IV-17 Escape

The most important skill you can all develop in this course is Awareness. Awareness and not stealth. Awareness will teach you about stealth. It will instruct you on all the aspects of Stealth that you have not understood yet. There is no absolute Stealth, not even for Legendary Pathbearer.

Consider all your senses, visual, auditory, taste, touch and more. Your Magical Skills come into play here too. They are in another layer of sensory advanced you can gain. And there are spiritual infusions at that, hard to avoid, hard to counter. And this is simply speaking with our organic Pathbearers in mind. The automata students in this course must have a variety of other sensory options that are far beyond the organic norm.

As we evolve our Awareness skills and learn about how our comrades might perceive the world, you will understand that stealth does not mean clinging to the shadows and staying silent. That is rudimentary, and it will not be sufficient against an enemy with an appropriately leveled Awareness skill. When you engage your adversaries in a battle of subterfuge, understand that you are a clashing onion. 

You have layers of protection over you, and the outermost layer is Awareness—you being aware of your enemies before they are aware of you.

You cannot always have a higher Awareness skill compared to your adversary, but you can learn how they perceive things by observing their reactions in the field. And so we move on to the most fundamental lesson of this class. Observe. Learn. And then act.

Understand your enemy. Notice them first. And then move.

So. Break into teams and descend into the darkness of the dungeon. There are things down there that will hunt. Make sure you learn where they are first.

-Captain Andrea Yuwei, STEALTH-101, Phoenix Academy

IV-17

Escape

"Oh gods," Adam groaned.

A rush of nausea crawled through his body, and bile threatened to overtake his throat. It wasn't bad enough that he was a prisoner. It wasn't bad enough that he was laying here, stripped bare, without his equipment, captured by the Ascendants and their treacherous avatars. 

Now his life lay in the hands of another enemy: a raven of Aviary.

"So what now?" he asked. "Have you come to take over instead? Are you planning to rip into my mind yourself? Make me a good little spy."

The raven pressed her lips together. "Don't be so histrionic, Gate-Lord Arrow. You're far more used to us, coherent and willing, than a mind-broken slave. You'll discover that we aren't nearly so heavy-handed as your so-called Ascendants."

Adam narrowed his eyes at the raven. She used Gate-Lord. She knew his title. That meant she knew about Gate Theborn and everything that had happened there. Adam wondered how she was aware of so much.

He had been diligent in scouring his gate for any saboteurs or spies. None of the slaves were in any condition to serve as spies for the Stolen Throne. The mercenaries were especially monitored, and Uva had scoured their minds. Of course, she could have missed something, and Adam might have as well. However, he didn't think so. 

The weak point of his Gate couldn’t be the mercenaries or anyone within Gate Piety right now. Instead, his thoughts turned to another group of unwelcome visitors that bordered his gate. If there was one variable he couldn't control much at all, it was the orcs themselves.

"Before we do anything," Adam said, licking his dry lips as he took his blind swing, "I want to know something. I want to know if your informant inside my gate is an orc."

The raven was well-trained. She controlled her facial muscles well and held to an impassive expression. Unfortunately for her, she was dealing with someone with heroic-tier Awareness. Adam noticed a slight quiver in her facial muscles, the almost imperceptible twitch of her eyes. He also smelled a faint scent in the air, but then disregarded it as he realized it was the dead Psychomancer who just fouled himself. A snort of annoyance escaped Adam as he shook his head. Even that action caused his neck to flare up in agony.

Seer of Horizons 152 > 155

"You can't trust a damn greyskin bastard with anything. Did you bribe the orc, or is he an actual agent.” Adam sneered as he finished probing.

The blank look on the raven's face was gone now. Instead, she offered him a deep frown. "The dossier said you were astute, even for someone with prodigious Awareness. I see I've underestimated you."

"And I see you're avoiding the question," Adam replied. He took another guess and asked a follow-up question. He knew the raven wasn't going to answer this one either, but he had her measure. Adam could read her micro-expressions to some degree. "So, bribery then."

She controlled herself even better this time, but that faint twitch of her eye was still there. It was the slightest shudder, and Adam wouldn't have seen it at all if he wasn't concentrating so hard on her forehead. The gate lord added that potential problem to his list. Find a way to control what the orcs learned about gate piety. But that would be a long-term task. Far behind the pressing matter that troubled Adam right now.

The raven couldn't shake her look of displeasure as she reached under Adam's bed. He projected his Awareness to where her hand was as his anxiety spiked. He was worried that she was going to activate some kind of mechanism and finish him off. What he discovered then was a button of some kind. As soon as she pressed it, the restraints holding him in place gave a loud snapping sound before they retracted with the final click.

Adam drew in another breath and delicious air filled his lungs and realized how much the bonds were compressing his chest until they were undone. He tried to rise, but nearly curled in on himself in pain as every ligament and bone in his body screamed at him to stay still. Adam gained an architectural map of his own skeletal system from just how many parts of him combusted into searing swaths of suffering. Though his mind was clearing up, his body was still in no condition for battle, perhaps not even in condition for movement.

Adam took a second to center himself. A stray thought entered his consciousness as he wondered how Shiv would handle this misery. The Gate-Lord knew the answer to that. Shiv cared about pain like a bear gave a damn about bees when it was hungering for honey. The hurt existed, but it didn't matter. That wasn't Adam's mindset. No, Adam had to deal with things like physical and mental trauma, so he had to be considerate. Something Shiv skipped over sometimes.

Adam didn't much like pain. Adam didn't much like having a broken body, and Adam most certainly couldn't come back being near-death stronger than before.

Just then, the toughness evolution notification flashed before his eyes, and the Gate-Lord realized that wasn't entirely correct. If he got hurt one more time, perhaps that would push him over the threshold. Perhaps that would see him completely restored. He didn't know what awaited him with this upcoming Skill Evolution, but something told him he had to reach it if he wanted to escape from this place.

"Raven," Adam choked out, trying to hold back his distaste for the woman. “My wounds… Can you patch me?” She was his enemy, of that, there was no question, Aviary used people, and right now, he was simply a tool aligned with her interests. He had no illusions about her loyalties or ethics, but that didn't change the fact he needed her to help him. There was no one else he could rely on right now, and she was a Biomancer. Whatever they did to his body, he needed it fixed.

