Chapter 485

Back from my trip and back at it! Enjoy!
Another chapter will be up later (8/12/22)!

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Felix tried to sleep. Really. He wanted to blame the lack of pillow or blanket or bed, but he’d grown used to such things a long time ago. He also wanted to blame his stats and Temper, which made sleep almost unnecessary in most cases, but that wasn’t true this time. After the brief contact with the Fathom, his strained Body was begging for rest.  It was his racing Mind and still aching Spirit that were not having it.

After tossing and turning on the oddly squishy sand, Felix got up and prowled about the cavern. The space was wide enough, but each of the War Nagas had burrowed the long serpent portion of their forms deep into the sand. Their overly muscular humanoid top halves were splayed out on top, fast asleep, effectively claiming large swathes of it. That left a relatively small portion where Isla, Beef, and Pit were bedding down.

Isla and Beef were both asleep, the latter’s snores almost deafening through the Sunken Ward, despite the muffling effect of the spell. She was posted up beside his sprawled form, somehow in possession of a small sleeping mat and blanket, her platinum curls bound up in a delicate sleeping cap of some sort. Felix snorted and moved on.

Pit and Hallow were cuddled together, the horse-sized tenku wrapped around the small rocky Homunculus in the way of a big dog around a favored toy. It was cute. Wrapped around them was Hallow’s Multipede form. That was…less cute.

But where’s Vess?

The cavern was wide, but Felix hadn’t sensed much depth to it when they had entered. So he stepped outside, through the curtain of fronds that the Naga had wedged into the crags to further hide their hideaway, and into the narrow crevasse just beyond. Yet as his Perception spread outward, Felix could not spot his friend there, either.

His thoughts raced, spinning through possibilities, most of which were either ludicrous or unbelievable. Had she left? Felix worried at that like Pit with a bone before a soft exhalation and flash of metal Mana broke against his anxious thoughts. To his left, where the walls of the gorge tightened until they were barely more than ten feet across, there was a split among the stone. Silver and white-green vapor curled through the waters, gone in an instant.

He slipped forward, through the broken entrance and the crooked passage beyond. It rose and dipped, less a path than it was a fissure cracked open by ancient tidal forces. Inside Felix found a space that had, at some point, collapsed within the rocky shelf. A small cavern had formed and was strewn with rocks that ranged from hand-sized stone to boulders taller than him.

Some of the brittle iron in Felix’s spine softened as he saw her, alone among the rocks. Vess kicked and spun through the resistance of the water, floating at apparently random speeds as she shot up and down through the boulders. Her partisan was out, weaving forward as if it were liquid itself, and not a solid pole of arcane metal. The dragon that Rafny had carved into the haft seemed half-alive, writhing with a serpentine grace that was superior to their brutal guides. As he watched, she missed a strike and cursed to herself, grinding her heel into the grit and marching backward.

<<Up late training?>> Felix asked.

Vess looked up at him in surprise. She'd been focusing hard, that was clear. <<Felix. Is something wrong?>> She half-stepped toward him. <<Was there an attack?>>

<<What? No. We're fine. I just...couldn't sleep.>>

<<Ah. I too cannot find it in me to rest.>> Vess sighed, the sound almost totally lost among the ward's muffling. <<I should. It has been a trying few days.>>

<<It has. What are you training?>>

<<Movement, for now.>> She waved a hand through the water, and despite her Strength Felix could see the drag on her limb. <<Battle beneath the waves is proving more difficult than I anticipated. I need to account for the water's resistance when I am maneuvering or attacking.>>

Felix nodded. He'd noticed it too, the floating when he leaped or attempted to change direction rapidly. <<Mind some company?>>

Vess smiled. <<I would be delighted.>>

The heiress of Pax'Vrell began her movements again, leaping rock to rock in a pattern as she thrust and spun her partisan. Felix joined her, keeping away from her path but attempting to copy her choices around the perimeter of the room. Relentless Resolution flared with every kick and step, his Body and Mind communing with lightning quick efficiency as he darted through the water. Moving as if he were in the air was very hard in the water, and it only increased the sense of floating between his bigger jumps. What's worse, bubbles and silt swarmed him with each kick off and landing, clouding his immediate surroundings. It was like television static for his senses; not so terrible he couldn't see past it, but an extra layer that Felix had to learn to anticipate. Often Vess would swoop past him, lapping him as they ricocheted off boulders and the frond-infested walls, smile bright and victorious. Felix grinned right back, putting fresh energy into the exercise.

