Unbound

Felix smelled pastries.

Warmth came next; a downy heat that smothered his limbs and engulfed the sides of his head, muffling the sounds of gentle rainfall. He opened his eyes, and instead of dust and fire, all he saw were age-worn rafters and a crumbling plaster ceiling. He was in a small, cozy room. A fire crackled in the hearth only feet away, banked to only cherry-red coals and piles of ash, while the distant sound of people talking rumbled through the floorboards.

He was at…an inn? Someone’s house? Felix was tempted to strain his senses to figure it out…but he held back. If he looked, he’d probably have to start moving. Moving felt like a bad idea, though he couldn’t pinpoint why. The sounds below rose and fell like waves, washing against his idle thoughts as he lay there, cradled by the wide bed like a hand made of clouds.

This is nice.

Yet it couldn’t last. An itch wriggled its way into his attention, until Felix could no longer ignore it. He reached for it, brushing his claws against his side before he remembered to flinch in pain—yet the pain wasn’t there.

His vision flashed. The warm solitude broke before blue and gold at the edges of his sight, where notifications all but trembled to be noticed.

Felix sighed. Might as well.

He toggled them open.

Fiendforge is level 123!

Fiendforge is level 133!

Grandmaster Tier!

You Gain:

+Decrease Significance Consumed In Forging By Half!

+1000 REI

+500 EVA

Unseen Beholder is level 127!

...

Unseen Beholder is level 135!

Congratulations!

You Have Tempered Your Mind!

You Have Formed: Primarch Mind!

+1000 PER

+700 INT

+500 WIL

+400 INE

+300 ALA

Congratulations!

You Have Tempered Your Spirit!

You Have Formed: Nightfated Spirit!

+1000 WIL

+700 INT

+500 RES

+400 AFI

+300 INE

Congratulations!

You Have Tempered Your Body!

You Have Formed: Cardinal Scion Body!

+1000 STR

+700 VIT

+500 END

+400 AGL

+300 DEX

The Temper seized him, pulling his awareness deep inside his own body, and Felix let it. He appeared within the dark realm of his core space, floating at the very edges of his Divine Tree, where the essence leaves rustled in an unseen wind. In the black, upon a horizon he could not perceive, system energy roared forth. It was a tide that came from someplace far off in the dark, from a place beyond Felix, a liminal realm where he suspected all core spaces touched on the system itself. Clear and unblemished by attunement or type, it poured through the opalescent crystal roots that bounded the edges of his core space.

Undifferentiated power swept across the planet-like skills he had before crashing into the base of his Divine Tree. The opalescent Tree groaned, soaking up the power like water. It stretched, new facets forming across its trunk as it thickened and lifted higher than ever before. New branches sprouted, and existing ones solidified as they spread wide the canopy of essence that gleamed at their summit. Its roots moved, chiming as the ripple of growth extended downward, pushing them out across the gleaming cores before tightening the crystalline lattice around everything.

Essence rained down from the Tree's branches, falling around Felix like leaves to join the influx of system energy as it swirled around the Divine Tree's base, flooding down into his dual cores. The [Thunderflame Core] and the [Cardinal Beast Core] gleamed, rings of liquid flame that expanded under the rush of system energy. And as they did, their liquid flames hardened, still retaining their strange fluid movement, yet gaining new facets, much like his Tree, becoming crystalline.

And as always, his dual cores, shaped into hollow rings, ground against one another as they spun counter to each other. Their solid flames now wrapping tight like the teeth of some ferocious gears, and the dissonance and harmony that spread from their strange joining took on the faint echo of shattering glass. That mix of sound flooded him, filling the void of his core space with ceaseless music that buffeted his skills. It rebounded off the edges of his Divine Tree barrier, the roots reflecting things inward, downward, toward a darkness that lurked between his pillars and the resplendence of his power.

It's bigger.

The black hole at the center of himself, where Hunger once lurked, had doubled in size since before his fight with Siva.

That's concerning.

He wasn't sure what it meant, but if his experiences with the beast were any indication, Felix doubted that it was entirely good.

A familiar pain laced through him, burning across every aspect before manifesting as fissures across the distant black. It yanked Felix's attention back up, just in time to witness the fissures filling with red-gold and blue-white light, as well as a deep midnight purple. They crisscrossed him like scars as his aspects grew, stretching toward new heights. A grandmaster tear settled onto him like a mantle, and then it was gone. The pain vanished just as quickly as it had come, but the changes remained.

