Slowly, he stopped, instead taking big lungfuls of air. His breath was hitched and painful, his lung still not working correctly.
Status Condition: Collapsed Lung (x1)
Status Condition: Broken Ribs (x2)
Status Condition: Broken Arm (x1)
He was enveloped in a cloud of steam and pulsing crimson Mana. It sparked and sizzled against the blue and gold in his aura, though he didn't see much of his aura at all. The steam was still pouring from his mouth, and as he stopped screaming, he realized that his jaw was packed full of oversized fangs. They bristled like a nightmare angler fish. When he tried to reach his hand up to touch them, he found his upper arm immobile. His body was stuck too, and Felix couldn't quite parse why everything felt...upside...down.
Shit.
He was hanging from the ceiling, the spike-like teeth that had erupted from his back, shoulders, and upper arms fixed him securely in the stone. As the steam cleared even more, Felix could see his skin had become rust red and scaled in places, like a rash was spreading across his chest and shoulders. Pain still blazed across his entire body, but it felt...muted.
You're mine, now.
The voice startled him, not because he'd forgotten about the Maw, but because he couldn't fully sense it at all. Whereas before the Maw was a congealing ooze within his Mana channels, now it felt...omnipresent.
Eat me, strike me, slay me! You'll never defeat my power! I am Unending!
The Maw kept screaming at him, hating him but reveling in its victory. Felix had consumed the Maw's power and essence using his new Skill. It was the only thing he could do. He could feel the creature's power roiling inside him, burning away the parts of him that were Felix and replacing them with...with itself. He was changing, slowly maybe, but inevitably. Felix could sense the Maw's consciousness was held back, much weakened by it's sacrifice, so much so that Felix's newly Tempered Mind was able to restrain it for a time.
Still, it's potency overwhelmed him, powerful in a way that Felix couldn't comprehend. He couldn't hold it for long, and he knew that when he lost his grip, it would devour him whole.
And the Maw would be free.
Felix had consumed enough of its memories to understand what would happen next. What the Maw truly desired. It would burn across the world, devouring all life, animate or otherwise. Everyone would die.
Everyone.
Unless he did something.
He looked down at the Essence Anchor. It was over a hundred feel below him, but he could make out its details as if he were standing next to the thing. The sigils on its surfaces flashed rapidly, the same ones he'd noticed before. He knew what it said now, mostly: Anchor The Beast and Draw Its Power Into The Infinite Void.
The Maw still screamed, but it faltered when Felix stared at the Anchor.
There's no way out for you, Felix Nevarre. You're mine, for all eternity.
Felix ignored it, instead visualizing his Bastion. It was whole again, not unmarred by its experiences, but the waters had been driven back. Atop the tallest tower he stood and found Pit waiting. He knelt down, and the tenku rushed to give him a hug, chirping loudly.
"Hey buddy," Felix had tears in his eyes when they separated. "I'm gonna do something stupid, now. So you gotta go."
Pit ruffled his feathers and let out a rebellious, trilling note. Normally it would have been followed by sense images and pantomime, but the two of them were still bound closer than flesh. Felix understood Pit completely when he chirped.
No. To the end.
Then he headbutted Felix in the chest, pushing the rest of his body into another hug. Felix hugged him back, throat aching again.
"Ok," he managed. "To the end, little man."
Something dripped from his real eyes, but it wasn't tears. It was blood, and it fell downward until it came within twenty yards of the Anchor. A great, pyramidal obelisk, it rose to a sharp, tapered point, and Felix's enhanced Perception marked the blood as it swirled around the Anchor, spinning closer and closer until it was absorbed by the bronze metal.
Felix pushed back with his left forearm, leveraging his left shoulder from the stone. The tooth-spike came free with a grinding thunk. Now free, he rotated his arm and placed it against the ceiling, bracing it for a final push.
No! You fool!
Felix pushed, straining against the stone.
You'll perish!
He was strong now, much stronger than when he'd started. It was easy. A final tug and he dropped.
Falling through the air, Felix couldn't help tensing, but he refused to close his eyes. This was his choice, made of his own free will.
And then, resounding in his mind, a memory dredged from beyond a slamming door, finally perfectly recalled.
I love you too, Bumble.