Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Four - 124A soft but strident note filled the air. Almost unwillingly, Felix felt his attention pulled away from the Naiad before him. He turned toward the stage, where a beautiful woman wearing grey robes stepped up. Unlike the rather plain set of the chorister of Yyero, her's were embroidered with silver designs along the collar and hem, forming complicated knotwork constructions. Felix recognized her from Caerwin's shop, and in fact behind her he could spot that older, bearded man as well. He was dressed in blue robes and was directing a cross look at the bald chorister in brown.
They were all priests at her shop, that day? Felix frowned through the sweetening chords. Then the watcher on the roof...another chorister?
Felix's Voracious Eye pulled up her name and level, but a powerful resistance blocked him from seeing the rest as anything but question marks. It didn't even denote her obvious affiliations, unlike the Acolytes he'd Eyed. She was either a much higher level or had something blocking him.
Name: Aslei Tunn
Level: 42
The song continued despite his investigations, a series of vocalizations that lilted softly through the air. Felix could even hear a strange reverb, an echo throughout the chamber as hearts calmed after their previous rage. That same internal harmonization, that secret music, he was hearing traces of it from everyone around him. Somehow, the chorister was attempting to settle things down with some sort of song magic.
Song magic. Sounds like a new age album.
"You feel it too, Felix? The Choristry of Siva, goddess of luck, healing, and plenty. It's an alluring tune." He turned to see Zara's bright blue eyes fixed on him. She was a little shorter than Felix, an inch or two taller than Evie herself. "Your Affinity is stronger than I suspected."
"Is that what it is?" Felix pursed his lips and looked back over the crowd, now with heads bowed in prayer. "Why are they doing this? This and whatever the hell that brown-robed guy did is straight up manipulation."
"Ah, so you sense that as well. I'm impressed." Zara grins, baring her sharp, triangular teeth. "Few unlock their Affinity, let alone improve it at such a young age."
"Affinity? Is that one of those harmony whatits?" Evie looked between the two of them with a frown. She seemed almost completely recovered. "Did someone use a Skill on me? How come I don't have any Status Condition notifications?"
"You won't. The choristers are quite skilled at what they do, though Yyero's follower is more of a...blunt instrument. Aslei has a far lighter touch."
She was right. Felix's Bastion was clearly blocking the chorister's Skill from affecting him, but he could feel a faint pressure around him, moving through the space as if it was seeking people out. The brown-robed chorister, the follower of Yyero apparently, had used his Skill and it appeared as a nearly invisible cloud that sparked against those it contacted. This woman's power was truly invisible, and only Felix's strange combination of Skills and Harmonic Stats could pick out the edges of it. He could even sense that it was reaching into Evie, just as he could sense when Zara reached out and banished it from around them.
Zara laughed at Felix's look. "You expect me to tolerate their games?"
"I'm just surprised at all of this," Felix said cautiously. "I was invited here to meet with...a friend. She neglected to mention this was going to be a religious rally."
"Religion and politics tend to infect all things, I'm afraid." Zara's laugh lines quirked as her brows drew down; an expression of resigned disdain. "Even when people should know better."
The Chorister of Siva ended her lilting hymn, and much of the crowd looked up in quiet joy. She looked up, her face marked with five dark dots under her eyes while twin lines stretched down from them to her jawline. She smiled gently. "Be welcome, my friends and fellow Haarwatchers. Be welcome under the gaze of the true gods."
There was a susseration among the crowd, as if people were trying to cheer but were too relaxed to do it.
Or doped up, Felix thought with a frown.
"Today we have gathered to celebrate our oneness with each other, with the ancient gods of our ancestors who still live on. We have also gathered to protest the dire treatment we have all belabored under, from the Guild and now the Inquisition.
"Too long we have been forced to give up our choice, to surrender ourselves to the blinding light of the Pathless, and in so doing ruin our chances at strength and success."
Murmurs grew as her touch lightened, and people began to regain their senses.
"You all deserve the power the System offers, the power the gods once guided us toward. In Ages past, the sentient Races were giants upon the Continent, contending with the greatest of threats and walking down the pure Path. We seek that again. And it starts with you."
Aslei pointed out at the audience, her voice never rising into a shout or cry, but still echoing across the vaulted chamber. Felix could feel a rising thrumming from the gathered folks, a sympathetic hum with the chorister's simple words.
Is another Skill being used? Felix glanced at Zara, who had pursed her lips.
"Just watch," she mouthed.
"We must show them the power we hold," Aslei continued. "Beyond the strength of levels and battle. We show them that we are all worthy of respect, of choice, and of freedom.
"The monsters in the Foglands grow stronger as the Mana flows ever more potent. We do not know why, and that is because we have lost our way. Turned aside from the true Path, having broken it apart with lies and conflict. The Inquisition and Hierophant keep us weak, all so they can stand above us.
"But we few have persevered, despite the strong-arm tactics of the Inviolate Inquisition and the spineless inaction of the Guild. You faithful few are our core, our feet on the ground of this great city. Without you, without the solidarity of our people, this will not, cannot work.
"We hold the faith, and we will be victorious."
The crowd exploded into a riotous cheer. Far from the violent eruption of before, this felt like the earned adulation of an experienced politician or beloved figure. It felt...pure, almost, and Felix was briefly tempted to lower his walls and just taste that experience. Just for a moment.
"Don't."
An ochre hand on his shoulder brought him back to his senses, and when a puff of silver something erupted from his mouth Felix almost growled in anger. Pit screeched in tandem, and the construct flickered and was torn to pieces.
"Interesting," Zara observed. Felix glanced at her, transferring his ire toward the Naiad.
"What is all this?" he snapped, gesturing to the entire chamber.
"Rebellion, Felix. They're talking of rebellion." Zara looked at them both calmly as the people around them cheered louder.
Evie goggled at her. "What? How? They'd be crushed."
Zara shrugged, her sharp teeth bared in a silent snarl. "That's what I keep telling them. But they drive on, regardless."
"What's you're part in this?" Evie asked. "Why would they trust the former Archivist for the guild they hate?"
Felix looked away from the silver-robed chorister at that, interested in the answer. The Naiad went quiet.
"And what, exactly, do you want with us, Zara?" Evie asked, looking between the two of them. "Thank for the, uh, help. But like he said, we came here lookin' for someone else."
"Oh I'm aware, Miss Aren," Zara flashed her shark teeth at her and Evie took a half-step backward. It wasn't just the expression, as even Felix felt the swell of pressure from the ex-Archivist, a taste of what he'd sensed when they first met. "I was the one who invited him, after all."
"What?" Felix blinked. "We haven't spoken--"
"Been a few days, mhmm," she nodded. Her smile widened and her voice altered, becoming older, tone flatter. "How's the Wild Song been treating your friend?"
Possiblities raced through Felix's head like shuffling cards, but the obvious one rose swiftly to the top. Felix narrowed his eyes, flaring his Manasight and all of the senses he had. He detected nothing, however.
"Caerwin?"
Zara smirked. "I knew you were a bright boy, Felix. Plain awful at organizing books, though. You ruined a perfectly good system, you know."
Felix shared a confused look with Evie. "How--why--?"
"I should think you, of all people, would appreciate the need for masks," Zara said with a twinkle in her eyes. Felix didn't even rise to the bait, instead thinking on his interactions with both shopkeepers. How could he have missed this? Felix's thoughts touched on Pit's enchanted stone before he made the connection.
"The Wild Song, huh? Those bracers aren't for strength enhancement, are they?" Felix nodded at the Naiad's forearms, which were covered in dark leather that had been inscribed with various sigils. Bracers that Caerwin had also sported.