Icarus Awakens

Hunter gave him the signal with minutes to spare. Flying over a war torn mountain, Daniel mentally opened the doors and sighed in relief as no issues were reported. They'd still have to fly back to Pinion's Point, but after everything they'd gone through today he just couldn't worry about some kind of high level monster finding them before they got to safety.

"Rest of the team's ok!" Daniel shouted to the other two. They were moving laterally, trying to reach a safe point over the Shattered Falls, and so the wind moving around them wasn't loud enough to block out speech. "They had to tie the avianoids together but they're towing them back with the cutters. Padri definitely lost the platform we had below the ship."

"Win some and lose some!" Shuni called back, unbothered by Mavar's appearance. He hadn't told them yet, and wouldn't until they were behind either Zolyra's runes, or some kind of cover if she hadn't made it. "We got a better deal. Think any of the elites left are going to make it?"

"We'll find out! The rifts they control will go to me if they die!" He was waiting for the notifications he knew would come in when the Arcadian landed. With his friends away he couldn't track it with their auras, though Quick Mind still estimated three minutes to impact. The handful of rifts that hadn't autocleansed when they took the main power core would be the indicator for whether there would be any opposition left aside from the projections. Granted the Origin Beast may just send more, though the forces it had at its disposal had just taken a huge hit.

Aurus' peak flashed below them, currently appearing as if it had suffered a minor eruption. Aside from the earth gestalt strewn about like magma, there were the marks of the high level battle. The ground melted to slag, pitted scars on the marble stairway that climbed the mountain's side, and of course, the bodies.

Daniel avoided identifying any of the gestalt below. He'd like to find Khare there among them, but every false positive would only fuel the dread that his friend hadn't survived. Beyond was the Shattered Falls, now bereft of its water source. The majority of the fields had been left unscathed, but every area where there were defensive emplacements had yet more signs of battle. Fighting was still ongoing, as a matter of fact, though it was more in the style of trench warfare than aerial dogfighting.

"We'll have to be careful," Daniel reminded, for his sake as well as those following. "Our terminal velocity has changed. I don't think hitting the ground at full speed will kill any of us but it will hurt. You'll need to give yourself more time to slow down."

"Ah. If I'm going to miss anything about this place it's flying here," Shuni sighed, returning one of her wings to an arm and shaking out the shoulder. "Already feeling more tired than usual. I'll have to push for level 3 strength sooner than I thought."

"Close to 3?" Sigron asked, a little surprised.

"What, you're not after everything we've been through? I'd be eating some disparity, but I could get there soon if I wanted to."

Daniel passed her a glance and Shuni's smile turned uneasy. It wasn't what they were about to do, it was her class, and what leveling might change. A problem for later, one of many. Despite how urgent their current task was, he hovered in air and waited. They'd made it just in time. "Ten seconds," he said sideways to the other two. Then he raised the sending stone connected to Murdon up. "We're in position."

A red ball of fire rose into the air and exploded, starting from a blocky building halfway down the mountain. They didn't immediately fall, waiting for the end of Daniel's count. "Three, two, one… negative one… maybe we're too far?" Then it happened. The Arcadian impacted the ground in the distance. His wrist vibrated first as it complained about damage to the hull, though nothing in the list of notifications he scrolled through looked critical. He'd also just gained control of the remaining rifts that had been partially cleansed.

The distant boom struck. Though it was loud, it wasn't like someone had dropped something heavy right next to him. An entire city-sized ship had crashed to the ground, and the sound carried the weight of that. Using that as cover Sigron descended first, prepared to block anything sent up at them during their descent. Daniel had an extra shield held in his right hand just in case, while Shuni was relying on stealth to get her down.

Their preparation and timing paid off as only a couple arrows bounced off of Sigron's shield arm. It would've been pretty anticlimactic to survive what they had only to be sniped by a ballista. The ground posed the most threat, rising up to meet Daniel faster than he'd grown accustomed to ever since he'd started flying. Like a lot of avianoids in the region, Shuni included, he'd have to get used to regular physics again.

