Eramith
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Book 4: Chapter 13
🕑 Added 2024-03-14 04:25:29 +0000 UTCNOTE: There will be another chapter tomorrow as this chapter was about to be way too long so I split it
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Together, the three of them stepped into a massive hall with rough obsidian walls on either side and no ceiling. Instead, a tight grouping of stars painted a beautiful view of the night sky that reminded Felix of earth’s but slightly brighter with many more stars. Without a ceiling, the obsidian walls and floor visually melted away making it seem like the three of them were actually amongst the stars and had stepped into the void of space.
Breaking that illusion however were two lines of short flames, just an inch tall, forming a path that led forwards. Looking around, Felix didn’t see anyone other than the three of them but it was clear where they were heading so he started walking forwards.
Melody walked alongside him and Nova walked between them, posturing like she was the most important kitten in the multiverse.
They walked for over a kilometer before they finally saw a pair of Drakene guards standing next to a doorway. The two of them wore entirely black robes so they didn’t ruin the effect of the hallway and were only barely visible from a few hundred meters away, even with Felix’s Perception. Their eyes reflecting the dim light and glowing through the darkness was actually what had first hinted Felix to their presence.
Approaching them, Felix offered his invitation to the one closest to him. They immediately leapt backwards and looked at him like he was insane while the other guard tried to hide a snicker in their arm.
The one nearest Felix-that had jumped back-righted himself and shook his head, “Don’t hand that thing to me. I don’t want to have to regrow my arm. There is no need to present your invitation, I am well aware of you, Felix Kade. You as well, great Nova.”
The guard bowed slightly to Felix then much deeper to Nova and Felix wasn’t entirely sure if he was doing so seriously or not. The other bowed as well then turned and sank their claws into the obsidian behind them. Pulling downwards, a trail of fire followed their claws and burned away a chunk of the obsidian to form a doorway.
Felix stepped through along with his party but before paying attention to anything through it, looked back at the door. The fire burned in reverse as the door way regenerated and vanished, along with the flame that had opened it.
Melody whispered with an incriminatory tone, “Distracted by the door.”
He didn’t bother acknowledging her and instead turned towards the inside of the room and looked around. The effect from the hallway carried over to the main room except the fires were brighter and made it possible to actually see.
Looking around, Felix couldn’t say how big the room was as he couldn’t make out the edges but through the marginally brighter lighting from the various fire fixtures, he saw thousands of Drakene in attendance. Around the edges of the room there was food with long dining tables and benches that reminded Felix of cafeteria picnic tables. The food on the tables though, and the beautiful tapestry tablecloth however, did not.
All he could say about the food from what he could see, was that it looked like a king’s feast with servers constantly milling about keeping everything fresh.
In the middle of the room there was a large space for dancing though, it only housed a few dozen Drakene, a far cry from what it could have held.
Lastly the rest of the area seemed to be a collection of open spaces that were sectioned off by lines of fire. None of them were closed off but it provided some amount of structure as there were people sparring in one section next to a section housing much more formal conversation.
Felix also caught a glimpse of some dense flora off on one edge and a door on another but he couldn’t quite see anything else from where he was and through the crowd.
There wasn’t any more time to examine things however as Felix had-and no doubt Melody must have-noticed half the attendants staring right at them. None of them dared approach however except for one, a familiar Drakene no longer wearing their religious robes of red and white. Instead, Silgar wore a beautifully embroidered black robe with scales carefully placed to create beautiful artwork all over it.
He bowed slightly to Felix then Nova then smiled and blew a plume of smoke over all of them. Felix was pretty sure he knew what the intention was but the lack of fire confused him. Nova on the other hand, wasn’t confused at all and released a massive torrent of billowing flames that completely swallowed the Reverent.
The flames lasted for half a minute, luckily targeted upwards as Nova was still a kitten, so it didn’t affect anything other than the lighting and the Drakene. Once the flames abated, Silgar got to one knee and bowed his head to Nova, “You bless me with your flames.”
Nova offered a quick meow in response and Silgar stood, turning to address Felix then Melody, “And you, bless us with your presence and your attire. Who is it you wear, if I might ask?”
“Arkinikamed.” Felix responded.
“Nelarathiax.” Melody offered with a slight dipping of her chin and a silent pause to signal her respect for the dead.
Silgar looked at them both in turn a few times before dropping to a knee once again, “You honor Drakene kind as a whole by gracing us with the presence of our ancient ancestors. How may I ask, did you acquire their scales?”
“We talked to a willow.” Felix responded rather plainly considering the situation.
