Icarus Awakens

Shuni was practically vibrating at his side as they assembled in the courtyard. It'd be the last they saw of the home they'd made amid the Collapse, but they'd see it again. In contrast to his girlfriend, Hunter's excitement was mixed with concern over the upcoming separation. Tak would still be there, but they'd be apart for a couple weeks. The only other stretch that had gone on longer was when Hunter was dead.

With that happy thought, Daniel waved at the three guests who would be accompanying Shuni and himself to Vellus. "Guy!" Thomas shouted back as he ran forward, somehow having found a wide-brimmed straw hat. Behind him was Silora and the ever-suffering Rait who had yet to find something better to do with his life. "Not late, are we?"

"Nope. But now that you're here I can put this down." He gave Silora a welcoming nod. "You haven't heightened anything today, right?"

"I have not," she replied archly, the shavi's acquired tendency to be intimidated by important figures offset by the fact that he was dragging her off to places unknown once more. She'd had a passable Focus Chamber rebuilt in Pinion's Point but had clearly been missing the water of the now extant Shattered Falls. "Why did you insist on such a delay?"

"So I could do this." Even though the power didn't have an incantation, or any somatic components, Daniel slammed an open palm on the ground as he yelled, "Zone of Efficiency!"

"What the- oh. Oh!" The Fate sensed the change in her mana flow, and even if the effect was weaker on her, she was the perfect person to benefit from an immobile field reducing her mana costs aside from himself. "Why this is marvelous. Between all of its levels this has shaved at least 3% off of Farcaster alone."

"It's a thank you for coming with us to Vellus. It'll last all day unless I recast it, so I'm thinking I'll put it over the Focus Chamber you set up." Daniel smiled, waiting for the payoff from keeping their destination secret from Silora.

"Well, that is very considerate of…" she trailed off as the name he'd mentioned casually struck. "Wait. Vellus, that Vellus? Two regions over? Deep lakes, slow rivers, radiant waterfalls," she uttered the last word adulantly. "That's where we're going?"

"Yep," Daniel replied cheerily.

"And the only thing you need me to do is contact Zolyra in case of emergency?"

"Well," Daniel stretched out the word, and Silora's face fell, expecting the catch. There was one, but it wasn't too bad. "I'm going to be scanning around for good monsters to hunt with Shuni. I can't detect level 4 or higher, so we were hoping you would scout out anything we find before we take off in the morning. I also know you can find magical material so if you happen to spot any just let us know. Say one or two hours of work at most after dawn, otherwise you're on call."

"And that means?" Silora asked hesitantly.

"If Zolyra has a Fate reach out to you, or if we contact you by sending stone, we'll need you to coordinate communication. Otherwise you can do whatever you want as long as you stay close by."

It sounded far too good to be true for the Fate. "Then why is he coming!?" she asked pointedly, indicating Thomas. "I've been able to work without that little slavedriver over my shoulder."

Thomas bristled at the insult. "What, like I can't have a vacation too?"

"It's so we can make sure you'll come back," Daniel said, the Cleric wincing but not protesting again.

"I wouldn't-"

"You would," Daniel cut Silora off. "And I don't blame you. Ultimately it's not my decision. For the record, Zolyra wouldn't force you to stay either."

"Then…" She turned to Thomas with a look of outrage. "You!"

"I lost my class because of you," he said bitterly, not wavering under her furious gaze. "Thank the Hand I still have something I can use to help people, but let's not forget that you blackmailed me, Silora, knowing that you could have put me in the same situation you were trying to escape! We had a deal. I'm not going to run your life for you or control everything you do, but I will make sure that until our contract expires, you're helping just as much as we are."

She glared at him but then seemed to consider what further argument was likely to buy her. Now wouldn't be the best time to push the issue. "I suppose I don't have a choice, then. Shall we be off?"

"Give us a moment, we're going to say goodbye to the team." Daniel walked with the rest of Wingcraft a short distance away and used the intercom system that was Spinner to tell Alex it was time. Only he and Shuni were leaving today, there were a couple of things keeping the others here for a day or two. Khare's welcome back gift among them. "I take it the fact that Thomas is broken up about going to Vellus instead of Kallical means things didn't go well?" he asked Evalyn lightly when they were far enough away.

"They did, actually," she answered with a tilt of her head. "We met for dinner and agreed it'd be best to stay friends. He's growing surprisingly mature."

