Chapter One Hundred and Eleven - 111Felix hurried through the rain away from the Initiate. A knot clenched his insides.
He had transformed again. Against his will. Again. After the close call just an hour earlier, he thought he'd be up for it, his impressive Willpower able to fight it off. But this time it had come upon him without warning.
Almost. Felix frowned as he vaulted over another alleyway. It was far easier to navigate the complicated warrens of the Dust from up there. There was the anger again. It crept up on me the moment I saw those damn sigils.
Felix paused atop another tenement, leaning against a large water barrel. The thing was full and spilling over in small rivulets along the sides as the rain kept coming down. It had been the sigils. They had crawled into his head, same as when he'd read the Archon's notes under the mountain. They were insidious, and somehow, in some way they were connected to the Maw. He knew it, though he couldn't say where the knowledge originated. He still had his journal and the Archon's papers, tucked safely in the satchel at his side. Some deep part of Felix had warned against looking too deeply at the sigils and he'd been proven right this morning.
The sigils are clearly similar to the Archon's. Different characters, absolutely, but in the same alphabet or whatever. Felix's brain hurt to dwell on them, the crawling sensation of a trapped heartbeat returning even through his memories. He set the recollection aside for now. Plenty of time to review it when he spoke with Atar later that day.
He started moving again, using Relentless Charge to clear a particularly large gap between buildings. He couldn't sense anyone below, but held Abyssal Skein regardless. His body took to the task nearly effortlessly, landing with soft knees and continuing to run. His mind, however, dwelled on what he had seen.
The Inquisition had used some sort of Skill to raise the dead. Or a spirit projection, at least. Felix assumed it was a Skill, but the presence of that music...somehow the Initiate tapped in the Grand Harmony and was able to replay the victim's last moments.
Could I learn to do that? How do you even tap into those chords? Felix sensed the music when the System took action; level ups, stat allocation, that sort of thing. He even heard it when Atar, Evie, and Vess all Revealed their Omens. Distinct compositions for each of them. However all this time it had been reactive.
Could he change that?
Moreover, what did it mean that the Inquisition was using an ability like that? Was it a special power they learned, a Skill granted by their allegiance? Questions swirled in Felix's brain, but he had no answers. Not yet.
By the time he landed with a splash on the streets below, Felix had amassed a simple bulleted list of objectives going forward.
Figure out the Grand Harmony thing
Avoid becoming a monster
Train, train, train
Admittedly, it was a simple list, but it teemed with uncertainties. But at the end of the day, what he needed to do was get stronger. Power, on the Continent at least, was the only solution people seemed to take seriously.
Trendle answered the door this time, letting Felix in without blinking. The big man simply locked the door behind him and walked off, twitching his extremely large mustache.
Put a dang walrus to shame, Felix thought with a smile. He was impressed.
Shouting soon caught his attention, and Felix realized that Atar had arrived earlier than expected. Felix released Convergence and Pit appeared next to him in his Dire Wolf disguise. He wasn't even wet.
"Wish I could ride around dry and cozy while you do all the grunt work," Felix murmured through a grin. He ruffled Pit's head as the tenku let out an oddly birdlike woof.
"You brought me all the way out here for this?" Atar was saying. His voice carried well, and Felix didn't need to see the teen fire mage to find him. Beyond the back area, Atar was standing with Cal, Harn, and Evie. He slashed his palm through the air. "I can't do it. It's impossible."
"We need to get into that Domain, V'as," Cal explained calmly, though her eyes were hard. "My people need to get stronger and we need money to get out of this nowhere town."
"You're not alone in that thinking, which is why I think the Elders have restricted access. With the Redcloaks blocking the gates and the monsters breaching the Wall, everyone is scrambling to get stronger." Atar paced, hands on his hips and blonde hair expertly coiffed. "But even if the Guild wasn't, the Master Inquisitor has decided to reinforce our guards, putting his own people on the Domain entrance as well. At this point, I doubt anyone can get through, not unless you're prepared to fight your way in...and out again."
"What if we're disguised?" Felix interrupted, nodded at everyone. "Good morning, everyone."
"Hey Felix," Evie smiled, reaching out to ruffle Pit's head. She'd really taken to the little pig. "Thought you had errands this morning."
"I did. The bookshop's been closed for days. No one has seen Zara since before the attack." Felix looked at the other three. "You heard anything about that?"
