Unbound

Chapter Four Hundred And Twenty Eight – 428

Chapter Four Hundred And Twenty Eight – 428

The rain was pouring sideways as a brutal battle played out before them. Felix looked beyond Isla and the waist-high balustrade to a muddy field that had once likely been very nice. The battle involved members of the Fiend's Claw, those warriors he'd brought with him from Nagast, but it also contained a number of faces he'd never seen before. A great deal of them, in fact. Dwarves, Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Orcs outnumbered his Claw ten to one, all of them clad in ill-fitting mail and wielding heavy wooden clubs instead of proper weapons. The Claw weren't using naked steel either...but that was about as far as their concessions went. As Felix watched, honed limbs met weak, untrained flesh, every strike laying out a club-wielding foe.

"What's the point of this?" Beef asked. "Are those guys Untempered?"

"They are," said a voice, serene and smooth as placid waters. Zara Cyrene, Naiad and Chanter of the Cantus Sodalus stepped up beside them. A small smile adorned a face only lightly touched by age, her ochre skin creased with laugh lines, and her aquamarine hair cascaded down her back in waves. She was clad in the dark black robes of a chorister, now accented with a belted purple sash around her waist. Felix raised an eyebrow at that. "A gift," she said, inclining her head toward Lieutenant Errol.

The sweaty Lieutenant sketched a hasty bow. "A well deserved one. As I told you before, you are first among our number, Lady Zara."

"You're one of my Shadows now, too?" Felix asked.

"How else can I hope to keep track of your miraculous achievements? It seems that whenever I let you out of my sight, you annex another Territory." Zara's cool serenity turned warm, a sensation echoed through her Spiritnot that he trusted that entirely. She was Master Tier, likely at the higher end, and Felix had never been able to read the woman. She smiled as if she knew his every thought, revealing shark-like teeth. "Consider me glued to your side, now. A shadow in name as well as title."

"Wait wait, why are your soldiers fighting a bunch of villagers?" Beef asked Felix. "That seems kinda villainous."

"They wish to join up," Zara stated. "A test was required. One on one instruction is always the most fruitful, but with so many looking to join the ranks of your Claw, Felix, it was decided a mass application must be devised."

"This is how they determine the rankings among the lowest of our military," Vess said slowly. "The newest, greenest recruits are pitted against the seasoned veterans, and talent will out. Or that's the hope."

"Like, just hope the good one's kick ass?" Beef asked before nodding. "Alright cool. So like, the exceptional rise to the top. I like it."

Felix let out a long and judgmental "Hmmmm." His brows furrowed. "This doesn't seem a good way to assess anyone's true capabilities."

"It is not. What if real aptitude is missed, or someone turned away that would be useful in a role that isn't immediately obvious?I will admit to not being a fan of this practice, but it is an...acceptable method of establishing a baseline, if done properly." Vess' mouth tightened and she pointed into the rain-lashed grounds with her chin. "And Darius knows his business."

Sure enough, Darius Reed, Chosen Hand of the Duke of Pax'Vrell and Vess' former guardian, stood stiffly at the far side of the conflict. The distance, even through the heavy rain and lightning, was nothing to Felix's Perception, and he watched as the man panned his gaze across the flailing combatants. It certainly seemed like the man had things under control.

Felix admitted to himself that their time in Ahkestria was by necessity a short one. Memory stabbed back at him, of Haim, the former leader of the Paladins, and what he said. "They are willing to leave Ahkestria?" he asked Zara. "To join up with someone they don't even know?"

She nodded. "They are. Many either have no homes due to the flooding, or the Paladins, or both. And it isn't just warriors; almost every single one of them has a family in this estate, mothers and brothers and fathers and sisters that they wish to care for. I have spoken to many, and they all share the same sentiment that burns in the recruits below. We have only been training them a few hours, but...can you not feel it, Felix?"

