Unbound-Chapter Nine Hundred And Seventy Nine – 979

Felix edged closer to the fissure where he could see the carved stones extending further down into darkness. "I brought Aeonis back. I came to see why my Authority was thwarted."

"Authority, hmm," the voice said. "Its vastness is seen. Yet you hold no candle to what has been. Keep the Elder from your wars. The dead stay dead, mine and yours.”

The rhyming is a bit much, Pit sent.

Felix frowned. “You're the ones who denied my connection to the Shadowgate?"

He was met by a deep hum of agreement.

"Why? My wars are more important than you probably realize. The Ruin—”

“Seen it all, Felix Nevarre. Song was sung; it echoed far. Your Authority carries your Intent, and the Destroyer clings to your scent.”

Vess scoffed. “If you know of the Ruin, then you should be leaping to our aid. We fight to save this entire world.”

“Fight. Die. Lost to the world. We know what is bound to occur.”

"You know," Felix repeated, staring into the glowing steam. The hole was deep, and its furthest reaches were obscured to his Perception. “The Ruin. The gods. All of it?”

"All that you sing. All that cries from betwixt your Rings. Your Will is potent, your teeth sharp, hallmarks both of an Ascendent upstart. You pulled us from the Ruin’s grasp, but you had not the wisdom…to ask.”

Felix’s head rocked back. “You…didn’t want to be saved from the Ruin? From being Lost?”

A sound emerged from the fissure that was some combination of bubbling steam, crumbling soil, and grinding stone. Somehow, it conveyed a deep exhaustion.

"I don't get it," Pit said. "He saved your life. He brought you back to life. Why the heck wouldn't you be happy about that?"

"Of all who speak, a Child of Harmony surprises. Bonds are your blood and Companions your prizes. A gifted return, sans purpose, is everlasting pain and worse than worthless.”

“Without purpose…?” Felix started, before Pit interrupted.

“You’re alone.”

Vess’ looked to Felix. “They mean the people of Aeonis.”

The depths rumbled in agreement.

“We were Lost, Emperor Nevarre. But Gigas are buried beneath stone and star. Our place long gone. Our verse forgotten by the song.”

"The Nym were forgotten too," Felix said firmly. "But I’ve brought so much of them back. You’re not forgotten. The Memories—”

“The Nym are not Gigas. Memories are not us. Once we were many, now none remain. You brought us back, only for pain. We stand in shadow, lacking night. The sun burns, but only half as bright. We are dead, but we are not yours. Your command does not extend to our shores."

"Chimera! You know our agony. Nym were cut down in brutal savagery. Bonded, as stone to moss, death was razor sharp until they too were Lost. None Bonded Chimera as the Nym, for they both held a deep wildness within. Dissonance balanced with Harmony in flesh, an ancient secret from the Green Wilds’ breast.”

Pit chirruped curiously. “What are you talking about? I’m having trouble with these rhymes.”

“Origin, boy, from whence you came. Monsters in truth but Nymean tamed. Harmony, Dissonance—a thread of wild—forged such strong Bonds from youth. A child. Chimera and Nym, a concerto undone, two voices cut short in a chorus just begun. The Gigas too are gone, their glory long past. Now we stand alone, returned at the last. We are slow and steadfast, stone through and through, this place is our tomb for our ire and rue.”

Dissonance and Harmony in both Chimera and Nym? Felix hadn’t heard that expressed before. It was true, especially of them, but Felix had always thought it was a side effect of all the insanity that they’d gone through. He put a hand to his sternum. Did all Nym have this chaos inside them?

“Nature spirits,” Pit said, interrupting his thoughts. “You’re like the Grim Nightshade.”

Vess shook her head. “No, they do not carry his song. The Elder are something else.”

The voice rumbled in a surprised agreement. “Not of the Grim, but self-crafted whole, a vessel to contain our ancestors’ souls. Bound to Primordial Stone and songshaped wood in this place, an echo at best of the Green Wild’s grace.”

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“Primordial Stone?" Felix asked.

"The bones of the earth, laid down by the Great Confluence. You, Creature, should know this. On far shores a great Sea rose, but here, the bones laid in eternal repose. The Green Wilds were loosed, there in the start, a song meant to capture the heart. The Gigas were enraptured, our souls all but claimed, we harvested the bones and spirits we tamed. Within we placed our honored dead, betwixt rock and root they lay their head. We Elders are the result, Memory and Spirit, the first Exult.”

Felix let his gaze travel from the distant golden canopy to the carved stones before him. "It's all you. The Elders of the Grove."

A grumble of agreement rose from the depths. Then it shifted, the deep voice warbling into something else. A new voice lifted to join the first. It was higher but still carried the grind of stone to its timbre.

