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Chapter 888
🕑 Added 2025-02-07 19:48:29 +0000 UTCEnjoy!
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Felix stepped through the Shadowgate and into his Void Sanctuary. As his foot stepped upon stone at the center of his Sanctuary, Felix took a deep, steadying breath. The air smelled of juniper and citrus, and the heat was cut by a breeze that coiled through the courtyard just the perfect amount.
Yet for all of that, there was a strangeness.
It took him a moment to figure out what it was—it felt like a presence wrapped around him, jostling him weakly. Felix dropped his hand to the bag attached to his hip. Inside, the Chalice squirmed, dragging at his hip as if it weighed thousands of pounds. He pulled his hand away quickly. The bag throbbed like a heartbeat.
Ignore it. You expected this.
With a flexing of his Will, Felix lifted off the ground, floating past the enormous bronze tenku that watched over the gate to Elderthrone. He waved at it, and its ears perked up. “You're doing great.”
It settled back down, as pleased as any magic robot he’d seen.
Felix flew out over his city. The Shadowgate was far easier to navigate alone.
As the air parted before him, he sped over the rooftops in a direct path toward the plaza of gates. His Sanctuary was large, easily the size of a small city now, but the miles vanished beneath him, and the sun and wind played against his hair and clothes. It was peaceful.
Which made it all the more jarring when his Perception twinged. He paused mid-air, glancing around. Feels like I’m being watched. He scanned the buildings below him. Was it the new denizens? The Gnomes, or the Chain Golems? Flocks of Wyrmlings flitted across the sky, parting around him like water around a boulder. No matter how he flared his Perception, he couldn't pinpoint where the feeling was coming from, and he didn't have time to care. Today was an exercise in speed. The faster, the better.
He zipped through his Sanctuary on the final leg, not even landing before he shot through the exit portal into Haestus. A swirl of dark and crushing pressure held him before it relented, and he emerged with a graceful hop onto the other side of the portal.
There he found the beautifully appointed gate room, replete with murals on the walls and a massive vault-style door at the far end. He'd spent Essence and significance restoring that room in the past, and it had served them well. Now, people could come and go more freely, but Harn had been right. It would never accommodate his entire army. Not as it was.
The vault door opened with a gesture, revealing a vast chamber beyond that was filled with steaming water and half-sunken statues of Nymean magi. There, Garox waited, floating atop the surface of the water, along with a group of eight other Naga. The man was a large and pale-scaled, appearing almost human were it not for his long tail. A Spirit Naga, he was an Evolution from their standard, capable of magic and a fearsome talent with his dual blades. Different than normal, however, was the well-crafted mithril armor wrapped around his torso. It was inlaid with blue horses rampant on either side of his chest.
"Hey, Garox, nice armor. Who'd you take it from?"
“Returned God.” He put a pale hand onto his breastplate. "It came from a foolhardy adventurer from the plains of Sept, or so he said before he drowned." He bowed. "You are welcome once again in Haestus.”
“Is everyone evacuated?"
"They are. The nests have been placed into the kelp fields where our warriors guard them.”
“How far away are the kelp fields?"
"A half-league. Is that enough?"
Felix cracked his neck. "I'll make sure it is. Take me to the throne room."
"It will be done."
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Garox led Felix through Haestus Temple on a nostalgic tour. They moved through flooded rooms, down waterfall stairwells, and across toppled statues that reached up from the dark depths.
"I remember the last time you led me through these rooms," Felix said, shaping the water into a wave beneath his feet. It wasn't terribly efficient, but Adamant Discord would have fried his snake friends crispy. His dexterity kept him in balance, though the rapids had been rough.
"I recall you were a surprise even then."
"You should talk. You tried to kill me."
Garox coughed. "I only delivered you to our sovereign.”
“Who tried to kill me."
"We are here," the Spirit Naga said quickly, the final door parting before his gesture.
They entered the throne room of Haestus. The ceiling was lit by a glowing Mana crystal. Scratch that. The ceiling was lit by clinging chunks of glowing Mana crystal, and the walls were covered in elaborate mosaics, dripping with fungus, moss, and a faintly glowing lichen. The latter clung to the massive statues that crossed curved swords above the nest of repurposed logs, stone pillars, and bronze sculptures. It was more a throne than a nest, built to accommodate the Abyssal Serpent that usually dwelled within the Temple. The Deepking was not present, however.
"If I may ask," Garox said, his voice soft in the vast chamber, "Why did you need this room to enact your Will? Could you not have done this from anywhere?"
Felix made his way over to the throne-nest. "Yeah, I could have. I had the notification pop up several times already.”
Authority Acknowledged, Emperor.
Do You Wish To Begin Restoration?
Warning: Stores Of Essence And Significance Are Detected.
They Will Be Consumed In The Process.
“The problem is, I don't know where these rooms will end up. This chamber, however, is the heart of the Temple.”
Yes, begin full restoration.
Unite The Lost Engaged!
Full Restoration In Progress!
Essence and significance flowed out of Felix. First in a stream, then in a raging river, it fled his channels faster than ever before, pouring into the water before skipping over onto the walls. The water steamed, not with heat, but dark blue vapor that churned beneath Felix's feet like a maelstrom. Spray bucked against the walls, Mana vapor sliding into stone that reassembled itself before their eyes. The flood drained away, dropping all of them lower and lower as Haestus’ ruin was rewound around them.
