Unbound

Felix stood in the darkness, chewing his lip.

He'd encountered this flaw with his Keen Mind Trait before. His head was like a computer with a huge amount of memory, but his RAM was limited. Keeping track of all those memories had started to feel exhausting, and this was the result. He had "forgotten" that the cavern was sealed behind Balfur.

"Ok," Felix reasoned. "Not the worst outcome. I just have to figure out how to drill through solid stone." He reached out and touched the rough surface of the cave wall. He could find no opening or flaw in the rock. "Right. Easy."

Then he heard it.

Skittering.

The sound of small stones clattering against bigger ones, but softer, as if a rock slide was attempting to be stealthy. It was all around him now, moving quickly in the darkness. Felix put his back to the wall, Pit sidling up to his right. It was pitch black, and the movement echoed in the cavern. Felix felt his pulse jump, adrenaline pumping into his limbs and ready to run or fight.

Wafts of brownish-black smoke drifted all around, and it took Felix a moment to realize what he was seeing. There was no light, so it wasn't smoke. It was Mana. Flexing his Manasight, Felix suddenly saw a dense cloud of Mana all around him. Deep shades of brown covered it all, but grey-black smog choked the brown tones of earthen Mana, something he could only recognize as shadow.

But within the clouds, he could just barely discern shifting movement. Bundles of black and brown twitching and flowing from one spot to another, the clack of their limbs following them.

Manasight is level 12!

Rockstrikes. They surrounded him. He could suddenly sense their shadowy tendrils lashing angrily in the air, even as they focused on him with their beady eyes. They were here for vengeance, he could feel it in their seething silence. It was so strong, it felt like the earth itself was shaking.

Wait. Oh, that sucks so much.

The earth was shaking. The ambient Mana began to swirl, like a breeze in heavy smoke, churning it wildly. The Rockstrikes shifted and several began to run away, their panic as palpable as their rage.

Then the ground split open, and the earth itself engulfed them all.

Felix tumbled down, falling without sight and the cacophonous sound of an entire mountain crashing down. Thunder and darkness, his fear was electricity in his veins, even as his stomach lifted into his chest and his unseeing eyes burned with the rush of air. When he impacted the ground it was almost a relief.

Almost.

Hitting the ground felt like a jolt of lightning, a shearing pain that splintered across his nerves. Agony was a red fire across his shoulder and chest, his vision black except for a few glowing status icons.

Status Condition: Broken Ribs (Major)

Status Condition: Dislocated Shoulder (Minor)

Status Condition: Shock (Severe)

"F-fuck," he groaned. It hurt to breathe, and his vision was hazy with brown and grey smudges atop the inky void of his surroundings. Thinking was hard, his mind stuttering under the pain. He forced through a single thought, however, and activated Meditation.

You Have Entered Into The Domain Of Another.

Beware!

It Approaches!

The darkness deepened as Felix felt his mind recede, reflexively pulling away from the ruin of his body. Everything faded.

Time lost meaning. Minutes, hours, days? Felix had no idea. A sense of red hot ruin coursed through him, pulsing like a second heartbeat. A slithering giant passed him, arcs of jagged light piercing the darkness, dancing across his wounds like knives of fire.

Suddenly thunder crashed, carmine light galvanizing the sky as the nothingness all around him swelled into a roaring sea. His mind was abruptly afloat on a raft of blue light, tossed in a turbulent sea that threatened to engulf him at any moment. Beasts roamed these waters, twisting shapes beneath the acidic water, limbs thrashing and coiling. Serpentine bodies rolled beneath him, their dorsal fins raking against his raft, tearing holes and flooding his feet with dark water that burned his flesh. Terror gripped him harder than his pain, his mind filled with the image of vast jaws and innumerable teeth.

Somehow, Felix understood that if he didn't repair his mind he would fall, never to rise.

Felix stiffened his Will, forcing the raft to repair itself. Gouges from innumerable claws filled in with a shimmering blue light, the gouges shining brighter than the rest of the raft. He wasn't sure how he knew to do that; it was like flexing a muscle he hadn't known he possessed.

That's not enough. Felix looked up at the oncoming waves, each reaching higher than a two-story house. He focused, shaping his Will in a way that felt both alien and utterly familiar. Blue light crackled as a hull rose up around him, a shape only vaguely boat-like, angled to cut through the dark waters all around him. Waves crashed over him, a deluge of fire and acidic lightning that made his nerves scream in agony. Trembling, Felix raised his arm, pushing his Will up and over him in a rough wedge.

The waters crashed all around him, and he was tossed into the air only to be slammed immediately back onto the deck. Felix gritted his teeth and held on.

