices, a hunger. Teeth at the edges of a vast precipice. Something upsettingly familiar.

"Your flesh, weak and pitiful as it is, will be our bridge; your sacrifice, unwillingly given, our path to enlightenment. Prey serve the predators. Remember that. Carve it into your short memories and burn it into your souls," the giant licked his lips and showed his teeth. "The Mother calls. Time to die."

With a roar, the giants yank the prisoners forward, chains jangling loudly against the ice. They cry out, some in anger, most in fear. A few fall to the ground, but they're dragged forward without pause, their bodies scraped raw against the uneven ground until they find their feet. Some did not. Felix couldn't pull his eyes away, watching until the last of the prisoners was dragged into the squat, bronze topped building and followed by the immense leader.

The doors, easily twice the giant's size, slammed shut.