The walls shuffled, tilting end over end as stone shuffled itself into new puzzling shapes and cracks sealed. Broken pieces long since cast down were raised up, resealed with his power before hurtling off into the distance to return to where they belonged. The throne of logs and statues disassembled, pieces pulled away by the river of Essence and literal waters draining away.
Felix held the Naga close, lifting them on gusts of wind, juggling them as the throne room rotated beneath. A great cacophony sounded, like a shredded mountain tumbling down an infinite staircase, groaning and creaking, snapping and shattering. The sounds were as loud as they were unending.
Essence poured out of Felix in great gouts, tearing through his stores with abandon, though not nearly as much as his dwindling significance. Each piece of it turned back time as the Temple was reclaimed. Murals gleamed, their tiles clacking as they reformed in waves across the tilted walls. Ribbed struts stretched overhead as the room settled with a resounding crash, spreading upward and shattering the crystalline nodes on the ceiling. They met in the center, only for the crystals to regrow, forming into a huge chandelier.
Green-gold light rolled through the crystalline lattice, tossing bright sun-bright shadows through the drying chamber as the last marble slab slammed into place. Felix lowered them all to the ground.
"Sacred depths," Garox said. "It is a miracle beyond anything I would have expected." The other Nagafolk warriors ran their clawed hands over the walls and ridged columns, their slitted pupils dilated in awe.
Gone was the Deepking's throne, replaced by tiered platforms and wide steps leading down to the center recessed area. There a Seal was inscribed into the floor, a complicated fractal array that was similar yet not quite as complex as a Territorial Seal. It was set between and around five Mana Wells, each inscribed with their own complicated arrays. Two of them were open and empty, the magic released, but the other three were flaring intermittently. As if something struggled below.
"How else has our home changed?" Garox asked.
"We can go check," Felix said, stepping toward the Mana Wells, "but first I need to take care of something."
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The Naga were pale and shaking as they exited the throne room, the former throne room. Garox followed a pace behind Felix, his gaze mostly fixed on the surrounding architecture. However, every once in a while, his gaze fell on Felix. Felix could almost feel the weight of it, as Garox's Spirit swelled with something uncomfortably close to worship.
If I'd known they were gonna be weird about it, I'd have made them wait outside while I ate.
The Mana Wells had contained two Urges and one Shambling Abomination. Like the Shambling Horror Felix had devoured on his first visit to Haestus, the creatures were weakened by long incarceration. But unlike the Horror, both the Abomination and the Urges had remained properly sealed in their Wells and far less of their potency had deteriorated.
Not that it mattered.
Felix had cut through their varied forms with tooth and claw before piercing their cores with his Inheritor's Will. All three had died in less time than it took to tie his shoes. He'd been rewarded with a ton of Essence and significance, more than replenishing what he'd spent on raising the Temple.
Felix grinned at the thought of it. Things were looking up.
"Returned God," Garox gasped as they moved out onto the balcony that had not existed before. "You have lifted us into the sky!"
"Not quite, but this is a surprise.” Felix leaned over the balustrade and peered down at the Temple.
It spread out beneath them, covered walkways fronted by a colonnade, with red-tiled roofs spreading out in a complex, layered stack of buildings. Above and behind them, a bronze dome stretched high into the sky, its sides cut with complex geometric designs. Stars were carved into the bronze, creating wells of shadow in the bright summer moonlight, while more pillars supported lesser spires and domes off to the side. On and on it went, far larger than Elderthrone's Temple, and that was before considering the waterline. Down there, where the lake crashed against the thick breakwaters, the Temple stretched deep into the blue. Other roofs, courtyards, and cloisters were shadows beneath the waves, just as complex as the rest of the Temple.
"It seems this Temple was already always partially underwater," Felix said after a moment. "I wonder if it was used by your people in the past.”
“There are old tales of the gods and their worship amongst my people. Of great pilgrimages to this lake in the times beyond memory, where we would offer up ourselves to the gods of bronze and stone."
Garox looked at Felix, and his eyes shone. Literally, gleaming a bright blue eerily similar to Felix's own.
"Were your eyes always—" A twinge caught Felix's senses, and he jerked in surprise. "Oh, right, the Shadowgate! I need to let them all know it's safe."
"We will return to the kelp fields, then," Garox said.
"What? Oh yeah, go get the nests and bring them back."
Garox looked surprised. "My Lord?"
"You think I was gonna take this from you?" Felix chucked the snake man on the arm. "Get those kids back here and settled in. This is their home."
All nine of the Nagafolk stiffened, their humanoid spines standing straight up as they brought their fists to their chests.
"As you will, my Lord," Garox said, bowing deeply.
Felix grinned at them and ran off, urgently searching for where the Shadowgate had moved. He tried not to think too much about how Garox had looked at him at the end, or how all of the Nagafolk's eyes had gleamed bright blue.
Comments
John
Ooooooo that’s it, great layered meaning
John
Pls
Spenser Hilton
APOTHEOSIS IMMINENT!
kinglemur
The Unbound Empire
Deonte
Really about to be an empire full of fiends 🔥
Kevin Boyer
TFTC