"Hold on," the raven interrupted him.

He felt the faint prodding sensation jab into his back. A slight pinprick of pain crawled across his skin, and numbness spread from the outer hive of Adam's flesh down to the very marrow of his bones. Soon the agony subsided, though he still felt a weight there. It was like his muscles had been turned to lead, but he couldn't complain. This was far better than feeling like his entire nervous system was on fire every passing second. Coolness glided through his veins, and Adam let out a relieved breath he didn't know he was holding.

Slowly, he pushed himself off the bed and shook his head. He still had some slight double vision, and the room was far too bright. Like his eyes were being stabbed by needles, each second they remained open. He could move now, and if he could move, he could fight. And if he could fight, he could be free.

"I synthesized some pain suppressants and administered them to your bloodstream," the raven explained. Adam could still feel her Biomancy curling within his flesh. It felt like snakes were wriggling their way through his body. "I'm removing the nerve damage Master-Avatar Stormhalt had me deliberately inflict to keep you incapacitated. It'll take a few moments longer for me to calcify the fractures I lined your bones with, and the many slight tears left upon your ligaments." 

She released a slight hum of curiosity. "Your armor was quite remarkable. By all means, you should have died when the Tarrasque hit you. You were more liquid than solid when they pried you out of your armor. Without the intervention of one of the Ascendants, you would have perished. They sacrificed an avatar to channel enough power to keep you alive. That's how close to death you were."

Adam rubbed his face and grimaced, just because his Ascendants had proven to be the enemy didn't mean he relished the death of one of their avatars. Aside from Stormhalt, Adam didn't much know the people that he was facing. He suspected some of them had families, friends. Some of them must still believe that they were faithful servants of the Republic. And for their lives to be spent to keep him alive, it felt beyond callous.

"They shouldn't have done that," Adam muttered.

"Oh, but they absolutely should," the Biomancer rebuffed. "After all, a Pathbearer with a Unique Skill and a Unique Feat, a direct connection to one of the rogue Ascendants, and one of the primary associates of the now infamous Deathless, is well worth the life of an avatar. Perhaps even a hundred."

"People are more than the sum of their skills,” Adam replied.

"And you actually believe that," Raven said, with the faintest hint of scorn in her voice.

"I do," Adam said, resolute. He lifted his head and glared at the woman. "I do, because I've seen societies that treat people based on their paths and skills, and I spit on those societies. When I was in Gate Theborn and the Abyss, I want you to know something. I want you to know that all the slaves there were wasted. I want you to know that everyone there could have been more than what they were if they were allowed to have other experiences, if they were allowed to add just whatever they had, what little they had.

“Instead, the society mauled itself. Spare me your pointless cynicism. I've seen the blackness festering in this world. I know more than what you think. You might be helping me escape, but don't think you're going to get to bludgeon me with your fetid ideology. Everyone is capable of greater glories than they assume. I know this. I've seen this. And it doesn't matter if you deny it."

That provoked the most obvious response from the raven. Her mouth parted behind the glass faceplate she wore, and for a moment Adam thought she was going to say something to rebuff him. Instead, she looked away, and his gaze followed hers. By now, his vision had cleared enough, and the room made itself known. Spell patterns crawled along the walls, and they lingered there ominously. So long as Adam remained here, he wouldn't be able to use his own magic. But the Biomancer could, further confirming that this place was specifically designed to keep him a prisoner.

However, there was another problem. Adam couldn't find any semblance of a door or exit for this place. Aside from the spell patterns, the room was mostly a blank white cube. The ground had smears of blood and splatters of other fluid. Adam guessed that it must have originated from his body. Just noticing that made him feel nauseous once more.

"He's around your size," the Biomancer said finally.

Adam looked to her, but then realized what she was saying. His gaze fell on the Psychomancer, and he understood what she intended. A wince crawled over the gate lord's face as he noticed just how much blood painted the front side of the Psychomancer's armor. It was like a crimson waterfall had been allowed to flow down the prismatic plate. He was about to complain about the state of the Psychomancer's armor when the raven waved a finger. 

Suddenly, the blood that stained the front of the Psychomancer twirled into the air, forming into a dense sphere that she promptly compressed further, shrinking down to a small dot. She made a pulling motion, and it reeled into the center of her hand.

With that done, she walked over to the Psychomancer and began undoing the man's armor. At the same time, the blood she just took from the man fused over his head, becoming a solid red helmet, which even had a frog helm-style visor.

"Did you just make a mask for me using that man's blood?" Adam asked incredulously. He tried to stand, but his legs shook. He tested one step, and then another. The ground was miserably cold, but at least Adam could still feel the temperature. Better than being crippled.  It took everything he had not to collapse, but he managed. Slowly, his balance was returning to him, but his disbelief remained.

"Of course," the Biomancer said as if it was no big deal. Her fingers worked fast, and she seemed to have no issue stripping the Psychomancer bare, even though she was wearing thick gloves. One piece after another came free, and soon it was the Psychomancer that stood bare before Adam. And that was the most unnerving thing. The man still stood. His body was rigid and tight, even in death. The man was skinny enough that Adam could see every outline of tissue and tendon in the dead man’s body, and they were drawn taut.

By this point, the Gate-Lord was beginning to suspect that the system wanted him to develop a phobia of Biomancers. With all the time he spent with Shiv, with the time he spent facing the first blood, or that orc Biomancer that was now trying to teach Shiv his art, the thought of someone being able to reach into his body using magic to subvert his very flesh with their will filled the Gate Lord with a deep sense of unease.

I really, really need a personal Magical Resistance Skill, Adam thought to himself.

He suppressed his worry and put on the Psychomancers' clothes. The raven was correct in asserting that the other man was around his size, but he was still thinner than Adam, and parts of his inner uniform and gambeson felt stifling. The rest of the armor was a bit better, but still ill-fitting. That didn't last long. 