"The things an apocalypse will bring out in people," he quipped, watching Shuni hug Khiat out of the corner of his eye. Daniel reached for Evalyn as well and then whispered quietly enough that no one, not even Hunter, could hear. "Take care of him, will you? He's not going to have Regeneration without me."

"He'll be fine," she replied, but there was a catch toward the end. She could feel Hunter's emotions too, though to a far lesser extent. "It's you too I'm worried about, going off without me to keep you in line. What if a monster catches you in a compromising position?"

"Evalyn," Daniel snorted. "Gods, we'll be careful. And it's not like either of us is a Bard."

She took the jab well and patted him on the back, motioning him onward. Khiat thanked him for the new bow, which she was able to use immediately due to not having a restriction on her item level. Sigron mixed a promise to look out for his friends with a joke about reaching out if he needed a hand, and Tak bemoaned the homework Lograve had given him to take on his trip. The last two, aside from his sister who was coming down from her room, he spent a little more time with.

"Khare," he began, gripping one of their vine arms supportively. "I'm sorry I'm not going to be there for your big debut. I guess that just means you'll have more to surprise me with when we meet back up. And, speaking of surprises, there's something you should know. We made something for you."

"Gun?" the gestalt asked hopefully, but Daniel shook his head.

"Even with level 3, I can't make ammunition that will work with your ability and be safe to use," he said sadly. "I did make a few special arrows that should be amazing with Motley Bombardment, and you'll get that when Padri comes by with the real present."

The gestalt tilted their head, trying to figure out what he could be talking about. "Mech?"

"Yeah, buddy," Daniel laughed. "We're making you a mech. It won't be like the war suit, which wouldn't mesh with your class. It's going to be something better."

"Mech!?" Daniel nodded and Khare threw up their arms. "Mech! Mech!"

"Couldn't have waited for us to tell them when it was ready?" Evalyn asked with mock disapproval.

"Oh, you'll get this reaction again when they see it," Daniel assured. "I'm the one missing out on them using it for the first time. But some things are more important." That being said, he moved on to the team's last member as the rest gave them space. Hunter. Thank you for being ok with this.

The ringcat, currently in his true form, looked away. I don't like this, but I know I can't be… dependent on you.

Dependent!? Daniel mentally chuckled. You're the one who escaped a god on your own in the Astral.

I was doing what I had to do, Hunter replied directly. But I keep feeling awful about you leaving. It is like when we first met and you did not want me fighting the dragon, I know, but I still… It is hard knowing how much time will pass before I see you again.

You did well enough when I was camping out in the Arcadian last week, Daniel pointed out.

That was different. We were in range of our bond. I could still talk to you. This, you could need my help and have no way of asking for it.

Hey, who's the level 3 here big guy? Daniel asked, rubbing at Hunter's cheek as he did so. I'm the one who should be worried about you. And I am, but it's ok. We can't always be together, especially when you find a Druid lucky enough to get to know you.

Hmm. Hunter looked away again, embarrassed this time. Thanks. And stay safe.

You too. Try not to have too much fun. Daniel smiled, knowing from Evalyn's description of her home region that that was an actual possibility. Hunter was built for a region that was wide open, and after enduring Threst he had earned time in his favored terrain.

After Daniel and Hunter said their formal goodbyes, Daniel walked closer to the houses to intercept Alex before she would reach the rest of the team. As he did so he noticed a bird land on one of the roofs. Not an avianoid or monster but the actual animal, a type he was unfamiliar with. It wasn't too uncommon, at least here, and it was only due to his magically heightened awareness that it had registered in the periphery of his senses. Daniel mentally shrugged it off, not even bothering to identify it.

"Alex," he greeted, still feeling the distance that remained between them. "Will you be alright here? It'll be a lot emptier around with us gone."

"I'll be fine. Just focus on keeping yourself alive every time you needlessly put yourself in danger." Daniel sighed with that. Alex had somehow sworn off hunting even harder after his confession to her, refusing to use any of her powers to help them out of fear it would encourage his Spoke to keep pushing her in that direction. He understood and it was her choice, but she was also snippy about it when talking with Daniel. It felt like she blamed him for being the source of the conflict within herself, unwilling to participate in violence yet pained to see people she cared for in danger without doing anything to help them. In her eyes he was constantly holding himself hostage, another actor trying to push her into breaking with herself. Quala was trying to help, but as Lograve had tried to say when he'd interrogated the Arcanist about his depression, she couldn't be everywhere at once.