It was his turn to nod. Felix did indeed sense the harmonies weaving across the battlefield. Hell, he'd been feeling pangs of it throughout the entire compound. Fear in all its varieties, inchoate rage, and weeping sadness were the bulk of it, but more lay around their Untempered Spirits. It forced his jaw open as he peered closer at the untrained miners and poorest Ahkestria had to offer. Even as some struggled to rise from brutal, bruising hits, the ephemeral song did not stop. "Conviction. I don't hear a single note of doubt, from any of them."

"Truly?" Vess asked. Her brow was furrowed and her nose scrunched. "I can only hear pain."

"An element not to be ignored, certainly," Zara said. She leaned over the well-carved railing and Felix could see a faint humming glow manifest around her head. He narrowed his eyes, but realized it was a weather warding inscribed in the railing and overhang itself. The warding was why the sideways rain did not touch any of those upon the landing. Zara was merely pressing against it without piercing it. "Pain is a catalyst. It leads to a great many things, most of them heinous, but growth is also accompanied by a necessary ache. We can either choose to embrace that ache, or run from it and remain stagnant. These people were considered the dregs of Ahkestria, given only enough shelter and food to keep the mines operational. I am not surprised that they wish to join us, to join the banner that they saw freeing them. Even so far as defending them from their suddenly wrathful god."

"The Highest Flame wasn't a god," Vess said with a sharp tone. "But...she is right. We left an impression on them all. Especially Atar."

"Atar?" Felix asked. "What happened with him?"

"Change. Change at a pace that is quite frankly alarming, Felix." Isla said. She looked at Beef and his Homunculus, both of whom were looking awkwardly between Isla and Felix. "Michael was far from a Journeyman's understanding, yet he stands a third Tempered into the Tier after only a day in your presence."

"Oh yeah, I grew a ton," Beef said. "Why wouldn't I? We fought like, an army of Paladins and undead, plus that big bone monster thing."

"What are you implying?" Felix asked, ignoring Beef's outburst.

Isla tilted her head and smiled. "That your presence is strengthening the others around you, in ways that even I cannot understand. I have spent time enough around your allies to see that they are all of them balancing upon the cusp into Adept Tier, one of the hardest early bottlenecks to breach. The Grand Harmony is swirling about you, Felix Nevarre, in ways that being an Unbound are simply not enough to explain."

"Isla is correct, if a bit bold in her assertions in so open a space," Zara said, a tight admonishment in her tone.

"I am quite lucky then, that you erected a privacy ward the moment we arrived," Isla replied, her smile unwavering.

"Indeed." Zara pivoted, focusing on Felix. "What you have done...what you are has begun to have effects on those around you. A substantial number of your Fiend's Claw have reported strange notifications over the past day, ever since the Battle of the Flame concluded. Every single one of them have unlocked their Affinity and are hearing 'strange sounds' as they progress through their training. An astounding number in any circumstance to have unlocked a Harmonic Stat. That includes your Shadows, as well."

Felix glanced at his escort, most of them looking stoic, but a few with bright, eager faces. The two Frost Giants nodded along happily with Zara's words. "Ok. But what does that mean? Unlocking some Harmonic Stats is rare, you've told me that, but it doesn't mean anything by itself...does it?"

"Truly, you are from another world," Isla muttered. "To bear the face of the Grand Harmony, to unveil an entire subset of the Systemthat is a gateway to powers most mortal forces cannot begin to grasp. You have the beginnings of an army of Harmonically sensitive warriors, and I do not know how else they may grow."

Zara rolled her shoulders, as if casting something off herself, and a slight vibration Felix hadn't even noticed faded away. The privacy ward, he realized. She bade him to step up to the railing. "Felix, come here. Look at them. Extend your senses over them all."