Felix knew he wasn't here on this deadly ocean. Somehow he was also underground, pinned beneath tons of rock and choking on darkness. He knew. Yet it did not matter. The world raged all around him, his Will a thin shell against the red lightning and corrosive waves. He tried to focus, to snap himself awake or something. But his mind ran in circles, thoughts chasing each other as all of his agonies this past week filtered through him, carried on the acrid gales.

Acid burns, slashed flesh, bludgeoning, sharp teeth on weak skin. Memories of pain, of torment, they piled against him and threatened to capsize his vessel. He fell to his knees, then onto all fours. Felix was tossed by the unending strength of the sea, and the crimson thunder shook his azure sanctuary. Whispers rose from the water all around, their voices soft and sweet as they offered surcease to his torment.

Just let go, they sang, their voices as smooth and cold as silk. You have done enough. It is over.

Felix's Will felt strained and brittle, little more than a wisp of fog against a hurricane. He ached, his body broken and his mind starved for familiar voices, familiar places. Their voices were a song had never heard, but yearned for just the same. Your home is waiting, wanderer. We will take you there. You need only let go and let us in. Their voices twanged with a note of needful, hungry ruin.

"..cannot give up..."

This voice was different. It was harsh, but warm. A face surfaced in his eyes, a smirking mouth and nondescript face from a dream, one that he couldn't quite remember. Except the eyes. Blue-green eyes like leaves against a summer sky.

"You have so much more to do, Felix...

"...others are counting on you..."

There was an ache in his chest, one quite separate from the ocean of pain that surrounded him. This was already there, something he'd been nursing ever since he had saved Pit. It hurt, throbbing like the memory of a sunburn, but inside his chest. Inside his soul, maybe.

Deep in that hurt, Felix could feel a thread of emotion; one that he identified as not his own. He could feel a stubborn, foolish anger. Anger that burned bright enough to risk attacking an Irontooth Ape, anger that would attack anything and everything that threatened him.

Because he knew his Companion would be there for him.

Companion Pact is level 8!

Let us in, wanderer!

Felix's eyes snapped open. "No," he stood up, shaky as a newborn colt. "Never." Their voices felt like teeth on his neck, like a discordant note in an orchestra. He knew, deep in his bones, that to let go would be to fall forever. Felix had made a promise to himself; he would survive, he would persevere despite all of the odds against him.

The voices howled, enraged at him. Memories of pain, escalating and unending, cascaded through his mind. Felix braced himself, drawing on his Willpower as never before. He may not be strong enough, or vital enough, or fast enough, but he was a tower of will. He reforged the ship around him, draining the water that had begun to accumulate, making the hull thicker and stronger. Azure light gleamed in the dark sea, and he felt the creatures below retreat.

He was iron, his body unfeeling and cold. Unbreakable. He would survive this.

The water dropped all around him, bottoming out as a wave approached. Felix braced himself, his Will wrapping tight around himself. The wave was a tsunami, a mountain of dark water that crackled with red lightning. Twisted shapes coiled within it, each the size of jetliners.

Felix punched forward, his small ship suddenly accelerating across the water. If all this was a function of his mind, then he would make it his own. He forged the ship into a battering ram, slick and aerodynamic. He rocketed toward the wave, hull barely touching the sea even as it climbed up the face of it.

As he neared the crest, Felix grinned.

He would prevail.

The mountain dropped. And everything went dark.

You Have Survived.

The Challenge Is Incomplete.

Be Wary, Young Nym.

When he woke, it was to utter darkness.

A brief moment of panic set in as Felix scrambled up to his feet. He smashed his head against a rock as he stood up, and bright colors flashed before his eyes.

"FUCK!"

His voice was deadened, as if the darkness around him absorbed it.

Blindly, Felix cautiously stepped forward. He traced his hand along the wall behind him, his left arm out and swinging from side to side. Eventually he hit another wall. And another, and another. The cave was maybe 10 feet square, and was completely sealed. And he was alone.

Where is Pit? His mind conjured images of him being crushed and swallowed by the hungry earth. Of him being trapped somewhere like Felix, but hurt.

No no no no. A voice inside Felix started wailing, only moments from taking him over entirely. Felix slapped himself across the jaw, focusing on the pain. No. I can do this. I just...let's take it one step at a time.

He inspected his body, checking his Health and Stamina. Everything was full, and the dangerous status conditions had healed while he'd been unconscious. What was his regeneration at, now? How long did it all take?

A blinking icon distracted him, flashing in the corner of his vision. With a breath of relief, he toggled it.

Pain Resistance is level 17!

...

Pain Resistance is level 23!

Meditation is level 21!

...

Meditation is level 26!

Congratulations! You Have Reached Apprentice Tier in Meditation!

You Gain The Following:

+10 to all Mental Stats (INT, WIL, PER)

+10% to all Regeneration

You Have Unlocked A Harmonic Stat!

