The cavern had a squeezed feeling to it, for all that it was perhaps fifty feet wide at the narrowest. The ceiling hung a shade too low, the walls bulged, and his glowing ice lights revealed layers of striations at least thirty deep. They were far below the surface, where untold pressures had hollowed out the earth, and even the air felt heavy.
Not poisonous though, Felix confird for the third ti. Now that hed consud so much of it, he could feel its absence. A certain lack of connection. Vess, Evie, and Yintarion slipped away, scouting the edges of the cavern to ensure no monstrous surprises awaited them. Felix, anwhile, posted up next to a large stalagmite and let himself rest.
With a minor act of power, he shaped a large glowstone in place of a campfire. It rose from the earth like a flower of ice, filling the majority of the cavern with a dim blue radiance. Felix settled back, pulling free the journal of the Rockshaper from his pack. Essence of Will: Shaping Unity. Quite the title.
The Rockshaper had been a powerful mage in his ti, and had specialized in at least one type of shaping magic. Felix had high hopes that it might answer at least so of his questions.
Oh, a bigger lightstone. Thats great. Beef sat down, grunting as he let his ice hamr Bedlam fall to the ground. A tiny tremor ran through the earth, jolting small stones several inches into the air. I know all we did was walk behind you, Felix, but Im beat.
I believe it was the lack of bountiful air in the tunnel, Laur said. He perched atop a shelf, feet dangling above a ti-worn groove that was filled with small, pale mushrooms. Too little and our Bodies will fail, no matter how Tempered. Hear that whistling?
Yeah?
That is the stream of air that the Autarch is pulling into this cavern. It will stabilize soon, and likely by itself. It is a well known fact that Mana travels from areas of high concentration to lower concentrations.
Is it?
Ah, of course. Your education on matters in this world has been rather perfunctory, hasnt it?
So what if it has? Archie asked, stride up to settle next to Beefs enormous bulk. We didnt ask to be here.
Laur frowned. I ant nothing by it, just a simple statent of fact. If you care to learn, I would be glad to teach you whatever I can.
Whats the price? the shrewd Delven asked. His goggles were back on, but there was little doubt in Felixs mind that he was squinting hard at Laur.
rely the ti it takes to impart it.
Beef leaned back against another rocky shelf, wiggling as Hallow slipped from his shoulders to sit at his side. That sounds good to . Magic is cool as hell, so the more I know, the better.
Archie folded his arms. Alright. Explain, Elf boy.
Laur made a point of straightening the tattered sleeves of his robes before continuing. The process of Mana shifting from high to low concentration is a piece of a greater pattern. It is how we all pull the power through our Gates; the low concentration within our core spaces acts as a sort of suction, pulling at the greater powers beyond us. You know this, or else none of you would have compressed the Mana inside you and attained Ring Stage.
Right. Thrumm had a trainer; taught about all that stuff.
That is good. Then you know that beyond our pathways, in the world itself, Mana behaves in much the sa way. All of it dances to the tune of the Grand Harmony. Laur lifted a hand and rainbow light shimred between his hands. It was predominantly blue and gold, but it flickered between many others. Air shifts. Water flows in currents seen and unseen. Earth settles, burning in hidden flas that lts stone and tal alike before it erupts from the depths, escaping into the lower concentrations on the surface. All of it is a cycle. A rhythm that beats beyond normal hearing.
Sounds unspooled from the Chanters grip, like a piece of music that Felix had once known intimately and had completely forgotten until that very mont. Beef and Archie both leaned in, their faces enraptured and terrified.
Can you not hear it? The very pulse of the world?
Hallow tilted her lumpy head inquisitively. I feel it. My stone rattles with it.
One of the Eidolons, Iiana, murmured in contemplation. The Song of Creation. You know the ways of old?
Laur inclined his head, gesturing between himself and Tzfell, who crouched over Harns unconscious form. We are Sorcerers of the Fallen Hall. Chanters of the Grand Harmony.
Fallen Hall? Eagin asked. What is this?
A na for sothing that once was, Tzfell said, leaning back from Harns bandaged legs. We are heirs to the Lost legacy of the Nym.
Iiana crouched low, peering at the Chanters. Nym. Our brothers were once Nym, long before we forsook our Bodies for the honor of Exultation.
And you? Laur asked. Forgive if that is indelicate to ask.
