Unbound

The sky was black with a storm rolling into Elderthrone from the southwest, out over the Bitter Sea. Heva was wrapped in her enchanted cowl, the only thing that kept her warm and dry despite the downpour. There had been a lot of storms the past few days, and they were getting worse.

Rain rolled over the coast, sizzling against their protective wards. The Bitter Sea was acidic, but it wasn't truly dangerous, not this close to the shore. At most it would cause some minor burns. Heva had heard stories about people falling overboard when they tried to brave the distant depths and dissolving the very moment their flesh touched the water. She shuddered.

Ahead, perhaps a half-league away, the coast truly opened up before them. Giant waves crashed against massive breakwaters formed of chitin and slabs of massive stone. The mages of Elderthrone had erected the breakwater months ago, going so far as to work a complicated series of wards into their construction. They had been told it was to keep the threat of storms at bay and an attack from the water unlikely. Heva had never truly understood why the Emperor and his Chancellor had decided to build it—no Territory on the Continent ever fought by sea. The risks were too dire.

Now, however, she was seeing the value.

Waves smashed into the breakwater again, a rainbow hue of wards flashing up and over their sizable bulk. The Bitter Sea did not relent, and that was why they were out there. Heva and her team had escorted a number of Legion mages out past the city walls and dense forest in order to check on the breakwater, in order to make sure the constructs were holding as the storms grew worse.

Six Arclights bent low over inscriptions on a piece of mithril set into the earth. It was called an access pillar according to Merk, though she didn’t explain how she knew the term; none of their group were particularly knowledgable about magic, but Merk used sigaldry in her Spirit Skills. She’d explained how the breakwater worked, but Heva didn’t have the Mind for inscription.

I’ve always been more of a fan of smithing, really.

The sprinkling rain poured over the ward that shielded them all from the wet, outlining its shape better than the Hobgoblin’s old eyes could manage. Sigaldry shone beneath the Arclights’ hands as they traced out some sort of problem with the connection. Heva wished she could have been more help, but all of them had their limits. All she could do was wait and protect the mages until they finished their work.

"You know," Merk said from her side, "it's pretty ironic. New ranks, fancy cloaks, all in order to keep patrolling like we always have."

"Hey, watching over people's homes is important work," Merk countered, adjusting her purple cloak around herself. "Just not flashy."

"It is," Heva agreed, her tone calm. She could feel Merk getting irritated again with their stoic defender and decided to head off their eventual explosion, for there always was one. "It is also something that many among the Legion can handle and do every day with little complaint or issue."

"No corruption either," Cade pointed out in her deep voice. Her eyes were constantly scanning the forest behind them, just as Heva was watching the sea. "I'm still surprised about that."

"It's because we all live in the same places we work," Merk said. "All the guards I'd ever encountered, whether it was in Haarwatch or Setoria or even as far as Asterfel, they're all the same. They were made to suck up to the nobles, protecting them, because that's who pays their salaries.”

“A grim reality,” Stellis agreed.

“Someone check my heartbeat, I think I might be dead! Stellis, agreeing with me!” Merk snorted.

The stoic woman frowned further than usual. “You jest.”

“Of course I do, stick in the mud. Between you and Cade having a gruff-off and grandma over here always talkin’ about her precious family, someone has to have some fun."

I don’t talk about my granddaughter that much? Heva bit her lip. Do I?

“Fun.” Stellis glanced down at the Goblin. “There is little room for fun on the battlefield.”

“We’re always on battlefields.”

Stellis’ lips thinned into something approaching a smile. “So we are.”

“My point is that corruption is rampant everywhere guards are hired. Not here though. Because in Elderthrone, there ain't no nobles," she said with a grin.

"Except for the Emperor," Stellis corrected.

Merk shrugged. "Sure, but he doesn't need guards, does he? He has the whole Legion, and he pays all of us a healthy living wage. A healthy wage to protect the Territory. To fight. Besides, he seems to actively discourage all that noble blood malarkey too, so we don't even have to worry about that. I'll be honest, pretty unexpected, but I'm happy with it."

"He's Unbound,” Cade pointed out. "Everything they do is unexpected.”

"No," Heva corrected. "It's not his Unbound nature. He's kind."

"Are you gonna regale us once again with the time that the Emperor saved your life in Haarwatch?" Merk rolled her eyes.

"No," Heva said. Lips pursing, she could feel the wrinkles tighten across her chin and cheeks, and she smoothed out her expression with effort. "It is simply a good story."

"It's a story we've heard several hundred times about how the blue-eyed fiend fell from the sky, destroying the terrible bug monsters, ripping them apart with his bare hands before flying off to save others," Merk said.

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"It's a good story," Stellis said.

"It is a noble event," Cade agreed. "And we all have stories of the Emperor, of what he's done for all of us time and time again. I'd be willing to bet most everyone in the Legion has a story about him. That is why he is worth following."

Heva agreed and was about to say so when Stellis lifted her hand, peering into the distance. "What is that?"

Heva turned to follow her gaze and saw that the black storm had come closer. That wasn’t unusual in and of itself—the storms had been hugging the coast these past few days as if searching for a way inland. All the wilderness scouts had been talking about it. The way the waves were tossing about though, that was concerning. At times the waters stilled, while unexpected chaos sent twenty-foot swells rushing inland. Not ideal when the water was made of acid, weak or not.

“Are the clouds supposed to do that?” Merk asked.