The prismatic armor made a few clicks as it adjusted around Adam. The minor size modulation enchantment was quite a common thing in the Republic. It saved the military a great deal of money when one set of armor can be worn by several different people.

And that wasn't the only benefit it provided to Adam. He suddenly heard a crackle in the back of his mind. Whispers glided against his consciousness like the rustling of leaves. And there was also a lingering sense of emotion that lay just beyond the boundaries of his mental reach. This armor also included Magical Resistance and a strength-boosting enchantment. Its physical durability was nothing compared to his Legendary armor. But even so, having some armor was better than walking nude through the prison, despite the momentary advantage that shock value might provide.

The final thing that Adam adjusted was the blood helm, the Biomancer made for him. He pulled at the visor, sliding it up and down, and found that it was extremely well designed. More importantly, it didn't feel like blood, it felt like steel. And that was when he began to suspect that the Raven was more than just a Biomancer. Perhaps she was a Bio-Geomancy fusion, considering the texture of the blood, how it felt like reinforced titanium. Adam thought that was probably a good guess.

"Right then," he said, looking at his uneasy ally. "So, how are we getting out of this place?"

"We have to be teleported," she replied. "No way in, no way out, but through spatial magic. Of course, if you're strong enough, you can tear open the Orichalcum walls that surround this chamber. But I'm assuming that you don't have legendary tear strength, do you, Gate-Lord Arrow?"

This Raven liked to tease. Adam let her. Maybe she would let slip some additional details.

"The armor, is it working properly?" She asked.

Adam gave her a brief nod. "Let me guess, we need to use the Psychomancy enchantment connected to the armor to communicate with someone. Only after that can we be moved out from this cell."

Once more, his words took the raven by surprise.

"It wasn't that hard of a guess," Adam said. "Containment control and redundancy is very common in the Republic. The concept of the cell makes sense to me as well. The Academy taught us cage and control strategies. In the field, if we need to interrogate or even construct a bivouac to provide medical or psychological assistance to one of our comrades, the simple thing to do was simply creating a pocket of space in the underground, lining it with reinforced metal, and then building from there." 

Though he wanted to keep going, but he stopped himself. He was quite proud about what he learned at the Academy. But he remembered he was speaking to a raven, and she probably knew about their strategies better than he.

"Quite so," the raven said. "But before we call for aid, there's one final thing I must do." She looked around at the chamber and made a gesture. A few shapes composing some of the spell patterns came aglow. She pointed at them. "I lined those spells into the walls over the course of the past few weeks. Not only here but other locations like this. It’s the reason why the observers haven’t noticed anything.” She let out a satisfied sigh. “It’s quite a feat, you know. Compromising the Rubix Well.”

"The well?" Adam asked. “Wait. I’m in a bloody Rubix Well.”

"You're in the ultimate Rubix Well," the raven explained. "I'm sure you understand what that entails."

Adam had a suspicion, but he didn't fully connect the dots until now. I was still a little bit disoriented. Great. So I could be anywhere. Even if I managed to escape from this prison, I could be under the ocean, or underground, or even within a gate.

"Oh, it's worse than that," the raven said with a sing-song voice. "You're right near the capital. In fact, I would say you're utterly surrounded by it."

Adam's jaw dropped. He managed to guess what she was implying in an instant. The capital of the Yellowstone Republic was built around the Yellowstone Supervolcano. The ever-erupting volcano was also the seat to the Ascendants' combined power. It was said that they brought peace and prosperity to the land from here, drawing upon its endless energy and boundless fire to serve as a forge in the construction of an egalitarian empire. If what the raven said was true, then he might just be at the very bottom of said volcano. That meant this place was surrounded by lava, and likely not magical lava at that.

Going to need my armor back if I want to take a dip in this place, Adam thought to himself. He remembered how he and Shiv had to repel the Vulteg invasion. And then Adam realized Shiv was probably here as well. Where else would they bring the most valuable enemy on Integrated Earth if they wanted to contain him, after all.

"Now, give me a moment." She turned her attention on the Psychomancer and placed her hands around his head. Adam wanted to keep asking her for more details, but he fell silent as sickening sounds of ripping flesh and cracking bone filled the room. The Gate Lord's eyes widened as the Psychomancer had his flesh sculpted.

The first thing Adam noticed was the fat being drained out of the man's face. He was thin, but his cheeks were still fuller than Adam's in several ways. The fat then shifted, traveling along the edges of his cheekbones until they were deposited in his ear. It took a few moments of manipulation, but his ears finally widened slightly, resembling Adam's. Then the man's nose broke. 

A splash of blood sprayed free from his nostrils, and it was reconstructed several times. Its bridge was elongated, tearing the skin. Then the Biomancer managed to heal what she destroyed. And soon the man had a nose that looked like Adam. She continued on. The rest of the face was mutilated and remolded in intimate detail.

By the end, Adam thought he was looking at another version of himself, a clone. Yet, as he concentrated his Awareness, he still noticed a few discrepancies, faint outlines of scarring, ridges of hardened tissue resting just beneath the exterior. The raven's work wasn't perfect, but for the amount of time she spent on it and the overall accuracy was staggering.

"Help me place him on the bed,” she asked.

Adam didn't hesitate. He picked the Psychomancer up and laid him where Adam used to. Once more, the Biomancer struck the button beneath the bed and the clamps slammed around the man once more. 

Adam noticed the adamantine texture of the restraints and went slightly. No wonder he couldn't break out. But then she said something about Orichalcum that made him frown. Orichalcum was a godly metal, something so rare that many went their entire lives without ever laying eyes on it. Adam had, mainly because Shiv developed an Orichalcum-related skill for his toughness.

"Just," Adam paused, "how long have I been incapacitated?"

"At this point, approximately a day," she said, "and took most of that to keep you alive. Now, I must tell you something about your Psychomancy-enchantment. Don't use it. Your mind is not cleared for the local network. If you try to use the enchantment, you will likely compromise us both. Let me do the interfacing."

