Chapter Three Hundred And Ninety Eight – 398Felix leaned back, letting the stove warm him. The water had cooled him down enough that his overheating body had grown comfortable, but the howling wind of the chasm just outside the dilapidated hut had turned that chill into something more bone-deep. He nursed a mug of mulled wine, holding it close, and watched the owner of the hut over the chipped rim.
The Yttin, named Naos, was bustling about the hovel. He cleaned fastidiously, wiping surfaces and sweeping out stray bits of stone and dirt Felix had tracked in. His hands, and the prehensile appendages upon his back, were never stillthey gripped the broom of bundled reeds, a well-worn rag, and carefully adjusted wall hangings from their hammered wooden pegs. The hovel was all one large chamber, with a narrow bed in the corner and rickety shelves tacked along every flat section of wall. Knick-knacks lined those shelves, polished pieces of stone, a tiny Mana crystal, and even a couple dog-eared books with cracked spines. It was a cozy and clean space, if so very clearly poor.
Embarrassingly, Felix had spent a full minute speaking with Naos before the Yttin had politely reminded him of his state of dress. Felix's Garment had burnt up across his chest and stomach and revealed a large swath of pink skin. He had also learned that his Garment could get stuck in a shape if he fixated on it too muchFelix's Mind had been lingering so much on the battle that it had stayed locked in that disheveled state, a charred and torn remnant of his fight. The moment Naos pointed it out however, he fed enough Mana into it that a new tunic appeared almost instantly.
"So you live down here?" he asked again. "How?"
Naos didn't stop moving, but his copper eyes flashed in amusement. "Day to day, my boy. Day to day."
"All alone in the dark? Seems pretty lonely," Felix said. He took another sip of the mulled wine. The warm liquid felt good on his throat. "How far below Ahkestria are we?"
"Deeper by far than they let most go," Naos said in that amused, almost teasing tone. Clicks trilled at the edges of his words. "How did you find yourself here...Veil, was it?"
"Mhm," Felix agreed, letting a mouthful of wine give him a moment to think. His Mind was just as strained as the rest of him, but even concussed he wasn't about to give his real name to some stranger. "The Temple Knights are rounding up the miners. I don't know why, but I'm not interested in finding out."
Deception is level 34!
"So I saw. But you're no miner, boy." Naos turned, extra appendages lifting his slight, bandage-wrapped body up and onto the bed on the far side of the hut. He folded his legs beneath him and smiled. "No miner could afford such a...curious bit of clothing."
Right. Shit. His Mind really wasn't at its bestFelix hadn't even thought of what his special magical artifact would look like to a poor Yttin. "A gift. For a job well done."
"Oh? Must have been quite the job. I've not seen such clever use of sigaldry in a long while."
Felix blinked. It was there, again. A fitful flash across the Yttin's shoulders and down the spider-like appendages on its back. He had spotted it once or twice before, but dismissed the phenomenon as a trick of the light and his tired eyes. "Naos. That is a...curious name. I feel like I've heard it before."
Felix took another long sip of his wine, and the Yttin shrugged. "A common enough name among my people."
"A hut in the deepest parts of a chasm, where few go. I think I'd go crazy from boredom," Felix said. His Mind felt a bit clearer already, and something was prodding him not to trust this man.
"I keep busy. My people, the poorest of the poor, need services I can provide after all. Healing ointments, splinting broken limbs from rockslides and cave-ins, that sort of thing."
"It'd be easier to do that up above, wouldn't it? Where the miner's live?" That was a guess on Felix's part, but it followed reason that the miners would be living at the bottom most layers. "How would they reach you here?"
Naos smiled. It was just as unnerving as any other Yttin, all thin lips and tiny sharp teeth. "Perhaps I too did not wish to be herded above."
Felix couldn't blame him for that. But did Naos know what was going to happen? "You're a healer...do you have any way to heal Aspects?" he asked.
"It is possible, though quite difficult," Naos said. He had begun pulling small bundles off his shelves and placing them on a cracked wooden tray. "One's Aspects are a confluence of Stats and Tempers. Each varies, person to person...unless you follow one of the guilds or temples, and then they are dangerously similar." Naos pursed his lips, but that humor danced behind his eyes. "I can tell you're made of sterner stuff, Mr. Veil."
"Mm," Felix allowed, taking another long sip. "Why's that?"
"Not many can fight a Grandmaster and live."
Felix froze, cup at his lips. His cores spun, a riot blaring above his navel. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Who are you? Because I know your name is not Veil, no matter what my Analyze tells me." Naos kept moving, now pressing a root vegetable into a small bowl. "Some might consider it rude to lie to your host. Not I, of course. But some."
