Silence - Chapter 27

Forgot to update these on Saturday! My apologies! We can blame the Halloween weekend crazies, I suppose.

1/3

* * *

When Felix saw the ring of chained islands denoting Echo's Reach, he let out a relieved breath. Clearly the voidbeasts hadn't made it that far, at least from the direction Felix was approaching. Felix hadn't caught sight of any, and Pit said everything smelled normal. He decided it would be good to at least cross the island chain before heading back to Bateo's.

Just as the last time he'd been in town, it was evening. Korvaa of all shapes and sizes were about, lingering on their islands or gliding between the large chains on some sort of errands. Everyone was dressed in robes or cloaks, cut and belted in such ways that the drapery didn't interfere with their wings or limbs. The types of birdfolk differed despite their similar clothes, from ravens to owls. He even saw a woman that resembled a dove. It seemed the Korvaa as a people varied wildly in appearance.

No smell, Pit said. Good.

Felix smiled and ruffled the tenku's head. "Hell yeah it's good. We're a great team, you know?"

Pit hummed in delight at the scratches. Great team. Yes.

Giggles and shouts rang out as a succession of kids zipped by the nearest island. Each of them was aboard their own skimmer, though it was little more than a flat board of bone. Felix and Pit paused their progress, watching the kids do loops and barrel rolls around the islands, much to the annoyance of their residents. Angered hoots and squawks followed the children.

It reminded Felix of when he was a kid, wandering through abandoned houses. There had been a development, called Wayward Oaks, and it had suffered the brunt of a hurricane. The developer, likely out of money, had simply dropped the project and left the area. So a large six block area filled with half-filled foundations and the shells of houses became the playground to every kid in the neighborhood. Some were skaters and potheads, looking for places to do tricks and get high. Others were just kids, inhabited by the primal urge all kids had to just break stuff. There was plenty of stuff to break inside half-ruined developments. They'd almost gotten caught a time or two, when cops would patrol the area, but Felix had always gotten away.

Watching the young Korvaa slip by on their weird skimmers hit him harder than he expected. Nostalgia, mixed in with regret, was a familiar concoction he'd brew back home in his tiny apartment. This was that, mingled with a sense of loss that Felix thought he'd come to terms with—back when he said goodbye to his mom.

"Ah, shit," he said. His throat tightened and everything felt too much suddenly. He had the Willpower to force the feeling away—had done so repeatedly since arriving on the Continent—but he was tired of it. He let the feeling spool out from his chest and throat and behind his eyes, a burning ache he hated as much as needed. "I'm so far from home, bud."

Pit trilled comfortingly and pressed up against his back. A wing extended up and just barely over his shoulder, while his back rumbled with Pit's deep breathing.

Etheric Concordance is level 27!

A chunk of his stolen power was siphoned away and into his core flame. It was spat back out, now a golden-blue light that surged into the Skill that formed their bond. A soothing melody, barely heard, caressed Felix's being. It took what Pit was doing and somehow amplified the warmth and comfort on offer.

"Thanks, bud," he said after several long minutes. The melancholy hadn't gone away entirely, but it felt manageable again, even without Willpower. "We should get moving."

Felix reignited the his connection with the skimmer's Control Node and pushed more of his Mana into it. He had less than before he'd left the lodge, but more than when he'd left the farm. His natural regeneration was still able to pull in enough Mana from around him to restore him at a relatively fast rate, but Felix estimated it was operating at fifty percent efficacy.

And that rate is dropping with each passing day—cycle, whatever.

It reaffirmed his need to leave the Void. No matter how comfortable it was living with Bateo, this place was a death trap. To that end, Felix angled his skimmer toward the town center. Bateo had told him that the Conference leaders were in charge of finding a way out of the Void. Surely they would have something by this point? The real question was whether they would willingly share it with him, the "Unknown."

But he had a plan for that.