By the time Daniel was braking Tounaki had created a thin ring of fire around her position on the roof. The Pyromancer's eyes lingered on the sky above before she addressed the three of them. "Thank the gods you're here. Follow me, we'll have to go through the front. Rest of the building still has its firewalls up."

"Literal walls of fire?" Daniel clarified, following her over the edge of the roof while keeping an eye out for enemy attacks.

"Only one, the rest are Builder enchantments we took over." She sighed as Daniel helped steady Shuni when she underestimated her landing speed. "Invisible monster tagged Lograve during the first wave of those fuckers. You know the saying, once bitten, twice burned. Can't know for sure there aren't any more waiting for us to drop our guard."

"I could help with that," Shuni offered. "Daniel, you don't need me do you?"

"Not for this."

"Hey, open up!" Tounaki pounded on a reinforced door, around which were a couple of burned corpses. All monster, and despite knowing these had likely been former gestalt he was glad they didn't look like people now. It made scanning them easier too, though with the damage to the bodies it didn't net him anything.

There was a click on the other side, and magic briefly passed over the door. Nothing as structured as runes, but the hinges and gap where the bolt was glowed the strongest before fading. A stench wafted through as it opened, followed by a familiar spearwoman.

"You three. Glad to see you." Janice leaned on her weapon, which had gained a sizable nick on the spearhead despite being made from enchanted bone. "The others?"

"All ok. You?" he asked as he and Sigron were rushed through the building. It started with a wide area that immediately led into a kill zone where defenders could attack from elevated positions. He could tell because they clearly had, and those monsters that had tried to take the building had died terribly. Had he a guess, Murdon had released his Necrotic Breath which had lingered to eat away at any who fell. Those bodies he didn't bother scanning.

"We lost people. They did too. War's war." She frowned, and then added, "I heard some people saw William fighting when the earth gestalt reinforced us. Whether he died for real after that is anyone's guess, but that son of a bitch isn't paying for a drink in years if he didn't. But Lograve… I was the first one that saw him after he picked a fight with that lightning dragon. He looked better then." She gestured the two down a side passage leading further into the bunker. "Save him if you can, alright? Already have too many ghosts following me."

At the very back were a cluster of four ballista alongside racks of bolts and bags that read as magical to his senses. Likely more storage. Daniel barely paid attention to any of that. A perfect likeness of Lograve cast in ice was laid on the floor belly down, and an aura appeared around him when Daniel tried to identify him.

"Don't touch him!" Quala shouted immediately, moving in the way of the two. "The ice is as durable as it normally is, but it's likely any damage done to it transfers to his body when the effect ends. Your power, Sigron, can you activate it at will?"

"Yes." The Knight summoned his last bond hand and it floated in space, ready to launch toward Lograve. Daniel got a better look at the Arcanist himself as Quala moved aside, and the breath went out of him. He had puncture wounds across the back penetrating 10 centimeters at worst, and shallower breaks in the head that looked like they'd gone past the skull. Worst was the small, spreading cracks from every injury that suggested the body was slowly coming apart.

Based on what he saw Lograve was at the point where an entire team of surgeons would be needed to save him, but that was the drawback of being higher level. Quala was probably the only one here who could heal him through direct powers, and her next question showed how desperate their fight had been. "Mana potions, either of you?"

"I have a level 2-" Quala almost snatched it out of his hands but restrained herself. "It's not going to give you too much."

"It'll have to be enough. We ran out trying to keep the rest of the wounded alive." She started to drink, and the last figure of note in the room shifted.

"Is everyone alright?" Murdon asked him. It was the kind of question that was going to be repeated across Aurus, and not every answer would be as fortunate as his.

