Silence - Chapter 12

3/5

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Felix was still lying on the floor when the Maw appeared in the room.

"Ugh. What do you want?" Felix still hadn't bothered to reactivate his Manasight, but the Maw was clearly visible even in the darkened room, untouched by the shadows. The creature looked at him like he was a bug beneath its feet.

The world moves in cycles, Felix Nevarre. The sun rises, the moons turn, the seasons dance endlessly. The look of condescension shifted subtly to one of derisive amusement. You were groomed to be devoured, used as a Vessel to fuel my emancipation. It was foiled by my own hubris and your desperate idiocy. So we are here again.

"Yeah, we already figured that part out," he said as he stood. "Bit late on the uptake, O Great and Powerful Maw."

The Maw sneered and pointed at the door. They're coming, you fool!

Then she was gone.

"What? Who?" Then Felix heard the faint creaks outside his door, and he put it together. The pirates.

Glancing about, Felix summoned a Shadow Whip to either of his hands. Whipping them into the support beams above, he hauled himself up off the ground with a flare of his Strength and Agility. It was only ten feet up, but it was only his excessive Dexterity that let him flip and orient himself up between the shallow beams. He tucked himself into a corner and sent thoughts along his bond to Pit. Get up here!

Pit leaped upward, wings outspread. He only managed to scrabble a bit before falling again.

The latch jiggled.

Shadow Whip!

Shadow Whip is level 27!

One of his tendrils dissipated and Felix hurled another around Pit's middle. The shadowy Mana secured itself and he hauled back, lifting the tenku with a muffled squawk. The door creaked. Felix sucked in a breath and activated his new Skill.

Abyssal Skein!

Felix's view of the world altered, the colors inverting disconcertingly as the symbol in his core began to shimmer in his mind's eye. He couldn't do anything to hide Pit, but hopefully he could end this before the tenku was discovered. He could hear two, maybe three people shifting their weight just outside his door. They were whispering.

"This ain't gonna work! You heard the Ram same as me! He's a mage or somefin', fer sure!"

"Shut up! It will work. An' sides, we ain't got no choice. The Swill'll have knocked him out by now. He's easy pickins."

The latch jiggled again, and this time the door started to open. Then it caught on the chair Felix had braced against it. A slender hand slipped through the narrow opening and touched the back of the chair, and the thing simply disintegrated. The door swung open.

Felix widened his eyes, refusing to squint against the relatively brighter light outside in the hallway. There were two figures, backlit by the dim magelights, the one in the lead barely cresting three feet in height and the other towering closer to six and a half. Felix's eyes adjusted quickly, and as the two of them crept into the room he could make out their features and identify them.

They were a male Gnome named Orfin and a male Hobgoblin named Pasquale, both of them level 29 and neither with a single complete Apprentice Tier Formation. They were dressed in patchwork leather armor and each had a dark green sash across their waist alongside simple cutlasses. But neither of them had those blades in hand. If they weren't here to attack him, then why—?

"I can't see nuffin, Orf. Is he on tha bed?"

The Gnome gestured at the Hobgoblin. "I'll get im. Stay back, idiot. Ya don't want this on ya."

As the Hobgoblin backed up, Orfin the Gnome started reaching for a sack tied to his hip. Felix didn't let him get whatever it was. He kicked hard off the ceiling.

Corrosive Strike!

Corrosive Strike!

Two simultaneous chops struck the Hobgoblin and Gnome. It was over, instantly; the flat of his hand shattered their vertebrae and severed them completely, shoulders to hips. Blood arced across the room, splattering against the floor and walls like a gruesome Jackson Pollock painting as their bodies collapsed into a limp pile.

Felix regarded his hands, which still dripped sizzling acid, but were otherwise clean of blood. More importantly, they were colored a matte black, dark as the Void itself. Lungs beginning to burn, he released his breath and both his skin and vision returned to normal. Felix took a few gulps of fresh air.

Instant regret. Freshness was not on the menu today. The bodies and their resultant mess stunk to high heaven, so bad it almost felt like an attack.

You have defeated Orfin and Pasquale!
XP Earned!

Abyssal Skein is level 2!

Oh god, this is awful. The two men were all over the place, with pieces of their chests and arms fallen down beneath the bed. Felix winced and turned from the awful sight, but then movement caught his eye. Something wriggled within the spilled offal. He inched forward, hand out in preparation for a spell, and saw an open burlap sack with a glistening slime trail coming from its wide mouth. A short distance away, Felix saw a writhing, gooey creature attached to the gruesome end of the Hobgoblin.