Resonance - Affects mental recovery. Confluence of Intelligence and Willpower.

Current Value: RES - 12

You Have Unlocked A Harmonic Stat!

Resilience - Affects physical recovery. Confluence of Endurance and Vitality.

Current Value: REI - 8

You Have Learned A New Skill!

Deep Mind (Epic), Level 1!

You have delved deeper into the mind than most, traveling upon a dark confluence of truth and perception. Increases Resonance per Skill Level, increases potency of mental Skills by a moderate amount per Skill Level.

Deep Mind is level 2!

...

Deep Mind is level 23!

You Have Learned A New Skill!

Mental Resistance (Rare), Level 1!

Gain resistance to mental assault, control, and other attacks of the mind. Increases mental defense significantly per Skill Level, increases mental flexibility moderately per Skill Level.

Mental Resistance is level 2!

...

Mental Resistance is level 21!

"Holy hell," he whispered, memories of his journey on the dark sea rushing back to him. "It was all real." Or real enough to affect the physical world, at least.

Apprentice Tier, huh? Felix smiled, finally able to cross that question off his list. Apprentice Tier happened at a certain level; he assumed level 25 based on his notifications. It could be 26, but that felt...wrong, somehow. Now he just had to get his spells up to level 25 to complete one of his quests.

If I can even get out of here.

He slapped his cheeks again, focusing. That wouldn't help him.

What else did he learn? Felix went over the notifications again. He attained Apprentice Tier in Meditation, and that netted him some benefits, for some reason. Did this happen with all Skills when they hit level 25? That would be both amazing and insane. He had just gained 30 stat points in an instant. He had also gained a flat 10% bonus to his regeneration, which was huge.

Speaking of regeneration, he had also unlocked something called Harmonic Stats. Reading the prompt over again, Felix clenched his fists in excitement. He had been right! There was a hidden stat for regeneration, two of them in fact. Resonance and Resilience, for mental and physical recovery. The notification said they were a confluence of two of his main stats, but how did that affect anything? Felix's hands reached for his journal, even in the dark, but a thrill of terror ran through him as he patted his empty waist.

His satchel and sword were gone.

"God damn it," he swore softly. All his food and water was in that bag, not to mention his various herbs and last health potion. Everything he owned in this world was in there, and now it was probably crushed under a bunch of rock. Felix felt himself spiraling again, and wrenched himself back on task.

This high Willpower thing was paying dividends. He could practically feel the iron control he had over his mind and actions, his thoughts clear and firm simply because he wished them to be. Would I have survived that dark ocean without my bonuses to Willpower? Or would I have fallen into the depths?

Felix shuddered, unable to stop himself from recalling the serpentine shapes that flooded that violent sea. He still didn't understand why he had appeared there, or what it all meant, but he had survived. That was all that mattered.

Well, that and his new skills.

He had gained more Pain Resistance, which explained why his head didn't even twinge anymore, but more importantly he gained Mental Resistance too. It was a resistance Skill that he had been wanting, seeing how good his own Influence of the Wisp was at enthralling monsters. Remembering the deadly song of those creatures beneath that dark sea, Felix felt he had truly earned that one.

The biggest get was Deep Mind, his first Epic rarity Skill. Likely a result of his struggles against mental assault, it increased the potency of mental Skills and, much more powerfully, it increased his Resonance with each level. And he was now at level 23. Felix sat back against the wall, doing some mental calculations. He brought up his new stats.

Harmonic Stats

RES:

38*

REI:

8*

Resonance is 38 and Resilience is 8. So assuming each level of Deep Mind increased Resonance by 1, that means I started with a 15 in Resonance? That seems high, based on my other stats. Felix's eyes widened. Wait, I got a 10% boost to all regeneration, which means base values were 12 and 8, respectively. So then...

Felix's body was suddenly limned in blue fire, lighting up his tiny cavern. Influence of the Wisp quickly wore off, the Skill more designed for bursts than continued use. Felix checked his Mana, which had dropped 10 points. Counting out the seconds, he watched as it refilled. It took slightly less than ten seconds to return to full. It appeared that Felix's Mana regeneration was somewhere around 1 Mana per second.

Oh wait, I'm still Meditating aren't I? He barely noticed anymore. After hitting Apprentice Tier it was like the level 10 bump he felt before, but exponentially greater. Meditating was like breathing, even as he stood up and moved around. He cast another Influence and watched his regeneration without Meditation. This time is more like 0.5 Mana per second. So that means the Harmonic Stats are multiplicative with my base stats. In this case, that's Willpower and half my Intelligence. And then the whole thing is, what? Divided in half? Yeah that makes sense.

Huh, that's more mental math than I've done in a decade. It was so...easy.