He did. The battle was over, and folks in white robes moved among the injured while the uniformed members of his Claw helped other new recruits to their feet. They spoke and laughed and patted the battered recruits on the backs, welcoming them into the fold. Beyond the physical there was a distinct vibration among that swirling sense of conviction; now that Felix knew what to look for, he spotted the difference right away. All of those that wore the cloak depicting his Seal, a glyph of lightning and fire shaped into an eye and surmounted by a crown, all of them seemed to create ripples around them. Like rocks in a stream, forcing the waters to move around them; not quite shaping anything, but influencing things by their very existence.

"Do you feel them?" she asked.

"I do."

"Their Affinity is only the start, and they know it. The recruits can feel it subconsciously and are drawn to it, and to you. Time enough has passed to spread stories among them, and soldiers are ever so chatty. They know of the Fiend, the Autarch, the man these warriors call their leader."

As if this was all planned, a ripple rolled out among his Claw, almost visible to Felix as each of them turned to see him. As the rain drenched them and ran rivers across the muddy field, every one of them went to a single knee, fist to heart and fist to earth. A swell of unspoken sound filled the air, a thunder louder than any storm to Felix's Affinity, as his Claw spoke as one.

"Lord Autarch!"

Holy shit. Felix clenched his jaw and swallowed, unsure how, or if, he should respond. Belatedly, the green recruits also fell awkwardly to their knees, mimicking the others with considerably less grace. Felix settled on a single, downward nod and tried to project a sense of approval and confidence. Beside him, Zara chuckled. "What?" he asked.

"It's a good effort, but unclench your jaw before you break a tooth," Zara said through her kind laugh. "But Vess' teachings haven't been in vain, I see."

Out of the corner of his eye, Felix saw Vess shift a little. Perception being strange as it was, he could pick out the smile that stretched her lips...just as he sensed the hobbling approach of someone else. Felix turned toward them and froze, his greeting halted by shock.

"Ah, hello everyone," Atar said, supporting himself on Alister's blue-clad arm and his thin, metal staff. "Felix."

"Atar," he said through his shock. "What happened?"

The fire mage's skin, once olive-toned, was now an unrelieved gray the color of cold ash. His hair was longer but just as curly, except it was an ethereal platinum blonde, only a shade or two from pure white. His eyes, however, were the most startling. Half hidden by his hair, they burned like the embers of a banked fire, as if they would flare up at a moment's notice. He was a bit emaciated and stooped, and the hands that clutched at his staff and Alister's arm were not steady at all, but his snort of amusement ignored all of that. "Speak for yourself, lizard boy."

Felix held up his clawed hands and smirked. "Touch."

"Why are you out of your bed, Atar?" Isla asked, somewhat harshly. "You're still recovering."

"I told him that, but he refuses to listen," Alister said with the look of a long suffering saint. "It was either help him, or watch as he fell onto the floor and crawled his way out."

"Burning ash, I needed some time away from there. Fresh air, movement. Something," Atar groused before narrowing his eyes at the Chanter. "And you have no say in what I do. You're still new."

Felix bit his lip to keep from smiling too hard at that, and tried to focus on his friend. "What happened?"

Atar licked his lips, opened his mouth and then shut it again. "Not here. Find me later. Shouldn't be a problem for you, since you got all stretched out. What, did you eat a giant too?"

The smirk of amusement on Felix's face faded slightly as a game of word association flared across his Mind. Giants led to Frost Giants, which made him think of those within his Stronghold, held fast within the Mirk Enclosure spell he'd crafted weeks prior to protect his Territory. The thought arrived, an urgent nugget that had become buried since his fight. "Haim," he said, spitting it like a curse.

"The High Justiciar? What about him?" Zara asked. "Pit told us of his defeat at your hands."

Felix waved his hands. "No, no. It's what hehe said that the Triumvirate was sending forces to Nagast, to tear down the barrier. The Hierocracy is coming for my Territory."

Zara's expression hardened, her mouth firming around her words. "I see. I had expected as such, butCome. Let us retreat somewhere more suited to this conversation. All of us."

Felix didn't have a problem with that.