Eugh. It was a creature that resembled a leech the size of Felix's hand, except with ten spindly legs and a face full of wriggling appendages that pulsed rhythmically on the Gnome's decapitated head. It's body was a dark, dark grey, but it was swelling as it writhed, pouches along its back filling with light.

Name: Gnarlock
Type: Voidborn
Level: 10
HP: 86/86
SP: 25/52
MP: 61/0
Lore: An ambush creature born of the Void, a gnarlock will wait patiently for long periods of time for a sentient being to come across its path, at which point it leaps onto them and injects them with a paralytic poison, feeding on their Mana until sated. Victims are usually left alive, only drained and easy prey for other creatures.
Strength: More Data Required
Weakness: More Data Required

They were gonna use this on me? Felix shuddered and discharged a kinetic blast from Reign of Vellus. The Gnarlock exploded into a bloody smear while faint wisps of rainbow light escaped its burst sacs. Felix stepped back and, with a jolt of realization, reached to close the door. Before it closed Felix realized that Old Mungle was still there, across the hall, rocking in the corner of a doorjamb. Had he seen anything? Did it matter?

"We gotta move Pit. No time to sleep." He looked up at his friend, who had fallen to the floor when Felix had attacked. He let out a disgusted chirp but moved to the door, nimbly avoiding the mess on the floor.

At least I have a new sneak Skill to work with...but is it better than my Apprentice Tier Stealth? Felix had no numbers to compare the two Skills, but he was sure he'd soon find out how easy it was to sneak with the new ability. However, he quickly realized he had lost his Apprentice Tier gains from Stealth. That was -3 to PER, AGL, and WIL which wasn't crippling at this point, but he couldn't deny that it sucked.

The main effect of the Skilled seemed to make him blend into his environment, like a chameleon or something, and lasted as long as he could hold his breath. Unfortunately, it seemed his Breath Control had also been reverted to level 1 when it was combined into Abyssal Skein. His chest felt tight and constricted.

So Abyssal Skein at level 2 can last, what? Half a minute? Maybe longer? Does my Endurance mitigate my ability to hold my breath? Only one way to find out—trial by fire was his only real mode of learning, at this point.

He didn't really have time to practice and theorycraft anything; the two of them had to get moving. Yet something else was troubling him, and he didn't know when else he'd be able to address it in the near future. He looked around in annoyance before sending out a mental call.

Maw! Where are you?

Without a sound, it reappeared, hovering over the bed. It looked down distastefully and sniffed. So you survived. Bravo.

Felix narrowed his eyes. "Bravo. That's an Italian word. How do you know it? He shook his head. Nevermind. That doesn't matter right now. I just learned a Skill from Ravenous Tithe, but it took hours to digest the Mana. And before, at the party, I learned Deception and it was also a literal pain to do. Why is this so hard, all of a sudden?"

The Maw rolled her blue-green eyes, vivid despite the dark. This is the Void, you imbecile. You thought it would affect Mana but not Skill gains? That you can learn new Skills at all is a testament to your Unbound nature. Truly, the laws of Creation hold you but lightly.

Felix frowned. His ability to learn new Skills had come in handy in the past, and likely would again. Knowing that he could was a relief, but the restriction of it was not. His mind drifted again to the fact that the Void was infiltrating his core even now, and he shuddered. All the more reason to get outta here.

Felix turned back to the bodies and checked their pockets, pointedly ignoring the look of smug superiority on the Primordial's face. Looting corpses wasn't as fun and exciting as video games made it out to be, but perhaps these pirates had something that'd help them escape. On the Gnome, aside from his cutlass he found a few silver coins of strange mint, emblazoned with a seven pronged crown on one side and a single eye on the other. On the Hobgoblin, he found another cutlass and a similar purse of coins, these a dark red coloration and pressed with a woman's face on both sides. There was no way for him to hold two swords, but one might come in handy at some point. He was increasingly competent with unarmed strikes, but a sword could scare people, even if he couldn't use one anymore without pain.

Strapping the Hobgoblin's belt, sheath, and purse around his waist, Felix sidled back up to his door. Carefully, he opened it a touch and peered out, pushing is senses into the space beyond. It was hard to filter out the scent of blood and worse in his room, but the hallways sounded empty and smelled only faintly of smoke and whatever it was Old Mungle had going on. He opened it fully. The hallway was empty.