* * *

No less than ten minutes later, Felix was hovering near the Conference Hall and watching as the guards sat around and rolled dice against the stairs. The cursing was loud and oftetn. Every few minutes though, one of them would leave the front steps and trudge upward to do a circuit in the Hall itself, before inevitably returning and kicking off another round of swearing.

I could come in from behind. But...no.  Felix flew around the central island. There are guards here too. The only approach is to walk right up and pretend I'm supposed to be there. I've got Deception at level 10. Hope that's enough.

Felix and Pit flew down and landed at the edge of the central island. The guards immediately stopped their game and stood up, hands going to shields and spears as he approached. Felix held out his hands in a gesture of peace.

"Hey there. How's it going?" he said. The guards stared at him, stone faced. Felix didn't see the magpie-colored Hepset, and instead the majority were all burly looking eagles and a single reddish colored hawk. Or was it a falcon? "Nice night, huh?"

The guards just watched him, their faces stone. Except one, who sneered at Felix. "What does the Unknown want here?"

"Wasn't the Unknown banished to some piss poor farmstead?" said another.

"Oho, true! He was. So what's he doing here, bothering us?"

Pit stalked forward, but Felix held him back with a hand on his shoulders. He then plastered a smile on his face in spite of the wave of anger that came from his Companion. "I've just come to speak with one of the Conference leaders, if they're available."

"Conference—You think one of the Lords is going to make time for you, guano stain?" The sneering one laughed, a squawking screech. "You're not even worthy of the Honored Tenku's attention! Why don't you shove off into the Void, so we can give your better the glory he deserves."

The jerk guard's pronouncement was met by a wall of laughter and jeers. It took all his Willpower to wrestle the combined annoyance and rage from Pit, as well as himself. It would be so easy for him to destroy them. He'd just killed three flocks of voidbeasts, more or less alone. These guards stood no chance, not against his acid and fists.

Not against lightning.

Yes. Destroy them. A voice whispered to him. How dare they oppose our Will!

Felix let the sparks fade from his fist, and the Skill within his core space slowly hummed into silence. He hadn't even realized he was grasping at Reign of Vellus. Felix shot a look to his side, where the Maw was hovering with a look of vicious satisfaction—a look that morphed into disgusted disappointment.

Pathetic.

The guards, fully unaware of how close they came to death, pressed forward. They carried their spears with a casual arrogance, utterly confident in either their power or numbers. Or both. Felix realized few people had the Analyze Skill on the Continent, and it was likely fewer still had it out in the Void.

"C'mon, Unknown. Do something. Anything." The sneering one opened its beak wide as his crest lifted in clear aggression. "Give us the excuse."

"What is happening here?"

The guards swept around, and the sneering one gaped up at the Conference Hall. "Lord Wonderment!"

A dark raven-like Korvaa stood atop the steps, decked out in dark robes stitched with white and silver thread. It accentuated the almost blue-black coloration of his feathers and pale gray eyes. Those eyes pierced the guards with an imperious sensation, one that Felix felt the barest wash of, for all that he wasn't the target. The guards trembled and several fell to their knees.

"I'll ask again. What is happening here?"

"S-sir, the Unknown wanted to-to enter the Conference Hall. To speak with one of you," the sneering guard stuttered.

"And why was I not made aware of this?"

"I-I thought, I thought that—"

"That you thought at all is a problem, Guardsman Rhys. You are to guard and to relay to us when we have visitors and precious little else. Do you understand?" The pressure the Conference Lord was exerting increased by the smallest margin, and Rhys finally fell to his knees as well.

How'd he do that? Felix wondered. He felt a similar alarm from Pit. What if he turns that on us?

When those pale eyes turned to them, Felix managed not to flinch, but the pressure he had tasted did not follow. Instead, Wonderment smiled and beckoned to them both. "Come, Honored Tenku and Felix Nevarre. You are welcome to speak with me in my offices."

Felix spared the guardsmen a glance, but none of them dared to even look in his direction. All were staring resolutely at the ground. Felix and Pit mounted the steps quickly and found themselves following in the sweeping wake of the Lord Wonderment. They quickly followed.