The Divine Tree had grown, and his dual cores burned with an internal light that was magnified by their new facets. All of it held within a net of opalescent roots like a seam carved out of a jewel by the masterful hands of an ancient artisan. His pillars thrummed, sending a chorus of song up through the dark and into his dual cores, where their dueling sounds carried the chorus outward into his skills. Each responded in kind, their patterns resonating like harp strings in the wind as the power swept outward and around the latticed funnel. It all came back to the Divine Tree, rustling its essence leaves and letting stars rain down into the hungry dark.

It continued, a never-ending cycle that filled Felix with a sense of solidity and power. It was perfect. Almost. Felix looked down, back to the Pillars at his foundation. Nine of them were newly charged with light and sound, while the tenth was a bit slower, a bit duller.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I haven't Tempered Sonata of Dominance yet, he realized. It's not done.

New notifications interrupted his thoughts, drawing him back into the cozy room and the soft, fluffy bed. It felt thinner now, more fragile, as if a single movement from Felix could shatter it into pieces. He held still, daring only to breathe as reached out mentally. The first notification was a box entirely of silver edged in gold filigree, and it carried a weight that pressed him further into the downy mattress.

New Title!

Silver Moonslayer (Unique)

You have devoured the Moon of Siva, Goddess of Fortune.

+10% Damage To All Moons

Whoa. Felix swallowed. I got a Title for destroying the moon that makes me…better at destroying moons?That’s—

Before he could finish the thought, a second box snapped into place with the tolling of a deep, distant bell. This one was crimson and copper, and it burned into Felix’s vision like the sun.

New Title!

Godkiller (Primordial)

You are responsible for the death of not one, but two gods. You are growing adept at this task, Ascendent.

+25% Damage To All Beings Of Divine Or Greater Advancement

-25% Damage Taken From All Beings Of Divine Or Greater Advancement

Felix sat up, ignoring the calamitous groan of his bed. His mouth had gone dry and his thoughts whirled, but his eyes never left the Title.

“Godkiller,” he said, tasting the words. Savoring them. “Yeah. I like that.”

The Title vanished, sinking somewhere deep inside of himself, before being replaced by another. This one was gold and silver, but a deep blue gleamed beneath its surface.

New Title!

Warden of Levantier (Legendary)!

In the days of the Golden Empire, at the behest of the Empyrean Halls the Chthonic Temples took on the task of handling those beings it could not reason with nor destroy. The Temples were each converted into Wells that could hold one or two such beings, but the greatest of Threats were imprisoned within the Wellspring here, and the city of Levantier was built around it. The Warden was chosen from among the strongest of the Nym, for they were the first line of defense should the Wellspring ever fail. Hold fast, Warden, for you guard the world.

+200 WIL, INT, PER

+Increased Authority Within Levantier!

+Complete Access To The Wellspring!

You Have Gained 10 Levels!

You Are Now Level 110!

+200 to STR! +220 to PER! +220 to VIT! +260 to END! +240 to INT! +280 to WIL! +260 to AGL! +290 to DEX!

+200 All Harmonic Stats!

You Have 150 Unused Stat Points!

The energy of the level-ups surged through him, igniting his nerves with a joyous sort of pain that soon faded into a quiet warmth. It was very similar to his Tempering process, albeit at a thousandth of the scale.

Felix watched his dark passenger carefully. Neither Hunger nor the Beast rose up from the dark to claim those levels as they had when he'd killed Siva.

I'm still pissed about that. He carefully swung his feet off the side of his bed, adjusting his weight onto the floorboards below. They creaked just as ominously as the bedframe, but it all held. Warden, huh? That makes how many Territories now? Six?

He opened up his Quests log, and found one of them flashing.

Quest Completed!

Empire Of The Fiend!You have passed the first mile marker on the path of empire, yet your climb is far from over. Claim the Seat and Seal of at least seven Territories to establish your realm.

Rewards:

+Increased Defensive And Offensive Capabilities In Claimed Territories

+Increased Resources In Claimed Territories

+Title

+XP

+Varies

Territories Claimed: 7/7

Felix blinked. “Oh hell yeah. When did that happen? I—” The text flickered.

Territories Claimed: 6/7

“What?”

He kept watching, and each time the total rose to 7/7 the Quest marked itself complete…but it always reset to 6/7. Felix focused on the number, pressing his Intent against it like fingers parting the pages of a book.

