Unbound-Chapter Nine Hundred And Seventy Five – 975

Elders Of The Giant’s Grove.

Felix scratched his head. “I’m…overruled by my own city?"

"What's happening?" Vess asked.

With a frustrated swipe, he shared the information with her. Pit rested his beak against Felix's shoulder, reading as well. He gave a squawk of annoyance. “What are these Elders? And didn’t your Title say you have access to that grove thingy?”

Felix snapped his fingers. "You're right, bud. It did.”

“Maybe we should just go there?”

“That's why I keep you around," Felix scratched his Companion's beak, eliciting a pleased trill from the tenku. "You're so smart."

"I really am.”

“You mind leading the way?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Pit pushed out his chest, his barding stretching against his broad neck as his wings spread wide.

“Sir?” One of the Arclights crept closer. “Do you wish us to come with you?"

"No.” Felix leapt atop Pit’s saddle and Vess alighted next to him far more gracefully. “You all stay here. Make sure this gate is ready when we need it. If something goes wrong, you know how to find me.”

The Legionnaire’s disappointment was palpable, but he ducked his head. "Aye, my Lord.”

“Ouranic Dominion!” Winds rolled through Pit’s wings, lifting the tenku straight up into the air. It swirled them about before Pit flapped his wings hard and they shot forward.

Vess laughed, clutching at Felix’s chest. "You know where we're going?"

"It's on our map.” Felix brought up his Authority screen again. “The Giant's Grove is…here."

Vess glanced beyond his illusory map. “Where precisely is ‘here’?”

“Hrm.” Felix flared his Perception as Pit flew around the Sovereign’s Palace. He immediately recognized En’Cridhe atop the mountain’s peak, the gleaming capstone of Aeonis’ tiered construction. Other spires surrounded it, all of them at least thirty feet lower and most much more so. High bridges connected the sculpture-wrapped expanse of the Star of Heaven to the spires, each of them festooned with blocky details and wide gardens that spilled out of the open floors. But gardens weren’t groves, and his map indicated it was somewhere far lower. “It’s located somewhere at the base of the Palace! Circle around. Find the entrance.”

Pit did just that. His wing beats were slow, almost ponderous, but they catapulted the tenku forward at incredible speeds. It was a smooth flight too thanks to Pit’s four wings—they beat in a strange cadence that set them soaring without a hitch or hint of turbulence. In the distance, Felix could see where his people wandered Aeonis. They hadn't traveled far from the first district, and hundreds of them had already set up a temporary camp.

From this distance, and the size of those buildings, they all look like ants.

Vess put her lips to his ear. “I see they’ve brought the Manaship into the city.”

Felix had to suppress a shiver. Her breath was warm and smelled of lavender. “Yeah—ahem—I’d noticed.”

Repairs were already happening at the outskirts of the camp. Felix could even make out Beef and Hallow walking around the craft, inspecting the work as Talons of his soldiers went over the ancient sigaldry and made patchwork repairs. More serious fixes would have to be accomplished back in Elderthrone.

Or Sunara, he thought. He made a mental note to find and investigate the berth where the ancient Manaships had been stored.

"Fly up to the top of En'Cridhe,” he shouted over the wind. “Maybe we can get a better view up there.”

"Got it!"

They soared upward, climbing in a steady arc as Pit circumnavigated the Palace once again. They rose up past a trio of Nymean figures, restored now from their scarred and broken states. They reached up and over the flat top of En'Cridhe, which was once again unmarred in seamless stone. It was, however, no longer white. Instead, it was packed over with an opalescent material Felix found extremely familiar.

"Fiendstone," Pit said curiously, as his paws alighted on its surface. He wiggled his toes. "I love how it always feels so comfortable. It's like standing on the cool side of a pillow."

Felix hopped off. Sure enough, it was Fiendstone. He supposed it had been pulled from him during the reconstruction process. He wasn't mad about it, but he was curious what Unite the Lost seemed to restore versus what it changed or left behind. The Gigas in the city description hadn't been resurrected, for instance. He knew from experience that Unite the Lost wasn't a tool to bring back the dead, no matter how hard one tried. It seemed life was entirely too complicated for it to restore.

As he strode about, the surface lit up with the Seat and Seal. The glyph of House Nevarre shone at the very center beneath the upraised hands of the three Nymean magi. A beam of light filtered upward, not strong, but potent enough that it caught dust within its column and cast the silvered turquoise sky into greater contrast. Felix had almost gotten used to its eternal twilight, but the bright gold reminded him that he'd yet to see the sun.

"What time is it?" Vess asked.

"Ah, I'm unsure. It was night when we started, but we skirted a great deal of time in the Dark Passages. It might be the middle of the night.”

“What night?” Vess asked. “That silvered-turquoise sky isn’t the night, and it isn’t dawn either.”

A glyph formed across his Seal, sparking and twisting, as if trying to catch Felix's attention.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"My lord," Karys’ voice echoed across the vast distance, "Knowledge wishes to see you.”

He turned from Vess, annoyance already mounting. “What does that mean?"

"It is asking for permission to expand into all of your Territories."

Felix narrowed his eyes. "For what purpose?"

"To compile information. That is its purpose, after all."

Felix traded a glance with Vess, who was chewing her lip. "Does Knowledge present a danger in any way?"

"No, I'm certain of that. Knowledge simply investigates and collects. While the construct is unique and a touch infuriating at times, I do not believe it poses you a threat at all. I only see Knowledge's increased role as a boon."