Mm. It is no matter. We do not hide our past. I was once a Theron, and my might was as vast as the song upon my chest.
I was a Dwarf, Orun rumbled. Though I hesitate to admit such after what we have suffered under my distant kindred.
I was of the Risi, Telys added.
And I was as well, Eagin admitted. Exultation was a great honor, though it diminished our size.
Iiana smiled, her stone lips sohow making the expression imnsely sad. I do miss my antlersbut to protect Khalheim we were willing to do anything. Are willing.
Eagin nodded. Sacrifices of our own choice. Still, our power was still great enough to protect against any threats to the North
Any save one. Oruns face was twisted into a dark grimace. We failed when it ca to the end, brother.
Eagin clapped Orun on the shoulder. The sound was like a rockslide. We stood our ground. We held what we could. Not even an Eidolons eternal flesh might stave off cataclysm itself.
Felix put down his book. Youre talking about the Ruin. You rember it?
Aye lad. We are ancient, and the Ruin tore holes in us, but we recall so of the end.
Beef swallowed nervously. What is it?
Vast. It is beyond anything I could ever describe, and the words themselves feel snatched from my Mind before I can utter them. I can only speak of the monts before its arrival, when the Chthonic Host fell to light and shadow. Eagin shuddered. The War ended, then, as it arrived. The skies blackened, the sun turned to blood, and
All was Lost. Telys hung her head low. All of them did. But at least the Ouranic horde was scoured from the ice fields of our ho. They fared little better than the Golden Empire.
Everyone sat there, digesting their words. Felix, however, fixated on the last. Ouranic. Chthonic. Ive seen those words before. What do they an?
Realms beyond this one, apart and separate. They lie beyond the On Path, but that is all I know. The Ouranic and Chthonic fought, opposed as Harmony and Dissonance itselfThey Eagin winced in a very familiar way. Karys often made the sa expression. My mory fails . It is Lost.
Felix frowned. He wasnt surprised, just disappointed. Hed seen the term Ouranic used in a System alert, when they had entered the heart of Khasma, where the Divine-infested Fathom had dwelled. And Chthonic was a part of him. His Body was called Chthonic Ascent and a Title he bore was Chthonic Traveler. Not to ntion two of his Skills bore the na: Chthonic Tribute and Last Cry of the Chthonic Host.
The Eidolons settled back, gathering together as if in mourning. Felix left them to it. He recalled that they had not been in control of themselves or their thoughts for a really long ti. Karys at least had been sleeping across the Ages. He had more questions, but they could be asked later.
That was a whole lotta nothing, Archie muttered. Whats this Ruin, anyway? And why do we care?
A threat, Beef said, huddling his head between his wide shoulders as if he were shrinking in on himself. The final boss.
Wait, what? Archie glared at Felix. You never ntioned that.
Felix raised an eyebrow. I thought you were leaving?
Archie glanced at Iiana, who bore within her the pieces of the ritual to send them ho. His hands clenched and unclenched. I am. I just dont like things being hid from .
We werent hiding anything, Beef protested. You just havent stuck around to hear it all.
Archie lifted a finger, mouth open to protest, before he stopped himself. He dropped his hand. Alright. Thats fair. I did kinda run out.
Huh. Felix was surprised. Archie didnt seem like the type of guy to admit fault. To anything. Maybe I was wrong about him.
But its your fault for not saying anything sooner. This Ruin thing seems way more important than talkin about Nagast or the Horoscope or whatever.
Hierophant, Hallow corrected.
Thats what I said.
Then please, ask what you will, Archibald. Beefhamr. Laur shifted closer to the two Unbound. I will answer what I can.
Archie, Beef, and Hallow eagerly engaged the Elven Chanter in question after question, and Felix listened for a ti. None of the answers were new to him, howeverthey were the sa things he had asked, once upon a ti. What is the Ruin? How long until it gets here? How do we fight it?
There were no satisfying answers to those questions, and Felix witnessed frustration mount before Laur switched to describing accounts of the Ruins power. Of what it had done to those peoples that rose too high, too fast. Its purpose seed to be to eradicate all that grew too powerful, though how it knew what to strike remained as much a mystery as its appearance.
The questions wore on, Delven and Minotaur bickering quietly among one another along the way. Felix eventually tuned them out and retrieved his book. He opened it delicately, careful not to tear the pages, and slowly began working out the Rockshapers Dwarven script.
User Comments
0 comments from readers