It's my choice to do this, Alex. I want to, because I am good at it. I wasn't, but I am now, and it gives me the power to do something about this world. He let the words in his mind go, not wanting to argue with her right now. "I will, and I'll be fine. Who knows, maybe you'll want to visit while we're there? Everyone I've talked to tells me how beautiful it is there."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"You're not going there for just the view," she challenged.

"We'll be in a sanctuary," Daniel reasoned. "It's protected from monsters, and Vellus is far better off than Threst was when it came to monsters. It still has 5 regions around it to boost its protections, you may be safer there than you are here. But you don't have to go if you don't want to. I'm not trying to argue with you, just giving you the option," he said apologetically. Daniel reached into a bag of holding and pulled out a flat piece of enchanted bone. "Anyway, I wanted to give you this. Take it as an apology or however you want to see it. Just know that I love you, Alex. Hate me for calling down my Spoke on you or just for hunting if you have to, but know that we're still family."

His sister turned the piece over in her hands, confused, until she saw the right side of it. Astonishment filled her voice. "This is-"

"Shuni gave me the idea," Daniel said with a smile. "It's actually one of the hardest things I can do enchanting-wise, but it helps that you can only hold level 1 stuff. I know you have pictures printed out, but this has self-repair on it so it's almost impossible to lose."

"Thank you," Alex said genuinely, clutching at the image printed out on the bone. He'd had to make intricate changes to the color to make it work, but it wasn't the first time he'd used enchanting to replicate a family photo. It was of their original family, no Hunter or duplicate Daniel. And yes, he'd included Hourglass. Garret. For all he'd done he was still Alex's father, and a part of her refused to accept it had all been a lie. She let the piece slip into a bag at her side after taking a long moment to look at it, and then pulled out her violin. "Can you show me where to stand so I'll be in your zone?"

"Sure, but why?" Daniel asked. "New power?"

"No, an old one. I feel like playing today." He guided Alex back to the area of the courtyard affected by Zone of Efficiency. The moment she started playing he recognized Glimpse of Dawn, and he wasn't the only one. The sparrow flew through Willow's window and hovered in place, still trying to find something in his sister he could use for himself. Mavar hadn't given him any specific advice to that end, and indeed only the spirit himself might be able to puzzle it out.

Daniel blocked those thoughts out and did his best to enjoy Alex's music. It was a short performance, not going longer than her ability required, but it had the same heart in it that the first had. Daniel hoped that if nothing else, she'd regain the full passion she'd lost for her talent.

At the end, he noticed the bird again. Not the sparrow, but the first one. Huh. Almost looks like that one is listening too. I wonder if Alex is gaining a feature that turns her into a Disney princess. She could use something like that to show her the Octyrrum's not all violence. He finally identified the bird out of curiosity and froze.

Common Lark (0, Summoned)

The bird noticed his eyes widening and began to fly down to the courtyard. Daniel reached for a weapon as Hunter also began to react, but before they could do anything decisive the bird transformed in midair and landed as a young woman.

Spinner burst out of the side building attached to the house Tlara lived in, shouting through every web in the compound as she did so. "Intruder! INTRUDER!" A perfect image of Claire Elsemar ignored her, staring at Daniel instead. Perfect, save for the eyes which retained the reptilian nature of a truewyrm. "Do not move!" Spinner shouted, the courtyard around Claire's summon growing incandescently purple as a lethal charge built up.

Sigron was getting Alex behind him, but Daniel opened his mouth and called out over the confusion. "It's just a level 0 summon! She's not really here, she's piloting it like Tlara can her monsters."

"Perceptive as always," Claire spoke evenly. The rest of the compound began to react around her. Murdon and Tlara were out on a hunt, Lograve was in the Arcadian waiting for them, Janice on patrol, but Tlara and Willow looked down from open windows as below, a level 5 Berserker was shaken from his rest. All of that might not have been enough to face Claire's true body alone, but the rest of the town and Zolyra herself would show up if she came here aggressively.

Daniel consciously took a step back to return to his zone, and then asked, "Why are you here, Claire?"