Adam made an open-handed gesture, acquiescing, and then he waited. The Biomancer did nothing obvious, but he saw how her eyes twitched. She was having a mental conversation with someone, and, approximately a second later, several pockets of Dimensionality opened in the room, but that wasn't all Adam noticed. He saw how certain spell patterns along the walls flared ablaze, leaking mana all throughout the chamber. 

As soon as the reinforcements arrived, Adam realized they were other Biomancers as well. Judging from the white gowns and glass faceplates they wore, they channeled their magic into the now-dead Psychomancer who had been sculpted to resemble Adam.

The raven put on a performance. Her voice rose to a shrill pitch as she cried out, "He's flat lined, severe damage, I don't know, I don't know what happened to him, I was called back by venison. And when I got here he was gone, gone for a moment with arrow having a seizure."

She suddenly turned on Adam and reached out with a hand. She seized him by the neck and throttled him slightly. He was taken aback by her sudden violence but managed to piece her plan together. He was the Psychomancer. The aforementioned Venison.

What a terrible name, Adam winced beneath his new helmet.

And now she was blaming him for “Adam Arrow's” supposed death. This was how they were going to get out. She was going to bring him to a brig.

"I've been trying to keep his blood pumping," the raven said. "No response, no brain activity."

Another one of the Biomancers, a heavyset goblin who looked male to Adam's eyes, began channeling waves of red mana out from his small, four-fingered hands. The bulk of that mana swirled around Adam's head, and the body began to twitch violently.

"I need… I need… I need." The raven began to hyperventilate.

The other Biomancer reached out briefly, patting the raven on the shoulder. "Get out of here and take him with you." Adam caught sight of the other Biomancer for the first time, and noted them to be a tall, human male. "We'll do what we can to keep him alive. You're spent, Bethany. It's not your fault. We'll review the feeds later, but right now you need to take him and get out. Stormhalt gonna wanna hear this. We might need Enoch to come in and help intervene on our behalf."

"Of course." Once more, the raven looked ahead, and her eyes widened. She shot Adam a look, and he understood what was coming, even without any verbalizations. They were about to be teleported. Her plan had worked.

A sudden clench of pressure washed over Adam, and he nearly fell over. He was wrong. He was still not in the best shape, but he could move. And if I can move… I can fight…  I need to stay standing, Adam told himself. I just have to stay standing. One foot in front of the other.

He clung to that mantra as the teleportation ended.

They found themselves in the anchor. The room around them was cylindrical, and the doorway was wide open. New Biomancers rushed in. A few of them asked the raven what was happening. She repeated the story she came up with earlier, and Adam caught several ugly looks pointed in his direction.

"This is not good," a tall elven woman snarled. "Avatar Stormhalt just left. He told us that we couldn't make any mistakes with this, that we need to see the process finished."

"I'm going to get Enoch right now," the raven continued, "and I'm bringing him with me. Whatever he's done, he will answer to the ascendance, and we'll make sure of it. It wasn't our fault."

But once she reached out and took Adam by the shoulder, she pulled him out of the room, dodging an influx of additional Biomancers.

"It won't be long now," the raven whispered, leaning close to Adam. He appreciated her grasp, because it made it easier for him to walk. Still, he stumbled and ground along the hallway walls. And it was then that he noticed they were made from a red-gold substance, the same red-gold that constituted Shiv's Toughness skill. This was Orichalcum. And as Adam looked ahead, he guessed that there was a hundred meters to this hallway, before it led into a far wider room.

He cast his Awareness skill far beyond his body, and as it arrived in the following chamber, Adam found himself staring at what seemed to be some sort of command center. There were people everywhere, several groups of Pathbearers interfacing with large focus crystals built in the form of an obelisk. They pulsated with Psychomancy, and the mind-manas effusing from these constructs spiked directly down, passing through the ground and vanishing elsewhere. 

There was something else as well, Adam could feel the Hydromancy mana circulating beyond the walls under his feet in the ceiling. It didn't take him long to guess that there must have been mithril supports built through the structure. Some of the wealthier Pathbearers in Blackedge built their houses this way. It allowed for greater heat or coolness depending on the change of the seasons. It also allowed them to modify their own residences in a variety of ways. When the house itself could serve as a conduit for magic, there were a great many things one could enjoy, but it was also remarkably expensive.

Roland had decided against applying such an overarching fix for all of Starhawk's Perch. It was a large structure, and they still used the old ways. His father wasn't a wasteful man, but now Adam suspected that it was because Starhawk's Perch was a sacred phylactery, and changing it in any form might have damaged the connection between his father and their patron god.

Godsdammit, father, just how much were you hiding from me? About yourself? And about the Republic. I don’t even know we are anymore. I don’t know who I am anymore.

For a moment, Adam's mind went out to his father, to Uva, to Valor, and everyone in Blackedge. He remembered the colors of the outside, of the grand fissure that tore a gap into reality, swallowing the town whole before the Tarrasque descended. He remembered, and he grimaced. He hoped they were all right now. He hoped they were safe right now, wherever they were. But knowing the system, Uva was probably struggling just as much as he was, if not more. The outside was a nightmarish place. But if there was someone capable of navigating it, it was Sister Uva Mettabon.

Better her than me, Adam thought. And that came with a slight pang of jealousy. It was better her than him when it became to being the Starhawk's avatar as well. But he shrugged that aside. He understood the irrationality of his envy. But he also knew that he wanted to serve in his father's stead. He wanted to bear the burden of protecting his town, and it should have been him.

No, no, it really shouldn't, Adam said internally. Stop thinking that way. Stop thinking that way. You're still recovering. Your mind's drifting. Focus, Arrow. One foot enough in front of the other.

"We won't have long," the raven said as they drew close to the command center. "The other Biomancers will notice several discrepancies about his body. He'll be coming for us soon. My cover will effectively be burned, and I hope to be out of here by then." A beep followed. "I really hope you understand the cost of my actions."

"I understand the rewards you might gain more," Adam shot back. "You might be able to get at the Starhawk through me. Should he ever return more, you might be able to get at the Deathless. And that's the main thing, isn't it? You're after the reward on his life."

The Raven chuckled. "Let's just say the Stolen Throne is more curious about why the system wants him dead so bad, rather than greedy, about a few Legendary Skills."

