Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Two - 252Felix raced out of his chambers, and though Regis and Holt both started running, he soon left them behind. They might have been Adept Tier, but he had more Agility than either of them put together. The bells were ringing louder, but Felix needed to get outside. So he headed to the roof.
The hallway outside his rooms took a hard right turn, and Felix kicked off the stone wall and redirected himself. Stone broke behind him, but he flared his Skill.
Stone Shaping!
The cracks he made flowed back together, healing behind him.
Not sure how much I trust those two, Felix thought. The former Elders seemed earnest in their desire to fix what their leadership had ruined, namely the city itself. But was earnest desire enough? Felix wasn't certain, which was why he had almost immediately regretted mentioning his Omen Key. The looks on their faces when I brought it up...it was like I'd mentioned a steak dinner to a starving man.
Felix burst through a side door and onto the stair landing. Steps led up and down. He surged up them, taking steps four at a time.
He hadn't gone to Zara with his Omen Key yet. That part was true. The Naiad had been acting increasingly distant, involved with Cal and other things she wouldn't explain. Felix wasn't the center of her world, and didn't expect to be, but the training she had promised was slow in coming. Their group of three had only a single proper lesson in the last week, the rest having been independent study of a sort.
Something was going on with her.
So he wanted to get another's opinion on his questions. Primordials, Nym, the Omen Key. The first two were important to figure out before he made it to the Waterfall Temple. Who he was, who he had become, was increasingly pertinent to the Quests that kept getting shoved in his lap. The Omen Key, meanwhile, seemed like a perfect power up. Unlock the power of his Omen? More bonus stats per level? Other...stuff? But it sounded dangerous, as well as time consuming.
Feh, before I leave I'll pick her brain. See if what she says matches those two.
He kicked open the door on the last landing, and found himself amid a number of offices. The stairs stopped short of the roof by two floors, apparently. People had started poking their heads out of their doors, folks in robes and tunics of a nicer sort than Felix usually saw. The Manor's own bells had started ringing as well, sounding awfully similar to a fire drill from back home.
"An attack?"
"The Fiend!"
"What's happening?"
He didn't answer their shouted questions, instead focusing on racing past their doors. But the warren of corridors didn't lead to another set of stairs that he could find. Frustrated, Felix chose the next best thing. The end of the hallway had a huge window, facing southward and letting in a large amount of morning light.
"Out of the way!" he shouted.
People dove from his path as he rocketed down the hallway, straight for the massive window.
Sovereign of Flesh!
Scales erupted along his body, coating him in dark black armor marked by glowing cyan markings along his arms, shoulders, and chest. The last to form, a tight, featureless helm slipped over his face and skull, though his vision was unobstructed.
Unfettered Volition!
Faster than a car, Felix shot down the corridor, the sharp talons on his fingers meeting the glass first. He slashed his arms to either side, slicing through the window an instant before his entire body barreled through it and into the empty air.
*KRASH!*
Adamant Discord!
Blue white lightning kindled around his body as the steel lines of connection hurled him straight into the sky. His heart soared as he did, the exhilarating thrill of defying gravity better than even a good fight. Once he was high enough, he flipped his body and braced for pain.
Adamant Discord!
With a strained lurch he was redirected westward, toward the Wall.
Mervin Cors rang the bell again before relinquishing it to a Tin Rank member of the Blades. "Remember! Ring three times, pause, then ring two times! That's the signal"
"I know! Go! They need everyone!" the boy shouted back. Mervin frowned at the new recruit's lip, but couldn't deny the kid was right. They wouldn't have brought on a child if they'd had anywhere near enough forces to man the Wall. He jogged down the steps, quickly exiting the Wall's interior and unsheathing his longsword. His shield was already on his right arm.
We can do this, he thought, as the bell sounded again.
The Rent was wide and deep, a massive tear through the heart of the Wall filled with scraps of twisted red metal and masonry. It was barely filled by the Fiend's Legion, even bolstered by a few dozen Haarguard. They numbered close to a hundred, all told, each of them battle tested and most of them with a single Temper under their belts. They were ready as they could be for what was coming.