They raced.

The hours passed wordlessly, the both of them visibly improving as they opposed one another, attacks and feints to keep their guard up, and all the while their path grew more and more labyrinthine. Their movements sped up with each revolution, eyes on each other as well as their next step. Felix copied Vess, twisted his body so that his fall cut through the water like a knife instead of a stone, and Vess copied Felix, her spear cleaving the way forward much as his flattened hands pushed liquid around himself. She was elegant in the way she moved, as sleek as anything in her white-enameled half-plate, but she moved slower than Felix expected. Her deceptive footwork was not on display, or any Skill that he could spot. Perhaps that was to acclimate to the water faster? Or another reason only evident to people who had trained all their life for battle.

For his part, Felix utilized as many Skills as he could keep active at once. Which was a lot, truth be told. Platforms of blue-white Mana appeared beneath his feet, allowing him better traction between boulders, while vines and thick pillars of ice were shaped from the walls to redirect him with increasing accuracy. Vess strained, shattering his constructs with her partisan when she could, but Felix only made more. A lot more.

Relentless Resolution is level 80!
Manasight is level 74!

Dual Casting is level 57!
...
Dual Casting is level 62!

Cloudstep is level 51!
...
Cloudstep is level 58!

Blind Fighting is level 60!
...
Blind Fighting is level 63!

Dodge is level 71!
...
Dodge is level 73!

Rime Shaping is level 64!
...
Rime Shaping is level 66!

Green Shaping is level 63!
...
Green Shaping is level 65!

Soon Felix left her behind, lapping her as he pressed every advantage he had, the water in the confined space flowing after him. It roared almost as loud as his heartbeat pounded in his ears, the sound of screaming surf so familiar after days of the same howling. Felix felt a giddy laugh bubble up in his chest as he knifed forward, smashing through boulders now and relying entirely on Cloudsteps wrapped in frozen vines to move faster.

<<Stop, stop before you bring this cavern on top of us!>> Vess shouted at him.

Felix did, dropping from the dizzying pattern they'd been following. Silt and sand exploded outward, already half-torn up by the whirling waters, but his relentless momentum was barely interrupted. He was forced to conjure Cloudstep after Cloudstep, shattering through them until the last was enough to arrest his velocity. He bounced off the last, blue-white barrier with a gentle grunt. <<Jeez, I didn't realize how fast I was—Whoa.>>

Around them, the small chamber had become a miniature version of the Mountains That Howl. A riptide flowed around the perimeter of the cavern, stone and silt and debris dragged in its slowly dying wake. A few of the bigger stones had even shifted, lifted from where they were sunk deep into the ground.

Vess swam to his side, her braided hair now come slightly undone. Several dark brown locks rippled with the current, strong even here at the outside. <<Yes. Whoa, indeed. Did you not notice?>>

<<I uh, may have gotten caught up in the race,>> Felix admitted, sheepishly. Perception no longer so hyperfocused, he spotted several bleeding cuts on her face. <<Oh! You're hurt.>>

<<Simple scratches. A few splintered stones caught in the force of your maelstrom.>> She waved off his concern, and Felix had to admit she didn't seem particularly hurt. She did, however, seem tired. <<I had not expected that result, I'll admit.>>

Felix scratched at his neck, embarrassed at how hard he'd taken the training. <<I shouldn't have gone so hard.>>

<<No. That was fine. I need to improve, Felix, and you are someone I do not need to hold back against. I need that too.>> She shook her head. <<I wish that I could afford to spend my Mana in this place, but with air Mana so far away, my recovery is greatly reduced.>>

Felix could understand the first part. He usually had trouble training with the others for that very reason. This had been the first training session in a while to garner him so many Skill levels. The second part, however, was foreign to him; he could recover the same anywhere he went except the Void. <<Ah, I didn't realize.>>

<<Why would you?>> Vess waved off his concern. <<I shall be fine. We brought many Mana Potions for just that reason. Just perhaps not so many that I could unleash my Skills with impunity.>>

He chewed at his cheek. <<I'll admit, it was nice to let loose. I think I can go faster, too.>>

Vess laughed, the tiredness retreating. <<I would like to see that. Preferably from several hundred strides away.>>

Felix grinned. <<Oh. I've been meaning to tell you: I've been using your visualization technique.>>