Mungle must have left. Felix gestured for Pit to follow before padding down the hall. A brief spasm of pity roused in him at the thought of the addled old man, but he quashed it. The pirates wished him harm and worse than death, according to Pit. He couldn't afford to feel bad for any of them.

Nearly at the end of the hall at this point, Felix could hear the banging of drums and piping of flutes down below, echoing up the staircase. It was just loud enough to distract him from the sound of an Orc stumbling out of one of the rooms.

"Heeeey! Who're you?" The Orc squinted and slurred his words. Felix didn't reply, he simply unsheathed his new cutlass and swiped it across the Orc's face, all in one motion. The Orc coughed once, then fell to his knees as his head detached at the neck.

A terrible shooting pain blazed across Felix's arms and torso, as if red hot needles were being stabbed into his veins. His lungs seized. He tried to scream in pain, but couldn't suck in a breath to manage it. Felix fell to his knees while the body of the orc fell forward, pumping out gouts of dark blood.

You Have Killed An Unknown Orc!
XP Earned!

The Maw floated above him, its lank hair dangling in his face. You might not want to try that again, boy.

Perhaps thirty seconds later, Felix gasped as his breath returned to him, Pit nudging him urgently in the shoulder all the while. With the tenku's help, he regained his feet.

"That was way worse than before, with Acrobatics." He sheathed the cutlass. "No using this again until I can get that resolved."

A wise decision from the Earth child, the Maw said with a sarcastic gasp. I've been blessed with eternal surprises.

Ignoring it, Felix stepped around the widening pool of blood and made to walk past. Then stopped. He glanced down at the Orc, who was a bit bigger across the shoulders than Felix, but maybe...yeah.

He was sick of being shirtless.


* * *


Five minutes later, Felix was at the edge of the main chamber, now wearing a slightly stained faded blue tunic and a short brown canvas jacket. The jacket only went down to his hips, but it flared in the back, allowing for excellent movement. Which made sense for a pirate. He figured he cut a pretty dashing figure, though he still hadn't located a mirror. His pants were still tattered and his boots nearly worn out; the Orc's were not the right fit, having had stocky legs and oddly big feet for his height.

More importantly, Felix and Pit used Convergence, an ability granted by their Etheric Concordance Skill. It allowed them to join within his body so that Pit disappeared from physical sight, making their chances at sneaking across the party unseen far higher. Or so they hoped.

Now at the edge of the party, Felix peered carefully around the archway. The blocky sides of the arches and general shadowy nature of the hallways kept him from sight, but Felix couldn't rely on that forever. Especially in the main chamber, where the magelights seemed to move around without pattern and eyes were everywhere. The kitchens were just near the stage, on the far side from the dais where Captain Nokk sat. Dozens of men and women of all sorts of Races milled about, most of them drinking from bone-mugs and drunkenly singing along to the band's song. It was a sad one, something about a lost love and a crab, as far as Felix could tell.

Here goes nothing.

He took a breath.

Abyssal Skein!

Felix's vision inverted and he stepped out into the chamber, making sure to stick to the wall. No one so much as glanced at him.

It's working! Maybe!

When he glanced town at himself, he had a dizzying sense of dislocation, as he couldn't quite see his body. His skin had changed to match what was behind him; not perfect invisibility but better than just running in a crouch. Still, moving slowly and carefully was the best way forward, except within seconds his lungs began to burn. The loss of Breath Control had hurt him more than he realized, and Felix figured he had been right before: he had about a minute before he'd have to breath again. He moved quicker.

He dodged between chairs and pillars, sticking to the darker edges and having to time his movements with the erratic magelights. He was doing fairly well, as long as he didn't think about breathing. Three quarters of the way across the room however, Felix hit an impasse. A clutch of unkempt men and women leaned together, blocking the path forward as they discussed something in a low whisper. He ducked behind a nearby empty table, and listened. Felix's Perception carried their voices to him easily.

"Have you seen em?" A lantern-jawed Half-Orc asked.

"Nah. Not since he went upstairs. Orfin and Pasquale took a leech and followed." A dusky-skinned Elf replied, scratching at her neck. It was covered in tattoos that resembled cursive writing. "That was, say, ten minutes ago?"