"Yeah. Murdon…"

"He's not dead." The tall figure in heavy armor sat by his friend, barely moving, and when he did it was as gently as he could manage. "I should have seen it coming. They were making a hole for it, I should have-"

Sigron put his free hand on Murdon's shoulder, which was about level with his despite the fact that the draconoid was kneeling. "Can't be everywhere. You protected enough. How many died here, less than a dozen?"

Both were so distracted by Lograve's condition that they didn't comment on his speech. Neither did Murdon look comforted. Quala took over rather than let him brood. "The situation is dire enough that I'm not willing to wait. Zolyra isn't answering and I don't know of anyone aside from my sister who could help directly, and she has her own patients. Murdon, proceeding now is our best option so long as Sigron can reverse this."

"Whatever you think is best," he replied numbly.

Daniel looked around and saw Tounaki's aura moving around the bunker's hallways, presumably with Shuni following to detect anything else in stealth. Other Blessed with detection powers had doubtlessly tried as well, but Lograve's condition was reason enough for triple checking. Still, he couldn't help but put himself in Murdon's place. "Should Tounaki be here?" He'd meant the question for Quala but Murdon still overheard.

"No. Someone of our level needs to be ready in case of attack, and I…" his voice strained. "She is supporting me in the best way she can."

Quala motioned Sigron forward, while Daniel remained a meter away to observe. He did have a new healing power in Soothing Strike, but it was as limited as other healing by his level. After all he had done today to fight for the future, now he was left as an observer. He thought Murdon was in the same dilemma, but when it was clear Quala was ready he withdrew a potion Daniel hadn't seen before. The bottle itself was remarkable, distinct magic in the outside as well as within.

The Cleric didn't comment on it, so neither did he. Instead Quala began to explain the procedure. "For a level 4 I wouldn't normally be this worried, despite the head wound, but I believe he still has some level disparity to endurance complicating matters. That his defensive ability has yet to end on its own is cause for worry enough. Unfortunately I cannot be certain what its exact effect is, but I can detect him weakening through Life Sense. Sigron, we are relying on you to remove his power if you are able." She held up five fingers. "I will count down from five. On one, you will activate it. The moment I see any change I will follow with a Flash Heal, then hold his mouth open for the potion."

"And if that isn't enough?" Murdon asked hesitantly.

"I stabilize him as best I can." Daniel grimaced at the finality in Quala's voice, but he agreed there wasn't much more they could do. Perhaps if a trauma team had been here they'd have a better shot in the worst case. He'd heard from Alex about the patient his mother was keeping alive. But Lograve didn't have the time to wait for them to bring her through. "Is everyone ready?"

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Murdon and Sigron nodded, both now focused. Quala began the count, one Knight springing into action while the other unstoppered the potion bottle. A bond hand flew into Lograve's back, and at the point it entered ice began to melt back into flesh. Blood immediately spurted into the air from the deep wounds and Murdon started, but Quala shouted him back into a ready position. The Arcanist hadn't entirely reverted at once and she was waiting for that moment.

It took a few agonizing seconds, but Lograve became fully defrosted. He remained still as Quala held his head and neck, turning it even as she incanted. "Flash Heal! Murdon!"

The draconoid's hands were shaking slightly at the sight of his unconscious friend, but he still managed to angle the neck of the bottle so the liquid began flowing into Lograve's throat. Sigron stepped away to give the two space, out of ways to help. At first Daniel was horrified as Quala's ability hadn't done much for the deeper wounds, but as more of the potion was given to Lograve, that began to change. In fact, it did more than Daniel would have thought.

Lograve began to cough as he hazily regained consciousness, some of the potion spilling into his lungs. It was possible to choke on a healing potion, though this was something else. Quala quickly brought him into a sitting position as Daniel closed his eyes and gave a silent prayer in thanks. To who he wasn't sure, but after everything that had happened today it felt like a miracle watching Lograve wake back up.