<<Truly? Felix, that is wonderful!>> Vess came close and grasped his hands. <<I was convinced you could make it work!>>

<<It took some...creative thinking, but it turns out if I can get close enough to the Hunger inside of me, I can just...>> Felix went to gesture with his hand, but realized he quite liked where they were at the moment. <<Well, I can make it work. I've started on my way toward a more focused core space, though I think it'll be a bit longer before I can finish all the changes.>>

<<That is excellent news, Felix. I am truly happy that you could make use of my family's technique.>> Vess' smile didn't crack so much as slowly fade. Her hands slipped free of his. <<If only my dilemma had such an easy solution.>>

<<Your Skills?>> Felix tried to ignore the ghost of warmth that lingered atop his palms. It was spoiled a bit by the guilt that rose in his chest. <<The dragon-themed ones?>>

Vess laughed again, more bitterly than before. <<Yes.>>

That guilt lanced through Felix. <<For what it's worth, I'm sorry. Again.>>

She frowned at him. <<I told you already. It was my choice to take that Essence, Felix. You are not responsible for my actions.>>

<<No, but I am responsible for my own,>> he shot back. <<I could have chosen not to share it with you at all.>>

<<And would you have survived?>> she asked, her voice quiet. Felix hesitated, and she nodded. <<I thought not. I could feel your desperation in that moment, Felix. We all could. We would not leave you when you have need of us. I would not.>> She straightened. <<I did not, and I bear the consequences proudly. But I do have a path forward, or perhaps backward is the correct phrasing.>>

<<You do?>> Felix was experiencing some emotional whiplash. <<How?>>

<<I have been speaking with Isla at length. When she heard of my situation, of how it came to pass, she proposed a method to return my Skills to their states before the Primordial's Essence changed them.>> Vess settled back against a half-broken boulder with a fatigued groan. <<That is the other reason I was not using my Skills tonight. Keeping my evolved Skills from leveling will aid the process, I am told.>>

Isla. What are you doing? Felix wasn't a fan that she was mixing into the situation, and wondered at her motivations. <<Are you going to sunder them? Start over? You're nearly at Adept Tier. Won't that ruin your...everything?>>

<<My foundation is still strong, still secure with prior Skills before their unfortunate evolution. That will be retained after the process is complete, Isla assured me.>>

<<How?>> he asked. <<What exactly is she going to do?>>

Vess tilted her head, nose crinkling. <<Why do you fear her?>>

<<I don't,>> Felix said, perhaps too forcefully. <<I just don't trust her, or any of the Chanters with the possible exception of Zara,>> he said, stepping closer. <<They have both been hiding things from the moment we met, but at least Zara has come forward with the truth. Isla...she gets under my skin.>>

<<As I said before, I do not blame you Felix. I chose to aid you, knowing that unexpected consequences were likely. I just...had not considered this as a possibility. When Isla informed me of a path forward, dangerous or not, I plan to meet it head on.>> Her gaze firmed, fixed upon the tip of her spear. <<I will not shrink from this battle.>>

Vess' face turned up toward his, and her eyes pleaded with him. <<If you cannot trust the Chanter, then trust me, Felix. As I trust you.>>

Uncertainty ate at Felix—doubt in Isla, but also in what he felt he had to say. <<Look, Vess. I trust you, I do. But how much of this is you picking the right way foward, and how much is you chasing after your parents' expectations?>>

<<Excuse me?>>

Affinity held back or not, the disbelief and anger flowed from Vess in waves more dense than the depths around them. She stood, bristling with it, but Felix plowed ahead anyway. <<All I mean is—>>

<<I know what you mean,>> Vess said, her voice like a whipcrack despite the muffling ward. <<And you cannot understand, Felix. It is more than the weight of expectations. It is an honor. The Dragoons protect our people from monsters, but they are also a bulwark against the Hierocracy itself, keeping their Paladins and Inquisitors away from our borders. Without a strong, unified front, they will use our weakness as an excuse to occupy our towns and villages. The leader of Pax'Vrell must always be a Dragoon, or married to one. It is a tradition that I cannot simply abandon, Felix. The Dragoons protect my people, and without them, I would be nothing.>>

She kicked off of the sand, pure Strength and Agility catapulting her through the water and toward the crooked exit, leaving only dust and cloudy water behind.

Felix sighed. Great job, idiot.