Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Six - 256Up close, the forest of the Verdant Pass spoke well of its name. It was lush and green, filled with ferns and fronds and all manner of plants. The trees themselves were huge, thick and tall and crowded close together. Felix could see green-gold life Mana coursing through their trunks, descending deep into the ground. Into the underbrush, the grasses and moss. Only the stones of the roadway, farther and farther away, only they were quiet. Dull.
Strange.
His senses could also pick out various small creatures, insects and rodents mostly, all well below level ten. It was a divergence from the Foglands, where the lowest level creature he'd ever encountered had been level thirteen, and the average was closer to twenty.
Does that mean anything? In games there were areas of maps that were higher leveled than others, but that was because it was all designed by people to be that way. According to everything he'd been told, the Continent and the System existed together organically. So why were some places more dangerous than others?
Mana, he abruptly realized. More Mana, higher levels, stronger monsters. Mana was just a different expression of the System's own energy, a byproduct of the Harmonies that created and maintained the universe. At least according to Zara.There's a lot of Mana here...but was there more in the Foglands?
Felix shook himself. None of that mattered. Not at that moment. Their group had drifted toward the back of the procession, letting the guards and Vess' carriage move on further ahead. Once they hit the rear, Felix concentrated.
Abyssal Skein!
Some of his friends had Stealth as a Skill, but not all of them, and there was little to be done for the giant bird mounts they rode. Instead, Felix activated one of his least used Skills, one he'd earned in the Void.
"What is" Alister started, but Felix shushed him.
"Let it wash over you, and keep low," Felix ordered.
The Void crawled out of his core, so very unlike the burning song of his Mana. A feeling of nothing swept between him and the world around him, neither cold or hot, light or dark. Despite his Willpower and Alacritythe Harmonic Stat for mental feats of strengththe Skill fought against him.
Abyssal Skein is level 37!
Felix buckled down, until he felt his Skein wind its way around Pit, following the course of their bond. In a fit of inspiration, he extending it along the threads of connection between himself and his friends. The oaths they had sworn him.
Abyssal Skein is level 38!
Abyssal Skein is level 39!
Power surged, the song of the Void a hungry quiescence that swallowed them all whole. Atar gasped. Ahead, a Haarguard looked back in alarm, but his eyes slid over where they stood. He turned and kept moving forward.
Felix felt his Abyssal Skein slithering over his friends and even their mounts, blending them into the environment. The Void stealth Skill wasn't active camouflage or a light distortion, though he'd thought it was at one point; instead he realized the Void was acting as a thin barrier that faded them from the Corporeal Realm entirely.
Abyssal Skein is level 40!
Abyssal Skein is level 41!
Abyssal Skein is level 42!
Abyssal Skein is level 43!
And there's the confirmation that I'm on the right path, Felix smiled to himself. He gestured to his friends.
he said in handsign. His perfect recall and increased Intelligence helped a lot in shoring up his communication skills, even if he wasn't completely sure how to say everything in the Continent's version of sign language.
The four of them headed north as Zara led the rest deeper east. At first it was simply putting distance between their two groups, but then he spotted the bright form of Keru flitting through the leaves. The kingfisher wove through the branches above, stopping every few feet to stare at them pointedly. Felix got the message, and followed.
Before long, they reached a craggy cliff face where several others were waiting in the arboreal shadows.
"Harn!" Evie said, disrupting the Abyssal Skein and causing the entire Skill to unravel. The Void slipped back into his core with a slimy lurch, and they were revealed.
Harn was unfazed, but the others with him were less stoic.
"Gah! Where'd they come from?"
"Blighted Night! That's the Fiend!"
"Hush, you idiot! We know!"
The five others were each wearing the dark uniform of the Haarguard. They lingered, unknown for a half second before his Keen Mind provided the answer. They were the guards he'd met at the training center, the one's who had failed to defeat the Steel Golems. The lot of them goggled Felix and crew, each atop their own mount, fully kitted out and packed with supplies.
"Harn?" Felix said, question in the name.
The warrior shrugged a single shoulder. "I told Cal I'd be going with you, and she insisted on sending...reinforcements to help with your Quest."
"Fodder," Evie snorted.
"I figured you'd stick with Zara," Felix said, ignoring Evie's outburst. He hopped down off Pit's back. "I'm glad to have you, man."
"Just don't go falling into any death mazes again, eh?" Harn grunted. "I've sworn off death mazes."
"Blue Eyed Fiend," the leader of the Haarguard group bowed. He was a Human named Kylar, sandy brown hair and thin mustache offset by a lingering black eye. "It is an absolute honor."
"Oh no no," Felix grabbed the man by the shoulders and straightened him. "None of that. I already have to deal with it from these guys. Call me Felix."
Atar and Evie smiled at each other. How nice, coming together to mock me. Glad I'm a unifying force.
Surprisingly, anger flashed across Kylar's face and Spirit but was quickly suppressed. "Very...very well. Felix. We were sent with you to assist on your mission, whatever that may be."
"Sure. Glad to have the help," Felix lied. He'd rather have his core group alone, but he'd been outranked, apparently. "You're all fully recovered from your training bout this morning?"
Kylar stiffened slightly, and the shield warrior Vyne rubbed surreptitiously at his shoulder. "We are in perfect fighting form, sir."
"Right," Felix turned to Harn. The man stood in front of the craggy cliff face, inspecting it. "What's the plan here?"
"Plan? Easy," Harn grunted. "We skirt the city and use the mines." He waved something in his hand, a cast metal object that fairly shone with Mana. "Cal gave me a ward key. Gonna get us into the mines and out again just shy of the Wall Quarter. Easy as kickin' a chimera. No offense."
Pit raised his hackled at Harn before turning his nose away in clear offense.
"This is the mine here? It's hidden?" Felix asked, and Harn nodded.
"No mine here though. Just a hole in the ground the mines linked up to accidentally. Wards keep the riffraff out and the city secure, especially now that Cal's got em back online." Harn waved that object in his hand and the impression of rock faded, revealing a wide open hole, perhaps twenty feet tall and fifteen feet wide. Felix's eyes picked out a path leading further in, his Manasight tracing the darkness easily enough.
Atar looked into the dark, eyeing it with some trepidation. "We'll all fit? Mounts and everything?"
"Eh," Harn shrugged. "It'll be fine. Or it won't. No use worryin' about it."
"You instill me with the greatest of confidence," Atar deadpanned and Harn clapped him on the back, nearly sending the mage sprawling.