We can do this, he repeated to himself. Right?
The scouts had reported monsters only a mile beyond the treeline, and as Mervin pushed through the poorly ordered ranks, he spotted the trees shaking in the distance. He sidled up to his team, themselves set a bit aside from the others.
"About time," Garin groused. He leaned against his spear and stared at Mervin as he approached. "Your Blade buddies keep you?"
Mervin grunted in annoyance. He had passed the Legion's tests and was allowed to join the ranks of the Blades, considering his tentative skill with his side sword. The others hadn't, and Gerin at least was still a little sour about it. "Something like that."
"Well don't let us distract you"
"Shut up, Garin," Piotr said. His voice was thin but the command was unmistakable. He had withered a bit after their failed excursion to the Nest. Something had stolen his Vitality, leaving him weakened but otherwise capable. He gritted his teeth held his own spear in a white-knuckled grip. "We're here to fight, not bicker."
"Yeah. The Legion is just one way. Don't got no archers either, but I'm not bellyachin'," Lars added with a grin. He hefted his longbow and nodded into the distance. "Looks like the Unarmed Mastery guy is doin' a speech."
"Don't you mean the First ofFist?" Garin snickered. "Dumb name."
Mervin turned and saw Oskar Akales step ahead of everyone. He was the leader of one of the factions of the Legion and probably most outspoken among them all. Like everyone else, he was wearing piece-meal armor, but his hands gleamed with steel gauntlets of quality make.
"The monsters come! Remember your duty to the city and to our benefactor! We have rung the warning bells, and the Lady has heard it. We have but to hold the line." Oskar pointed at a literal line that had been carved into the rock and debris. It was uneven, stopping and restarting in several places. "No monsters enter the city. Not on our watch."
A strong cheer from half the crowd rang out, as men and woman of all Races lifted their various weapons into the air. The Haarguard, each armed with sword and shield like Mervin, merely shifted their feet. All eyes were on the treeline. Mervin swallowed his fear and mastered his jitters. He was a member of the Blades now, those Legionnaires that had devoted themselves to mastering one of the weapons used by the powerful Blue-Eyed Fiend. Mervin hadn't joined out of devotion or whatever it was these folks had for Felix, but because they were continuing to protect the Wall. All of them still wished to serve, to do their duty. The Guild was no more, at least in Haarwatch, but this place was their home.
Oskar raised his voice once the cheering stopped. "As the Fiend before us, we seek power to protect those without it! By Fist and Blade and Bone, we are the line in the sand."
The last was echoed by every Legionnaire in the crowd. It was everything Mervin had wanted when he left his father's farm. Honor. Glory. To grow stronger and use that strength to protect what he loved.
And right now, that meant fighting monsters.
He was ready. Mervin had lived through too much to be afraid of another monster horde.
Without warning, the treeline exploded with motion and noise. Branches snapped and emerald leaves bursts outward as creatures the size of small hounds tore through the air. Mervin's Perception, his highest stat, could pick out their vibrant yellow plumage and cruelly hooked beaks. Their wingspan was about as wide as his own outspread arms, and they were fast.
"Birds?" Lars shouted in disbelief.
"Wynhawks!" Piotr rasped, loud as he could. "Analyze confirms it! Average level is 24! Tier 0 beasts!" Tiers were roughly similar to the Guild's Ranks. Tier 0 was the equivalent of a Tin Rank or someone who hadn't Tempered themselves yet. The word spread like wildfire around them.
"Keep your guard up, we can take them!" Oskar shouted. "Focus fire!"
Sparkbolts and Ice Arrows and Shadow Jaws shot outward, slamming and bursting and snapping into the dog-sized flying creatures. Most shots didn't kill them, but the barrage steadily dropped their Health. Beside him, Lars fired arrow after arrow, each imbued with a piece of his sound Mana so that the missiles screamed as they flew. The Wynhawks fell, only thirty strides before they would have swarmed their line.