Chapter Seventy Four - 074
Exploration is level 25!
Congratulations! You have reached Apprentice Tier in Exploration!
You Gain:
+3 INT
+3 END
...
Rare Essence Draught Detected During Formation!
[Essence Draught of Dragon's Wing]
Choose a Feature:
Soar
Eclipse
Guide
He had no time and no context for theses choices. He chose with his gut. It hadn't failed him yet.
Congratulations!
You have absorbed the Essence of Eclipse!
A rising thrill of coruscating power hit him like a wave, but it was almost lost in the chaos as Skill up notifications streamed past his mind.
Sigils of the Primordial Dawn is level 13!
Shadow Whip is level 26!
Pain Resistance is level 42!
Armored Skin is level 38!
Cold Resistance is level 20!
Etheric Concordance is level 26!
Deep Mind is level 30!
Analyze is level 25!
Congratulations! You have reached Apprentice Tier in Analyze!
You Gain:
+3 INT
+2 PER
...
Mythic Essence Stone Detected During Formation!
[Essence Stone of Consumption]
Choose a Feature:
Consumption
Consumption
Consumption
Through the scintillating shimmer of System power, blue and gold sparks exploding like fireworks in his vision and mind, he reached out.
He chose.
Congratulations!
You have absorbed the Essence of Consumption!
3 of 3 Mind Essences Formed!
Tempering Has Begun!
It was like a tsunami, a roar that was his entire being, a screaming symphonic terror. And strangest of all, the hunger inside of him, that vast emptiness: it moved. Like a living thing, it crawled up his spine and into his head, where it nestled at the base of his skull.
No! What are you doing!
The Maw railed at him, rushing across his core. It was a blood-drenched hole in his gut, lit by the guttering flickers of his inner fire, but the creature flew straight and true; all the while tearing at everything within reach.
D4NGER! YOUR SKILL ACROBATICS HAS BEEN D/////#$MGeD!
54% OPErATING CApACITY!
DANGER! YOUR SKILL AXE MASTERY HAS B23N D)(_MGeD!
81% OPERATING (((((ApACITY!
You'll not take this from me! Your flesh is MINE!
The Maw barreled directly for the grouping that burned the most fiercely: the Skills Deep Mind, Exploration, and Analyze. Paralyzed by paroxysms of power and sound, Felix could only watch as the pustulent effluvia of the creature's form rocketed toward his Skills, radiating a sinister and deadly light. Corrosion spread in its path, the space itself shaking as the Maw opened wide.
The three Skills exploded in a supernova of light and fire, releasing their own wave of untamed might. The Maw was thrown back, it's form disrupted until its oozing body was a mass of jagged spikes. It reeled in pain and fury.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!
A wall of shimmering light encased Felix's Skills, all of them, as trilling notes and strummed chords reached a stunning crescendo.
Congratulations!
You Have Tempered Your Mind!
You Have Formed: the Godeater Mind
+10 INT
+10 WIL
+5 PER
+25 ALA
Felix felt his mind expand, blooming like a flower in sunlight. Everything felt more, and each thought held such a weight as to be practically physical. His hunger raged at the base of his skull, pain shooting across his brain stem and flickering down his spine. Instinctively, Felix sucked in a breath, and the crimson energy that suffused his flesh was sucked into it. Suddenly, the Bloodbind locking his body failed, and Felix stumbled forward.
His mother gave him a strange look before pursing her lips and giving him a once over.
"You're not drunk, are you?"
"What? No! Of course not," he said.
"Good. Those friends of yours have been a bad influence, I think." She started bustling around the room, taking items out of her bag and putting them away.
Felix's thoughts flashed back to his friends he would hang out with back home, the ones who threw the parties on the beach and got wasted every night after their shifts. He shook his head, almost unable to believe the kind of dumb stuff he had gotten up to with them. His eyes landed on a poorly wrapped package on the counter, a gift covered in newspaper and not even the comics or anything, it was the Business section. There were a couple other presents on a small table near the archway to the living room, and something clicked in his mind.
Gabby's birthday. This was Gabby's birthday party.
He was in a memory.
"Oh no, Bumble! Did you eat some of Gabriella's cake? Tch." Felix looked down at the crumb filled plate before him before grinning sheepishly. His mother rolled her eyes and pulled more groceries out.
A bittersweet feeling swept through him as he let go of something he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He wasn't home. He was just hallucinating, probably while the Maw choked the last bit of life out of him.
Thoughts of the Maw made the memory flash an unpleasant reddish hue, and Felix quickly banished the idea. He didn't know how long he had.
"Mom?"
"Mm?"
"You know I love you, right?"
"Of course I do," she looked at him strangely from over the top of the ice cream she was doling out. He could hear the screams and cheers of teens in the backyard. They were probably playing in the pool, though he wasn't sure. He didn't end up staying at the party in real life.
"What's going on, honey?" His mom leveled her warm brown eyes at him, her brows tilted up in concern. Felix had to clear his throat a few times before he could manage to speak.
"Nothing special. Just...just a rough few weeks." His throat ached, for some reason. "I got a dog, though. A rescue."