Silgar actually dropped to both knees at that point, bowing even deeper, “Gratitude.” Finally rising to his feet, Silgar’s face was actually wet as his eyes actively streamed with tears, “We expected nothing extending the invitation and yet you have completely exceeded everything we couldhave hoped for. Maybe we should consider letting others in to celebrate as well. Your eyes and hair already convey your respect and would have been more than enough. The scales are more than we ever could have dreamed. Again, thank you.”
My eyes and hair?
Felix nodded and Melody bowed a little, “Of course.”
Silgar bowed again then walked away giving Felix the opportunity to lean over and whisper to Melody, “What’d you do my eyes and hair?”
She shrugged, “See for yourself.” Whipping a mirror out of her inventory with a flick of her wrist, she showed Felix his own face.
He was immediately taken aback by what he saw. It was his own face, nothing had notably changed from before the integration other than his pores now being tiny and invisible from his evolutions. What was significantly changed however, were his eyes.
His eyes had gotten a little deeper. The blue had been bluer and the grey, greyer. They hadn’t changed in that they looked the same as before but they were even more vibrant and pronounced now. The separation between the colors was clear and even disabling Melody’s effects, they almost seemed to glow with how vibrant they now were.
Melody’s earrings however, did more than just style his hair. His eyes, though they looked the same and hadn’t been altered directly, were on fire. His irises specifically were surrounded by a slight blue and grey flame that matched the color of his eyes perfectly. The flame wasn’t even tall enough to surpass his eyelashes but it was clearly visible and just slightly glowed, swaying back and forth like an aggressive candle.
His hair was far more drastic. Once again the color was the same but the earrings actually moved his hair as if his head were on fire. The fact that his hair was an orange red color, only added to the effect. It actually reminded him of Thezan’s hair, just fiery and made of hair instead of dark and made of shadows.
“Your eyes are nice and I figured you should stand out a little more next to me, you are the guest of honor more or less.” Melody whispered as she stowed the mirror.
Felix just nodded, “Thanks.”
That was all the time they had to themselves however as they were immediately approached by a yellow Drakene in a deep purple, scaled robe that was cut strategically to show her yellow scales throughout. All Felix could think of while looking at them and the colors they had cosen was an old earth holiday though.
They weren’t the only Drakene to approach them but they were the first in a sizeable queue. Surprisingly to Felix, none of them were rude or made it seem like they thought they didn’t belong. He had fully expected some to disagree or question Tekragoraxius’ decision and to show that, whether or not they did anything about it. It was the complete opposite however.
Most of the Drakene that approached them simply introduced themselves and seemed curious. All of them were completely welcoming and wonderfully nice, recommending specific dishes or drinks. Many of them greeted Nova which, Felix could tell, was starting to pique Melody’s curiosity but she directly didn’t address it. A few of the Drakene tried to drag them into various traditions and introduce them to party rituals, eager to share their holiday with the newcomers.
Talking to everyone that introduced themselves, Felix was nearly as charming as Melody. He offered up very little information about himself but he either deftly dodged the questions or offered only vague and mysterious answers. He carefully spun things back around so the topic was most often on them, who they were wearing, who they were and so on.
It seemed to be working too as almost everyone he talked to was jovial and happy after walking away, even more so than when they approached. In a rare bout of solitude where it was just him and Melody-Nova perched proudly on his shoulder-Melody leaned her head in and whispered to him, “I did not know you had that in you.”
Felix slightly shrugged the shoulder between them, “I haven’t had to for a while. Now feels like the right time.”
She nodded and smirked.
Not to mention I have to appear as a friend of the dragons and all that so I can fight… myself. What a weird situation.
They didn’t even really walk around, instead it was like they were the attraction at a theme park and everyone came to them. Not everyone who wanted to talk to them approached however. Felix spotted quite a few Drakene that subtly made their interest known through eye contact but they clearly wanted to be approached themselves. Some thought they were important enough, others simply didn’t want to add to the cacophony of voices trying to snatch their attention.
As the crowd slowly waned from chaos to a steady stream, their trio managed to find empty spots at one of the tables. They sampled all kinds of foods and beverages ranging from meats to plants to rocks. There was a large spread but nothing nearly as all encompassing as the buffet in the auction back on Trenus.
Instead, the feast was focused largely on Drakene foods. Most things were spiced heavily and there were very few grains other than a few specialty breads. Most of the meat was smoked or spiced and barely qualified as cooked not that Felix was worried about bacteria. Everything else at the table seemed to revolve around the meat itself but ranged from appetizers that were easy to walk around with to entire birds, including a Parroukan.
Drakene rotated in and out of the seats around them, telling them legendary tales of the scales they wore, tales of their own and pestering them with questions. The vast majority of the attention was split between Felix and Nova, a far cry from how he and Melody were treated on campus. The questions mirrored the attention though only a few were directed at Nova directly.
