Chapter Seventy Three - 073The air quaked and the stone beneath his feet shook as Felix regarded his Bastion of Will. His visualization of it was breaking apart, piece by piece, while the howling in his guts reached a fever pitch.
Crimson wind caressed his skin, pulling Felix from his mental construct back to physical reality, the Maw's face only inches from his own. It purred at him.
"A fine hunger, sharp and fierce. You do me proud, child."
His hunger rioted as it touched him, the volume within his mental space and pain within his body reaching all new heights. It felt like he was being torn apart from the inside.
"And your Body, what marvels you have wrought. You've put your Skills to such good use. This...Moving Mountain Body is stalwart and resilient." A sharp claw ran along his left shoulder, tearing a painful line across his upper back as it circled him. "And you've passed the First Threshold. Remarkable. Mouthwatering."
The Maw's body crossed back into Felix's peripheral vision and he could see that it was an unholy mix of woman and beast, changing between each step as it kept a humanoid hand against his bloody skin. Its talons were like fire as they scratched out fluid lines in his flesh. "You Mind is...simple. Barely Tempered at all, hmm? Wonderful. That will make this so much easier."
It stopped, clawed feet suddenly clicking against the icy floor. Then a growl, low and buzzing and terrible, shook Felix to his core. "Your Spirit, however is still too strong. My Mark is not enough." It spat out the last words, then its voice grew softer. "Strange. You should be in agony, right now. Barely able to stand, let alone resist." Then there was a gasp and Felix could hear a smile in its voice. "Ah, perfect."
Hands grabbed at Felix's belt, ripping free the hardened potions case he had resting against his hip and tearing his belt off in the process. A metallic clatter rang throughout the room as his hooked sword fell to the ground, and his thin leather belt was tossed somewhere in the distance. The Maw wandered back into Felix's vision, this time almost entirely in the guise of Lhel, for that is what it was: a fleshy mask the creature used to lure people in. The creature fiddled with Vessilia's potions case, and for an unreasonable moment he dared hope she couldn't get it open. Felix knew it was beaten and battered, but it had proven to be extremely durable during his misadventures.
With a slight flex in her forearms, the case was torn in two.
Felix saw it almost in slow motion. Vials went flying, mostly empty, while two were filled with brilliant multicolored light. The Maw plucked one of the two out of the air, letting the rest fall to the ground. A succession of shattering noises filled the room, and the Maw held up a vial filled with a greenish-white liquid that sparkled in the sunlight.
No...
The vials had fallen out of his line of vision, and locked up as he was, Felix couldn't quite see if any had made it.
"A beautiful concoction," it said, holding up the Essence Draught of Sky's Light. "Such strange delights these Humans are capable of now. Distilling Essences was once a high art, you know."
Unable to respond, Felix also couldn't scream when the Maw appeared inches away from his face again. His breathing sped up, that was it. It gripped Felix's jaw with a sharp fingered claw, tipping his head back as it ripped the cork from the vial with its teeth. The Maw forced the vial into Felix's mouth.
"Take your medicine, dear."
He felt the draught burn a trail of fire down his esophagus, and yet the concentrated Mana was like rain on parched earth. It soaked into his tissues before it ever reached his stomach, moving directly to his core and flaring with a bright white light.
"And now, to make use of it, hmm?"
It placed a dainty claw upon his chest, moving it slightly until it was right above his navel. Then, without warning, its talons dug into his gut like five thrusting daggers.
Streamers of red corruption pulsed through his viscera. Though Felix couldn't look down, he could feel a feverish sickness sweep outward from the Maw's talons. With Fire Within however, he could visualize exactly what it was doing. The veins of crimson effluvia spread into him, invading his core like a bloody flood. Felix flared his blue-white fire, but it still dimmed and spat, flaring brighter for only a few seconds before fading again. The vile power twisted and congealed, roaming his core as if...looking for something. Then it paused, and in a flash pressed itself neatly against one of his Skills; it was only one of two that were burning brilliantly in the darkness of his mind.
A great and compounding dissonance shook him, inside and out. It was as if the song he'd been hearing in the back of his mind was suddenly interrupted, sheared into by atonal beats, snapped strings, and the rattled buzzing of discord.
*&(@ERR0#%$R
#*(XpiERR--anges to System! Be Aware! Rogue Alterations Are Proscribed.
All Actions Have Consequences.
((%$Companion Pact is level 25!
Felix gasped as the notification ripped through his consciousness, unable to be repressed as the Maw's strange power forced his body into Spirit Formation. Then the pain came.
His body was locked but within his Bastion Felix screamed into the heavens as his soul burned. Those flaring tears at his ankle and wrist were scalding brands upon his flesh, torments that spread across his body like a virulent rash, leaving char and ash in their wake. Distantly, Felix could hear something laughing, a cruel and callous sound, one that reveled in his agony. But it was subsumed by the inferno that raged across his Spirit.
@#!$Congratulations! You Have Reached Apprentice Tier In Companion Pact!
You Gain:
+5 AGL
+5 DEX
+...
The anguish of his soul redoubled, and Felix felt as if he were splitting in two. A deep and ruinous fissure ripped through him, sundering his Spirit in a way that he feared could never be fixed. That manic, cruel laughter grew louder, thick tongue lashing in anticipation.
A piercing cry echoed across his mind, a sharp implement cutting through the noise. Both the buzzing discordance and the cruel laughter cut off. Everything stopped...and Felix felt the resurgence of his pact bond. A golden thread of light thrummed across his mindscape, flickering with streaks of deep black and vibrant red, leading off into a far distance that rumbled with thunder. Fury surged and sang across the breadth of imaginary space, and Felix could see the fan of massive red and black wings spreading just beyond the horizon.
A glissando swept across Felix's mind, a dazzling shift from low to high notes that soared into the deepest reaches of his soul.
Rarity of the Skill has upgraded!
Companion Pact (Rare) becomes Etheric Concordance (Legendary)!
Etheric Concordance (Legendary), Level 25!
You have deepened the connection between you and your Companion, forming a concordance that will have echoing consequences for you both. The grandest heights and crushing depths lie in store, though what shape the future holds is up to you both. All previous abilities of Companion Pact are retained.
Upon reaching level 25, you have gained the ability Convergence - Merge with your Companion for 1 minute x Skill level, gaining additive bonus to Harmonic Stats. Companion is released at end of effect.
Without warning the pain returned, crashing into Felix like a tidal wave. Green waters overwhelmed his Bastion's walls, flooding through the crenelations and sizzling against the courtyard. Acrid smoke and fumes began to fill the air while crimson fire roared in Felix's soul. He fell to his knees, dark stone shattering beneath him as the tower listed further to the side.
Rare Essence Draught Detected During Formation!
[Essence Draught of Sky's Light]
Choose a Feature:
Horizon
Vaulted
Beacon
Barely cognizant, Felix couldn't muster the energy to choose. He felt the world sliding away from him, tilting toward collapse. Mental construction or not, his Bastion of Will was failing him. He tried again, but his thoughts unraveled as fast as he could muster them.
I can't...
Another shriek cut through his mindscape, and Felix turned away from his Bastion and core, refocusing on the real world. He still stood, locked in place. The Maw still laughed, though it had wandered away, toward the fallen giant...the one who was sitting up shakily. A soft scraping noise caught his attention and out of his lower peripherals Felix could see a dark shape was dragging itself closer, claw by claw.
It was Pit, and he was in bad shape. Feathers had been torn out in several spots and a few wounds oozed thin blood from the tenku's back and shoulders. A trail of smeared red extended behind him, and he was shaking. Whether from cold or blood loss or exertion, Felix didn't know.