"A few?" Adam hissed. "It wasn't a few, it's ten! I would be tempted to kill Shiv for ten legendary skills." Adam blinked as he considered that statement. Hells, I was tempted to kill Shiv even when there wasn't a reward.

The raven regarded him with a wry look. "You must really care for him.”

And Adam reminded himself once more that he was dealing with a spy. "Something like that," he said nonchalantly. "But I must warn you, trying to play these games with Shiv is a bit like sticking your hand in a fire. He will burn you eventually. And being near him is a surefire way to get killed."

"You're still alive," the raven shot back.

"Yes," Adam said, "and that's not because the system is merciful. It tried. It failed. It keeps failing. I’m still here. And I’m not done. Not nearly." A hint of iron entered Adam's voice, and the Raven fell quiet.

They staggered through the command center, and Adam used the time to survey its layout in detail. He counted approximately 200 Pathbearers here. Most of them were Psychomancers, and they were processing strands of mana that were filtered through the obelisk crystal structures he saw earlier. Adam also noted an odd section to the wall. There was a portion of Orichalcum that was half a centimeter off from the parts below. It was like it was slightly pressed inward. That told Adam it wasn't a design flaw, so he concentrated his Seer of Horizons there, and soon found himself capable of slipping through the gap. There were sounds on the other side, and as it grew louder, Adam transported his Heroic-Tier Awareness skill into a new place entirely.

He got beyond the current structure they were in, and found that he was inside what seemed to be a large cube. They were traveling via complex gear network. Massive mechanisms turned and rattled, pulling the entire chamber they were in along the insides of a complex superstructure. Adam continued casting his Awareness from place to place, and soon found his cube adjacent to several others. He managed to slip into them as well, but he realized most of the surrounding cubes were a bit like his. 

However, there were some cubes that were more like guard stations. They were smaller than the large cube he was in, and they didn't have so many Psychomancers. Instead, they were filled with combat-ready Pathbearers. And that's how Adam realized they were wardens. There were many of them. Many cubes, and they were all in motion, each one sliding into place. The entire system here was like a series of bricks being slotted from position to position. When one cube moved, it made way for another, and so this large mechanism was almost constantly in motion.

He checked a few other cubes and found himself startled by scenes of brutal battle. After a few moments of observation, he realized the prison was at war with itself in places—but he kept that detail from the raven. He wanted to see if she would mention it—if she knew at all.

Something else might be happening here. Something that smells like Shiv. Heh. The Ascendants might be the first to touch the fire.

A tug on Adam's shoulder made him draw his Awareness back into himself, and he found that the Biomancer was leading him toward the new chamber at the opposite end of the hallway. Approximately five meters away was another teleportation anchor, but rather than great many spells lining its cylindrical form, there were lockers built in the side. A sign hung above its doorway stating, Decontamination Zone. As they crossed through, the raven immediately began stripping out of her medical attire, and she briefly looked over her shoulder at Adam.

"Take your helmet off last," she said. She reached over and ripped a locker open. Inside he saw two sets of clothing. One was specifically his size as well. She pulled it out and handed it to him. Adam regarded the black-gray uniform with a faint look of unease.

"Out of the armor?" he asked. “I’m not sure if that’s wise.”

"You're not going to be able to keep it anyway," she said. "It's only meant to get you through security, and you don't want them to use it to track you. Mentally. Now hurry."

"Do you need help?"

He shook his head. "No, I'll manage."

He was familiar enough with the Republic's armor patterns that he managed to disassemble the plates. In short order, still his hands were shaking, and he didn't nearly have as much dexterity as he would when healthy. But a faint strength was returning to him. He might not be capable of fighting now, but soon, very soon, he'd be more like himself again. As both he and the raven put on a change of uniforms, she tapped the helmet on his head, and suddenly it shifted. 

It went from being a frog helm of some kind to a cylindrical dome-shaped object, and parts of it flowed down his neck across his arms until they clasped his hands in a similar material. Adam realized she was disguising him as an automaton now. Most humans wouldn't be able to tell unless they had the proper Skill Evolutions, and with everything happening, most of the automatons here were likely distracted too.

She closed her locker, and triggered the decontamination process with a wave of her hand. The spells hanging above them came alight with mana, and just then a blaring siren sounded.

"Attention! All Pathbearers within the current cube! Stop Pathbearers! Pathbearers Bethany and Venison are to be detained and held! Repeat, detain and hold! Do not let them leave! If you have spotted Pathbearers Bethany and Venison, please intercept. Their last known location is the decontamination chamber in the port side quadrant."

As the Psychomantic broadcast ended, Adam just shook his head. “It all had to go wrong at some point.”

"Not a moment too soon," the raven declared. As the spells began to spiral above, Adam gave her a worried look. A banging sounded from the outside, but she didn't seem nervous at all. "Just give it a moment," she said. "I've made sure that—"

Suddenly the spell above them changed. A few patterns broke out of place and slid into other sections. The glowing magic that pulsated with Biomancy, Pyromancy, Psychomancy, and more turned into something of Dimensionality. A wave of black static fell from above, consuming both Adam and the raven. Suddenly another pressure gripped him, and he found himself being flung across a vast tunnel of space.

"I've prepared for this for a long while," the raven elaborated. "I've been here for years. My cell and I have compromised a good amount of the cubes over the time period, and we've kept up with our subversion in the meantime as well. You will be arriving within a safe house there. We will see you stored," and suddenly there was a ripple of instability. The Dimensionality mana surrounding them shivered, and for the first time the raven seemed disquieted. She looked down to her left and Adam did as well. A hole had been opened in the mana tunnel they were traveling through, and Adam realized what was happening.

A figure burst in. They were humanoid in size, but Adam caught sight of a glinting weapon in their hands. He reacted.

"That—" was all the raven managed to say before Adam threw himself against her, flaring his vector-wings into existence.