Everyone seemed to want to know who Felix was, who Nova was, hear their tales, hear about the integration and ultimately figure out why they were invited. Felix continued giving vague answers where necessary, laughing along when others did, mirroring their body language and generally reading the conversations.
He was capable, as he had always been, he just largely didn’t bother with it. Still though, his social capabilities paled in comparison to Melody who followed his lead in giving little away but was far more adept at reading others. While he was just as charming, she demonstrated expertise. He switched the conversation to obvious topics, things they had brought up, questions about the tales they told or the garments they wore.
She picked up on the minute details, asking about recent loss when she felt sorrow in their souls. Pointing out other guests they had been interested in sexually or romantically and building their confidence. It wasn’t just about reading their souls either, or not entirely at least.
Melody was picking up on minute details and was able to tell which guests had kids, which had been married multiple times, their unspoken dreams and desires. All of this from things she saw or noticed on their garb, in their wounds, in the slight shifts of their demeanor as they walked, sat, ate.
Felix was both constantly astonished as she brought up and correctly guessed things she had no right knowing and just followed along where he could.
After finishing up with the food, they wandered through some of the partially cordoned off sections and talked with those that had expressed interest. Some of them were politically relevant, others were Demi-Gods or important religious figures. None of them were overtly arrogant or condescending though which rather impressed Felix.
They spent a few hours doing that until the general atmosphere spiked and the average composure started plummeting. The two of them were dragged over to the drinks table where they were handed all kinds of drinks to try. Everything from something that looked like crude oil but was as thick as molten rock to actual molten rock and literal liquid fire.
Felix’s body destroyed everything he drank but he faked the effects where he could so they didn’t feel inclined to force anything stronger on him. No one handed them anything more than a B grade drink so Felix didn’t face any issues. Melody on the other hand was clearly affected and Felix was slightly worried for her. She stumbled slightly and seemed less inhibited but she also seemed happy so, he didn’t stop her. She was capable of regulating and handling herself.
From there they danced, Felix and Melody then Melody and a number of Drakene. She danced with 7 males and 5 females over 8 dances before she was too tipsy to remain on the dance floor and rejoined Felix.
As they walked back over to a somewhat empty area, Melody took a breath and sobered herself in an instant, her drunken gait vanishing. Felix smirked and they took a break at one of the standing tables for a few minutes before they were approached by Silgar.
“Are you both ready to make your contributions?”
Melody nodded knowingly so Felix just followed along.
Silgar led them to one of the few doorways leading off of the main chamber guarded by two armor clad Drakene priests. They nodded and turned aside in perfect sync as the obsidian door vanished with a burst of flame and they were led into a massive hall.
Hundreds of meters wide and seemingly endless, the hall held various artifacts and displays. Each one seemed to represent some great Drakene of legend through a painting or gold inlaid scroll detailing their legend along with a weapon, armor, ring, vase, clothing or scales. Not all held scales, the ones near the front were the most commonly lacking while the rest of the display down the hall were increasingly likely to contain them. All of the scales on display were crafted into something from armor, clothing, boots and coats to shields and Drakene headed helms.
Silgar first led them down the hall at a slow pace allowing them ample time to examine, observe and appreciate, only offering insights when probed by Melody. Each and every display showed off some famous Drakene and described their accomplishments. Not all involved battle, some were of famous smiths, bakers, enchanters as well though the majority were warriors.
Melody had a grand time pointing things out to Felix and generally acting like a child, though she never tried to overtly touch or grab anything. Felix followed along more out of interest for the items on display than anything else. There were various enchantments, living weapons, soul imbued armors and more all throughout the room. Each one, a legendary artifact of their time and no doubt priceless today.
Finally, Silgar led them in a circle, back to just a few meters from the entrance to one of the displays closest the door. Examining the display they stopped at, Felix saw a painting of a steely blue Drakene leading a village out of a burning valley. Examining the painting, Felix saw that the valley was burning with black flames that flickered ominously with the shifting paint on the canvas. Just below the painting there was a caption that read, “The Great Prophet Arkinikamed leading the evacuation of the Ralken Drakene tribes and saving them from The Flames of Oblivion.”
There was no artifact or scales accompanying the painting but there was an empty altar. Felix caught on quickly and understood what to do so, he stepped forwards then reverently placed the coat he was wearing on the altar, matching the folds of all the other scales as best he could.
A tear streamed down Silgar’s cheek as he walked forwards and lit a massive sconce near the display.
He offered a quick prayer then led them over to another display, this one with a painting of a female Drakene with a gradient of red to black scales that single handedly fought an army of undead monstrosities. In the painting, they weren’t just zombies and skeletons like Felix had encountered but also liches and massive undead war beasts, all of which had green flames for eyes. Nelarathiax held them back and even though she was completely surrounded, the slowly shifting paint made it seem like she was somehow winning.
