Chapter Fifty Five - 055
They woke him well before dawn.
Bleary eyed, Felix lurched to his feet and proceeded with a number of stretches. He still felt tight from yesterday's activities, though not nearly as bad as he should have. Endurance probably helps with fatigue and strained muscles. Probably Agility and Dexterity too.
As Felix stretched, the rest of the camp had broken out into a quiet flurry of activity. Armor was put back on, weapons were cleaned and inspected, and bags were repacked. Without armor to buckle or weapons to clean and only his small satchel to carry, Felix used the time to train a little.
Since his Mana would regenerate well before they made the giant's camp, he decided to push his Shadow Whip closer to Apprentice Tier. Stone Shaping wouldn't work in the tower, he'd already tried, so it was the next best thing to train. Summoning his spell to hand, he aimed at the stick bundles he had created the other day, looking to grab and move them. It was easy enough to hit and yank them back into his reach, but Felix wanted flexibility from his Skills. Gotta do better than that to push those gains. Can I...hmm, what if I move them around?
Felix tried grabbing and moving the bundles from one point to another. It felt like using a twenty foot long wet noodle to do it; the strength of the Skill seemed tied to grabbing and snatching, or bludgeoning directly. But he kept trying. Each move was difficult, but after ten minutes or so he was moving the bundle relatively close to where he wanted it. Give or take five feet.
This is just a three pound bundle of sticks. Imagine doing this accurately to a person? Felix clucked to himself. Impossible. For now.
Focused on his task, it took Felix a long time to realize that Atar was standing nearby, watching. Grinning sheepishly, he turned to the mage who was fully robed for battle. Atar even had his thin metal staff in hand.
"That's an interesting spell you have. I've seen you use it a few times before. What is it?" Atar asked.
"Oh, Shadow Whip," Felix replied, surprised at the amount of...agreeableness in Atar's voice. "It uses shadow Mana to create a tacky tendril that can extend about twenty or twenty-five feet. Haven't tested the max range though." Felix pursed his lips in thought. "Hm, I could probably extend it with more Mana. Right?"
"Oh for certain. Pumping additional Mana into a spell usually overcharges it in some capacity," Atar agreed. "Distance and power are usually the two main factors, though there's a cap. Always is."
"Capped by the Skill level?" Felix asked, receiving a nod in return. "Makes sense."
"Your available Mana limits it as well. Most Humans around level twenty have 210-230 Mana, so they can't afford to overcharge every spell." Atar glanced at Felix. "You have more than that, don't you?"
Shadow Whip is level 22!
Felix paused, Shadow Whip still extended. Then he yanked it back, hurtling the bundle of sticks into his arms. "Ah yeah, a little. Enough that I can push myself, at least."
"Ah, of course. With the Magician Omen that...that makes sense." Atar fiddled his fingers together, staring off into the middle distance. Felix glanced over at him when it became a little too silent for a little too long.
"Um, how's it feel, Atar? Having an Omen yourself?" Felix attempted to keep the conversation going. Who knew when the irritable mage would want to talk again?
"It feels surprisingly good. Like I'm finally moving forward." Atar took a breath and shook himself out of his reverie. He shot a sideways look back over his shoulder, toward the firepit.
"Still sore at Magda?" Felix asked in a low voice, unsure if she could hear. She was busy talking to Harn and Evie across the chamber, so he assumed they were in the clear.
Atar glanced at him, smirk on his lips. "More than a little. She finally fulfilled the terms of the contract, insofar as getting us our Omens. That doesn't change the fact that she lied to us."
"I can't really argue with you there," Felix nodded, using another Shadow Whip to place the bundle back out ahead of him. It flung too far too fast and hit the wall with a clatter of snapping twigs. Felix grimaced. "But it does seem like she had good intentions. I mean, saving people from monsters? That's kinda the whole deal of the Protectors' Guild, right?"
Atar nodded, reluctantly. "True enough." He sighed and picked at the mud stain on the front of his robes. "This is above our rank, though."
"Can't argue that either. Four hundred plus frost giants is...a lot." Felix dismissed his spell with a sigh. "I've faced tough odds out here too many times. But the giants, the hounds, the...everything out here in the city. It's intense. Can't blame you for worrying or getting mad. But," Felix half gestured toward the walls. "If we don't save these people, who will?"
Atar went quiet, his face serious and drawn. Felix could see how young he was, barely out of his teens, and felt for him. As scared as Felix was, Atar knew this world better and probably appreciated the dangers even more.
"We'll keep an eye out for each other, right?" Felix smiled.
Atar looked up abruptly, meeting Felix's eyes. He smiled, a small nervous thing. "Yeah."
"Felix. A moment, please."
Felix turned away from Pit, having just fed the little monster a handful of jerky. The tenku had snapped it all up in a single, gluttonous bite. He found Magda headed his way, while the rest of them had begun to gather near the stairwell.
They slipped through one such opening, Felix going first. Immediately through the wall, the Risi were nowhere in sight, and he cautiously waved everyone through. He opened up his Manasight and regretted it: the entire area was blanketed in a shimmering field of purple-white ice Mana; it laid thickly on the conjured ice at their feet and draped off the wall and buildings. One of those bonfires his Memory called an "icefire" burned nearby, giving off a stark white light that practically seethed with ice Mana. All together, it was a jumble to his magic senses, and Felix had to deactivate his most useful ability. He worried he'd go blind otherwise.
