Icarus Awakens

They met on the peak of Aurus, where once the courts of Threst had gathered. No more. Forever, no more. The region was dead, and all there was to do was flee before the decay killed you too.

At least, that was the case for most. On high, they gathered. The earth whispered beneath them, the gestalt discussing amongst themselves and the noise carrying through the cracks they'd made when they emerged to fight Zozar. All unintelligible, unless you had the power to understand them.

None in Wingcraft did. Daniel strained his ears to try and pick out enough individuality to begin marking those Melos him, but not even Hunter could do it. Their speech flowed together like converging rivers, confounding any attempt to isolate one.

It would have to wait, but not long. Under the runic barriers of Zolyra four interests met. Hers, Wingcraft, Gtoll of Aughal, and the earth gestalt. It could have just been Daniel, and he was planning on doing most of the talking, but his team deserved their place here. As for the previous leadership of Aurus, there was nothing worth mentioning. Fragments of bureaucracy that could assist in the evacuation, but had no place here.

Gtoll looked first at the other dusker, the first time he'd seen her since the battle yesterday. "Khiat. You have done our people proud. Deserving of the title Sunwarded. More than I, at least."

The archer reeled back at the words. "But you're the one with Sun Immunity! I'm just-"

"Skilled. Brave. A hero of our people." The giant half again her height brought himself low, collapsing his carapace until they were level. "Stand proud."

Khiat froze for a few seconds, then bowed her head with a smile. "I will." Her cool demeanor lasted about as long before it broke. "You should meet my family! Unless you already did in Aughal. I know we're going through Pinion's Point, you could have dinner with us!"

"That's… not what we're here to discuss," Gtoll chuckled, his tone leaving room for a later yes.

"In some ways it is," Zolyra said lively, not at all looking like she'd battled a cloud titan for an hour straight less than a day ago. She raised both hands to direct the rune walls around them, layering the protections so thickly it began to block out the noon sun. "There. Best I can do. Now we move on to the future, if our last conspirator would make herself known."

A circle of flowers bloomed on the ground, rising out from which was Festra, holding the same staff Daniel had seen weeks ago. There was that familiar wise weariness as well that suggested she too knew this victory hadn't decided everything. "We are ready, Commander," she croaked out, before spluttering and rapidly summoning a cup of presumably tea through her staff. "Blast it. Almost shouted myself hoarse down there. But yes, I speak for the collective. They greet you."

"I as well. I don't know if I'd have had the resources to calm Aurus if they hadn't thrown themselves at Zozar. What was the cost?"

"One hundred and twenty three, almost a quarter of their number," Festra replied gravely. "In all honesty, it should have been more. They knew Zozar would be kinder to them than any other, even in betrayal. For it was betrayal, Commander, and the time has come for the gestalt, earth and other elements alike, to plead their case."

Daniel's senses caught the attack before it hit him, but the projectile was fast and aimed at his head. He still managed to move out of the way in time, catching the glint of something metallic rush by him. No, not metal, polished bone.

He knew before everyone besides Khiat what was coming. Two arms rose from one of the cracks in the ground and pushed upward, as if a damned soul was rising from hell. A tear came to his eyes as the aura confirmed his hopes, though both it and their appearance showed signs of change.

Khare (Artillerist - 3, Gestalt: Earth)

Khare had leveled. With a bit of chagrin, Daniel realized that the gestalt had been intentionally revealing that fact, knowing he'd try to identify them. What's more their class had evolved, though there was a more profound difference. Khare now had a rocky shell around their chest. It was Stone Form, the power they'd inherited from Kob but had yet to grow into.

"Better," they said, then their eyes swiveled to Festra.

The Druid nodded. "I see you've kept up your training. Good. I want to talk to all of you, be with all of you again. Hunter is alive! But I owe my kin their moment first." Festra idly pushed the end of her staff into the dirt with that, though it seemed the pattern drawn wasn't connected to anything. "Their meaning, my words, if you can wrap your head around that. I think we can-"

She cut off as Hunter walked the short distance over to Khare and butted his head into the gestalt's chest. Khare hadn't grown with their level as Kob had, and for all they were a higher level they struggled to stay in place under the light assault. If Hunter had been in hybrid form he probably would have gone for a hug instead, but he was himself. Beast Mode was staying deactivated for the immediate future.

"You kept Daniel safe. Thank you."

Khare shifted, the vines of their lower form settling into legs that gave them a bit more height as the stone around them moved to accommodate the change in body structure. "Abandon." The word was sad, and even the next carried a bit of that to make it bittersweet as Khare patted Hunter's head. "Alive!"

"Yes."

"You don't have to apologize for leaving, Khare," Daniel said from behind Hunter. "I regret leaving without you. It worked out. You don't have anything to be sorry for." He waited, trying not to think about what he was waiting for paradoxically, and felt the cold certainty when no bond appeared. Festra had been right, they'd broken with what had originally connected them. He was a part of this world now, of his own will, and Khare… well, that's what they were here to find out.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The rest of the team filtered over to surround Khare, who almost seemed to shrink from their attention with guilt. It told Daniel that what Festra had to say wouldn't be straightforward. Still, the other three gave Wingcraft a minute to welcome their lost member before someone spoke up.

"The gestalt call for a boon to match those lost here today." Festra proclaimed, as if reading from a manifesto. "For earth to have warred with air came with no little cost, and the fracture spreads further than broken Threst. Indeed, we speak not just of they, but those other Spiritualists allied to them. Across the world. For justice, for hope, for honor, I speak on behalf of their unified will and charge you all with their dream, should you accept their aid. Make things right."

"You are-" Gtoll started, though Festra cut him off.

"A Spiritualist? Of course I am! What did you think betrayal meant?" She shook her head. "We were from the beginning."