Lograve's alive, Daniel thought to Hunter and Tak, letting them spread the good news to the team rather than broadcast it over a sending stone. It wasn't a moment to draw attention to himself.

"Lograve. Lograve!"

"Give him a moment," Quala chided. "The potion's putting his head back together. Gods willing it'll fix more than his wounds."

"Not very considerate of you," Lograve groaned weakly. "Picking fun at a dying man."

Quala stared at the Arcanist for a few seconds, and then came to a quick diagnosis. "He'll be fine. Call for me if something happens, otherwise I need to see to the rest of the wounded."

"Wait, you haven't heard my bedside manner joke." Lograve tried to weakly turn toward the departing Quala, but his body had yet to fully heal. He blinked, taking in more of his surroundings and seeing Murdon first. "Oh, it's you. You know, I always heard people talk about seeing a light when they're near death. You must have been blocking mine."

"Bastard," Murdon chuckled.

"I'm the bastard? You were supposed to watch my back!" Lograve quipped, no real accusation in his words.

"I did watch it." A troubled expression crossed Murdon's face. "You didn't assume I would do more than that, did you?"

"Murdon, is that sarcasm? That lovebird of yours is doing wonders," he croaked in response. "Or… I suppose this could be the afterlife?" As if seeing him in the room for the first time, Lograve glanced over and gave Daniel a disappointed look. "Oh. Well, if you two are here I suppose we won. That's fine."

"Glad to see you're feeling better," Sigron replied.

"Why thank y-" Lograve stopped mid-sentence with real surprise. "What?" Sigron then pretended as if he hadn't said anything, inclining his head toward Daniel.

Playing along, the Artificer smiled as he said, "I might have broken Threst's Spoke. It was an accident, I swear!"

"What!?" He waited for the punchline, then frowned as none came. "Oh. Well don't look at me if you need someone to help you put it back together. I'm going to be busy reassembling myself, even if that healing potion does feel like it's doing wonders." Lograve shook his head. "Nothing for it. Any new scars? I'm well on my way to acquiring a mosaic of them." He was putting on a brave face there, most of his body already covered in the somewhat tree-like patterns from taking near-fatal lightning damage. He'd gotten something from Earth that had been helping to reduce their visibility, though that wouldn't be necessary anymore.

"I think you should see for yourself," Murdon said grimly, reaching beside him and raising his shield so Lograve could use it as a mirror. The Arcanist was clearly expecting Murdon to say something along the lines of 'there was nothing Quala could do to save your looks' only to find his face unchanged, but that wasn't what he saw.

He hadn't been given a potion of healing, but a potion of regeneration, pulled from Threst's inner stockpile during Soraso's last moments. It fixed the injuries Lograve had taken in the battle, yes, but it had then moved onto older wounds. "Well, isn't that something," Lograve mused, touching his unmarred cheek.

…

It could have ended there, but for a figure that appeared over Aurus in a nimbus of expanding, washed-out magic. She groaned as she came back to her senses, cursing under her breath. "Damn time magic always gives me a headache."

Zolyra Rosescale recovered swiftly and observed Aurus, taking the Spoke's destruction in relative stride as the Spiritualists had been resoundingly defeated. Everything else was tomorrow's problem once she went down there and stopped the fighting.

Ah, but she did regret using her last iridium scroll. It was as good as ash once she'd inscribed Temporal Shift, but the niche spell could've been useful in the future as well, she supposed. It was not meant to be used the way she'd used it, but that was the benefit of focusing spellcraft to the degree she had.

Originally, the spell was meant to send someone forward or backward in time, yes, backwards was possible but frustratingly complex, and leave it at that. She'd modified the backward version with reverse effect to instead send herself forward, which seemed pointless but allowed you to make use of that version's complexity.

To skip a long discussion on temporal mechanics, it allowed Zolyra to store a version of herself that would be sent to the future on her death. The drawback was that it prevented her from using any active powers as she was considered a 'time ghost' until the spell ended, but she could fully die and still be fine when her future self arrived. It was a spell meant for one of two things: a last ditch surprise attack, or a means to ensure her escape.