Vectors of the Eternal Ascent 139 > 140

A projectile snapped free from the invading Pathbearer tore past Adam’s shoulder, barely missing him. That attack was infused with Dimensionality mana as well—-Adam could feel its sheer magical potency as it tore past him. It punched another hole through the tunnel surrounding them, and suddenly the pressure dragging him across space itself collapsed. Adam found himself being flung free, and the raven cried aloud, any semblance of control lost. He wasn't so cool and unflappable anymore, and the Gate-Lord knew their escape plan had finally gone off the rails.

"Never going to let me have a smooth journey, are you, system," Adam growled.

The world came into shape around him once more. He barked out a cry of pain as his body slammed against the cold, hard ground. Instead of being at some kind of stay safe house, Adam found himself laying in a valley. His head was pressed against a wall, but just then a loud, resounding impact made him jolt. 

Something had barely missed him. Something had bounced off the wall just a few centimeters away from his face. As he turned, he found himself in the middle of an active war zone. Pathbearers were tearing into each other. Prismatic armored wardens were fighting in groups, trying to contain several barely dressed prisoners. It took little time for Adam to put the pieces together and realize he was in one of the compromised cubes, trapped in a prison riot.

One was an elven woman with framed snake-like tattoos that curled around her body. There was something insectoid about her features as well, especially with the antenna jutting out from her forehead. She used that antenna to whip at the air, and Adam realized she wasn't striking blindly. 

Several wardens fell apart in pieces thereafter, and the elven woman let out a chilling laugh as she threw herself into the fray once more, not far away. An automaton composed of spinning blades was being held against the Orichalcum walls by a group of heavily armored vanguards. Though the wardens fought with all their might, the automaton seemed to be content with where he was, slowly sawing through their tower shields and chipping at their armor. It even hummed the jaunty tune while it was at it.

There came a scream of noise from above, and something glided fast overhead. By the time Adam looked up, he saw what appeared to be a chain of glowing orbs descending, and the gate lord's eyes widened. He didn't know what they were, but when something was glowing and falling, the human brain didn't need to make too many leaps before they got to the conclusion of a bomb.

A groan sounded beside Adam, and he realized that the raven was laying flat on the ground. Her face was covered in blood, and he realized it wasn't hers, as not far away the severed remains of a warden lay. And it was with that severed remains that Adam leapt out to grab.

"Help me," Adam cried out. He pulled the warden back, and the raven was too disoriented to respond. Instead, he pressed his body against hers and held the warden's armored form high.

Just then, the falling bomblets impacted the ground, and a wave of magical force swept through the narrow valley they found themselves in. The world turned bright. Adam hissed at the heat, patches of his skin burned, but it would have been far worse if he didn't have something with Magical Resistance to shield him. The raven screamed as well. She twitched and shuddered behind him. 

There came a violent snap as Adam felt the dead warden's armor break apart. Its Magical Resistance had shattered, and soon he would feel the full sting of the Pyromancy eating through the valley. Just then, however, a blast of coldness swept through the space, severing the heat at its root.

Adam dropped the dead pathbearer he was using as a shield and winced as he tried to ignore how raw and painful his skin felt. He patted at the few patches where his uniform was burning, and he put the raven out as well. Her flesh was an angry raw red, and her eyes were blot-shot, but aside from that, she was mostly fine. 

By this point, her training had taken over, and she was casting spells. She used her magic to mend herself, and then mend Adam as well, but the gate lord's attention wasn't on her, instead was on a towering creature, a kind that Adam had never seen before. The creature had a large reptilian head and mostly human torso, though it was devoid of any nipples. Its arms, however, were several serpents, and they clamped down on a few downed and groaning wardens, swallowing them whole. The strange creature's legs were also like a jungle of vines, sprawling across the ground and allowing it to glide fast along the walls and floor. As Adam noticed it, it noticed Adam as well, and narrowed its eyes.

"Oh shit," Adam growled. He held out a hand and pulled moisture from the air. A bow manifested, its length long and its weight sturdy. He shaped a Veilpiercer, and fought through the weakness still pulling at his body. "Raven!" he growled. "Stay with me. We're moving."

"What?"

The strange snake-human hybrid blasted forward, moving so fast that Adam barely reacted in time. But he did. He fired an arrow right between him and the serpent, and then fired two more in quick succession. Both arrows impacted the serpent, but Adam wasn't expecting it to do any harm. He was weak right now, and far too close. His arrows needed distance to build up velocity and kinetic energy. 

But that wasn't the main thing he was trying to do. 

Instead, three-dimensional pathways opened up before him, and the serpent's attacks were prevented from arriving directly. Through this encounter, Adam also gauged the raven's Reflexes Skill. She was probably an Adept. She reacted far too slowly, but she still followed things in the aftermath. And so, it was with the cry of surprise that she found herself being dragged along down another dimensional pathway.

The moment after Adam fired three arrows, he fired a fourth with a new pair of hydrokinetic arms—a fourth that led them down along the narrow corridor of this strange place. She kicked her legs and looked up as Adam flared his wings. They went from being still to moving impossibly fast in an instant. As soon as they came free from the other side, the serpent was close behind them. The damn creature was fast, ridiculously fast. It had passed through Adam's dimensional pathways in an instant, and it was closing on him. But he had an advantage it didn't. 

Adam suddenly went downward, changing his vector without suffering any inertial consequence. The same couldn't be said for the snake-like entity. Instead, it tumbled along the walls, its many fiber-like legs lashing and spearing out, trying to seize him before he folded behind it, trying to find a surface for purchase to arrest its momentum. It failed. It crashed along the leftmost walls and tumbled down to the ground. It slammed into another group of wardens, currently trying to hold the man made from literal flames down.

Adam fired another dimensional arrow and kept going. "Raven!" he called out. "I need you to figure out where we are, and I also need to know if you've subverted any kind of teleportation anchor here. I think someone intercepted our escape plan, and I think we might be in the prison itself."

The raven fought to control her breathing, but gave him a certain nod thereafter. As soon as they emerged from the dimensional pathway, Adam cried out as something slammed hard into his side. A series of cracks rattled through his body, and he felt all his ribs break. His vision darkened momentarily, and it stayed dark as something tightened around his neck. A hissing sound followed, and Adam expected to see the snake-human hybrid. 