Felix smiled, his Mind whirling. Hesitantly, Felix reached out with his Affinity...and felt nothing from the Yttin. Nothing at all. Yet more startling than that was that neither his Spirit or Mind hurt from reaching out. His surprise wasn't unnoticed.
"Ah, you've attempted to Analyze me?" He asked, chuckling. A pestle in his hands ground the roots and a sprinkle of glittering Mana crystals. "Or was it something else? I imagine your Mind is already feeling better?"
"My" he looked suddenly at the wine in his hands, and focused his Voracious Eye on it. It hadn't offered up any secrets before, but he'd been so turned around...yet this time his Eye cut through a faint resistance he'd not even noticed before. "The wine."
Name: Panacea
Type: Consumable (Elixir)
Lore: Derived from potent materials, this drink was prepared by a Master of Alchemy in order to cure the ails of those at Master Tier or lower. Provides a measure of healing to all Status Conditions, wounds, curses, and limited aid to Aspects. The lower the imbiber's Tier, the greater the effect.
"You...gave me an elixir," Felix said slowly. His stomach curdled, mostly in sudden worry. The Yttin could have poisoned him just as easily. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Naos shrugged, and poured a putty-like mixture out of his stone bowl. He pressed it carefully into a wide swath of cloth, spreading it evenly. "You are difficult to read, warrior. It is...curious. I did not know your motivations, or even why you fought the Grandmaster of the Desert's Fire. Only that you had and survived. Truly a tale worthy to be told."
With a few deft twists, he closed up the cloth, producing a very large poultice that he carried off the bed and toward Felix. He stood and moved as the Yttin drew closer, but Naos only placed it in a shallow tray above the stove and let it sit. "There. That just needs to warm some. Don't be so nervous, warrior. I've no need or want to hurt you. I am a healer, after all."
Felix wet his lips. The cup he set aside, which earned him a displeased cluck of the tongue from the Yttin. It had helped him, he couldn't deny that, even if there was still some strain remaining on his Mind and Spirit. Felix could hear the hum of Harmony again, and it was powerfully strong in the tiny hut...but was intensely quiet around Naos. That flash of light was there again, on Naos' body, a line at the edge of his Perception. As if he isn't here or isn't
"You aren't Yttin," Felix said. Naos' amused face froze, though he couldn't tell if it was out of surprise, fear, or wariness. Naos. It had clicked, where Felix had first heard the name. "Who are you?"
Both of them stood stock still, their eyes unblinking. Yet before Felix could open his mouth again, a bellow came from the chasm outside.
"Naos! Naos! I need your help! The Temple Knights are pushing deeper and all your friends are running for some reason" A huge form pushed into the room. A half-man, half-bull with sweeping horns, massive shoulders, and shaggy fur. He looked at Felix in utter shock. "W-who're you?"
Felix's stomach twisted. "Unbound," he said. "We have a lot of things to talk about."
Things...happened very quickly after that.
Before Felix could say anything else, the Minotaur had torn across the hut, charging at him head first. Horns crashed into him, smashing a startled Felix off his feet and through the stacked-stone wall.
"Die Paladin!" the bovine shouted.
Relentless Resolution!
The moment they cleared the wall, Felix kicked off of the Minotaur's skull. He flipped backward, arcing twenty feet to land in a sliding crouch. His opponent snorted and shook his head, confused for a brief moment before finding Felix in the driving clouds of stone dust.
"How did you follow me?" he asked, and looked around. Sand and blood matted the fur along his neck and left shoulder, where his stolen Paladin armor had been broken apart. "Only I can get through the stormwall!"
"You walked through the city's protections?" Felix asked. He's tougher than I thought.
"You're not gonna get Naos, Paladin! Not even if there are a hundred of ya hidden around here!"
"There's only me. And I'm not a Pal" Felix was cut off by the Minotaur suddenly appearing before him, meaty arm cocked for a wicked left jab. He dodged, stepping out of the jab's path. "Hey that's Relentless Charge! I used to have that!"
"WhaShut up and fight!" the Minotaur growled. His punch missed Felix, but he turned it into a lumbering smash onto the ground beneath them, and Felix saw streams of black, green, and gold Mana burst from his fist. "Chitin Construction!"
Faster than he expected, the Minotaur whipped his hand up, now holding a massive, jagged hammer made out of overlapping plates. Felix put out his hand and caught the maul's hammer head...but the guy was also stronger than he expected. He skidded two feet backward from the blow, and his Health even took a tiny hit. His Armored Skin blunted almost all of the attack, but he still couldn't summon his scales due to lack of Essence. Yet the idea of absorbing more made the abyss within him whimper, the recent influx of water Mana having proven too much too soon.
Damn.I don't know if I can fight him off without relying on some of my more intense Skills. Felix set himself and spread his arms, only feet from the edge of the chasm. "I don't want to fight you, Michael. I'm here to help."