NOTICE!

Territorial Authority In Question!

Sunara

See The Current Claimant: Storm Tyrant, Pit Nevarre

Pit claimed a Territory? When did that happen? Felix toggled to his Authority Screen and fiddled with a number of screens before a list of claimed Territories unspooled before him.

Nagast

Ahkestria

Khalheim

Pax’Vrell

Gharion

Levantier

Sunara (Disputed)

Well that’s easy to settle. Pit? Are you there? There was a gulf of distance between them that was greater than anything they’d experienced before, but Felix could still feel his Companion, like a warm presence in the corner of his Spirit. Yet his friend didn’t answer.

Pit? Felix felt nothing, as if the Chimera were hiding. That’s…concerning.

Drumming his fingers against his knees, Felix considered several moves. He shout harder, find some way to garner his Companion’s attention, or he could race to the Shadowgate and then to Sunara… But if Pit wasn’t answering, it was for a reason.

He just had to trust his friend.

Felix opened his other Quests, checking on them.

Assemble The Empyrean Regalia!

The Crown of Elysium is but the first of three artifacts known as the Empyrean Regalia. Once claimed by the sover‐ eigns of the Golden Empire, the Regalia is designed to reinforce the Aspects of their bearer. It is said the Herald bore all three, and with them was able to contest the very gods themselves.

Crown of Elysium - 1/1

Wellspring Chalice - 0/1

Exalted Bell - 0/1

Restore The Seals!

The true Seals of the Continent were not invented, but discovered by the ancient magi. In the present Age, they have been Lost, and those that remain have been placed under false rule. Find them once more and use the Crown of Elysium to restore them to full potency, connecting the Corporeal Realm to the Grand Harmony once more and fortifying the world against the Ruin.

Rewards:

+Increased Protection Against Ruin

+Varies

Felix sat still, staring at the worn floorboards as the rain intensified outside. It rattled off the ceramic roof tiles like a fleet of tiny horses, marching almost as fast as his own thoughts.

The Seals are a priority. I still need to use Unite the Lost on Levantiers. He was pretty sure he didn’t do that earlier. Things were a touch foggy, but Felix’s memory was powerful. Perfect, usually. I…huh, I remember Pit using Unite the Lost too. In Sunara. Was that when he claimed it?

It must have happened while he was out, after the Chthonic Star sliced his limbs off. Felix fought the urge to flex his arm and leg, but he glanced down at them just the same. They were still there.

So if things went properly in Jaast, I just need to find that Seal, fix it, and claim it too. That’ll give me eight Territories, but only three of which were ever under the Hierophant’s Subordinate Seals. If I plan to increase our defenses against the Ruin, that leaves Andiva, Tavan, Calumb, Sao’Thun, Bos’Vaan, Neer, and Sept. Felix groaned. So many…and now they have the Chthonic Star.

A weapon designed to destroy the chains binding the gods to their moons, and it was in the hands of a zealot—one that hated him, in particular.

Felix had a lot of work ahead of him, and little time to accomplish it.

He’d made little progress toward assembling the Empyrean Regalia, however. They would’ve been nice to reinforce my Aspects before going through all of that. The Crown of Elysium had proven its worth when he’d Tempered his Mind and he’d had all those gnarly visions. I can’t imagine how it would have gone without it.

If he could get the other two, then it would make things a lot easier. The problem was, he hadn’t a clue where to begin looking. Treasure hunters had sought the crown for Ages without success, and he’d only found it after completing a bunch of nearly-impossible Quests. He needed a lead. Something to point in any direction, otherwise—

Felix snapped his fingers. That Tempering vision!

He had seen the Regalia in use when he’d Tempered Emperor’s Vigilance—now evolved to Unseen Beholder. The Herald had fought the Maw near Shelim, and she’d worn the Crown of Elysium and wielded the Inheritor’s Will. Two other objects had been on her person, objects that had remained fuzzy and clouded to his sight.

Were they the bell and chalice?

Felix had a method to revisit his Memories, using an array and his own Born Trait. If he set that up, it was possible he could wrest some sort of clue from his Tempering visions. It was something, at least.

Wait. Wellspring Chalice? Felix navigated back to his newest Title. As the Warden of Levantier I have complete access to something called the Wellspring. That can’t be a coincidence. Right?

He stood up fast, splintering the bedframe and sending down feathers cascading across the floor.

“Time to find out.”

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