Felix's Mana regeneration was formidable now. He didn't want to test his Health regen at this point, but it was likely good enough to restore him if given an hour or two. That would mean he'd been down here at least that long. He wasn't hungry or thirsty just yet, but he had to imagine that would be coming soon. Felix felt panic grip him again, and he forced it down.

He felt more centered after going over his notifications. The primal excitement over raised levels and new Skills helped him forget, for a moment, where he was. But it came back, unavoidable and inevitable. He was trapped.

He was trapped and Pit was gone.

Then the ground trembled. For a moment, dark anxiety gripped his heart, but he quickly recognized that it was nowhere near the same intensity as before. That was an earthquake, this was a tremor at best. But the tremors grew, until he could feel vibrations through his feet and heard the sudden and unmistakable sound of stone grinding upon stone.

Rushing to his feet, Felix activated Influence of the Wisp. As his body burned, he could see three yard-long worm-like creatures pouring out of the solid stone ahead of him. They were as thick as a two-liter and covered in an intimidating rocky carapace.

Name: Wurmling

Level: 14

Type: Wurm

HP: ???/???

SP: ???/???

MP: ???/???

Lore: Able to swim through stone like water, they sense their prey through vibrations. They prefer to attack in groups.

Strength: Agility and Endurance

Weakness: Unknown

Influence wore off in moments and the chamber was plunged into shadow.

Then they attacked.

Pain tore into his legs and arms as the Wurmlings snapped at him. An awful, sickly heat flooded his wounds, and Felix could see a brief reddish glow as they grabbed onto his limbs. He screamed.

You Have Learned A New Skill!

Fire Resistance, Level 1!

Through the fire and the flames, you come out stronger. Increases resistance to fire damage per Skill Level.

Felix whipped his arms up and out, attempting to launch the Wurmlings off him. They held on tenaciously, and wriggled their bodies to tear into him further.

"Fuck!" Felix ran directly at a wall, holding up his arms. With the Wurmlings still attached, they had nowhere to run, and he smashed them hard into the stone wall. They let out an nearly inaudible squark and dropped off of him. Felix stomped down hard on the last one at his ankle, and he felt something inside it give way. A kill notification populated his vision.

He was stronger than them.

Felix made sure Meditation was still running, and slowly circled the room. He still couldn't see in this lightless cavern, but he had other talents. He activated Manasight and his vision was inundated with clouds of dusty brown light and swirls of grey darkness. Earth and shadow Mana dominated the space, understandably, but within that fog were motes of orange. The motes blurred, each one whipping at him from a different angle. Felix ducked and dove forward, attempting to evade their attacks. Instead he smashed head first into a cavern wall.

"AHH!" Felix gripped his skull, feeling the blood pour out. Dizzy and disoriented, another set of jaws latched onto his thigh. With a muffled scream, Felix rolled over and grabbed the coarse armor of the Wurmling. His hands struggled to grip it, the monster's body undulating wildly. It suddenly flared orange in his Manasight as it's entire body became red hot, and Felix dropped it and fell backwards, bumping the cavern wall again as he fell to the ground.

Pain wracked him, but it was nothing. Compared to his fall and that ocean of monsters, these were mosquito bites. With a roar, Felix spun to his feet and tackled the still-glowing Wurmling. With his Manasight flaring, he smashed his hands repeatedly into the body of the Wurmling, knuckles bleeding as he cracked the rocky carapace. He grabbed its body and whipped it up into the air, feeling it crunch against the low ceiling before he brought it crashing to the ground. The Wurmling splattered into viscous goo, its orange glow snapping off in an instant.

Breathing heavy, Felix's Manasight pegged the other Wurmling off to his right, a faint orange glow in the brown-grey Mana-murk. It's glow was also dimming, becoming more diluted by the earth Mana all around. It was trying to run away, he realized. Screaming, he turned and lunged for it's tail. His fingers gripped the last few inches of the Wurmling, and he pulled.

The Wurmling fought, it's strange stone tunneling Skill attempting to pull it into the rock wall, but Felix overpowered it. Inch by inch, he pulled it out of its tunnel, and he could feel the stone carapace buckle and pop in his hands. Burning hot liquid coursed over his fists, scalding his skin; but he never let go. With a final grunt of effort, the Wurmling ripped free of the wall and Felix slapped it down onto the ground like a dirty rug. A final pop and splortch and he saw the final kill notification.

Felix sagged against a wall, almost too tired to stand. Numerous wounds littered his skin, and he couldn't tell what blood was his and what was the monsters'. He licked his dry lips, tasting blood as they cracked.

Blinking notifications flashed in the corner of his vision, but for once Felix swiped them away. He just...he was tired.

Then the ground began to rumble again. Felix grunted as he stood up, just in time to sense four more Wurmlings arrive.

"C'mon then," Felix rolled his shoulders and put up his fists. "Round two."

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