"Really? Do you have the space for a dog?" His mother smiled when she saw his face, knowing the answer. She patted his cheek. "You and your bleeding heart, Bumble. Someone's gonna take advantage of you, one day."
"Yeah," Felix swallowed, the room tinting vaguely red.
"Oh but don't change, honey. I know it's tough out there, with jobs and everything, but you're a good boy," she smiled at him again before picking up a platter of ice cream and cake. "You gonna come wish your sister a happy birthday?"
"Yeah I--" The room turned a deeper red, and this time it didn't relent. Felix looked around, wild-eyed.
"What's wrong?"
"I--I gotta go, Mom," he walked up and gave his mother another tight hug. "I'll miss you."
"Oh honey," she sighed in his ear before holding him out at arm's length. "You can always come back."
Felix smiled, and his throat ached even more. He swallowed a few times, the room starting to pulse with crimson. "Bye, Mom. I love you."
He fled from the house, unable to look at her again, or at the party out back. As he ran outside, he thought he heard her say something behind him, but he couldn't make it out.
The door slammed.
Felix woke up still screaming.
Slowly, he stopped, instead taking big lungfuls of air. His breath was hitched and painful, his lung still not working correctly.
Status Condition: Collapsed Lung (x1)
Status Condition: Broken Ribs (x2)
Status Condition: Broken Arm (x1)
He was enveloped in a cloud of steam and pulsing crimson Mana. It sparked and sizzled against the blue and gold in his aura, though he didn't see much of his aura at all. The steam was still pouring from his mouth, and as he stopped screaming, he realized that his jaw was packed full of oversized fangs. They bristled like a nightmare angler fish. When he tried to reach his hand up to touch them, he found his upper arm immobile. His body was stuck too, and Felix couldn't quite parse why everything felt...upside...down.
Shit.
He was hanging from the ceiling, the spike-like teeth that had erupted from his back, shoulders, and upper arms fixed him securely in the stone. As the steam cleared even more, Felix could see his skin had become rust red and scaled in places, like a rash was spreading across his chest and shoulders. Pain still blazed across his entire body, but it felt...muted.
You're mine, now.
The voice startled him, not because he'd forgotten about the Maw, but because he couldn't fully sense it at all. Whereas before the Maw was a congealing ooze within his Mana channels, now it felt...omnipresent.
Eat me, strike me, slay me! You'll never defeat my power! I am Unending!
The Maw kept screaming at him, hating him but reveling in its victory. Felix had consumed the Maw's power and essence using his new Skill. It was the only thing he could do. He could feel the creature's power roiling inside him, burning away the parts of him that were Felix and replacing them with...with itself. He was changing, slowly maybe, but inevitably. Felix could sense the Maw's consciousness was held back, much weakened by it's sacrifice, so much so that Felix's newly Tempered Mind was able to restrain it for a time.
Still, it's potency overwhelmed him, powerful in a way that Felix couldn't comprehend. He couldn't hold it for long, and he knew that when he lost his grip, it would devour him whole.
And the Maw would be free.
Felix had consumed enough of its memories to understand what would happen next. What the Maw truly desired. It would burn across the world, devouring all life, animate or otherwise. Everyone would die.
Everyone.
Unless he did something.
He looked down at the Essence Anchor. It was over a hundred feel below him, but he could make out its details as if he were standing next to the thing. The sigils on its surfaces flashed rapidly, the same ones he'd noticed before. He knew what it said now, mostly: Anchor The Beast and Draw Its Power Into The Infinite Void.
The Maw still screamed, but it faltered when Felix stared at the Anchor.
There's no way out for you, Felix Nevarre. You're mine, for all eternity.
Felix ignored it, instead visualizing his Bastion. It was whole again, not unmarred by its experiences, but the waters had been driven back. Atop the tallest tower he stood and found Pit waiting. He knelt down, and the tenku rushed to give him a hug, chirping loudly.
"Hey buddy," Felix had tears in his eyes when they separated. "I'm gonna do something stupid, now. So you gotta go."
Pit ruffled his feathers and let out a rebellious, trilling note. Normally it would have been followed by sense images and pantomime, but the two of them were still bound closer than flesh. Felix understood Pit completely when he chirped.
No. To the end.
Then he headbutted Felix in the chest, pushing the rest of his body into another hug. Felix hugged him back, throat aching again.
"Ok," he managed. "To the end, little man."
Something dripped from his real eyes, but it wasn't tears. It was blood, and it fell downward until it came within twenty yards of the Anchor. A great, pyramidal obelisk, it rose to a sharp, tapered point, and Felix's enhanced Perception marked the blood as it swirled around the Anchor, spinning closer and closer until it was absorbed by the bronze metal.
Felix pushed back with his left forearm, leveraging his left shoulder from the stone. The tooth-spike came free with a grinding thunk. Now free, he rotated his arm and placed it against the ceiling, bracing it for a final push.
No! You fool!
Felix pushed, straining against the stone.
You'll perish!
He was strong now, much stronger than when he'd started. It was easy. A final tug and he dropped.
Falling through the air, Felix couldn't help tensing, but he refused to close his eyes. This was his choice, made of his own free will.
And then, resounding in his mind, a memory dredged from beyond a slamming door, finally perfectly recalled.
I love you too, Bumble.
