Silence - Chapter 33

1/3

* * *

Felix wandered the dark. The Rim Hunters had escorted him to the very edge of their territory, just beyond the ward array, the one they said he had sabotaged. He had tried talking to them, to convince them of his innocence, but none listened. Not even the ones he'd fought with, back at their lodge. Instead they glared at him with hard eyes and jabbed at his back with insistent spears.

The Conference Lords had followed at a distance as well, close enough to keep him from fighting off the Hunters, and far enough that attacking them was impossible without facing the others. The memory of it made Felix grind his teeth. They had watched him walk for a half hour or so before they took off. Each of them had their own small skimmers, and they were gone within minutes. While the Void had little in the way of landscape, the darkness had a way of obscuring things from too far off. It was unpredictable and strange, as sometimes he could see rock islands miles distant clear as day, while other times something like a narhollow would remain unnoticed until it was a half mile away.

Felix repressed a shudder. Even thinking of a narhollow made him picture the Whalemaw. He hadn't seen the Whalemaw in a long time, over two weeks now if he had kept the days straight, but the memory of its fluid eyes and jagged mouth...He'd be happy never to encounter it again.

I told you it would come to this, Felix Nevarre.

Bad enough he had to deal with one Maw.

"Shut up," Felix groaned. He adjusted his path as the next monolithic ward stone came into view.

You should have killed them, as I suggested. Right now you would be digesting their Essence, taking what you needed from their Memories and Skills. That is the way things must be, here at the edge of all things.

Felix ignored it still. The hadn't stopped sniping and complaining since the Rim Hunters had begun their march, and it showed no sign of slowing down.

What shall you do now, Unbound? How shall you find your way in this bleak landscape? A cruel laugh bubbled up from the thing. Even your Companion is gone. I saw good riddance. That thing was a pest, and a danger besides. Guardians of Harmony—pfah!

"Shut your damn mouth! For once!" Felix snarled, too angry to care how loud he was, or that lightning discharged from every single one of his Gates at once. "You leave Pit out of your ravings, or I'll—I'll go find the Whalemaw and throw myself down its throat."

Pfft. You haven't the stones.

Felix bared his teeth. "Remind me again, who was it that killed themselves to stop you before?"

The Maw paused, its stolen face snapping out of cruel revelry. Thin brows tugged down above its sharp nose. You wouldn't dare—

"Why wouldn't I? I've done it once, and nothing has changed since then. So watch yourself, or we'll both find our ends in a maw of a different kind."

The Maw went quiet, so much so that Felix wanted to look and make sure it was still there. It had a habit of disappearing for days at a time, though he didn't know where it went. But no—it didn't matter. Felix kept walking. It was all he could do.

He walked for days—cycles, whatever. Moving between monolith ward stones was an achingly slow process on foot. Even running would have only halved the time, somehow. Manaships and skimmers followed different rules than the physical apparently, they moved far faster than they should, owing in some small part to their Control Node and Mana engines. Or however they functioned. Felix wasn't really sure, and no one could explain it.

He still had the map from Wonderment, though the one from the pirates was stashed in Bateo's farmhouse. So was Pit. The maps weren't a concern—he'd glimpsed them recently enough that he could recall them in exacting detail—but his Companion was. In the days that passed, despite his attempts to reach out through their connection, he had not seen or even felt Pit. He could access Pit's Status sheet though, and a vague warmth in his chest, but their shared sensations and communication was entirely absent. A feature of the Void, he suspected. He knew Pit was alive and unhurt, but still he worried. He had walked, and sometimes run, trying to gain an angle that put him closer to Bateo's farm without crossing the ward, but nothing had happened yet. The connection hadn't faded or grown any stronger, which meant Pit was alive, well, and unmoving.

What've they done to him?

Felix bounced to a stop, the slightly giving not-surface of the Void pushing back at him. He felt lost. With the maps in his head, he could puzzle out the directions to another settlement eventually, but without Pit why would he try? And even if Pit were with him, if he could somehow sneak into Echo's Reach and steal Pit back out, what then? Live in the Void forever?

I still have the Quest. Escape The Void. Felix snorted, bitterly. But no clue how to do it. Best I can figure is to break into Echo's Reach, rescue Pit, steal my sloop and blow outta there. Would I survive the attempt, though?

Felix had tried to stave off his frustrations by working at his last Mana Gate. The pain of it was a good distraction from being chased away like a rabid dog. Still, it was a long process, and not nearly half done by the time he'd received the message.

You Have Finished Digesting Your Target's Mana!
You Have Gained A Memory From A Nochtnatter!
Would You Like To Review It Now?
Yes/Yes

Felix felt his eyes light up, a curious sensation he hadn't experienced in a while. Not since Shelim, he was sure. Worry and anger tingled at the edges of his Mind, but excitement dominated.

Yes.

The world went grey...more grey, at least, and even the Maw stilled until it was a cadaverous statue. Then, everything rippled, moving inward from the unseen horizon, until the ripple was miles high and like to throw Felix straight into the sky. Yet as it reached him, the ripple cracked and shattered into ten million motes of incandescent light.

He was somewhere else.

Something else.


* * *


He swam through the dark, his body powerful and unstoppable. An apex predator without rival in the black. Prey scattered before it and he could taste their fear, their despair.

He reveled in it.

But now, new prey had come. Rare prey, those that hid behind the dead, that rode their corpses like foul monstrosities. Fins of skin and hide of bone, they rode at him over and over, him and his brothers. His sisters. His kind stayed close together, hunting as one, but the Dead Riders separated them. Stabbed at them with claws and teeth that drew precious Life from them. Struck them with violence they could not fully answer back in kind. With green fire.

He—no, Felix. I am Felix, he realized. He rode within the head of the nochtnatter, one of dozens, all of them harried by a series of Manaships. They were being jabbed at, driven forward like cattle on a ranch, and Felix saw those that did it; they were no ranchers, but pirates.

And the flag atop their masts was all the same. A series of bloody hand prints on a black background. Ten of them.

Pirates of the Ten Hands, he hissed.

The pirates were spurring the voidbeasts onward, and as the nochtnatter's senses caught up, he realized clouds of  Tenebrils and Harrowings flew on ahead. As if to whet the void serpents' appetites. They all passed a familiar monolithic ward stone at speed, though the pirates hung back to jeer at the voidbeasts.

His fellows kept on, pushing inward, following the delectable scent of prey and of great prey to come. But his nochtnatter slowed and turned, hidden by its abilities, watching.

“Alright! That’s enough beasties! Circle back!” This was said by a Half-Orc woman with several blades and a lute strapped across her back. "More than enough to crack this hideaway!"

Another scoffed. “Hiding from us? Not payin' for us to protect 'em? That’ll teach the damn birds!”

“Captain’ll be pleased," said a third with a wicked laugh. "So many new Mana batteries!”

All of it made little difference to the nochtnatter, save that it swam in loops, hoping to catch one of the Dead Riders unaware. To Felix however, the information struck like a lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky.

Straining mightily, Felix leveraged everything he had. The Memory flexed and shivered around him, until his Willpower shattered it completely and threw him screaming into the deepest Void.


* * *


Bloodline Progression is 8%

Felix jerked to his feet, already running.

Felix? What are you doing? Finally taking vengeance? The Maw's voice was hopeful.

"They're in danger! All of them!" Felix said as he pumped his legs as hard as he could. The Void flew beneath him, faster than he'd ever moved.

Who is? From what? The Maw laughed. This entire Realm is a death trap! What more could—

"Pirates! They're coming!"