The caption read, “Nelarathiax, single handedly felling the army of The Creeping Undeath and halting their advance into the Neh’Melahmun valley.”
Melody stepped forwards and carefully peeled the scales off her body. Felix began to turn away but even before the scene had a chance to become indecent in any way, a second dress of sorts was revealed. Peeling away the scales, a smaller, pure black fabric was revealed beneath it.
The second dress was shorter and more revealing but not inappropriately so, it remained completely classy. Out of necessity to fit beneath or within the other dress, the black dress was made of a thinner fabric and was tighter in most places.
Carefully draping the scales over the altar, Melody bowed then backed up a step next to Felix. Silgar once again lit a massive sconce and offered a prayer before escorting them back out of the hall and thanking them profusely once more.
Silgar bowed once more, “Our gratitude burns brightly with you for having returned a portion of our heritage to these hallowed halls. The legacy of our people guides and protects us from within The Halls of the Dragon’s Hoard and now, may they guide and protect you as well.”
Melody return the bow and Felix followed suit then they walked over to a door on the opposite side surrounded by various plants. The party had largely calmed with the atmosphere more tired than anything at this point. Though they may have all had massive energy pools, the guests fully used them when dancing, sparring and everything else in the room resulting in the party lasting longer than Felix was used to on earth but not by more than 2 or 3 times.
Heading into a garden that was easily the largest space yet, Felix and Melody walked in to one of the more private areas in the garden with a fountain. Melody quickly stowed her shoes and sat on the edge of the fountain, placing both of her feet into the water and tilting her head back to look up at the stars.
Felix sat next to her but faced in the opposite direction, not placing his own feet in the pool and looked up as well. The sky was nice and rather calming, even though the majority of his focus was dedicated to construct simulations in his mind, Felix spared just a smidgen to admire the sky. It reminded him of earth which he wasn’t entirely sure he missed necessarily, but it was calming in a way.
After a few minutes of silence, Melody spoke with her eyes still thoroughly trained on the starry sky above, “You know, I think Ascension day might have actually surpassed all my hopes.”
Felix responded flatly, “That’s good.”
“I had always heard Ascension day was a party in every way you’d expect except for one, it was a party and nothing more. No one tries to gain political advantage or execute ploys of any kind, it was simply… fun. All anyone wanted to do was get to know us, no one had any kind of secret agenda.”
Felix twitched, unsure if she was aware of his own but just nodded once, “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
She sighed in satisfaction then nodded a few times, “How’s the integration event going by the way?”
Felix shrugged, “It’s fine. After meeting Zeraxes and visiting their fort, I flew out as far as I had to and managed to discover quite a few dungeons first. Haven’t done much else but Nova’s been happily hollowing out mountains.”
Nova meowed in response and Melody smirked, “I’m sure she has.” She reached down to pet Nova who meowed again then nuzzled into her hand a little.
Looking over, Melody tilted her head slightly, “You said you met Zeraxes, how was he?”
Felix shrugged, “Nicer than he was in Group Combat.”
“Yeah… have you met Romar yet?”
“In passing. I didn’t talk to him just kind of saw each-other in the distance and moved on a few dekads ago.”
“Well, if you do meet him, I suspect you’ll find him similar. They’re both… nice. They are also both arrogant and self absorbed, definitely narcissistic but… nice. They won’t try to kill you outright or be dismissive or mean without reason. With all the tension in there though… be careful.”
Felix sighed and rolled his eyes, “I believe this is the fourth time you’ve told me to be careful in those exact words, 7th with other words.”
She lightly backhanded him on the shoulder, “I mean with them in particular. Although I guess this applies to most people in there, they might seem nice but if things really do get too crazy in there, they won’t hesitate to kill you for a quest. Just surrender early and know you can get back anything you lose and everything soul bound will remain on you. They have enough honor that they will accept your surrender.”
So I can’t steal Zeraxes Divine Bolt? Damn.
“Yeah, I feel like I’m kind of expecting that from everyone.”
“I just… You should. You know how Zeraxes got into the school through his parents but then was the favorite for the tournament anyways, right?”
Felix frowned, “Wait, got in through his parents? I knew he was already accepted. How does that work? I thought it was completely neutral and based on the best of the best determined by The System or something.”
She nodded, “Yes and no. You can’t buy your way in directly but… the competitions and events that are taken into account for admissions are always gamed. Parents can ensure the other participants are favorable matchups for their children, bribe some to hand off their invitation, directly buy slots for their children. Sometimes all they need to do is delay a few participants from participating in an event for a single epoch and make sure others take their place. You could assassinate them, get them stuck on a contract, buy them an invite to an overlapping event. It’s a whole thing.”