The Maw, however, had disappeared again. Where'd it go this time?

The three of them traversed the outside of the Conference Hall before heading to a large side door. All of which was made of well polished voidbeast bone, carved into images of stylized wings. The door opened soundlessly, and Wonderment led them through a series of well-appointed chambers, until they reached a set of even more impressive doors. These were also made of bone, also carved into wings and talons and the silhouetted images of many bird people gathered close under a series of clouds and seven moons.

"Seven moons. I thought there were only six?" Felix said as the doors opened to admit them into a plush office.

Wonderment looked at him over his shoulder as he walked to his large desk across the room. "Seven moons for the seven gods. Well, the seven that matter anyhow." He tilted his head in surprise, beak slightly agape. "Don't tell me you're not familiar with the gods."

Felix waved a hand, perhaps a little too hastily. "No no, I know about them." Vess had given him a rundown on the gods once, though he had to grasp at the memory with his Born Trait. "Noctis, Yyero, Siva, the Twins, and Avet. Those are the ones I know."

Wonderment chuckled. "I see. That makes sense. I doubt many places teach about the Lost Goddess." He gestured to a chair. "Please sit."

Felix did. "Lost Goddess?"

"Mm. Lost Ages ago to the Ruin. They say her wife Noctis wept tears enough to fill an ocean that day." The raven sighed, almost longingly. "To have someone love you so much. It is a romantic tale."

"Lost to the Ruin," Felix muttered. Even gods were susceptible to this Ruin thing? Damn. What was it? "Wait, is the Lost Goddess named Vellus?"

"So you have heard of her. They say her moon fell from the sky the moment she was taken, but we Korvaa have long memories and ancient traditions. We try to keep the truth alive."

"Can't argue with that sentiment," Felix said. "There aren't many out here that think the truth is all that important."

"You speak of the pirates,  yes?" Felix nodded and Wonderment continued. "Your ship tells the tale that it once belonged to the Ten Hands, is that right?"

"It is. I like to think of it belonging to me, now." Felix said.

"So it does. Speaking of, that is why I had wanted to speak with you. I was even planning on coming to visit you on Bateo's farm in the next day." Wonderment smiled and spread his hands. "Your ship is nearly fixed. I'm told it will be finished in the next few cycles."

Pit chirruped happily, drawing a warm look from the raven-like Korvaa. Felix felt a thrill at the words. He'd be able to leave! His stomach dropped in the same instant, thinking of Bateo and Estrid. It was...confusing, and rather than deal with that viper's nest of emotion he drew on his well of suspicion.

"Thank you for that, but why tell me yourself? Don't you have messengers for that sorta thing?"

"We do," he admitted. "But you are a notable guest in our tiny village. I simply wished to speak with you in person without the...august personages of my fellows."

Felix laughed, but kept it at that. A thought occurred to him. An idea that, if it didn't work, would make breaking into the Hall later a much harder prospect. But he had to try.

"I imagine you're curious about Pit and I, right?"

Wonderment didn't nod, but his eyes glittered and a faint smile crossed his beak.

"I'd be willing to tell you more about our bond, if you'd be willing to let me see your records."

"Records?" Wonderment asked archly. "What, pray tell, do you wish to find?"

"A way out."

Wonderment paused and considered Felix, from the bottoms of his battered shoes to the top of his shaggy head of hair. It made the man acutely aware that he hadn't showered or shaved in a long while, though either his Tempering or the Void itself had neutralized any smell.

"The goal you seek has not been found. Not by us, nor any others. If it had, would we still remain?"

"I get that. But what if you're missing something?"

"Missing what?"

Felix shrugged. "I don't know. But I can safely say I have a...different perspective from everyone else here."

Wonderment considered him again, drumming his fingers on the top of the desk. He did it for so long that Felix feared he'd ruined his chances at seeing those records, but the raven Korvaa suddenly slapped his hand down on the desk and stood.

"Come with me."