Chapter Four Hundred And Ninety Four – 494
"Felix, your hands," Vess said, reaching to grasp his wrists gently. She turned them over and, much to his surprise, Felix's palms were burnt through. Charred meat and bone could be seen, though much of the wounds had already repaired. "How did this happen?"
"Huh. It affected my actual Body?" Felix hadn't expected that. His Song of Absolution was so strong it usually negated a ton of damage...but in this case it seemed it only negated his pain. He still couldn't really feel it other than a faint ache, easily mistaken for simple fatigue. "More new things."
"What affected you?" Vess asked, gently. She tilted his hands, inspecting them even as his regeneration patched up more of the worst parts. It was a bit gnarly to see, even for Felix, but Vess didn't blink until she was satisfied he was healing well. "What could do this to an Adept Body?"
Felix was intensely aware of Isla standing nearby, waiting for them to walk up the spiral staircase. He carefully extracted his hands from hers. "Just some quirks of being an Unbound, I think." He gave her a smile. "I'll be fine."
Vess was too close to hide her emotions from Felix, and he was too tired to hold back his Affinity as much as he wanted. So he felt the conflict of disbelief and annoyance at his clear lie...but then she glanced at Isla, who stood only a few yards away, talking to Beef. Begrudging acceptance rolled across her, a timpani's decrescendo. She smiled, very slightly, and they moved to the staircase.
The stairs were formed in a familiar pattern, one that Felix had seen before in Shelim. Larger on the outside, the inner portions were carved to accommodate creatures of a smaller stature. Geist, Felix presumed.
"How amenable," Isla remarked.
"In the Memory I saw many different Races here, working together. Only makes sense to shape the structure to their needs," Felix said. "Same was true in Shelim."
"An inconvenience for us, forced to either side as we are. Still, there seems to be quite enough space to lets us pass single file." The Chanter looked to Felix and then the Naga. "I assume they shall go in the lead? To ensure our safety."
"What? No." Felix stepped forward himself. "I chose to lead us into here instead of swimming through the ravines. I'll lead the way and handle whatever dangers come our way. Beef, Isla, and Vess you can take behind me. Toa'ut, you and your people take the rear along with Hallow's Multipede form. Pit, with me."
"Yes, my Lord," the Naga said, all of them bowing at the waist.
The rest of his team shuffled about until they more or less assembled into the order he had defined. There was plenty of room on the staircase despite Isla's weird complaints, though with Pit's big horse-size and wingseven foldedhe was a bit in the way.
"Felix, could you not have let the illusion go on?" Pit asked him. His voice was pitched low, which wasn't saying much for the tenku. His words always sounded more like a child or pre-teen than an adult.
"What do you mean? It wasn't real."
Pit scuffed a paw at a stone stair, pushing through a layer of mealy dust. "I know that. You said. But it was...nice. To see home again."
Home. The breath caught in Felix's throat, unsure whether he was sighing or gasping. For all its faults, the FoglandsNagastwas Pit's home. His Mind touched on old memories of his own home, on Earth. Felix was hesitant, fearing an ache that was far less than he expected. It also didn't feel like home anymore. "Yeah. I guess it was."
They began their climb along the spiral steps, though it was only two rotations before Pit grew annoyed at managing his bulky form beside them all. With a chirruping call and a whump of air, Pit shrank down into his Dire Hound form and bounded in Vess' arms.
"Siva's Grace, but you're adorable!" Vess cooed, holding the puppy-shaped tenku in her arms. Pit's tongue lolled from his mouth, a doggy grin stretching his jowls as Vess scratched him vigorously along his head and ears.
"Pit can turn into a dog?" Beef said. He too reached over and pet Felix's Companion, laughing happily when Pit started kicking a hind leg. "Oh that's cute. I always wanted a dog. Dad always said no."
"Should I find a small dog to Raise, Michael?" Hallow asked, leaning out from his back. Her small, uneven rock head/face tilted with the sound of grinding stone.
Beef stared at the Homunculus. "Uh, What? No, it's fine. Pit's a dog, that's enough."
"...Very well."
He pressed ahead, careful not to disturb the riot of greenery all around them.
It was clear that plants had run amok, filling every inch of space along the floors and walls of the living quarters, as well the wide staircase beyond them. The team followed those steps upward, another six rotations of what was basically jungle vegetation, before finding the next silver door so full of vines and roots that it spilled outward like a river of green. That door was fully wedged open and, impossibly, sunlight streamed through it.
"What the hell?" Beef muttered. The sunbeams bounced off the Minotaur's orichalcum helmet like a mirror. "How's that possible?"
"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say 'magic,'" Felix said, before ducking into the room. The others followed, though the War Naga had to almost fold themselves in half to fit. Lucky for them, they were insanely flexible, being mostly snake. Felix pushed his Perception outward, feeling at the space before his Voracious Eye and Aria of the Green Wilds began cataloging everything in sight.
Voracious Eye is level 82!
Aria of the Green Wilds is level 88!
The same sorts of flora abounded in the cavernous room, absolutely filling the space until there was little evidence to the naked eye that they still stood in a man-made structure. The walls looked to be made of rough, striated wood, with dizzying networks of roots clinging to them, each proffering a bevy of leaves out into the bright light. The sun-dappled foliage soothed Felix more than he expected, though he suspected it was...yes, he spotted it through the haze: a crystal carved into a near-circle and brimming with golden light Mana.
Almost perfectly hidden, however, was an absolutely massive tree. Felix stared at its crown as he followed the golden light back down toward the floor, tracing its huge, dark, blue-green leaves and thick branches. They all met along a trunk that was around forty feet in diameter if he had to guess, and was further covered in vines and moss that entirely obscured its bole and thick roots. More than that, Felix's Voracious Eye struggled against it, almost failing before it triumphed in a blaze of trilling notifications.
Name: Abundance Anima
Type: Spirit Tree
Lore: Spirit Trees are a rare and powerful organism imbued with elemental Mana dependent on their growth cycle. Due to its location and growth, the Spirit Tree before you has chosen its attunements. The Abundance Anima is attuned to Water, Shadow, Earth, and Life.
"A Spirit Tree?" Vess said in surprise.
"A Spirit Tree!" Isla exclaimed. She stared at the glorious shape of it with glee on her face. "Beneath the waves, no less. How could it thrive down here?"
"It's huge," Beef said, and Pit cooed in appreciation while Hallow tilted her little stone head.
Felix stared as well. Unlike the other one he'd found in the wild, this one seemed to be thriving...almost...undulating.
Authority Detected.
Welcome Au
ERR0R!
Ouranic Override.
The Seeds Have Been Turned.
Beware.
"That can't be good," Felix managed, just as the the foliage around them began to rustle. Within instants, rustling turned to cracking branches and quaking leaves as a dozen creatures let out shrill bellows. "Weapons up!"
The attack began.