“You brought us back, Creature? Why? Was your only purpose to use us in your endless wars?”

Vess frowned, and Felix was right there with her. “You stopped rhyming.”

Pit squawked. “I was just starting to like it.”

“An ancient tradition that slows us. It is unnecessary.” The new voice was terse for being a giant tree-rock Golem. Felix could almost envision a person adjusting their collar as it continued. “Answer the question.”

“I didn’t bring you back to fight,” Felix said. “Honestly, I didn’t even know you would be brought back. I was restoring the Territory after—”

“We saw that. It was impressive to say the least. What of the future, then? Do you seek to topple the gods, as your predecssors did?”

Felix clenched his jaw. “Yes.”

“Then we are done.” The Trees around them shivered, releasing more of their golden leaves as the earth crawled over itself.

“Wait!” Felix reached out, his Sonata flowing through him, and seized the soil. It pulled at him, but he held fast. “I don’t need you for my war. I just need to connect this city to the rest of my empire. What’s wrong with that?”

The voice was silent for long enough that Felix worried it had truly left.

“The Elder are advisors by design, Creature. The wisdom of the honored dead, entombed and preserved for all future generations. In the beginning, we guided our people to great prosperity and peace among the endless hills. Then, in the dark times, we led the Gigas through the brutality that was the endless wars on this Continent. The bloodshed we witnessed shaped us, our dead added to our number at rates beyond counting. We were wrathful then, Creature. Our voice tainted by an Age of war. A dark Age before the Nym’s empire was more than a glimmer of a dream. Before even the Empyreans stepped onto these fertile shores.”

“Empyreans.” Felix folded his arms. “You say that like you're talking about a people. I thought the Empyreans were just Nymean. Like some sort of governing body."

“They were a people first. Strange in manner and shape, they were nevertheless more potent in Authority than any other Race in the Realm. It was the greatest of mercies that they were not bent on dominion, but Harmony. They were the reason our wrath was ended. The Empyreans sought peace, and with their might they brought it about. Ambitious Elementals, maddened Primordials, and even eldritch Urges were laid low. The gods themselves shied away from the starbearers, but all of the rest leaned close. For while we Elders are wisdom, the Empyrean are something else. All sat at their feet and learned, but none so greatly as the Nym.”

“They were teachers?” Vess asked. “Of the Nym? I have never heard of such beings.”

“Of course not. The System sees to that.”

Felix exchanged a glance with Vess. “What are you talking about?”

The Elder paused again, as if searching for words. “The Empyreans…if the Gigas were the bones of the earth, the Empyreans were the stars. It was they who plucked them free and gifted them to the Nym. The Nym based their Authority on the teachings of the Empyreans. It was they who helped the Nym establish their empire. And perhaps, it was they who ushered in our end.”

"What do you mean?" Felix's mind was racing, trying to keep all this information straight. Pieces were falling into place, but there were glaring holes, things he didn't understand. If he could keep the thing talking...

"No. I will speak no more on this. As I have told you, your Authority does not extend to this place. We are not a people of the Nym, nor whatever new thing you may be. We only wish to be left alone."

Vess made a disgusted sound in her throat. "What about when Ruin comes again, as it is bound to do?"

"When the Destroyer comes to us, we will once again accept oblivion."

This time Felix barely contained a growl through his clenched teeth. "What about your purpose? It sounds to me like you're a lot like the Eidolon Exalts, and they fought for the empire until its last days."

The Elder scoffed. "Eidolons! Us?” The earth shook beneath their feet. “They clad themselves in our secrets as if they had the right. A transgression of the Nym, one of many, all to fashion poor imitations to wage their endless war! We are done with bloodshed, Creature. Do not speak of them here.”

A deep rumbling shook the grove, as if the entire place were set to collapse. More gold fell from above, a flurry that all but obscured the Grove around them. Slowly, the rumbling faded and the ground went still.

Felix stepped closer. "So you're not going to listen to me? What if the Gigas returned?" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"That is beyond even you, Creature, no matter your strange powers. The living are not to be returned."

Felix knew that. Unite the Lost didn't work on resurrecting people, even if they were affected by the Ruin. He wasn't sure why that boundary existed, but it didn't matter at the moment. "If I leave here, is there an issue with me returning?”

“No, Creature. We cannot stop you.”

“Good,” Felix nodded. “We’re not done here."

“So you say.”

The three of them backed away from the fissure at the base of the Elder, carefully stepping across the Grove’s trampled flowers. This hadn’t turned out the way Felix had wanted, but he’d learned things today about the Nym, the Chimera, and most importantly, about the Gigas.

Vess and Felix mounted atop Pit and they flew off. “Where to?” the tenku asked.

“Back to the Manaship.”

It was time to talk to Gabby.