Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Three – 183

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Three – 183

Felix watched the doorway Evie had disappeared into while idly tracing the outline he'd drawn. She had decided to scout ahead, despite their foreknowledge of the terrain thanks to his Ravenous Tithe. Vess had agreed, and Felix deferred to their expertise; they had a decent grasp on where the redcloaks were, but more information couldn't hurt. Felix trusted that Evie wouldn't get caught. Mostly he was staring at the door because otherwise he'd have to answer Thangle's questions.

"What was it you did back there?" Thangle tried again. His voice was excited, rising to an inaudible squeak on the second word. "My demesne was fluctuating so rapidly I could barely keep it going for the few seconds we had it. I don't normally need to fight so with my Skills, I'll let you know!"

Felix hesitated before answering, running his thoughts across the enlarged pattern of his Ravenous Tithe Skill. It hung in the darkness of his core space, like a luminous planet among all of his other Skills, slightly larger and brighter than most. Its song was quiet, but insistent. Pervasive.This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.

"I can...disable Mana Skills to a certain extent. But I think I affected the ambient Mana too much when I activated the Skill." Felix hedged around the truth, not quite lying but he barely knew the Gnome. He looked at Vess. "I think that's what set off your spears."

Vess set her mouth into...not quite a frown, but it was stern. "Your...connection. To the monster in the Domain?"

Felix stilled and nodded, slowly. He couldn't quite parse her expression and her inner rhythms felt...cautious.

"Evie told me earlier today. While you built the wall," she admitted.

"Oh," Felix managed. He wasn't keeping it a secret though, right? Not from the people who'd sworn a binding Oath to him, at least. Why was he worried? It was stupid. He shook his head. "I should have told you sooner myself."

"Perhaps," Vess said with a tilt of her head. She stood and conjured one of her spears from a brief burst of expended Mana. "The fluctuations. Can you make them happen on purpose?"

Felix looked from the spear to Vess' slight smile. There was that dimple again.

"I can try."

The buildings were quiet. Abandoned for the most part, the workers had clearly left in a hurry as the world turned to shit in a matter of hours. Evie could see evidence of crafts interrupted as she crept through the smelters, a series of large blast furnaces that had clearly slagged over with cooled metal half-poured from their...spigots? Spouts?

Iron-holes, Evie decided. She had only a passing familiarity with smithery, though Mags had always called it a failing one. Without warning, there was a sharp hitch in her breathing, an ache in her chest. Miss you everyday, you big dummy.

It hurt a little less now to think on her sister, but it hadn't gone away. Keeping busy was the key, she had decided. Training had sustained her for a bit in the beginning, and then the weirdness that Felix brought to the table had sent everything topsy-turvy.

Still, that it hurt less felt...wrong, somehow. Shouldn't she still be a weeping mess? Callie was clearly still fighting with it all, despite her stone face. Evie had heard her crying once or twice, late at night. It tore Evie up to see her like that.

There were a number of slashes in the stone and wooden floors, quick scrapes where talons had gripped for purchase. There were no bodies, but a few dark stains around her told their story. The Revenants had come here too. More bodies to heap on the Guild's shoulders.

Because this was the Guild's fault, for all that some spooky monster might have done the actual killing; their Elders had set this all in motion when they had tried to lay claim to the Foglands. Every action since then, from cutting loose most of the survivors of that expedition, to demoting Magda after she'd returned in a Night-cursed box, stripping her of all rank and honors and refusing to burn her atop the Spire...all of it boiled Evie's blood. She was damn pleased the Guild had fallen and her only regret was that she hadn't been more directly involved.

Inquisitor DuFont though...can't be the same as the Elder DuFont, can it? How'd that rat bastard get into the Order? She was the only Elder Evie had heard about since emerging from the Domain. None of the others had popped up their heads, and she hoped they had gone down with the Eyrie.

Siva's will, Evie would never hear from those snakes again.

Now, however, they had this mess. A city fallen apart as its people were slaughtered by the thousands. Monsters running wild. What was the point in staying? Vess had claimed they should stay for the people, to help those who couldn't help themselves, but Evie found caring about random nobodies difficult. It was her friends she was concerned about. Why should they risk themselves? Why should she?

Someone shouted. Stern words and the clank of metal. Panic.

Redcloaks.

Evie crept up to the far window, listening intently. Extending her Perception she could clearly hear the jangle of buckles and mail, as well as the uneven breathing of folk about to get violent. She risked a peek over the sill.

Beyond was a work yard similar in dimensions to what Felix had described, perhaps two hundred span wide and twice that in length. It was filled with heavy carts and more of those loading cranes near to her position, while further away were a series of partitioned areas filled with varying amounts of lumpy rocks. Ore, she supposed. The most important details of course, was that the Inquisitors were scrambling. Beyond the partitions was a large, dark opening in the mountain and there, at the edge of that darkness, a half dozen or so Acolytes were advancing.

They're going to attack the miners! Quick as she could while maintaining Stealth, Evie spun and loped back. They had redcloak killing to do.

And people to save, she supposed.