The skies had begun to boil. The black bruised into a deep purple, and lightning lashed among the clouds as it swept forward, releasing new torrents of driving rain. Waves rose from the sea, a league away but building fast.

If they weren’t stopped, they would crush them all.

"Your wards are failing here,” Cade snarled. “How much longer till the breakwaters are fixed?"

The Archlights looked up at the sky in panic. It was true; the storm was leaking through the wards around their work. Their leader licked his lips before spitting out the acidic rain.

"At least a quarter glass," he said. "But this is taking all my concentration. The array node here is overloaded—I can’t get it done if we’re under those acid waves too.”

“Keep working. We’ll handle it from here." Cade jerked her head towards Stellis and Heva. "You’re both up."

The Hobgoblin grandmother flicked her wrists, letting orange Mana exude from her palms to form whips of smoldering flame. At her side, Stellis hefted her mace and shield, the surface of both already coated with a thin layer of rime.

"You." Stellis pointed her weapon at one of the Arclights. "You’re an earth mage, yes?"

The young man nodded, and Heva immediately understood. She looked to other mages. "Do you need him?"

"No. If he can help, take him!"

"I can help!" He shot to his feet, nearly bumping into the ward above their heads.

"What’s your name?" Heva asked.

"Westin. I’m newly Apprentice Tier and—”

Stellis sliced her hand like a blade, cutting off his words. “Can you use Earthwall or something similar?"

"I"ve got Rocksling. Uncommon rarity."

Stellis nodded before hoisting her shield. "That’ll do. Follow us."

The familiar hole in space opened once again, and Felix walked out of Elowen's immaculate library and into the wide chaos of his own core space.

“What—?” Elowen followed closely behind him, her eyes wide as she took in everything. Her mouth worked for several seconds, but no sound came out as she looked down at the top of his Divine Tree and the strange root-lattice work that surrounded it. “How did—How big is this core space?" She looked at him almost accusingly. "You said the twenty-two stories of my library were impressive."

"Forty-four, right?" He corrected with a grin, before throwing up his hands as if to ward away. "It is! I’m not being glib. I saw how much detail you had packed into that place. This, by comparison—” He shrugged, the words not quite coming to him. "It’s big, but it's not quite the same. Come on, I'll give you a tour."

He flew down, the Theran mage following him, trailing after him as he showed her the Divine Tree, the faceted opalescent crystal that the latticework was made from, and everything else.

"Felix…” Elowen floated in place near the roots of his Tree and stared around them in flabbergasted dismay. “I don't know what to say. Skills that look and feel like real planets, all of them arranged into Skill Arrays that look like they're orbiting one another. An enormous Divine Tree filled with Essence and significance. Two Named cores, ten Pillars, all of them strong and impenetrable to my senses. I can't even tell how you made them. They look like solid stacks of crystal."

"Well, I mean, when you put it all that way, I sound like a—”

"A monster," she said approvingly before wincing. "I didn't mean..."

"No," Felix waved a hand. "It's fine. I know what you meant."

The two of them stopped just at the edge of the black abyss where the Beast still lurked.

"I will say, out of everything in your core space, that concerns me the most." She shuddered. "When the Beast had taken over you, it was terrifying, Felix. Are you sure it will stay within there?”

“So long as Zara's Challenger’s Sea holds out, and that's not going to be forever. I'm hoping that if I can master my Core Manifestation, I can master it."

She frowned. "Do you think the Beast is your Core Manifestation?"

Felix could only shrug. "I mean, what else could it be? You've already seen what I've summoned alone, right?"

She nodded. "I remember. Two hands and forearms, much like your own."

He lifted his arms, flexing his black-scaled hands, and his claws lengthened into razor-sharp talons. "Yeah, just like this. Except in the palms, there are burning eyes. The Manifestation can punch and grasp, or they can just open up, and from those eyes, they unleash a crazy blast of power. But they're just arms. Is the Beast the rest of me?"

"I don't know," she said. "I do know the arms sound a lot like the more physical Manifestations that some of the Tower Grandmasters used.”

“Oh?”

“Most of it is hearsay—mages rarely go about unleashing their ultimate weapons in front of witnesses. But I know for a fact that Grandmaster Aquamarine is able to sheathe her flesh in powerful water Mana, turning her limbs into massive whips to deliver touch-based spells to her enemies. Extremely effective, not to mention the purely physical offensive capability.”

“How’d you find that out?”

“I saw her battling the Grandmaster Carmine once during a Tower gathering. It was impromptu and I’m pretty sure they were both drunk.” Elowen smiled, clearly enjoying a memory. “At any rate, it was effective, especially in a mage battle. We’re not typically built for melee.”

“Present company excluded,” Felix said.

“True. Theron are strong, but up against a melee centric Core Manifestation I’d lose ten out of ten times.” She shook her head. “I get the impression your power is clearly concentrated in your Body."

"Yeah, that's pretty fair to say."

"Well, then... I don't believe the Beast is your Core Manifestation. It feels central to you, but it's chaotic. Your Core Manifestation should rise easily from a confluence of your Skills and accumulated significance.”

“Last time I tried, the Beast showed up.”

“Only because you haven't reconciled it with your core space and your Skills."

"How would I do that?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "There's no one answer for everybody. I wish there was.”

“So I need to do it myself, just like I needed to weave my Pillars. Intent is—”

“Paramount. Yes.” Elowen put her hands on her hips. “If you do not maintain the proper mindset, the next time the Beast breaks free, I doubt you'll have the power to put it back."