A Position Has Been Offered!
Chancellor of Nagast!
Do You Accept?
Y/N
Karys stared, baffled at first and then incredulous. "You cannotas an Eidolon I am not allowed such a position!"
Felix shrugged. "You're not an Eidolon Exult anymore. You're...unique, I think. System doesn't seem to have a problem with the appointment, but if you really feel uncomfortable, then I understand."
Karys' bright eye-fires flared wide. "No! I am only at a loss, Felix. This is an incredible trust you place in me...as Chancellor, I would control your Territory in your absence."
"Yeah, no, I get it," Felix said with a smile. "Dude, you've been helping me all this time, and I wouldn't have been able to manage half the stuff going on here without you. Least I could do is make it official."
A please syncopation rippled across Karys' Spirit and his breath rattled in his cavernous chest. "Then I would be honored...my Lord."
Congratulations!
You Have Chosen Karys Taiv As Your Chancellor!
A bright, brassy blare of horns announced the change, audible only to the two of them. Felix tilted his head. "Is that it? Seems...anticlimactic."
Karys' amusement rumbled through him. "It is complete, however. I have access to all of your Territory and Stronghold menus, my Lord. With this freedom, I can even...I can even access Quests and give them out."
"Oh good, I was hoping you could," Felix said with relief. "Honestly we'll need to keep these folks busy and focused on making this Stronghold as safe as possible. I want you to make that a priority."
"As you will, my Lord."
"Ah, don't. You don't have to do that, man," Felix said. "Just call me Felix."
"It is not proper for a Chancellor to address his liege in such a way," Karys insisted. Felix rolled his eyes.
"Fine." He gripped the energies in his core space tight with his Will. "One final thing though. Give me your hand."
"My Lord?" Karys asked, but did as he was bid. His large, rough iron hand was easily twice the size of Felix's own. He gripped it, pressing his palm against Karys'.
"A little trick I learned in the Lab," he said, and let loose his Intent. Motes of incandescent lightMemoriestore from the crimson tree within his core space, pulled by his Cardinal Flame and Will combined. All of them surged through his pathways, up and over his chest and down his arm...into his palm. Into Karys. Felix grunted. "I believe these...belonged to you."
"Th-thank you," Karys said in a shaky voice. The golden man bowed so low he put his forehead onto the ground. "Autarch."
"I think that'll help with the memory loss," Felix said. "or so I hope. At the very least, if you can unravel those Memories you can get that much more out of them."
Karys all but vibrated with gratitude, words choked off in his chassis. Felix patted him on the shouldera little awkwardly, he could admitand turned back to the Shadowgate. "Hopefully, once we get through this I can still contact you through the sword," he said, patting Inheritor's Will. "I've no clue what its range might be."
"Neither do I, my Lord," Karys reached out and carressed the Shadowgate. "But we shall find out. Everyone! Please assemble before the gate!"
There was a general rumbling and rustling as folks jostled for position, though the giants stayed in the back with their hounds. Zara, Pit, Harn, Vess, Evie, all of them pushed a bit closer. Felix spared them only a glance before studying the Shadowgate. It was taller than the tallest giants, perfectly circular in the center, and festooned with those ornate carvings. Layers upon layers of them, all of them showing flowing waters, columned structures, and pink rolling hills.
"So I just...activate the chamber fully?" Felix asked Karys.
"It is the first step, but it will require a sacrifice of significance to reestablish the pathways through liminal space," Karys said. He stood a step behind him, out of deference Felix assumed.
Felix took a breath. "Okay."
Greetings Autarch.
The Second Chamber Is Available.
Do You Wish To Activate?
No. Activate this Shadowgate.
Activate Shadowgate, Designation #5W?
Yes.
Power flexed through the floor and walls, the lines of sigaldry flaring to brightness as his Seal redirected energies to the gate. The carvings abruptly flushed with light and color, the gemstone, wood, and mineral materials of its makeup coming to vibrant life. Malachite grasses swayed and tri-tone lakes swirled, not illusory motion but actual movement; each carving was infinitely more fine than Felix had guessed, and the whole of it working together made it appear as if they were all staring at a window into a strange landscape.
"Blind gods," Vess whispered. "It is beautiful."
"Burnt ashes, that's fancy. How's it work?" Evie asked.
"Damn," Harn grunted.
Within the gate's center that mote of darkness expanded, filling the opening like a liquid, but swirling like a gas. It viscerally reminded Felix of the interior of the Mana well...and the creatures that had dwelled within. He shoved that thought away, his Willpower effective in delaying that particular fear, and focused instead on the faint burr he sensed deep within the Shadowgate's depths.
"I feel the missing connection," Felix said. "A series of dangling threads...I think I can..."
He reached out with his Affinity, clad in the strength of his Will and honed to purpose by his Intent. Awareness of his surroundings faded as the liquid darkness engulfed his senses, until all Felix could feel was the radiant glimmer of the gate itself...and the frayed ends of an ineffable geometry that clashed with wild acoustics. Felix could tell it existed, but it was distant in the same way a star was, so far it was pointless to reach for it. And yet, without questioning the urge, he tore free a measure of significance within his core space. How much was uncertain, only that Felix felt a distinct dimming within himself before things revved back up, like an electrical circuit close to blowing a breaker. The weight of his existence spiralled outward, flowing along the same connections his Chthonic Tribute took all in, and wove into the complex vibrations of the Shadowgate. A song of clashing rhythms and harmonies became suddenly, brilliantly at peace.
Felix was ejected, shunted back into his bodily senses with all the delicacy of a car crash. He grunted in pain before the Shadowgate ignited once more, and this time it shone like a black sun had descended upon them all. Everyone cried out, shielding their eyes, but Felix stared into it. Beyond the light and the dark and the noise there was a great unending...nothing. It called to him, to the abyss between his cores, and both of them reached out and grasped it.
They pulled.
Connection Established!
Shadowgate, Designation #5W Is Active!
Sigils of gold and silver crept along the Shadowgate's frame, blazing into being in a grand arc across the top of the carved portal. In its center shone a liquid darkness, fuller than before, like tar made of shadows and smoke.
"The gate is open," Zara said, breathlessly. "Are you well, Felix?"
He felt a lethargy pushing at him, but shook it off. "I'm fine. Ready to go."
Zara hesitated, but only an instant before she pointed at the sixteen peoplegiants, Henaari, Legion allwho were holding the array stones strapped to their chests. "Do not drop those. On your lives."
Nods of conviction were her response as their bearers tightened the leather straps across their shoulders and chests. The array stones were inert at the moment, waiting for Felix to activate them upon entering the passage.
"Felix," Atar said in a low voice. He was fearfully watching the roiling surface of the gate. "You'll help them, won't you? Ahkestria, my home? If it's besieged by the Paladins"
"I'll do what I can, Atar. If there's a way to stop the Hierocracy from getting what it wants, then I'm all for it," Felix said.
Atar nodded, but seemed a bit relieved. He took a shaky breath. "Right. Then let's not waste time."
Felix looked back at the company, making sure to meet as many eyes as he could stomach. Nerves made his guts flip-flop, but he held his expression firm. Strong, he hoped. "Eyes up. I don't know how long this will take, but if we stay close we will be fine. I'll keep you safe."
Before he could think better of it, Felix jumped through the gate, Pit at his heels.