Felix cocked a brow, “The System doesn’t do anything about it?”
Melody sighed, “No. Everyone knows exactlywhat The System will and will not do at this point so, they work around that. After all this finagling, their children inevitably excel and the school has no choice really. No one can prove that they aren’t great and they are. After all, they had the best training, access to high rarity classes, skills not to mention gear and artifacts and so on. They just never went up against someother specific people so, they stand out. They have access to more events and their accomplishments completely shadow anyone who doesn’t have a similarly powerful backing. It’s impossible to prove they wouldn’t have won if their parents didn’t interfere and no one is going to punish the kids for their parents actions so…”
Felix shook his head and squinted in disbelief, “It should be more complicated than that right? How many people participate in these competitions?”
Melody dropped her head back and laughed, “Oh tens to hundreds of thousands, rarely millions but it happens. You underestimate the machinations and lengths a god or even demigod will go to for their children as well as the vast structure of followers they employ.”
Once Felix had recovered from the ridiculous scale of the political maneuvering happening in the multiverse, he slightly teased though, was also seriously curious, “Is that how you got in?”
Melody smirked, “Unfortunately, despite my best efforts it seems I’m just special enough to get in without having stood out in any competitions or… anything really. I mean, I guess it just comes with the territory being this-”
Felix shook his head and rolled his eyes, “What were you saying about Zeraxes and the entrance tournament?”
“Oh right,” Melody snapped her fingers, “Just that he was willing to run people over that actually needed the tournament to get in, just to prove himself. He may be nice or rather cordial, bu-”
Felix didn’t hear the rest of what she was saying as multiple of his senses began screaming at him at once. His head spun and looked over but he didn’t actually see anything other than plants.
His mana sense sensed huge amounts of mana in a state he had never felt before. It was like a gas but more excited and at the same time, it was in constant flux like it was being dumped into a room and simultaneously destroyed. At the same time, Felix was acutely aware of another sense, his matter senses.
Much like when he had felt The Endless Hunger, Felix felt hints of something akin to missing matter, not antimatter or the absence of matter but rather something that was just off. It was like a puzzle with missing pieces, obvious but not quite as physics defying.
He wasn’t nearly close enough for his senses to provide him with any specifics but he was able to pinpoint a general direction.
Looking over, he saw a glint of something that was intimatelyfamiliar to him, a great axe that almost looked to be made of crystal or some alien material with an ethereal blue hue. Though he lacked certainty, Felix had some idea of what was happening so he shot himself towards the axe which coincidentally, happened to be in the same direction his senses had warned him of.
Felix immediately tried to fly over the garden but actually found some kind of completely invisible pane serving as the roof. He wasn’t sure if it was glass or something else but he didn’t even try to smash through it, deciding it wasn’t worth his time.
Flying through the hedge maze garden, Felix initially weaved through a few of them but they quickly proved too annoying to avoid. Luckily, they weren’t high grade enough to offer much hindrance as he punched through one after another, racing across the garden. Quickly glancing over his shoulder, he didn’t spot Melody but did find Nova clinging to his shoulder. She was easily light enough in her kitten form that he hadn’t even noticed the extra weight but had no reservations with her tagging along.
Walking through the garden initially, Felix and Melody hadn’t really explored much but Felix did know that there were walls covered in vines on one side of the garden. He was ready to slow himself so he didn’t collide with that wall but blasting through the last hedge in the way, he found that wasn’t necessary at all.
Instead of an obsidian wall that was almost entirely obscured by vegetation, barely lit by the various constellations twinkling above, Felix saw something he couldn’t quite reconcile. While it was dark and difficult to see, even with his improved eyesight, this was completely different. To him, it seemed like something had completely absorbed large chunks of light making it so that even the sparse lighting that was available had holes in it.
His other senses weren’t nearly as hindered as his sight though as he heard a constant and cacophonous roar and smelt a thousand things at once. His Soul Senses were screaming at him in fear he didn’t know he was capable of while his Mana Senses described something impossible happening, mana simply vanishing.
Lastly, the senses he had the least experience with, his Matter Senses were telling him that the matter itself was being destroyed right before him. It was simply being ripped to pieces and consumed, not transforming into anything else. It was something he would have said was impossible, even after being integrated.
Having evolved alongside Nova though, Felix’s matter senses were much clearer now and he was able to see objects with a similar clarity to a normal human within a dozen meters or so.
Using his Matter Senses to float over and carefully approach-closing his eyes to hone his focus-Felix moved right towards where the wall once was. As he approached, he started filling in a lot of the blanks and was able to tell that the wall, and everything around it, was actually burning. By everything, he really meant everything too. Matter, mana and even light were being completely destroyed by the flames creating a weird effect that looked like shadow flames offering a window into the void itself.