Felix sighed, "Very well. For the purpose of gathering information only I grant Knowledge access to every Territory under my command."

The glyphs beneath him flashed, the fractal sigaldry spreading out in spiraling patterns from Felix’s location before it all collapsed into a single point no less than ten feet away. Between one breath and the next, that point rose up, light climbing through sigaldry as it reconstructed a small furry humanoid in a flash. A white-furred Geist, wrapped in grey robes that strapped around its chest in singular strips—a fashion that was popular among the Golden Empire. The curious weasel-like face of Knowledge blinked wide, silvered eyes. Eyes that had nothing behind them save an intense curiosity.

"My lord Emperor," Knowledge said, bowing low. "I thank you for your generosity. Might I begin?"

"Begin what, exactly?"

"Cataloging the advent of Aeonis. A city long Lost, from before even the Golden Empire's time. We have some limited records of its previous construction. We must catalogue what has been changed and what your unique Skill has brought back.”

"Huh. Okay, go ahead."

Before the last syllable formed, a pulse of silver energy spread out from Knowledge’s slight illusory figure. It rolled across the surface of En’Cridhe before cascading down its sides in a wash of faintest light that thinned as it went, yet never stopped. Felix traced its path as it spread across the entirety of the city. In a handful of seconds, the argent glare of its progress flashed over the walls and into the countryside beyond.

"Amazing," Vess said quietly, inspecting Knowledge from a distance. "He is a construct?”

“Something like that. As far as I can tell, he's a bunch of Memories put together through the matrix of the Seat and Seal. It involves a lot of complicated sigaldry that I don’t understand. He’s been useful in the past.”

“Does he answer questions?"

"Sometimes. Typically only by me or Pet, though. Hey, Knowledge!"

A slow turn of the head was the only indication of Knowledge's regard, and Felix couldn't put away the idea that the construct was annoyed. "I’d like you to answer any questions that come from Vessilia Dayne as if they were coming from me. Okay?"

"...Affirmative."

Felix gestured for Vess to ask. She cleared her throat. "Pardon my intrusion. It is well after midnight. Why is the sky so brightly lit?"

The Geist flicked his gaze upward for only a half second before it looked down once more as if studying the book that had manifested in his hands. "Night is no more. At least, not until the power finds a new home."

"A new what-now?" Pit asked.

Knowledge turned back to them, closing its book with a snap that seemed a touch…irritated. "The moon of Noctis is gone. She who had stolen the night no longer holds it in her palm. The moon and the Divine are interconnected. You remove the one and the other suffers.”

“Like with Siva.” When I ate her, all the Oaths in the world were greatly weakened, if not snapped outright.

"Yes and no. The time will come when Siva’s true demise will been felt, but the fullness of her power is not gone. The stolen core remains, adrift and untethered.”

“How do you know that?"

"Because Oaths are not yet able to be made again. Only Bargains."

"Hey, wait. What do you mean, Bargains?"

Knowledge tilted his head, his eyes flashing, and looking as if he were accessing some piece of himself far away. "Bargains are unclear. Information is limited. They are pacts of binding words, not dissimilar from Oaths, but separate. An entire power, taken from elsewhere."

"What do you mean, elsewhere?"

Knowledge waved a small, frustrated claw. “I do not know.”

Felix knew the term, at least. He'd heard it from his sister during her Omen Path. "One of these is affecting my sister. How do we get rid of it?"

"A Bargain is only as good as the Will that upholds it. If that Will is compromised, the Bargain would crumble. Or, the one who made the Bargain can end it, either through Intent or dissolution."

"Dissolution, I imagine, meaning death."

"Yes."

So he just had to kill the gods. Got it.

He was getting kind of good at it, after all.

Vess twisted the haft of her glaive. "So the night is no longer there because Noctis' moon was destroyed?"

"Yes. Noctis' moon was destroyed and her Body was eradicated." He pointed a furred claw toward Felix's belly. "Devoured. But her power is not gone. It was taken by the Hierophant."

Felix frowned. As soon as he’d seen the Omen Door stitched into the Echo’s chest, he’d feared as much. “Where is she?"

"I do not know. That is not within my purview."

"What are you talking about? You gather information and you have access to all of my Territories."

"Yes, I do.”

“Can't you search for her?"

Knowledge paused, his head tilting as its eyes flickered with static. "Hm. I believe I can. Very well. Do you wish for me to search for the former Hierophant, Ocala Marzul?"

"Yeah," Felix said with an eager grin. "Find her, but stay hidden. Don't get noticed."

"I will do my utmost."

To Felix's surprise, a secondary Geist stepped from Knowledge, a perfect mirror image. It walked away, pulling another book out that it began consulting that clearly morphed into maps of the Continent.

“So…that’s the part of you taking care of the task I assigned you?”

Knowledge bobbed its head. “It is.”

“Could you do this before?”

"No. You hadn't the Authority, and your empire hadn’t the power. Now, both grow at a feverish pace. A great many things are available to us that were not before. It will take some getting used to."

“Huh.”

"Knowledge?" Vess asked, her voice a touch softer than usual.

"Yes."

"My Path. Do you know of it?"

Felix looked at Vess sharply. Knowledge did as well, but there was no concern in the construct’s gaze. Instead there was an unfamiliar and almost hungry gleam across its empty Spirit.

"To learn of your Omen Path, I require a proper delving of your core space. Do I have your permission, Lady Dayne?"

"Vess, I don't think—"

"Permission granted," she said.

For the first time, Felix saw Knowledge’s face curl into a wide grin. The Geist vanished…and Vess started screaming.