"To talk. Just to talk." She gestured down toward herself, the robes created when the bird transformed rippling in the breeze. "I almost forgot what I looked like. Before. The ability remembered."

"If you're asking if we can turn you back, I don't think we can," Daniel answered honestly. "A god did this to you, Claire. We'd need another to undo it at the least."

"But isn't that what you're planning?" Daniel cursed as he understood her meaning. This wasn't the first time she'd brought a summoned creature here. "Even so… you stopped me. Vengeance was all I had. The only thing keeping me going!" Her voice shifted slightly toward the end, becoming deeper and raspier to better mimic her true nature. She recovered, and then pointed to Shuni. Not the shadow clone the Rogue had switched out with, but where she was hiding invisibly. "Do you know what he did? Who he is?"

Shuni teleported to Daniel's side, seeing no more reason for stealth. "I know everything, Claire," she said confidently but defensively. "There's nothing you can say that will get between us."

"Really?" She shook her head. "He said he loved me. But the moment he faced a true test his feelings fled like mice before a dragon. Did you ever wonder what would have happened if you hadn't treated me like a toy you'd grown tired of playing with!?" she shouted, rounding on Daniel once more.

"That's not what happened," he said through gritted teeth. If Claire was here to declare war, it would introduce the possibility of her hitting the compound at any point while he was away. With that hanging over his head… "I made mistakes. Like I told you before, I never should have gotten involved with you. I wasn't ready for it, and I'm as sorry now as I was then. What I learned let me grow into the kind of person I am now. Still, I'm not the one who ignored all the help Quala was trying to give you. I'm not the one who changed you."

"Fine." Claire's eyes briefly turned to where Gtoll was climbing out of a sungate, but she gave him as much attention as the lightning still surging around her. "Fine. But my brother is still dead. What little I could call family was either slaughtered by your people in Aurus, or still imprisoned by them."

Daniel winced, but that hadn't been his call. Zolyra had a unique challenge in the transformed gestalt that had survived the battle. That they retained the link to the air gestalt meant they could potentially pass along information to others in the region no matter what was done with them, unless she kept them under constant mental suppression. Once they made it to Aughal the Shroud could keep them secured if manipulated appropriately, and there was little information to be gained. Still, it left a bad taste in both his and Hunter's mouth.

"So what will you do?" Sigron asked from behind Daniel. One of his bond hands made itself visible, drawing a reaction from Claire. "Revenge wasn't something you were living for. It was the end of your path. You are here because you don't know what to do without it."

"I could return to the Origin Beast," Claire said challengingly, almost spitefully as the Knight inserted himself into the conversation.

"You think it will reward your failure?"

Daniel piled on. "They can't be reasoned with, Claire. They may have reasons to hate the gods, but surely you know now that their fury won't lead to anything good. You can't burn down the world because of your grief."

She scoffed. "What have you lost?"

"Hunter." She stared at him and Daniel looked right back into the vertical green slits of her pupils. "You know what he means to me. He died in Aughal, but instead of letting that ruin me I became a better person. Yes, I had the hope of bringing him back. I made mistakes, it changed me," he activated Beast Mode, mainly for emphasis as she'd surely seen him transform before if she had been spying for any amount of time, "but I didn't forget the person who had been Hunter's friend. You can come back, Claire. Even if your body is gone, you can come back from this."

The truewyrm posing as a human remained silent for a time, but eventually, she bowed her head. "I don't know about that. Everything is different. I'm powerful now, but it's…" The fight in her faded, leaving Claire sounding so lost he realized she'd been hiding her true emotions with the anger she'd shown before. "I only came here to talk. I'm not going to kill someone that hasn't wronged me, and despite all the harm you've brought, part of me knows you didn't mean it. I'm just trying to make sense of all it all. I'll go. Don't worry, I'll stop sending summons here."

"Wait!" Daniel called out quickly, afraid she would just dismiss the summon. An idea had suddenly come to him. It may be foolish, wasteful, even dangerous if Claire did become their enemy down the road, but he was willing to take the chance of an act of kindness today changing her path for the better. "If I give you something important, something small enough for that bird to carry, can you get it back to your real body?"

"I could. But I don't want anything you could give me."