Instead, the insectoid elven woman he saw earlier was here. 

She stood across from him, the tattoos lining her body glowing, snakes undulated free from her, from beneath her tattered clothes, seeping out from her bare skin as hardened ropes of water-mana. Adam tried to turn her magic aside, but she was strong, the strongest Hydromancer he'd felt, and he couldn't remember. 

The Gate-Lord gagged. Beside him, the raven choked as well. She tried to cast a Biomancy spell at the elf that held them, but the magic she channeled was simply split apart as it crashed into the elf's body. Worse yet, the moment the Biomancy mana impacted the elf, her tattoos flared even brighter, and a cruel smile grew across her face. The elf was bald, and her head was brutally scarred. 

But it wasn't a messy scarring, it was ritualistic, and from it there came a whispering noise, a hissing sound Adam heard, a chanting, and compelled him to project his Awareness into the tissue. As his Seer of Horizons rested against the woman's skull, he realized there was something there, something dwelling just under her skin, chittering and chattering inside her skull. For the first time he began to suspect that this might not be an elf at all, but something wearing an elf's body.

"Oh, you think I missed the two of you," the elf said, she let out a slow growl. "If you think I'm going to let you escape, then I'm going to let a single guard here know. You are wrong, you are wrong, I will kill you, I will kill your families, I will drink the moisture from your bodies, and you will be a part of me for good. I will finish the ritual and the Feathered one will claim this wretched land as per their will in the name of the Bloodied Sun."

Adam had no idea what she was talking about, but he decided to respond to her by firing an arrow directly into her face. The veil piercer crashed against her chin, but rather than impacting her head in any way, it splashed into her skin and glided along her body. It became as if a tattoo itself. 

And just then, Adam realized he might be dealing with something a bit more than just Heroic. Oh good felling shit. 

The nightmarish elven Pathbearer gave him a smirk and slammed him back first against the wall. Two things happened to Adam then. His shoulder broke, and then he leveled up in Toughness again.

Repulsion Shroud 100 > 101 (Skill Evolution Reached)

Skill Evolution: Repulsion Shroud (Adept) > Phoenix Riposte (Heroic)

A choked cry turned into a resounding shout of surprise as Adam felt his body combust. He was suddenly consumed by a rush of force and a lightness took hold of him. A lightness as if he was a feather dancing on the air. And then he was moving fast. The world was twisting around him and instinct took hold. He knew there was a lot of force resting inside him, derived from his injury—a great deal of weight he needed to impart on something else before time ran out. And so Adam did. 

He launched himself directly into the elven Pathbearer that was holding him and let out a vicious shriek. Instead of hearing his own voice, the sound of a hawk echoed through the air and Adam slammed into the elf, not as a person, but as a comet of falling flame.

A blast followed, a blast of force and fading ash. The elf was driven back a step and Adam's cracked shoulder became a large bruise instead. It still hurt, but rather being a jagged stabbing pain, it was simply a throbbing ache. The combustion faded from Adam's body and soon weight returned to him as well. He stood before the stunned elven Pathbearer and took advantage of her surprise. 

He jammed a fist against her face and winced as his knuckle cracked. Once more his body came ablaze, but the intensity was lesser and he realized the time he could burn was far shorter as well. The moment he came alight, he began returning to his physical form again. But Adam didn't let that opportunity go and said he drove himself against the elven Pathbearer and the impact that should have cracked one of his knuckles simply became a bruise once more. This time the elven Pathbearer wasn't driven back, but she was still startled. And Adam began to get a hang on his new skill evolution.

New plan, he clapped the elven Pathbearer across her left ear, not physically, but using a brief pulse of necromancy. A splash of corrosive mana disfigured the rim of the elven Pathbearer's ear and she let out a cry of alarm. 

The same time, Adam fired an arrow straight down and plunged through a dimensional pathway using his vector wings to accelerate even faster. He emerged from the wall right behind him and snatched the raven out from the elven Pathbearer's grasp. The serpents, distracted just like their master was, gave little struggle as Adam slashed through them using a hydrokinetic blade.

Yet his evolution and momentary cunning granted him a second of breathing room. The elven Pathbearer was still far greater than he was, a legend in reflexes as well. By all rights she should have cut him down. By all right the many snakes that infused her body should have lashed through the air and shredded him down to mincemeat and bloody mist. 

Before she could do anything, however, a splash of black static emerged behind her and a hand was driven through her chest. Suddenly the snakes extended from her being splashed down, becoming nothing more than droplets of water. The elven Pathbearer groaned, and she stared at the appendage jutting free from her chest. 

What it clutched however wasn't a heart, but what seemed to be a porous organ lined with strange insects. It resembled a pulsating hive with strange wriggling creatures crawling along its surface. Adam thought they resembled snakes as well, but they had feathers at the end instead of scaly tails. 

They looked up at the elf and let out a vicious cry. The noise was thin like a whistle, but it was bad enough that it gave Adam a nosebleed. The elven Pathbearer clutched at the arm jutting free from her, tried to pull it free, but then another hand went out from inside her, and soon she was ripped in half and both sides of her corpse impacted the walls and Adam kept flying.

He caught sight of the figure from earlier. It was a tall Pathbearer clad in black static armor. He wielded a massive scythe-like blade that also doubled as a great bow, and Adam recognized this enemy. This Pathbearer was the one that knocked both he and the raven off track when they were trying to escape through the anchor. "Oh good felling shit," Adam hissed again. “Godsdammit, system just give me—”

The new Pathbearer vanished in a swell of black static. It was only instinct and guesswork that kept Adam from being knocked unconscious. He pointed his vector wing straight down and a fist cut through the air where he used to be. The dimension-piercing Pathbearer emerged a good meter above Adam, but he swung the massive arm down and let out an audible curse as he missed. Adam cried out. He was about to say something else when the hostile Pathbearer accelerated into him. 

Adam gave out a cry as he was driven down against the floor, and once more his Phoenix Riposte Skill activated. The enemy Pathbearer couldn't hold onto him. Adam swirled around the man's body and slammed into them one more time. He got a new bruise from the experience and fired two Veilpiercers straight into their lower back. 