"Long time to deal with a drunk wanderer." Grunted the Half-Orc.

"Cap'n talked with 'em a long time. Maybe he's tough?" Suggested a short and stocky Hobgoblin. His big nose was as red as his eyes and he kept wiping at it with a handkerchief. "Snnf. Why else would Cap'n care about some new meat?"

Felix's lungs were burning fiercely. He was low and hidden by nearly everyone by the table, so he took a chance. He released his breath and let Abyssal Skein drop at the same time as attempting to quietly suck in a few more lungfuls of air.

"What's goin' on here?"

The booming voice shocked the gathered pirates, and Felix could hear them shift and turn toward the clomping steps of what felt like a huge creature. Checking his Mana, Felix saw he was down about 30% from the last thirty seconds; the Skill was pretty Mana intensive. He had plenty to spare, thankfully, so Felix took a deep breath and reactivated it. The colors around him inverted again, and Felix crept slowly out from under the table to get a peak at what was happening.

Abyssal Skein is level 3!

Shit. Sauntering up to the group of pirates was the Ogre Korm Rocksplitter in his mismatched armor. Twice as tall as the others, he absolutely bristled  with weapons.

"Lollygaggin' when we 'ave business? I'll lay out the lot a ya!" Korm's neck bulged with veins and spittle dropped from his tusks. He was much bigger than Stiilgar.

"No, no Korm! We're just waitin' fer Orfin!" The Half-Orc had begun sweating and waving his hands. "They left to get the new meat."

The Ogre grunted and eyed the darkened hallway toward the rooms. Felix tried to keep perfectly still, terrified that he'd be spotted, but Korm only snorted and shook his head.

"I hate waitin'. We need that new ship for raidin'! Veris!" He turned toward the bar and the tattooed Dwarf running it. "Your newbie is makin' me thirsty! Gimme a barrel a the hard stuff!"

"Ain't my newbie! And get it yerself, ya lazy ponce!" she shouted back.

"Woman! Ye ain't half the size a' me usual, but I'll end ya!" Korm growled back.

"Prove it, Rocksplitter!"

Felix's breath was starting to run out again and he hadn't moved. He couldn't wait here any longer; sooner or later they were gonna figure out what happened to their friends, and then they'd find him. He needed a distraction.

Pit trilled in his head, a series of flashing images shared between them. Felix grinned in response, and mentally thanked the tenku.

Reign of Vellus!

The Skill was showy, but it always produced lightning on the target of the kinetic force. A series of arcing blue lightning skittered across a chair and table next to the darkened hallway, before the entire set lifted and was flung outward. The racket was enormous, but not as much as Korm's shout.

"A fight! Yes!  The new meat is feisty!" The huge Ogre thundered past, followed closely by the rest of the pirates. Felix ducked beneath the table again, releasing and taking another quick breath to refresh his Abyssal Skein before crawling out. "Come! Lock down this bastard before he flees!"

The crew distracted, he slunk his way toward his destination. The kitchens.

The room was bright, the magelights unwavering along the ceiling. Felix had to squint. Aside from the counters, floors, and walls being made of the grey-black Void bone it seems utterly normal. There was a huge stove along the far wall where a few pots and pans steamed and boiled, and various items hung from the ceiling on hooks. Meat, mostly, but also wrinkled and dried roots and weedy looking plants. Felix kept his Abyssal Skein going, but had to drop it about halfway through the room.

Abyssal Skein is level 4!

Luckily no one was there.

They almost made it to the far door, the one Pit's memories confirmed was the way to the docks below. Then Felix heard a clomp-tak from behind him and he spun in place, a dark green orb already formed in his left hand.

A woman, with ochre skin and dark green hair stood before him. She wore a stained once-white apron and held out a very large butcher knife. She snarled at him, her teeth as sharp as the Captain's own.

"You're the newcomer."She looked to his side, eyes briefly darting about at waist level. "Where's yer friend?"

Pit chirrups happily at her presence, and before Felix can stop him, disengaged their Convergence. With a flash of light, Pit reformed next to Felix. The Naiad stepped back in surprise.

"What in Avet's name—?"

"Pit is my Companion, and we have certain...abilities." Felix smiled and spread his hands, not dismissing the acid orb from his grip. "Far easier to escape a trap when you're one person instead of two, right?"