Harn led the way at this point, and all of them made it into the hollowed out building adjacent to the bronze domed capital building. That's what it looks like, Felix decided. Like a state capital building or somewhere a legislature meets.Strange how many architectural analogues there are between here and Earth. This entire place looks like a cross between ancient Rome and perhaps ancient India. Why? They settled in to wait as Felix thought it over. What connection is there between the Continent and Earth? Tarot cards are Omens here. Passingly similar architecture. And am I speaking English? Are they?
Felix was partly distracting himself, he knew. He looked over his companions, who ranged the gamut of emotions from nervous to intensely stoic. It was a surreal feeling, crouching in a crumbling building while monsters prowled outside, just feet from almost certain death. Felix felt his insides lurch from time to time, but he was getting a hang of this whole life and death thing; his pressed lightly with his Willpower and the lurching faded, settling into a steely resolve.
They sat there, minute after minute, feeling the cold slowly seep into their clothes and armor. Felix could almost feel his Cold Resistance ticking up, the ice pushing a chill into his body to which his Fire Within flared in response. Huh, almost forgot about that aspect of it. Strange, he pondered as his limbs grew warm. Is this an actual fire or just my Mana heating me up? He started to delve within himself, but a high pitched whine that Felix hadn't quite registered before suddenly cut out. Then there was the sound of massive objects scraping against shattering ice.
The doors. It's happening.
Everyone stood up, watching Harn as he made several gestures. Felix turned to Pit, who was on his feet and ready to go. He focused and sent a series of images to his friend, telling Pit to stay out here, to be on lookout. Felix felt a flush of confusion and anger from the tenku, but followed up with a sense of care, of caution. And of frightened people just inside that building that Pit might accidentally terrify. Reluctantly, Pit sent back agreement before sitting back down. Felix bent over and hugged the chimera, squeezing him tight while Pit nuzzled his beak against his shoulder.
He stood up, turning from his friend and saw that the adventurers were all filing out of the building. Felix scrambled after them, squeezing under a falling wall to the backside of their abandoned building. Just in time, he saw Atar and Magda waiting for him. The others were no where to be seen.
"Cross when I say," Magda muttered. "Okay, now."
The three of them crossed the alleyway, only twenty or so feet, and into the open side door though Magda had to stoop to enter. No shouts, no alarms.
They were in.
"Perfect. They're in." Illia sat atop the abandoned building the Guilders had just vacated, cross legged and eating a handful of berries. "Mm, these aren't bad."
Finishing them off, the Sworn stood and stretched. She felt like a new woman, or she was about to; she only had a few more tasks before the Shieldwitch's plans all came crashing down, and Illia could make off with a hefty payday.
"Now where did that huge general of theirs get to," she mused, spinning a dagger in her hand as she hopped off the wall.
Sixteen hours, Cas thought, spitting blood from her mouth. The copper taste of it seemed a constant companion. Sixteen hours and seven souls lost. Ten lost yesterday. Twenty the day before. Thirteen before that. More, and more besides. She spat again, thick globs slapping against the wooden stairs she climbed. I will make you pay for every hour, every life you blue pieces of shit. I keep a tally, and I will not break.
Mechanically, Callie climbed the steps, one after the other. Her people, fellow Guilders all, trudged behind her. Always behind. Leaders lead from the front. That's...that's what she'd say. I say kill em all, cuz I keep my tally. I will not break.
With a grunt, she ran into the icy doors of the temple, as they called it. Callie raised her eyes, taking in the elaborately carved bronze doors, larger than her by three feet, they were still too narrow to fit most of the giants. Too tired, she slapped her open fist against the metal, feeling the cold bite into her skin.
Cold Resistance is level 27!
That made her laugh, but it was laced with more than a little madness. She stifled it, pushing the wild laughter down as the doors opened. A hulking Risi guard, a new one perhaps, leered down at her while it fondled the haft of its club, it's dumb blue face and bushy white beard split by a gap-toothed smile. She sobered up quickly.
"Lok tani?" It asked, as usual.
"Nothing. We found nothing." She tried to push her way forward, but the giant held out a thick fingered hand.
"Lok tani," it repeated, more forceful.
"I said, 'nothing.'" Callie said, looking up at the giant. "Are you stupid? There is nothing down there. Just death and more death."
"Lok tani!" The guard yelled, its face beginning to flush bluer than normal and a flop sweat appearing on its brow. "Rikta lok folar, esta tani!"
Callie growled, her hands almost reaching for the daggers these monsters allowed her. "I don't know what you're saying, you dumb, chimera-sucking, ice licking asshole. I. Have. Nothing!"
"HRGGK!"
A sudden spurt of blue blood washed over Callie and the few Guilders immediately behind her, and a line appeared across the giant's throat. Slowly, like in a dream, the giant's head and its body separated in opposite directions. Gore pumped out, a morbid rain as Callie's eyes fixed on her adversary, finally dead.
"Well, you still have me," a voice said, maddeningly familiar.
And then the room exploded into chaos.
