"Also, if we can understand these, we could push our Sigaldry Skills into Adept Tier," Alister added.
"Also that."
"That, I can square with," Evie said.
Felix let the chatter of their camp wash over him. As much as he wanted to delve into the Relay sigaldry, he hadn't the time. He sat a slight way apart with Pit at his side and let his senses spread out among them all. There were no dangers nearby, but he could feel Kikri, Vyne, and Vess watching the most likely approaches. He also sensed that deeper down there were a number of objects and shapes that felt different from the surrounding stone and earth. More bone, most likely. Perhaps he should excavate it?
Distracting yourself?
Felix looked up at Pit's enormous head, larger than any horse he'd seen. The tenku was staring down at him with soft golden eyes and no little admonishment. His Companion didn't think words very often, but his diction and vocabulary were growing fast. Felix smirked. "Yeah, a little bit."
You fear the Memory?
"Not fear, just" Felix took a breath, pulling in the scents of dark soil, wet forest, and woodsmoke. "It's gonna get harder now."
Pit snorted.
"Yeah, okay. You have a point," Felix said. "It's never easy. But this will be a turning point, I know it. Vvim is...he knows more about the Nym than any of us. Except maybe you, Karys."
Vvim...that is a Geist name, the Paragon said slowly.
"Yeah," Felix said, just as slowly. "We talked about this, already, Karys."
We did?
Felix shared a look with Pit. He didn't know what the problem with the Paragon was, but it was getting worse. "Yes he's a Geist. Old though." Felix clapped his hands. One problem at a time. "Okay. Let's do this."
Felix clamped his Will and Intent upon the Memory, still stable within the cloudy expanse of his Essence store. He guided it down, near the rumbling abyss, and pushed it into his red-gold core. The star burst, consumed by the liquid flames of the ring-shaped core, before it spat out a wash of muted gray.
Everything around him froze for a single moment, before shattering.
Felix found himself in a familiar room. It was triangular in shape and had two large bas-relief murals carved onto the walls. A triangular depression in the center featured a merrily burning fire, and unlike his last visit to the tower, the place was lit up by magelights. It was also spotlessly clean.
A number of small, anthropomorphic weasel-like creatures walked around dressed in curiously wrapped robes and bearing staves topped with small Belais Crystals. They conversed in small groups, often attended by much larger animals. No. Felix looked again. Not animals.
Chimera.
At least ten filled the sizable chamber, each one close to a robed Geist in a manner that suggested a tight bond. Felix saw several tenku, some harnoqs, and even a dragon-looking creature and a hulking, fur-covered beast bigger than Shelled Aurochs.
Wyvern and a Wendigo, Felix noted. He remembered their depiction in this very chamber.
"Felix Nevarre."
Felix spun toward the fire, where a plush bench was built into the recessed center. A single person was there, an old Geist.
"Vvim."
"Do you like this view of the Tower? It is a sight improved from how you first encountered it, I dare say."
"Certainly more occupied," Felix said, gesturing to the Geist and chimera that walked about. "This seems to be an old memory."
"This one is very old, Felix. These eyes have seen a great many things, this is but one of them. The night we finished one of our greatest works." Vvim looked around the chamber, smiling slightly. The expression crinkled his entire face like tissue paper. "Forgive this one a bit of maudlin self-indulgence. We merely wished to see our family again."
"I can't blame you for that," Felix said softly. Despite the clear signs of revelry and joy, Felix felt an eerie sense of doom. Like an axe was hanging above his neck. He refocused on Vvim. "But how are you talking to me?"
"A clever twist of Spirit added onto your curious ability and carried within the fecund mud of this one's construct. This one assumes you defeated and destroyed the Muckminder."
"It was called the Muckminder?" Felix asked.
"Mhm. This one wished to test the limits of your new Formation. Impressive to have defeated the construct so quickly." Vvim hummed and fiddled with his stave.
"You were testing me? For what?" Felix wasn't sure he liked being tested, especially when it put his friends in danger.
"You have not been quiet, Felix Nevarre. All of the Foglands felt the flare of power when Naevis was claimed. The Archon most certainly did."
Felix felt his stomach drop. "Is he moving?"
"Not yet. This one finds the Archon...confusing, for many reasons. More on it we cannot say. Not here." Vvim stood and climbed out of the recessed lounge area. "Come."
They stepped to a door Felix had not seen in his original survey of the room. A door he wasn't positive actually existed in Vvim's Tower. It opened out onto a balcony, and Felix's breath caught.
Shelim spread out before them, lit up and filled with a life that was more than just well made buildings and neat streets. People were down there, thousands, millions. The city swept outward in all direction, for miles and miles, way larger than Felix recalled.
"The city was all the world to us. Our life. You see how it was in this one's youth, when the Nym were almighty and the barriers held true." Vvim sighed. "It was not like this, not truly. This is but a reflection of our memories, stretched and held up before you. The reality was more...harsh. Pain and despair still existed in the Empire, we were simply ignorant of it. Or perhaps inured. No matter." Vvim's small, wizened head lifted to catch Felix's gaze. "What the Archon seeks, what it is, we must tell you these things. You must find this one's body, Felix Nevarre. There is much you must know, and little time to tell it."
"Why not tell me now?" Felix asked.
"This one cannot. Not even this method is truly safe, and especially not for this. You must find us. Before the Archon breaches our Tower." Vvim's ancient eyes turned dull as a sharp whistling filled the air. He turned back to the cityscape and sighed. "You have one day."
From the sky, the whistling resolved into the fall of a Stygian darkness. Studded with violet, it fell in comets of shadow that engulfed entire city blocks, leaving nothing behind but ruin.
"W-what is that?" Felix gasped.
"An end. Go, Felix. Find us." Vvim repeated, slamming his stave into the balcony and the Memory cracked around it. "Before it is too late."
Then the darkness consumed them both.
Felix surfaced from the Memory, sucking in an abrupt, haggard breath. For an instant, he couldn't tell what was real, Shelim or the sheltered camp around him. His skin burned, sizzling with the remembered pain of...of
When had he come to the bridge?
Felix spun in a circle, confused. The rain was coming down harder, soaking through his tunic and pants, his cloak no where in sight. It felt glorious against his skin, but he was concerned. Felix didn't remember walking out to the bridge and that wasn't normal. Not for him.
Felix focused, thinking back. He experienced the Memory, spoke to Vvim, and then the
He had woken up. And...somehow walked five minutes back to the bridge to do...what? Why was he out here?
"Kerys?"
Yes, Felix?
"What have I been doing the last few minutes?"
You ran from the camp after groaning about some sort of fire. You seemed fine, but the cold rain was apparently soothing. You took your cloak off soon after that and came out here.
A fire? There hadn't been any sort of fire in the Memory, and the one in camp was farther away, near everyone else. "Kerys, did you see the Memory I interacted with?"
No. I cannot sense these Memories you access. This one seemed quite potent however. Your Spirit seems to be in considerable distress.
It was, and for a couple reasons. He tried to put this incident out of mind, at least for now. New problems had arisen. "Let's get back to the others. It appears we're on a deadline."