"Flash Craft." Claire raised an eyebrow at the small bag of holding Daniel had created. He raised a finger as he checked to make sure there was enough space, and then nodded. "It's not the bag, you just can't carry all of this without it." Gingerly, he levitated a piece of kettlebranch wood out of the bag he used to store all of his personal possessions and special items. Gtoll sucked in a breath as the Berserker's expanded senses appraised the level 7 wood. Both he and Claire didn't seem to realize what he was offering, so he explained. "You're working under the monster system rules now, even if you've kept your mortal powers. I've seen a couple of them evolve by consuming magical material. No idea if what I have will be enough, but if you eat this you'll gain power. Otherwise you'll be stuck waiting until you can Grow to level 7 to improve."

He floated the piece over and Claire inspected it, wincing as the superior material stung her lower level summon. "I can't touch this, no less eat it."

"I'm sure your instincts will tell you otherwise when you get it up close," Daniel answered confidently. "If a cloud could chew on this, so can you."

She watched as he began loading all he had into the small bag of holding. "Why?"

"Because this is the best thing I can use it for. It gives a bonus to potion making if I used it to enchant. Still not sure how evolution works beyond what triggers it, but I saw you spit venom at Rorshawd. Eating this might improve that part of you specifically."

Still over by the sungate, Gtoll started. "Of course, truewyrm! Artificer, their venom is already strong enough to kill dragons. If she turns on us-"

"This is a gift of trust." Daniel held out the bag. "Of regret, and of hope. Take all the time you need to think, Claire. Just remember that you haven't burned all your bridges here."

She hesitated, but then took the bag gently. Claire looked at Shuni again and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry. He has changed. I only wish he had been there for me like he is for you now." Without waiting for a reply, her body contorted until all that was left was a bird flying away with the bag gripped tightly in its talons.

Spinner rushed over after assuring the danger was over. "I am so sorry! I should have been keeping everything away. This is all my fault."

Willow glided down from the second floor, using the racial power she'd finally awakened last week. "Spinner, you do enough already. Don't blame yourself, I'm sure it looked like just another animal to you."

"But it wasn't!" The tall drider sobbed. "She could have gotten into your room, or Mistress', and… and…"

Tlara was at her side a few moments later, sparing a glare for the now distant summon before gently standing on one of the arachnoid shoulders. "Come on Spinner, what do you think something as fucking weak as that could do to me? I'm sure you would've zapped it as soon as it came through the window anyway."

"O-of course, Mistress," Spinner said, teary-eyed. Tlara scrunched up her face, aware everyone else could clearly see her, but still reached out to give Spinner's top half a comforting hug.

"You're enough, Spinner, alright? Gods know you do more than I do now." She looked in the drider's face and scowled. "I bet you haven't been sleeping like I told you to, have you?"

"I… I can't protect you when I'm sleeping," Spinner said, worried she was about to be chastised. "No one can hurt you or Willow ever again."

"Spinner," Tlara sighed. She looked down at her sister. "Willow, what do you think of letting Wisp guard this fucking place at night so Spinner can get some sleep? You wanted them to get more independent, right?"

"I'll see if they're up for it," Willow replied uncertainly. "Either way, Spinner, you need to sleep. I thought you said your webs would alert you if someone crossed over them."

"But I don't have webs everywhere," Spinner whined. "And you told me not to look inside at night anymore. If something got in without it waking me up, I wouldn't notice anything."

The Spirit Master looked on with pity, then addressed the audience. "We have this handled, guys. Might take us a minute or two to calm her down. She's still traumatized by that ambush no matter how well she hides it normally."

"Of course," Evalyn replied immediately. "We'll still be here for a day or two. Let us know if you need anything."

"I will." The two sisters led Spinner back to her room, a silence left in their wake.

"We should probably get going before another of your exes shows up," Shuni joked, and Daniel had to chuckle at that. He was grateful for how she'd stood against Claire's accusations as well. Bond or not, their relationship had grown steady enough that he didn't feel the need to reassure her he still didn't have feelings for the once-Arcanist. It could've been disastrous, throwing their plans for Vellus into question, but they were stronger than that.

Still, he really did have to get out of here before something else fell out of the sky. "Sounds like a plan. Thomas, can you Flash Balance me? I want to be able to use the blast bow if something finds us on the way. Everyone else, I guess we'll see you guys in a couple weeks. Don't die, and don't bother us for anything less than a truewyrm." He grabbed Shuni's hand and smiled at her. "It's time I took a break from the apocalypse."

End of Book 4: Arcadian