In the dim light of the night sky they were almost impossible to see but Felix could feel them.
Moreover, the flames seemed to be using mana as a source and reaching outwards, Felix took hold of all the mana he could and moved it aside. As he did though-opening his eyes once again-he saw light pour in from the room beyond. His mind was more than capable of spatially tracking him so he knew what was on the other side of the wall but it still shocked him as he looked beyond the flames and the hole in the obsidian wall.
The Halls of the Dragon’s Hoard were drenched in shadow. From as far as he was standing, Felix couldn’t see very far in either direction but everything he could see, was being rapidly burned to nothing. Not even ash remained as the shadow flames spread and consumed the heritage of the Drakene.
The flames themselves reminded Felix, in more ways than one, of The Endless Hunger but that was more frightening than comforting. The flames were the same blackness and they grew and consumed in a similar way, they even instilled a similar sense of dread within Felix’s soul. The flames though, the dread they filled him with, wasn’t tinged with any familiarity whatsoever. His soul had dealt with Hunger before but this, was something completely different. It looked weaker as it grew slower and with less intelligence but felt far scarier to Felix.
These flames instilled within him a feeling of complete and total annihilation. Ceaseless destruction leaving no remnant behind whatsoever. It was death incarnate and complete oblivion.
The hunger wanted to consume him, he could feel that. This didn’t want anything it simply destroyed everything. The dread filling him upon seeing it was a fundamental fear that everything with a soul shared, being lost. Were the flames to consume him, Felix’s soul wouldn’t return to the ambient anima, where his experiences would join in the endless unconscious. He would simply cease to exist, everything he had ever experienced truly gone.
It was a fear he didn’t even know he had until it suddenly appeared and threatened to consume him.
Felix looked on, nearly paralyzed by the overwhelming urge to force open a portal and run.
Even moving the mana that the flames apparently used as fuel didn’t really give him any strength against the flames. They also consumed matter and he couldn’t shake the flames off simply by pulling on the mana. He was essentially holding a log that was still alight except it was the entirething that burned, all the way throughout.
As the dread gradually mounted until it became too much to bear, Felix took two steps back and fell to one knee as he desperately punched his own chest to try and force himself to breathe. His eyes grew wide but at the same time, his vision narrowed. With his bodily control and senses as in tune as they were, he felt his blood pressure spike as his heart beat as hard and as fast as it could. Normally he suppressed those autonomic functions manually but he couldn’t bring himself to do anything.
He gasped for breath and clawed at the ground, completely helpless in a way he hadn’t ever felt before.
Then, through the deafening silence of his fear consuming him, Felix heard a single note. Then another followed by a few more creating a soft tune. Somehow, the melody was enough for him to regain some semblance of control and he immediately pulled a Tranquility Elixir from his Soul Space directly into his mouth. He crushed it with his teeth then swallowed the contents along with the glass shards in his mouth.
Even before reaching his stomach, the elixir pouring over his tongue and down his throat began to seep into his soul directly, as it suffused his body now, and the effect was immediate. Felix’s soul calmed down and grew much closer to what he normally felt in battle, tense but manageable. He began stowing the glass shards as he felt them and manually retaking control of his own soul.
Though it was manageable, large chunks of his soul felt like they had almost been driven mad. They were still a part of him but it almost felt like they weren’t, or didn’t want to be. Once by one, piece by piece, Felix forced each piece back into alignment until his soul was whole again. Certain pieces remained slightly discordant with the rest, like a ball of liquid where some of it was slightly colored with dye. Overall though, it was enough that he wasn’t worried in the short term and it would likely fix itself in the long term.
Tilting his gaze back ahead of him, Felix reached out with his mana control and began moving as much of the mana fueled fire as he could. For the time being, he simply tossed it aside but even that wasn’t enough. The flames themselves were burning the matter itself, they were just significantly slower. Based on all the weird signals he was receiving from his matter and mana senses, he was pretty sure the fire was breaking the matter down into mana then burning that.
Since his mana control alone wasn’t enough, Felix reached out with his matter control. Up until his evolution alongside Nova, he had almost entirely tuned out his matter control and matter senses. After the evolution, he was able to move objects around a bit but not with any strength. He could however write with a quill as the precision was far more impressive. Using that control to fly though, he wasn’t able to fly with any speed but he was able to move his body with more precision, it just wasn’t useful in a fight at all.
His matter senses on the other hand, now felt as good as his sight within a dozen meters or so in terms of detail and differentiating objects.