*SHAAAAAAA*

Thangle's Obfuscation failed, releasing a chaotic storm of wind Mana that blanketed Felix's sight. Luckily, the force of it had been mostly redirected elsewhere, as Felix wasn't looking to add a bunch of new wounds to his collection. The nature of Ravenous Tithe had forced him to step close to the Gnome's demesne in order to claim the ambient Mana trapped within. It had worked, as the conjured spear Vess had left within the circle had exploded just milliseconds after Felix ate up the ambient Mana, and only his fact reaction times allowed his hands to remain attached to his body.

"Blind gods," Thangle said softly. He stared at the flagstones where his demesne had been located, even going so far as to lean over and run his fingers along their ruined composition. The ground had been torn apart within the diameter of his Skill, perhaps a yard or so by Felix's estimation. The Gnome lifted a piece of stone that had been sheared into a jagged piece of shrapnel. "The restriction focuses the blast. My Skill works by trapping a bubble of ambient Mana within the confines of my demesne, and when you destabilize it, Lady Dayne's spear had no where else to go."

"A shaped charge," Felix muttered. Vague recollections of books read and movies watched danced across his memory, things like anti-tank rounds or land mines. The way Vess' spears exploded created a sphere of wild wind Mana sharp enough to put Pit's Wingblades to shame, and this... "Making something like this work in battle would be difficult."

"Making it concentrated like this, yes, you're right," Thangle nodded. "There are a number of problems, not the least of which is keeping track of my Obfuscation. Its entire purpose is to be unobtrusive!"

"What if it were made bigger? As before?" Vess suggested. She idly spun one of her spears before her, moving casually through the kata he had often seen her practice.

Spear of Tribulation!

Faster than an Untempered's arrow, a silver spear manifested and impaled the woman straight through her mouth and into the side of the wagon behind her. She hit with such force that the wagon tilted, rocking up off two of its wheels before fallen back with an immense clatter of tumbling ore and creaking wood.

You Killed An Acolyte Of the Inviolate Order!

XP Earned!

Blackened Night! Vess cursed, flaring her Dragoon's Footwork as three more Acolytes shouted and rushed around the wagon's frame. They lifted their hands in unison, orange orbs of Mana forming in their palms.

A heavy, spiked chain shot out before all three of them, missing their faces by half a span before twisting impossibly and doubling back, this time beneath their outstretched arms.

"Wha--!"

The Acolytes had barely reacted when the chain bit into all of their arms at once. Skill-enhanced blades sparked against their armor, unable to penetrate on its own, but it did not have to: with a grunt from Evie, the chain suddenly weighted three times as much. The Acolytes' arms all dropped as the chain was yanked to the right, each of them now tangled among the others and stumbling.

Spear of Tribulation!

This time, the three spears took them all in the chest, and the Inquisition armor blunted the force enough that they only slightly wobbled the wagon when they hit it.

You Killed An Acolyte Of the Inviolate Order (x3)!

XP Earned!

"Do you think they missed that?" Vess asked, hopeful. Said hopes were dashed a second later as a horn sounded and Evie smirked.

"Let's assume, no."

Vess dismissed the spears before her, letting the four bodies drop unceremoniously to the ground. With a gesture, she re-conjured her full compliment. Six silver spears manifested around her, floating on the air Mana that gave them shape, and a seventh coalesced in her hands. Evie laughed, not mad at all. Delighted, even.

"Let's go kick their asses."

"Indeed."

A horn sounded out of nowhere before Felix could advanced much farther. He cursed. "We've been made. Can you get out of sight?"

"Consider me the wind," Thangle replied, and the little Gnome ran beneath the nearest wagon and vanished from Felix's Perception.

What a cool trick, he thought, not for the first time. Ahead of him, the remaining Acolytes rushed toward the other side of the yard. Clearly Evie or Vess had tipped them off.

Unfettered Volition!

Leaping directly over a nine-foot high wagon bed was easy, as was landing on the other side. Hell, he even overshot it, clearing more than fifteen feet with his jump. A Strength of 250 was no joke. What was slightly difficult were the four Acolytes he landed on top of; difficult in that Felix landed directly on their spears.

Sovereign of Flesh!

Twisting around one or two spears would have been easy, but four was more of a challenge. The thickening scales that bubbled out from his skin and muscle, however, took the brunt of their force and diverted most of it. The gun-shot sound of snapping wood and screeching metal filled the air as Felix landed heavily in a crouch among the Acolytes. Most were sent sprawling by the force transferred through their spear hafts, while the rest stared at him in paralyzing fear.

Make An Entrance is level 38!

Reign of Vellus!

They were mostly just slightly out of reach, and Felix didn't have time to waste. A quick, reverse pulse of his kinetic spell sent brilliant blue lightning out of him in a ring, before the ring was yanked inward. All four Acolytes toppled into Felix's range, each of them lasting no more than seconds before his black talons ended them.

You Killed An Acolyte Of the Inviolate Order (x4)!

XP Earned!

"FIEND!"

The swarthy looking Initiate stood only ten yards away, atop a fully loaded wagon. Crashes and thuds sounded from nearby as the last of his Acolytes faced off against Evie and Vess. Felix could only see a jumble of legs and flashes of metal through the large, spoked wagon wheels. A golden radiance hung around the Third Flame Initiate's entire body like a halo.

"You've picked the wrong place to show your face, you Ruinous beast! I'll end you, or my name isn't Salazar Korith Astandes!" With a ferocious cry, the Initiate launched himself at Felix.