"Whyyyy!"
Kelgan, Karp, and the other six guards on the street were lifted bodily by a wave of green-blue Mana. They took off like a shot, threading the empty allies with a speed that forced the breath from his lungs. At the fore, Zara surged, her hands directing the wave so that they banked around a sharp corner, crashing shopfront facades and scouring the cobbles below. The Waystone grew, taking up the horizon as the streets fled rapidly, until they barreled down the main causeway toward it.
"Redcloaks! Northwest and southwest!" Karp shouted.
Ahead of them, Acolytes and Initiates emerged from the buildings around the Waystone, filling the square with a sheet of golden light that slammed down and around their path. Zara screamed, and her Tempered lungs sent cracks through the road while a vibration built along the undulating wave of Mana. The power split, Kelgan and others shifting until they were behind Zara, while the Mana collected at the fore like a plow blade.
They hit the barrier of golden light with the sound of a roaring ocean, a tempest the size of a city. Yet the golden barrier held, if barely.
"Burn you! I'll not have this wasted!" Zara was shouting, but Kelgan couldn't make much sense of it. Her voice rose, a crescendo atop another, building until he thought his head might burst. "BREAK!"
Light flashed, golden and green and a deep, enduring blue. Ten thousand shattering glass panes, screaming metal, a titanic bellow that threw Redcloaks off their feet. Kelgan and Karp and all the rest fell to the cobbles in a loose heap, heads clutched tight against a pain barely faded. The lieutenant flared his Perception, afraid of being stabbed while he writhed, but all those around them had also fallen. The Initiates and Acolytes had been dropped, every one of them breathing but senseless.
What happened?
Zara was only a few strides away, but her chest heaved like a bellows and her sea-green hair hung limp about her shoulders. He was surprised she could even stand. She had spent everything she had on breaking that barrier. His men were slowly regaining their feet, but they had made it. Ahead of them loomed the Waystone...and one other.
A full-fledged Inquisitor. Adept Tier.
"You go no further, heretic," he rasped. His hands bloomed with a golden radiance. "I call to witness, Guardian of the Faith!"
A beam of golden Mana shot from the sky, as if from the Pathless Himself. It wavered and shook, but within its confines a hulking form emerged. An armored knight, eerily similar to those Arcid things but twice as big...and made entirely of light Mana. The Inquisitor pointed at them.
"Kill them all."
The pain of his held-back Skills intensified, waxing bright as Felix chewed his lip in consideration. He couldn't speak to why, but he felt a terrible sense of urgency, both in his Bastion and in the array around him. Like it wanted him to claim it, almost.
Notifications were still there, waiting to be checked. They were half cloaked by his Bastion though, so any perusal was painful in super fun ways that he was absolutely looking forward to later. He'd have to Tier up before long. But did he have time?
His vision spasmed and his notifications flashed again and again, brighter than previously. A soft, insistent trilling grew in the distance, a connecting thread of the System that sought his vision. A notification, he mused. Bypassing my partitioning of them. Resigned, Felix seized it.
Hidden Quest Completed!
The Door Of The Lidless Eye!
You have discovered a part of the dire secrets hidden within the Nymean Temple, have opened the Door and prevented the darkness within from escaping their containment.
Rewards:
+Title
+Increased Authority
New Title!
Champion of the Halcyon (Epic)!
By fist and fury, you have defeated multiple enemies of the ancient Halcyon Empire, so thoroughly that not even their Essence remains to taint the Continent. For this, you are to be commended and rewarded.
+5 Levels To One Body Skill Of Your Choice (Below Adept)
+Evolution Of One Body Skill Of Your Choice (Below Adept)
"What a Title," Felix said. "But that doesn't help right now. Except the 'increased Authority' bit, I guess."
Yes, that is a good thing. More Authority secures your position and ability to claim ever greater responsibilities.
He'd have to take Karys' word for it, as he felt nothing at the supposed gain. With stats, even a small boost, Felix would feel something. Even the metaphysical concept of significance was a heft in his core space. Authority was nothing.
Wait, what about my other Quest? Home Sweet Home?
Another thread floated toward him, urging him to connect to its frequency. Felix felt like he was starting to understand the smallest bit about the System. He grabbed at it, secured it with his Affinity and Intent as easily as catching a ball.
Quest Completed!
Home Sweet Home!
You have secured your ancestors' Temple from all threats, internal and external!
5 of 5 Threats Eliminated
Rewards:
+Title
+Home
+1 Gold Chest
Rewards Increased For Defeating Seven Legged Orit In Single Combat...
Rewards Increased For Defeating Incursion With Minimal Casualties...
Rewards Increased For Defeating Archon In Single Combat...
Rewards Increased Greatly For Defeating Unending Maw Completely...
Rewards Increased For Defeating Caged Urges (x6) Completely...
Title Upgraded!
Home Upgraded!
Chest Upgraded!
Rewards:
+Title
+Stronghold
+1 Platinum Chest
This time, it was like an explosion in his chest as the System sent a pulse of Harmonics into his core. They burst to spume, crashing against the rocks of Dissonance before blending together in a chaotic roil. More than that, however, as threads of terribly distant aquamarine thrummed in sympathetic pain. It stabbed at him, a knife of golden light hurtling through the green-bluea familiar power he'd come to despise. Felix flared his Affinity, focusing on those distant threads, on a connection he'd partially cleansed from his soul.
A giant of golden light, so similar to the Archon that it blinded him to the fact that it was being fought off by familiar faces. Kelgan and Karp and others among the Haarguard. Thangle! Hands of ochre hue lifted and wove darts of deepest blue that shot off into the giant, breaking panels of light that reformed in moments. Pain and exhaustion echoed through it all, thoughts sluggishly fighting against a hundred accumulated wounds and overtaxed resources.
Fast as lightning, a boulder-sized fist took him straight in the chest.
"Zara!"
He staggered, almost thrown from his feet despite his stats and significant weight. His footing shifted as the entire room rang, a bell the size of a mountain droning in his ears. He stepped.
The world lit up in silver and gold.
Authority Recognized, Inheritor!
For Defeating A Local Threat, Seven Territorial Threats, And Raising A Legendary Ranked Spirit Tree
You May Lay Claim To The Lost Territory Of Nagast!
Do You Wish To Establish Your Authority?
Y/N
Accept Felix! Something is happening! It is far away, but there is danger!
"It's Zara," he growled. "Everyone's in trouble, theythe Redcloaks." Felix growled through the madness in his chest, worse now than it had been in a long time. He fought it down, smothering the chaos with all the power he could muster. He had questions about the Chanter, about her intentions, but he'd not let them die if he could help it. "Yes! Give me the damn Authority!"