Unbound

Chapter Seven Hundred And Ninety Four – 794

It was morning, and the sun had barely crested the horizon when Felix, Zara, and the rest crowded aboard Vilas Tern's personal skiff, headed for the Violet Tower. At first, Felix had been nervous. They had spent the night strategizing on the best way to approach the Tower and achieve their objectives. The preparation, however, was not as soothing as Felix had hoped.

Now, he drummed his fingers within the confines of the skiff, a relatively small Manaship, designed for only a handful of people. The five of them were seated in a cabin with only a few benches. Felix sat next to Zara and Vilas, while Alister and Atar occupied their own bench. The two of them were huddled next to each other, engaged in quiet conversation that Felix had no desire to eavesdrop on. If Vess were there, he'd want his privacy, too.

The trip proved boring and far longer than he expected. Much to Zara's credit, the traffic in the skies above Levantier was awful, worse than even the worst rush hour back home. The skies were packed with ships, most of which had large hulls, no doubt bulging with passengers and items to trade. At many points they came to a standstill, but even when they were advancing across the sky, the skiff itself was quite slow, owing in part to construction but also its weight. Though it was a small ship, its hold was packed with all of the items Tern had taken away from the Tower months prior.

In the distance, unavoidable and obvious, was the beam that rose up from the very center of the city. The color of the beam was hard to pin down, shifting between hues and yet not. The best descriptor Felix could come up with was “colorless,” though even that fell short. It rose up from the heavy fortress down below, rising through its center to impact the series of floating islands far above. Those islands housed the Violet Tower and its many outbuildings. It was still small with distance, but Felix’s gaze kept returning to it as the sun slowly lit up the city below.

"It is quite majestic, is it not?"

Felix sat back from the window. "It is. Do we know why the Vent is releasing undifferentiated Mana?”

“Instead of a specific type like fire or air?” Tern’s expression faltered for a second before he shook his head, as if shaking off a chill. “It has been studied, but no. We’ve never learned why.”

“Hmm.”

“What do you think of the Tower?”

“It’s amazing. All of the Towers are, really. Where I come from, they don't have many floating buildings.” Felix laughed. “You know, I see some of the most beautiful things when I'm in the worst sort of trouble.”

"What a strange life you must have led so far. Unbound. Torn from your home. Cast upon the Continent's shores. How wonderfully strange."

"It’s certainly been strange. Wonderful...well, yeah.” Felix smiled out the window. “It's changed my life for the better, in a lot of ways.”

“That is something I've always aspired to."

"Changing your life?" Felix asked, looking back at the mage.

"Not my own. I’m a teacher at heart, Felix. I want to better the lives of my pupils and those who come after me. That's why I've spent my life researching and writing, recording my thoughts down in tomes and paying printers to mass-produce as many copies as I could afford."

"Oh, that's right! I've read one of your books."

"Really? Which one?"

“The Vicissitudes.”

Tern was positively delighted. His wrinkled face transformed with joy, looking instantly a dozen years younger. "Ah! One of the banned books. What did you think of it?"

"Well, I agree with your findings. Power is responsibility. Full stop."

Tern nodded, his delight fading just a touch. "Indeed it is. Were it not, I'd be somewhere far away, enjoying my retirement from all this. But enough about me. You seem a normal enough fellow. How do you feel, being Unbound and perceived as an unholy terror?"

Felix bared his teeth. It was as close as his nerves would let him get to a smile at that moment. "The legends I've heard of the Unbound don't do justice to the kinds of things we can do. I've ripped Primordials to pieces and torn the legs off of gods. I know another that has slaughtered entire cities for opposing the Pathless. We are dangerous, there's no doubt about that. But we're not demons. We're just people—with all the same failings."

"And yet you read my book. Moreover, you liked it." Tern clucked his tongue. "You'll ruin your bloodthirsty reputation if that ever got out."

This time, Felix did smile. "I hope so."

"Hmm." Tern sat back. "Primordials and gods, eh? This is quite the interesting pairing. I will admit that when Zara told me of the battle against the Pathless, I could not quite believe your hand in things. Only a Master Tier and capable of a Core Manifestation solid enough to match a god? Weakened by another Divine or not, that is... alarming. And not how things should be.”

Felix shrugged. “I don’t have anything to compare it to. How are things supposed to be?”

“Quieter, certainly.” Tern smiled. “You spoke of another, the servant of the Pathless. Do they still serve?"