He took a few steps forwards because his effective range was far smaller with his matter control and as he did, he carefully grabbed chunks of the wall and ripped them free. Moving matter was one thing, separating matter was another entirely and his initial pull resulted in a massive tear in the wall. The obsidian clearly wasn’t very high grade material or the fire had weakened it significantly to the point where it felt like he was tearing paper.
The awesome feeling that filled him as he used his matter control on something useful for the first time definitely helped in dealing with the lingering dread throughout his body. Pieces of the wall were peeled back piece by piece, suspended in the air as they burned away or tossed into a pile with the rest while Felix carefully opened the way.
Stepping through the hole in the wall-that was far bigger than it realistically needed to be to satisfy Felix’s fears-he floated in and tried to spot anything through the shadowy flames that consumed the hall. It wasn’t as bad as Felix was expecting as the flames were much slower inside the hall as they had only just started to burn through the relics inside.
Down towards the entrance to the hall Felix knew and had come through earlier, he immediately spotted what he was looking for. Himself.
Rather, he saw Arthur, his persona. Clearly not his actual persona but the body, dragon-scale shorts, ethereal axe were all identical. Felix was so transfixed, he almost missed the shade appearing next to him and swinging for his head. He instinctively hit it with a force blast which would have been enough to kill one of his shades-were he not pumping them constantly with his unique mana control-but these shades, were clearly different.
They looked identical but they were much more solid and didn’t immediately explode. Instead, Felix was forced to duck below the swinging axe then leap backwards. As he floated backwards through the air, Felix released a Lightning Bolt which was enough to dissipate the shade.
Before he landed, another appeared above him but he dealt with that one with relative ease as well.
Turning back towards the imposter, Felix watched them use their imitation of Eretheas to cut a rift in space and step through.
That was wei-
“What the hell is going on? Who was that?”
Spinning around, Felix found Melody standing next to Nova in her panther form staring down the corridor trying to catch sight of whoever Felix had been fighting.
“Identification said Arthur…” Felix lied.
Melody frowned, “Like… the guy who soul-killed some of the participants in the event?”
Felix just shrugged, “Maybe. Not sure how they could have gotten here though.”
“Worry about that later. You did notice The Flames of Oblivion surrounding you, right?”
Focusing again on his surroundings, Felix began doing his best to relocate the flames as best he could. First he just moved the flames away to save as many relics as he could but he quickly realized he needed somewhere to put them. Just piling the flames together in a corner wasn’t good enough and would just become a bigger problem later.
Instead, he opened a portal next to him into the middle of space and began dumping all the tainted, burning matter and shadow flames through it. It was more than a little annoying dealing with the air being sucked through the portal at first but so long as he accounted for it, it actually made his task easier. The flames covering the torn walls and floor were sucked through until all that was left were the scars all across the center of the hall.
Once he was done, Felix was pretty sure the only things that were damaged were a few dozen relics and from those, only half of them were completely lost.
He didn’t have much time to assess things though as the Drakene from the party had begun filtering in through the entrance. They formed a crowd near the door that cried out in outrage and confusion as they tried to figure out what had happened. Splitting off from the pack and rushing towards Felix was Silgar, tears of sorrow rather than joy this time, streaming across the scales on his face.
Silgar ran up to them and Felix winced as he began apologizing, “Sorry I kind of threw out… a lo-”
Silgar interrupted him by actually hugging Felix, “Thank you…”
Felix looked over at Melody who was smirking and-after a few seconds of uncertainty-began patting Silgar on the back.
After half a minute, far too long in Felix’s mind, Silgar released him and took a step back. At that point, much of the crowd had approached but they all stood in wait for someone else to say something.
Silgar was about to address them but before he could, a portal appeared just a few meters away from them and Rathelius stepped through. He nodded towards Silgar in recognition then shook his head, “He’s gone. I had little luck in tracing his jumps. I don’t even know yet how he got in.”
Turning to Felix, Rathelius bowed slightly, “The Dragon Mother would like to extend her gratitude for your help in protecting the relics of our past. If you and your guest would please come with me.”
Felix nodded, “Of course.”
“You have made our ancestor’s proud this night. Protecting our history from The Flames of Oblivion, much like Arkinikamed-whose scales you bore this night-once did.” Silgar bowed his head deeply for a few seconds then looked straight upwards and released a billowing stream of fire into the air. A number of the Drakene behind him followed suit creating a soft and pillowy looking cloud of flame above them.
Felix felt a little awkward taking the credit for something that he knew was completely set up but he wasn’t going to correct them so instead, he simply followed Rathelius through another portal, Melody stepping through a moment later along with Nova.
Together, they walked down a series of halls through a large stone building for almost an hour before finally stepping into a massive room that looked like a vault, bare, metal and imposing. Across the room, Felix saw exactly who he was expecting to see and walked right over to Tekragoraxius, somewhat forgetting he was supposed to be in complete awe. He quickly realized Melody had fallen back and actually chuckled upon seeing her slack jaw.