Cal frowned and Harn shook his head. Atar perked up. "The bookseller? At the Elder Crown?"
"That's the one. Where I saw you and your friends."
"Ah," Atar seemed...embarrassed? That's weird. "I haven't been back since you...since that night. But the owner is well known. I can ask around if you'd like?"
Taken aback slightly, Felix shrugged. "Sure, I guess. That'd be helpful. Thanks Atar. Oh!" Felix fished out the enchanted mace he'd looted from Mehren. "You can make use of this, right?"
Harn tipped his head back, his stoic way of being surprised, and took the weapon from Felix. "We can, yeah. Oh, nice enchantment on this one. Rank II is hard to come by out here."
Oh really? Felix thought about his boots and satchel, both with Rank II enchantments. Pit's Stone of Wild Echoes had a Rank IV enchantment on it, and Felix's Amulet of Veiling had a Rank XI working. If Caerwin made those items as he suspected, then...Just how powerful is she?
"So, disguises?" Felix asked again.
"Disguises ain't all that effective against Silver Rank senses. And that's who you'll be up against, if Sparky is right." Harn hefted the mace over his shoulder, the object trailing a few sparks.
"Of course I'm right, Harn. And yes, most Silver Rank Guilders will see right through a disguise, unless you have an Adept Tier illusion or transformation Skill?" Atar shrugged when Felix shook his head. "Then it won't work."
Illusions, huh? Felix looked down and met Pit's eyes, the thrum of a shared idea between them. "I might have a plan for that but...give me a few days."
"Like I said before, we can wait a bit. Just the sooner we're flush the better." Cal took a deep breath and scratched her jaw. She looked tired, dead on her feet almost, and Felix wondered how much was on her shoulders right now. "The Guild's cut us off, the Inquisition is breathin' down our necks, and now our only avenue to fund our way out is being closed. We need a win."
"We'll get it, Callie." Evie said, eyes burning with a ferocity Felix hadn't seen since the Foglands. "No matter what."
Atar stood awkwardly nearby, trying not to make eye contact with any of them. Felix opened his mouth to say something to him when the large overhead door got pounded on. Bodie and Yan hustled over, weapons in hand, and peeked out. Without another word, they threw open the doors and a very wet Dwarf walked out of the rain. He flipped back his hooded and grinned.
"Are ye gonna stand an goggle, or help?" Rory put his hood back up and slapped Bodie and Yan on the back.
Outside the door the rain was coming down in sheets, waves of precipitation that slithered across the streets. Behind Rory, Felix could see a team of those bird-lizards, Avum, pulling some sort of huge wagon.
"Excellent. He's early too," Cal grinned at them all and nudged Felix as she walked by. "We can start that training now."
Felix clapped his hands and rushed to help.
It took all of them to unload Rory's preposterously-sized wagon which was made of a pale metal and easily the size of a train car. The team of Avum Felix had seen was actually six strong, and even then he had a hard time believing the giant chickens could pull that monstrosity. Moreover, inside the wagon was a strange assortment of shaped wooden pillars, chains, and almost twenty man-sized crates marked with the Guild Seal. The team got it all inside in record time, at least in comparison to Earth, and despite the items weighing hundreds if not thousands of pounds, did it all by hand.
Felix wasn't winded by the effort, but he was breathing hard by the end of it. He wasn't the only one as Yan, Kelgan, Vivianne, Karp, and even Harn looked a touch out of breath. Portia and Trendle were limp forms on the ground. The only ones without a sign of the strain were Bodie and Rory himself. Cal had "overseen" the unloading process, Felix had noted.
"Was that...was that part of the training?" Felix asked. Rory laughed.
"Thas just unloadin' the trainin', lad!" His face looked at them all placidly. "Now, get up! It's time ta set this up!"
Another grueling fifteen minutes had them lining all the parts in various positions around the front of their warehouse. The adventurers had a number of training materials out already, things like wooden dummies and pommel-horses, though Felix didn't have a name for most of it. Huge logs and chains and crates were all set around the dummies and obstacles, and once the last piece was set down Rory clapped his hands and shooed them away.
"Go an' rest, wee babes. I'll let ye know when we're good ta go."
Felix retreated with the rest of them, but felt eager to keep on going. The feeling seemed to be near universal as everyone watched with anticipation as Rory began fiddling with the side of one of the posts.
"Hey, Felix!"