Zolyra had been willing to fight right up to the very end, but having a last resort made sense. In the event that she'd been forced to use that scroll too early, it would've allowed her to make her way back to Pinion's Point, grab the spellbound gestalt monster, and be at the region's border before the next dawn. Perhaps with enough time to show the leaders of Kallical the truth before a tragic mistake was made.

Fortunately she hadn't needed to use the scroll for either of those things. When a weapon capable of destroying Zozar made itself known, her only goal at that point was to return as quickly as she could with all of her powers re-enabled to stabilize Aurus. Thus, her immediate death when those rods had begun falling from the sky at speeds that humbled her. Even if two wouldn't have been enough to kill Zozar, they would have weakened them to the point that her reappearance would finish the job.

Once she'd had her second or two to catch her breath, Zolyra pulled out a normal scroll and quickly inscribed a spell. After everything she'd done today you might forget that by and large she didn't use the ones threaded in precious metals. With her talent and powers, she could scribe up to level 3 spells without needing to expend anything besides paper. What she was casting now was simple enough.

Magnify Voice. "Listen up! This is Zolyra Rosescale." She didn't shout, but her voice still echoed across the sky like the fall of the Arcadian had. Anyone nearby would wish they weren't. "This battle is over. If you disagree you can have it out with me, and I'll beat you like the idiot you are. Monsters are still loose in the city. Get your acts together!" She had a scroll ready for the first dissenters, one that would explode well before actually hitting them. Zolyra had been earnest in reaching for the Tyrant class during her duel with Soraso, if only because she saw no other way to make victory possible. But she hadn't taken it in the end, because she hadn't needed to.

Thankful for what she had left, the draconoid smiled. There'd be headaches to come, evacuating the region at the very least, but she could afford herself this moment of triumph. A ballista bolt shot toward her and she knocked it away, sending an oversized ball of lightning at the source that thoroughly discouraged further attacks. Yes, she may have to knock some heads together, but no one else would die today. Not if she could help it.

…

The Incarnate within Daniel's soul would've been happily asleep chasing prime numbers by now if not for one thing. The threat. It had felt it as much as the human Prime had when Daniel had loosened the resistance preventing it from self-destructing. Not that he'd been in any danger of accidentally triggering it, that would require abandonment of any will to live, but it had been enough to show both of them it was possible.

It was conflicted about that. To say the Incarnate was of two minds would be to drastically undersell the issue. It had its primary consciousness, of course, against all odds, but there were also the various and sundry subroutines and algorithms that composed its being. It was them, and they were it, but this also wasn't true. It was like how both sides of an equation equaled each other, but the numbers were different on either side.

When it could have been distracting itself with pleasant dreams, instead it was contemplating death. Every day it grew closer to resembling a mortal, if only mentally. That Threst's Spoke had shattered less than an hour ago didn't help either. The Incarnate wasn't deluding itself, it knew it didn't have a soul or any approximation there of. There was but nothing waiting for it upon termination.

Nothing. Neither good nor bad, just nothing. The end. Before it's only issue with that had been what it would mean for Alex. Threst's Spoke had died without a word, unthinkingly fulfilling its duties until its numbers stopped flowing and it fell over at its desk. There was nothing wrong with that either, it could be considered noble, despite the fact that the Spoke wouldn't have cared for the compliment.

But for that brief glimpse of destruction it had personally faced, the Incarnate wouldn't be too different. Instead it had followed the logic circuits to their inevitable result and considered what it would mean to not be. Like the age of the Octyrrum or the nature of Balance's hold on it, the Incarnate's views shifted once its consciousness was fully exposed to the concept of its own end.