He slowed a few steps and leaned over, whispering to her, “Why are you so impressed, isn’t your dad a god? Should you be used to this by now?”
Melody smacked him and looked completely mortified, “Felix you need to be respectful!”
He just shrugged and walked up to her, Nova hoping from hers to his shoulder as Melody’s was far too slow a pace for the shifting kitten. Felix was also happy to see that Nova seemed to be aware of what was happening ahead of time as she had apparently already encountered the flames of oblivion before and knew not to transform into a dragon now, in front of Melody. It seemed as though this whole charade had been planned a while ago.
Approaching Tekragoraxius, Felix didn’t give away his familiarity by greeting her with his imitation fire breath and instead, he simply bowed. Nova performed a similar gesture next to him and Melody quickly caught up and followed.
Without lowering her head to their level as Felix was used to, The Dragon Mother stood tall and proud, as a god should, “We took a chance and invited you to our Ascension day, the first outsider in hundreds of integrations. And yet, it seems as though it is us who should be thanking you. We are in your debt.”
Felix stood up straight and tilted his head back to look at her then nodded, “I was just… right place right time I guess.”
“Yes, it seems you were. Not only did you cut the attacker short but you were able to save much of our history from an attack many are incapable of stopping.”
Felix shrugged with false humility, playing along for Melody and anyone else that may have been watching, “I just have some unique abilities, it really isn’t anything special.”
“We will have to come up with a suitable reward for your heroic actions. As for the perpetrator, you recognized them?”
Felix nodded, “I believe it is the same Arthur from the world event that soul killed a number of people.”
“I see. Be wary should you encounter this individual again. They seem to be capable of traveling with traceless portals and infiltrating even some of the most heavily fortified venues.”
Felix nodded, “Of course.”
“As for you, Melody, cub of Kjarne, you have done us an equally great service this night.”
Felix looked over at her, slightly confused as to what The Dragon Mother was referring to.
She just shrugged as her cheeks reddened slightly, “All I did was calm the sudden outburst of emotions I felt. It was kind of instinctive to be honest.”
“And yet, you singlehandedly prevented an even greater catastrophe from occurring, were the intoxicated guests to act on their roiling emotions. Certainly they would have injured themselves amongst The Flames of Oblivion. Not everyone is quite as unique, as your partner Felix here.”
Felix suppressed all outward reactions as he put two and two together and realized that Melody’s tune that had broken him out of the crippling fear hadn’t actually been directed at him at all. Her intentions were to calm the outburst of emotion from the guests as they realized what was happening.
She smirked, “Right place, right time I guess.”
“Yes, a common occurrence it seems. As for your reward, I have already decided upon a suitable gift.”
As Tekragoraxius finished speaking, Rathelius walked over from somewhere off to the side and gently placed a beautiful wooden box made of some kind of light red, almost pinkish, wood.
Melody waited for Rathelius to step back then kneeled down and gently opened the crate just a sliver before promptly recoiling and dropping the lid as she jumped back, “I can’t possibly take this.”
Felix could hear the slight hint of mirth in Tekragoraxius’ voice, “You would refuse our gift?”
“I… This is so much more than… I really didn’t do thatmuch.”
The Dragon Mother finally lowered her head towards them, “And yet, I insist.”
Melody nodded then carefully reached down and stowed the box in some kind of spatial storage simply by touching it. She bowed once again, this time taking one knee, “Thank you. I will… cherish this.”
“Felix, we will need some time to find something suitable for your reward.”
Felix knew exactly what he wanted and he knew he could ask for it, once they were alone in the future, not that he really deserved a reward considering what had happened. Still, he was pretty sure what he wanted wasn’t too big an ask but for now, he continued to play his part, “No reward is necessary. My invite to this sacred event and the corpses you provided me already were extraordinarily generous.”
She nodded slightly, “Speaking of. I believe it is time for you to return to the celebration and for me to begin my hunt for this attacker and… inevitably, their backing.”
Felix heard Melody swallow beside him and simply suppressed his desire to laugh before nodding and following Rathelius back out of the room.
Heading back to the Ascension Day event, the majority of the guests had already left but a sizable chunk had stuck around to personally thank both Felix and Melody.
They politely spoke with everyone that had waited then finally, managed to make their exit and portal back to Eramith Academy. Walking across the grounds, they walked mostly in silence which was fine by Felix, as Melody clearly had a lot on her mind. Reaching the dorms, they bid each-other farewell and Felix practically jumped right back into the world event. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Comments
KittyFloof
I'm a little surprised that they destroyed the heritage in that way. But I can't wait to see the reward for fending off "Arthur"