The woman, Dahlia Sa'thys by his Eye, blinked and nodded slowly. Pit let out a low warble, and the Naiad's mouth quirked in a smile. She lowered her knife.

"I'll not be raisin' weapons against a Tenku." She directed a nod at Felix that was begrudgingly respectful. "That you earned its trust speaks highly of ya. Here."

She tossed a burlap sack the size of Felix's torso at him. He caught it easily, but it was surprisingly heavy. Not taking his eyes off the woman, Felix opened it and let his Perception flow into it. It was full of food and flasks of water. Felix blinked.

"What's this for?" he asked.

Dahlia ignored Felix and turned to Pit. She bowed at the waist. "Thank you fer blessing my kitchens, Honored Chimera. This is all I can manage, but take it with my heartfelt gratitude. I'd thought I'd die before I'd see another Guardian Beast." She flicked her finger across her left eye, and Felix thought he spotted a tear. "Now go. I'll distract the crew if they come looking. Go!"

Felix didn't need to be told twice. He beckoned Pit and pushed open the door. His friend lingered, letting out a mournful note. The Naiad only smiled at Pit with sad eyes and shooed them away. They left.

"Honored Chimera, huh?"

Pit only chirruped brightly. Images of meat and the words 'nice lady' came through the bond. Felix just smiled. Unwilling to waste any more time, Felix unleashed the full power of his Agility, and urged Pit to do the same. They fairly flew down the corridors and staircases, following Pit's remembered path back down to the dock.

The dock was just as dark as Pit recalled, but Felix flared his Manasight and the place lit up to him like it was midday. There was a significant amount of ambient Mana in the air, much of it generated by a gargantuan warship. It was three or four stories tall and had to have been half the length of the island itself. Four masts stretched up into the cavernous ceiling, and some sort of dark cloth was bunched there; sails waiting to be unfurled. Most amazing of all was the deep, multicolored glow of the ships heart. Felix thought heart because the flow of Mana seemed to pulse through the ship, as if the craft was living.

"Just like the Night's Wake," Felix said as he looked up at the Ten Hands' flagship. "But way bigger. You weren't kidding about the size. This is the same place we docked right? So that means, aha!" It only took a few seconds to find the wide open hatch leading out into the darker Void. Yet before they could contemplate escape, the grisly phantom of the Maw appeared before them.

Idiot child. You can't outrun theses craft. It threw a hand toward the flagship. Look at them! Primitive or not, these are Manaships.

"Your point? I don't exactly know how to pilot a ship, Mana or otherwise,"Felix growled back.

Just find the smallest one! Or do you want to be slaved to their ship for the rest of your pitiful life?

Grumbling to himself, Felix turned back. They had to travel to the other side of the huge flagship, but Felix and Pit were able to find a sloop. Like the rest of the crafts, the sloop was made of voidbeast bone and had sails of some dark leathery material. Being small, it only had a single mast and a minimal amount of ropes and pulleys. Felix and Pit alighted on its deck and he stared around fairly helplessly.

"I don't know...how do I do this?" he asked the air.

The Maw sucked at its teeth in annoyance, which set Felix's own nerves on edge. See the plinth there? Where the rudder should be?

Felix turned and spotted a blocky construction at the far rear of the boat. He nodded.

Good, there should be an interface node there. Grab it and feed it your Mana through one of your Gates. We have to be quick. The Maw pivoted her attention to their right and up. They're coming.

Felix swallowed and hovered over to the rudder. The Maw was right, there was a polished grey orb in place of the rudder handle, and it was surrounded by small inscriptions. The inscriptions were similar to the Primordial Dawn sigils he knew, but only barely. He squinted at it, but it didn't really make much sense.

Hurry!

Groaning, Felix placed his hand on the orb and felt it grow warm slightly. "That's not too bad." Then he made use of his Mana Manipulation Skill and sent out a larger stream of Mana vapor.

Mana Manipulation is level 19!

The orb came to flickering life, sucking in the vapor and pulling insistently at Felix's Mana channels. With a grimace, he relaxed against it. A full third of his remaining Mana disappeared into the hungry guts of the ship, and abruptly the entire thing thrummed with vibrant energy. The sails lowered and affixed themselves, and the entire craft lifted off the ground.

"Whoa." Felix could feel his regeneration battling with the pull of the orb, but it wasn't too hard to maintain...

Go, you fool! They're here!

Acting on instinct, Felix willed the sloop forward, and they shot off into the Void.