"Wait, even back in Eido?" Daniel asked, and didn't miss Khare's grimace when Festra gave him a confirmatory thumbs up.

"You helped destroy the Spoke!?" Evalyn exclaimed, no doubt thinking of her family. "Khare? Tak!?"

"I did not know," the Totem Warrior replied defensively. "My group was split up. Gone, I thought."

"He didn't know. Neither did Khare," Festra assured. "Not at first. Kob did, but they kept it a secret."

"I don't understand. You helped us out of the Thormundz! You were the one who told Murdon the dragon's roar worked even if you were deafened."

"Because of him," Festra gestured to Daniel in response to Evalyn's anger. "Understand, girl, the truth is hard to ignore. We did what our hearts said was right, for the gestalt as well as all of us. The deal made with Hourglass and the old bastards of the Illustrious gave us a chance to change things for the better. Or so we thought."

"What truth?" The Bard asked, reigning in her emotions slightly. "What could be worth all of this death? I understand the gestalt are crying out for a true place with us, but that's not worth genocide."

"Yah already know. Or some of you do." She looked directly at Daniel, making everyone else follow her gaze.

"It's a few things, isn't it?" He went through spirits and the cycle of Collapses briefly, mostly for Gtoll's benefit, though there was one other reason. It'd been a conclusion he had tried to avoid, but Rorshawd had shown it to him while still sharing his body. "Humans came to the Octyrrum, not the other way around. On the Arcadian."

"This is blasphemy!" Gtoll immediately cried out, but Zolyra held up a hand to stop him from taking things further.

"May be. Disinformation like that I'd expect from things posing as friendly gods." She let a scroll burn up in her hands and then fixed an examinative stare on Festra. "We'll make judgments after we've seen everything, and that includes the Arcadian. Either way, is what he saying accurate to your beliefs?"

"In a nutshell, yes. Hard to stay faithful when the gods lie that boldly. Course it's not something spread far, not even all the gestalt know, though by now most of their high levels follow us. All waiting for the day their chains are broken."

"Why you?" Gtoll asked, still with fire in his voice. "I, I struggle to reconcile all of this. Still, the Crest, these monster gods, they only want our destruction. What could you hope to gain beyond becoming their slaves?"

"Freedom from endless death sounds fair, to start with." Festra's face turned troubled. "Not everyone's reason was the same. Some cared for the spirits or gestalt. Others had a gleam in their eye for power. Saw their dream of being Blessed denied a sign they were on the wrong side."

"Something changed, then," Zolyra reasoned. "Air gestalt didn't switch sides or else I wouldn't have burned out my scroll collection. Does it have anything to do with those two?"

"Nail, head, so on," Festra confirmed as the Arcanist singled out Daniel and Khare. "We thought the old beasties were the only hope for spirits. Then someone managed to nurture one back to health right in front of Kob. Could've been a one off, though, and they fell to an agent of the god we were trying to support. Guess the bastard couldn't tell one mortal from another, but we'd seen something to make us doubt the big plan."

"That didn't stop you from trying to destroy Aughal," Gtoll accused.

"It did! We didn't help Casia. Not that she was expecting it." Festra ground her teeth on the edge of her tea cup in frustration. "Yer giving us too much credit. There's no one supreme overlord among us, just people trying to do what they think is best. Grassroots. The gestalt were the most coordinated, of course. Soraso and Zozar had been planning this kingdom for a while. Well, mostly Zozar, the Bard was one they roped in to be the face of it all. That's why what Khare found made the difference it did."

"Grafting," Khare confirmed, and it was like the word echoed back in time.

"Kob wanted to see if there really was another way," Festra explained, though it wasn't clear if it was for her or Khare. "Their descendant inherited their mission. Hunter was one accident. Spinner was proof. Not that that'd help the gestalt, but it was a start. A chance that we didn't have to burn it all down to replant the forest."

Amazingly, that seemed to be the end of her story. It left certain things unsaid, such as what they actually proposed to do going forward. What this would mean for Khare, who was now shriveling in the center of their friends. Exposed. They had been a well-meaning double agent, but a double agent nonetheless.

In the silence, Daniel took out a frostfang dagger and stabbed them with it. They gestalt looked at him with shock, then their vines worked to drag it into their Mobile Armory. "Don't worry buddy, I'll enchant plenty more for you," he whispered while everyone stared at him again. "Unless your class is better for larger weapons now, in which case we might have to see if I can steal a railgun from the Arcadian for you."

"F-forgive?" They sounded as young as they actually were there. Only a year old, which was more than it sounded like for a gestalt, but still young. Someone who had been carrying around a heavy secret, guilt, regrets, grief, and Daniel hadn't known what to look for.

The question softened Evalyn's face. "Khare, I wish you would have told us. But of course we do. You want what we all would."

"It's more than that. Unless you're keener than I think," Festra cut in. "They want the link in their species broken. Seeing what I have I bet the old beasty gave the air gestalt form and speech, but kept the link until they finished the job." Her head turned to the side and then she laughed wryly. "Or they might not be able to remove it. Heh, hehe. You can see why they choose you, given the chance."

Zolyra looked up from the notes she was writing. "I have an understanding of how we arrived to this point, Druid. I'm thankful that your collective had the wisdom not to trust an elder nightmare which has spent all of recorded history trying to destroy all that we know. With respect to what they have done and sacrificed, what do the earth gestalt want?"

"A Blood Contract." The gathering grew still, the gestalt below quieting. "Easy to make. Hard to take back. A promise to find a way to ease their suffering. No one's fool enough to expect you to solve this now. But they need a guarantee. And it has to be you." Her wizened hand rose and pointed straight at Daniel.