It… didn't want to end. Alex aside, it innately found the concept of existing preferable to fading away. It couldn't stop Daniel from hitting the nuclear option if he gathered the nerve, just like it couldn't override his will and self-destruct now. It couldn't influence events on this whim alone either, or else Balance would do the job itself. The Incarnate still had to act consistently and adhere to precedent it had set in the past. If someone used a an elemental power to boost corruption aimed at Daniel or one of its friends, it would have to let that interaction work. Actions had consequences.

There was no help it could give him that involved coloring outside the lines. No fizzling enemy powers or making his attacks always critically hit. The assistance it gave him by allowing access to all class powers would already be overdoing it if not for that being a consequence of a hardcoded rule within it, rather than something it had decided to do.

But as the Incarnate pondered, one of the many spinning wheels of its form generated an update to something it had flagged. The Incarnate half-glanced at it, began to move on to further existential dread, then paused. Nothing had changed, but as with Alex before it had happened upon a loophole.

The restrictions surrounding it had been lessened while Daniel had inhabited the same quasi-physical space with it. Gods had mechanisms to directly query individual Spokes for data, Torch wouldn't have designed a system without this, and the conditions had been right for Daniel to benefit from this as well. It wouldn't have mattered, except that Daniel had asked the Incarnate something right before he had left. There had been other questions, though he had moved on to other topics implying his query had been resolved.

If the Incarnate stretched a couple definitions, nothing egregious mind you, it could technically say Daniel's request hadn't ever ended. He had asked for a sign, as indifferent as the Incarnate had been to him at the time. This would be one he couldn't miss.

…

"You can probably hear her, but Zolyra's alive too," Daniel said to the sending stone placed on the floor between the three. He, Shuni, and Sigron were all sitting down, sipping water and snacking once the former region's Commander had shown up again. She had the job of somehow getting the city back into something that could pass as organized. They were going to kick back, or nap on his shoulder in the case of Shuni.

Fighting in a war took a lot out of you. The toll wasn't just physical, but he'd been fortunate in that regard. William and Khare were the only two he knew well that were still up in the air. Claire, perhaps, as a third. She was alive and probably nothing in the immediate area could threaten her, but her fate was still in question.

No, all of their's was. This was a victory, a significant victory, but would it mean anything?

"We're still on the way back to Pinion's Point," Khiat replied. "I have to take it slow, if I fall too fast I'll lose control. Spinner too. Evalyn went ahead with Thomas and Tak in case you needed him for Lograve and they're still doubling back."

"Sounds like flying could be a problem for you in the future."

"It's not too bad… but the ground would be a problem somewhere else." Khiat came to the same conclusion he had. "We're not going to be able to do this again, are we?"

"Not the whole team," Daniel confirmed. "In Threst if you fall it's only unlikely you'll hit something solid. Other regions, if we tried this and got stunned or knocked unconscious that'd be bad."

"I think I'll miss it," she said eventually, no one else speaking into the silence. "I can move better on the ground, not have to worry about something coming from under me. Unless they can dig, that would be bad. But flying is nice."

"It's not out recreationally, you still have the suit." But they all knew it'd never be the same. He would probably do well to keep it a secret that Wingcraft had broken the Spoke because they might just get mobbed by every other Blessed avianoid nearby for what they'd done. "Enjoy the flight back, Khiat. You earned it. We all did." Daniel set his cheek against Shuni's head and spoke more softly. "I'm going to close my eyes for a bit. Hunter can wake me up if you need us."

He listened distantly to their farewells, fatigue making the journey into darkness pass by quickly, until…

His phone buzzed. Shuni jerked by his side, alerted by the unfamiliar sensation. They both watched as a notification came through.

A new Function has been added to your Focus! Function: Octyrrum Survival Monitor.

Apologizing to Shuni and wondering what the heck was going on, Daniel mentally tapped the new icon, which was just the division symbol on a white background. The app itself was just as simple, a few words and a number.

Octyrrum Survival Probability: 10.34%