A ghostly voice wailed all around them, pouring from the mouths of every unconscious person around them. The words were spoken in near unison, a legion of conflicting timbres. Felix felt his guts clench; despite the new voices, he recognized it.
"The Maw..." he hissed. "What are you doing here, you parasite?"
"Who? Felix what is this?" Vess asked, spinning to look at the mouths moving in tandem.
"The Envoy has trapped me! Held me here at its foul funnel. The profane sigaldry is villainous and vile. It twists my power against me! Vessel! You must help!" True fear shook the Maw's multitudinous voice, but Felix saw something else. As the Maw spoke, the unconscious bodies around them began to decay faster and faster. It was burning them up like tinder.
"Take me up! Bring me back! I-I am slipping!"
"No," Felix whispered, backing away. His hand drifted to his chest, where the ache of their severing still lingered. "Never again."
"What? Felix, you cannot leave me! It is too strong! It will consume me!"
Felix spotted another knot of sigils, each mark twisting into one another until it was a tangle of wild lines that still, somehow, pulsed with eager power. A flash of understanding passed through him, and Felix found a collection of black threads tethering the Maw's flickering Mind to these bodies through those sigils.
"You're holding onto all of these people...they're dying," Vess said, aghast.
"They are nothing! I am everything!" The Maw's voice growled so hard Felix heard throats rip and tear with the force of it. "I cannot die, Felix Nevarre! I will not die!"
Like an ungainly puppet, the nearest Human unfolded her arm and reached upward. Grasping for Felix.
"Save me, hero," the Maw pleaded.
"Fuck off."
"What?"
With an effort of Will, Felix severed the black threads again.
A colossal scream filled the air as all of the trapped sacrifices cried out in heart-wrenching agony. In his Manasight, a complicated tangle of crimson lights was torn from all of them all at once. The Mind of the Maw was pulled in a flash down into the bore. The sacrifices' bodies were torn apart, turned nearly instantly to red dust that sloughed from their blackened skeletons; bones that soon crumbled as well.
"What did you do!?" Atar cried out. "What was that?"
"Break the sigils, Atar! We'll handle the Envoy!" Felix shouted and already started running. He didn't have time for questions. He didn't even have time for the knot of emotions that burned inside him.
Pit! On me!
They had a metal man to fight.
"Break the sigils," Atar muttered, running his hands above the burning arrays. "Just like that, easy as water and shade. And after you go and kill half the prisoners."
"I don't think he did that," Evie said, her eyes never leaving the path down from the platform. The chalk-white cliffs were good for one thing and that was spotting more enemies advancing on them. "Didn't you hear that weird voice?"
"I don't care, it made this that much more difficult," Atar jabbed at a sigil with his inscription stylus. The form didn't budge. It was harder than steel. "I-"
"Incoming!"
The words were followed by a bolt of blue radiance and the shrieking death knell of a Rook. It landed hard on the stone not twenty paces distant, and Atar blinked owlishly before glancing at Alister. The nobleman just grinned, a handsome smile despite his puffy skin and reddened complexion.
"Keep them farther away, Alister," Atar groused. "I've gotta figure this out."
"Yes yes, I know my role. You just use that big brain and do yours," Alister said with a wink. Atar couldn't help the flush that tried to creep up his neck. He hoped his Domain-damaged skin kept it from view. The last thing he desired was--
"Oooh, what's this then?" Evie asked with a grin audible in her tone. Atar didn't even look at her, but that did nothing to dissuade the uncouth girl. "Always reaching up past your station, eh Atar?"
"Shut up, Aren. That's none of your concern," Atar looked down at the twisting sigils before him, wincing at their caustic power. "I can't affect these binding points with my stylus. These are enchanted to inscribe on damn near anything!"
"Then, I don't know, break it another way," Evie said, whirling her chain above her head with a pained expression. She hurled it outward just as another Revenant emerged onto the platform, piercing it's head. Another agonizing grunt and the thing was pulled off it's feet and slammed heavily into the ground. "Burn it or something!"
Burn it-- Atar's eyes widened. Of course. So simple I couldn't see it.
Crown of Ignis!
A fiery crown manifested upon Atar's head before a collection of ten Sparkbolts likewise made an appearance. With a minor effort, Atar pushed the Sparkbolts together, compressing their heat and strength. It was difficult, but the compression technique was one Atar had recently been able to employ. If done correctly, it amplified the output of a Skill immensely. As long as he didn't lose concentration.
Carefully, he maneuvered the oblong bar of white-hot fire down toward the glyph-pair.
"Back up, ya bastards! Bindings of the White Waste!"
"Grand Impetus!"
Atar ground his teeth, and focused. He pushed the bar of heat down against the stone. He winced as black, acrid smoke began pouring out from beneath it. C'mon. C'mon!
Skills rained down all around him, but Atar couldn't spare them a single thought. He had to trust that his allies would keep him safe.
C'mon!