Both dimensional arrows bounced off like wooden javelins greeting steel plate. The Pathbearer swung his arm cracking Adam across the jaw and once more Phoenix Riposte activated. Adam's teeth should have shattered. His jaw should have turned into nothing but shards of bone. Instead, he slammed against the offending Pathbearer once more and drove their head off at an angle.

As Adam returned, he kicked off the enemy Pathbearer with a backflip and fired an arrow directly above him. As he plunged through the dimensional space, it collapsed immediately and he felt himself displaced out from the same side he was trying to escape through. This time, there was nowhere to go. Instead of hitting him, the enemy Pathbearer seized him by the throat and pinned him to the wall gently.

"What is it with you bastards and strangulation?" Adam cried out through gritted teeth.

"Nice attempt," the enemy Pathbearer growled, "but you're finished. This is done. You're going back to your cell."

Adam grabbed the enemy Pathbearer's arm and tried to pry it free. He wasn't strong enough, but as he applied his hydrokinetic mana to the effort, he felt something change inside of him. He felt unlatching of his very being as something was unblocked within him. And just then his strength skill evolved as well. But that wouldn't be enough to save him.

A collapsing wave of Biomancy slammed against Adam and it was only his own Veilpiercer that kept him from being cast somewhere else immediately. Yet Adam cried out as his Dimensionality mana was practically flayed to its foundations. He wasn't a master wrestling against a heroic. He was a master facing something far greater.

Veilpiercer 163 > 165

Adam managed to endure for a full second and after that everything went to hell. Darkness curled around Adam and the cold hand of another Pathbearer seemed fated to be the guide that decided Adam's path.

Yet Adam wasn't quite done just yet. He fired an arrow off to his left and rather than aiming at the hunting Pathbearer his own arrow slammed into the side of his head so hard that it should have been fatal. Yet Adam came ablaze. Suddenly he shot past the enemy Pathbearer and he crashed against the wall. 

As soon as he did, a good portion of the force inflicted upon him was displaced. Adam slid down the wall with a swollen lump on his head, rather than a shattered skull or even a concussion. Yet that only brought him half a second of time. Adam accelerated backward using his vector-wings and he barely avoided a swinging hand. One that left actual scratches on the Orichalcum. 

Adam's eyes widened, and then they widened further as Adam noticed the large snake-bodied Pathbearer approaching the dimensional hunter from behind. And it was then that Adam reacted. He tore his uniform and struck himself in the jaw. Once more, he turned into a phoenix and bounced off the ground. He avoided the dimensional hunter that way and bought him just enough time for the snake-limbed Pathbearer to intervene. 

They slammed against the dimensional hunter, driving them against the wall and bouncing off the sides. The two struggled, their bodies in blows becoming a blur before Adam's eyes, but he had a few moments to breathe. She had a second to think.

"Raven," Adam called out, "I need you to..." And then he realized the agent was missing. “Shit!” He directed his Awareness—and found the corpse of the raven smeared against the wall. At some point, something struck her—flattened her entirely. Adam didn’t even notice what killed her.

A large pitch black arrow carved past Adam. It barely missed him, and he noticed the dimensional hunter being overpowered by the large serpent limbed prisoner, Adam moved to flee, but then his mind turned to other possibilities.

He knows just how many wardens were here, and just how many prisoners were fighting them. The prisoners here were strong, powerful, and right now, right now Adam was dressed too much like one of the wardens. If he managed to differentiate himself from the other prismatic armored people, he could mix in with the prisoners, and then his Tactical Overseer skill leveled as well.

Tactical Overseer 100 > 101 (Skill Evolution Reached)

Skill Evolution: Tactical Overseer (Adept) > Commander’s Foresight (Heroic)

Then suddenly, time halted. Adam's perspective shifted entirely, unlatching from his body, and looking down at the battlefield from high above, a swelling heat flooded his mind as he felt his consciousness overclock. And soon, Adam saw the world not as a person, but as a general looking down at a chessboard. 

And right now, there were a lot of useful pieces he could possess. So he lost the raven, but maybe he gained something far, far more. He used his Seer of Horizon Skill in tandem with his new Commander's Foresight, and began composing a plan. He isolated prisoners that were struggling against the guards first, and charted a path. Adam didn't know nearly enough to escape on his own, and he wasn't strong enough to stop some of his adversaries, but he would find people who could help. He would make them owe him.

Adam retracted his foresight back into his body, and he clenched his teeth as a rush of pain pulled at his mind. Doing that stopped time, but it also hurt his skull severely, and likely took a lot of his cognition to do. He needed to be mindful when he used that skill. He fired an arrow, and as it sailed through the world leaving a rupture, its other end impacted the head of an armored warden and sent them stumbling off to the side. 

That created a domino, as the Pathbearer they were trying to hold down burst free. A towering man composed of nothing but fire unleashed a wave of pyromancy. The other guards were launched back. People cooked inside their armors, and as Adam arrived, he found the burning man planting the foot on the skull of one of the wardens. He heard her scream, smelled her burning flesh, and winced as the burning man's foot melted through the female warden's helmet before finally cooking her brain matter as well. 

A moment of peace followed amidst the chaos. The burning man turned to regard Adam and noticed he had a veil piercer knocked. By this point, Adam's uniform was shredded, leaving his torso partially bare.

"You look like you needed help," Adam said, "and you look like you really want out of this prison. A man after my own heart. What say we stick together and start increasing our odds."

The burning man regarded Adam briefly, and rather than eyes, he had two white spots that flickered. Adam felt uneasy. For a moment, he considered if the burning man was just going to incinerate him instead, but then the burning man let out a low rasp. "I would hug you right now for saying those words, but I don't think you would survive it."

"That's fine," Adam replied. "I think you should hug a few guards for me, except that as a recompense. I think we should go make a few more friends, too." Adam looked around. "It seems like there are more people than just us who wish to leave.”

And that made the burning man snicker, "Can't just be us, indeed. I like you, bowman. But stay back. These flames are not good for your health.”

“Duly noted.” 

Adam Arrow was good at making friends when he put his mind to it.