"As far as I know, yeah." Felix clenched hard at his Void Sanctuary before it roused. An instant later, his emotions bucked hard in their confinement. "I'm working on fixing that."

"You will have to, if you are to face the Ruin together." Tern shook his head. "I still cannot believe the madwoman had the audacity to summon the Ruin herself. I cannot comprehend such folly.”

"Skills grow with time," Tern assured him. "I wouldn't worry. Tell me, do you find it easier to weave air and water together, as you did just now?"

"It was easy enough, yeah.”

“Can you shape one element for me?"

"Oh, um, sure." Felix pulled air in again, and it was like compacting a snowball. It hardened into an orb that fell into his hand. It felt like cold glass, yet when he squeezed it, the orb burst into a puff of wind.

"Hmm. Now, repeat your little rainstorm."

Felix did. Shaping the two elements together once again took less time than air alone. Immediately, Felix felt the difference. "Why is that easier?"

Tern shifted in his seat excitedly. "This is only conjecture, but based on the description, your Skill claims an area of influence. Isolating a single element from the others is a greater strain on your power and Will than utilizing all of what you have laid dominance over."

Felix looked at the rainstorm in his hand, and with a tinge of effort, added a trace of earth to the working. The rain congealed, turning slowly to mud that twisted and spun inches above his palm. It did feel easier to hold together.

"Skills will find their greatest growth by understanding them. Only by understanding them, to their cores, can you express what the Skill is truly attempting to achieve. In this case, domination."

Felix frowned.

"Not a kind word, I'll give you that." Tern drummed his fingers against his knee. "You have Authority, do you not?"

"A bit."

"Then, you know its feel. Authority is dominance. It is a resource doled out by the System itself. Some believe it exists in order to teach us mere mortals about self-governance, but that is idiotic drivel. Authority is us enacting our Will directly on the world around us. It is commanding the realms themselves, and the System ensures our words are obeyed." He shrugged. "Within reason."

"So, by following the cryptic description of the Skill, I'll be able to unlock its true power?"

"Precisely."

Felix looked over the Skill description again. It mostly went on about treading closer to ruin and seizing control. "Any suggestions on where to start?"

"I would say to continue to manipulate Mana in pairs or more. Your path forward is there, I would think, and you will no doubt find more efficiency by engaging in multiples."

"Well, it's worth a shot." It was better than brute-forcing the Skill. Felix had done a lot of that throughout his time on the Continent, and while it had been proven effective, he couldn’t deny that he’d faced some pretty harrowing challenges to push his Skills to the next level. With so many of his Skills getting closer to Grandmaster Tier, gaining even a single level was becoming incredibly difficult.

"We're approaching the Violet harbor," Zara said, peeking out of the curtains on the side of the skiff. "Remember to stick to the plan, everyone."

Felix focused, and his black jacket and pants changed, the Garment rippling until it resembled an off-white battle robe. It was common garb for mages without a Tower affiliation or unranked assistants. Aside from Tern, they all wore the same outfit, and the plan was to accompany the mage as his assistants, carrying the stuff he'd brought back into the Violet Tower. The elderly Elf was going to pretend to want back in and request a meeting with the Tower Master, Hiraan Tiir, in order to get his position as senior Pagewright back.

"Do you have the key?" Tern asked him. Felix pulled it from around his neck, flashing the thick iron object at the man. "Good, keep that close to you. It must touch your skin at all times, or else the wards won’t recognize you."

“I remember.”

The skiff bucked, the hull grinding against the air docks outside as a tingling warmth washed across Felix.

"Detection wards," Zara warned.

“They are passive, meant to keep actively harmful enchantments from being brought into the tower. None of your belongings are enough to trip the ward. You will be fine."

Before they had left, Tern checked over their belongings exhaustively to ensure they wouldn’t trip any alarms at the Tower. Felix's Inheritor's Will had flown right under the man's attention. He'd barely even noticed it, other than to marvel at a blade made entirely of Crescian Bronze. He hadn’t considered it dangerous, but Felix knew otherwise. Still, the wards didn’t start blaring, and there was no sudden platoon of guards coming to kick them out. Soon enough, the warm sensation passed, and from outside the skiff, they heard a deep voice.

"Be welcome to the Violet Tower."

"We're as ready as we can be for this mummer's play." Tern stood. "Let the curtain rise."