Icarus Awakens

It had been pure chance that he’d run across the group on their way to the Spire. If they hadn’t been in a rush they might have noticed even though he was currently invisible. The sight at the base of the Spire gave him pause. Like the ones he was following, he was resolved to act. But not yet. He was prudent, crafty, and worried that someone with the power to block distant communication could also intercept it. Now was not the time to reveal himself.

…

Daniel and Evalyn skirted the barrier of the strange calm in the storm, which they had presumed to be a function of the Spire. Hunter had been his initial thought until Willow had asked if they wanted the ringcat to make his way back to them alone in this kind of environment. Concern over her strange attachment aside, it was a good point. The exchange of marks with Khare also made it clear that having Hunter stay behind to watch the Identify Creature auras would be a good idea.

“They’re going for them,” Daniel said, turning his neck to track his friends. Not all of them were diving into the fray. While they had been preparing, Hunter had tagged everyone around Khare and Khiat and determined by the auras that, including them, there were only the four working to survive against what was becoming an open revolt. They’d ended up partway into the throng meaning the group going in to rescue them would have to break through. It didn’t sound too hard on paper, but even Daniel with his Regeneration would have been in constant fear of catching a random sword to the neck.

Evalyn herself had little confidence in any of her charm abilities making a dent in the emotions of the crowd. Her music would just make them a bigger target, so she was ideal to join Daniel in finding a way through. “This wound is going to take years to heal.” Daniel looked at her, confused. “Most of the zombies are duskers and the guard,” she went on, now having appropriated Daniel’s word for the undead. “I’ve been feeling the resentment building up. People growing desperate and fearing for the future. I just ignored it.”

“This isn’t your fault,” Daniel replied, feeling an echo of the past.

“I know. I can just see the cracks forming in the city’s soul.” He didn’t doubt her. One of the powers she’d received from the most recent round of hunting was Room Sense*, with another mysterious asterisk after it. When using it, Evalyn had a better sense of the emotional makeup of individuals and groups and thus an easier time manipulating them. It seemed like a useless power in combat but fit her role as team leader. He couldn’t imagine what she’d just seen, but it had shaken her.

“What about that window?” Daniel asked. The other good reason to have Evalyn along was that they had both visited this Spire earlier. Between them, they had a fairly good idea of where the main staircase was. The sandstorm wasn’t helping, especially because the bubble of calm didn’t extend all the way around. It did mean their approach was concealed. Evalyn made to follow, only to run into an invisible barrier a few meters from the wall. Daniel turned and placed a hand flat on where he thought it was like he’d just volunteered to go into the failing reactor of a starship.

Evalyn half-smiled, trying to mimic the gesture only to run into the Shroud a few centimeters in front of his hand. “How can you just pass through this?”

“I don’t know. It’s like it’s not there.” Daniel moved his hand forward, meeting hers for a moment before he pulled it back and looked away awkwardly. He quickly tried to deflect. “None of my powers have anything to do with bypassing god barriers, Artificer or the old Totem Warrior ones.”

“I guess it’s just another thing that makes you remarkable.” He blinked at her, caught off guard. “I mean it. And don’t you dare die in there. Find Thomas first, he’ll know how to navigate. We’ll do what we can out here until you can get this Shroud down. You can do it, I believe in you.”

Daniel looked from where, in the distance, Gordon was leading the charge into the crowd, then back to Evalyn. He knew he should say something. ‘Good luck’ seemed like he wasn’t trying. His old nerves returned from their long slumber and he couldn’t settle on anything. Evalyn turned to go, giving him a soft nod, when another part of him made him reach for her arm.

“What?”

“There’s a better way. It’s not just me that can get through the barrier. My stuff can too. It’s not strictly my body.” What if it’s not just me, but anything that I want to get through that can? Bacteria are technically alive and all the crap in me wasn’t ripped out last time. The thought had occurred to him in a flash. Initially at him wondering if Evalyn could just hop into his bag of holding for a moment, but that didn’t work on anything living. Arpan or Khare’s storage power may have worked, though neither had his strange knack for ignoring super shields. “Let me try to pull you through.”

“I’m not part of your ‘stuff’,” Evalyn replied with eyebrow raised.

“I know I know, just let me try!” She nodded again, more firmly this time, and he pulled. He could feel the barrier this time as it resisted Evalyn’s movement, but there was something else as well that was extraordinarily hard for him to describe.

Daniel had experience with senses beyond his own, most often during his continued practice trying to acclimate to Hunter’s body. In this moment he felt something that went beyond his poor mana sense, a completely alien sensation but not one that gave him the impression of a hallucination or external illusion. It was like the Spire behind him had suddenly become aware of him, realized what he was doing, and was not pleased about it. Now, not only could Evalyn not pass through but his wrist was locked in place where it overlapped with the Shroud. It was still getting blood flow so that was good, but he couldn’t move at all. “Shit, I’m stuck!”

“Then let go!”

“N-no!” The Spire was getting angry. Not in a metaphorical way. His, what, eighth sense now told him the tower behind him was affronted by whatever he was doing. For some reason, his blood was getting heated as well. He wanted to win whatever strange contest this was. Also, if there was any chance he didn’t have to go into the Spire alone, he was going to do whatever he needed to.

Spontaneously, mana began to move within his chest. This was another area Daniel had been practicing after accidentally falling far behind the rest of his team in monitoring his mana, but to him the flow felt erratic compared to how his powers felt. There was still that strange loop around his heart which he now knew as the way to get to Bridge Space, though none of the surges touched it. Actually, after a few more seconds, he almost got the impression that whatever the mana was trying to do needed that space but was blocked by the loop that prevented mana from going back toward his heart.

He also had no control over the strange mana. It was an automatic, no, an instinctual process. That at least was familiar. This was just like when Rorshawd had forced him to use Claw Strike for the first time, effectively teaching him to use the power until the removal of that soul allowed him to fully comprehend it. Come on, I was just joking about a hidden third soul.

Either way, the battle of wills between himself and a damned tower was stalemating. Whatever his body was trying to do to counter the Shroud wasn’t working. It was, however, draining his mana at an alarming rate. With no outlet it was just dispersing into the atmosphere. Daniel was going to let go and hope the Spire took that as an appropriate apology when he had yet another idea. Given the last inspiration had gotten him into this mess he was a bit wary, but it was worth a shot.

Daniel let go of Evalyn while, at the same time, holding the will to bring her through in his head. His hand remained stuck which was at once encouraging and terrifying. Focusing, he tried to activate Claw Strike on both of his hands, but the mana running wild within him smothered the attempt. He’d already learned about dual-channeling from Lograve during one of their talks regarding how he and Hunter could activate two abilities at the same time. The gist was that for someone to do it by themselves it required months to years of practice.

For Daniel, who could barely understand the mana mechanics behind his powers, it would be impossible to suddenly accomplish the feat now. Instead, he relied on his friend. Hunter, I need to give you Claw Strike. Swap into me and use it on my hands. He got confusion back across the mental link. Hunter hadn’t used the power himself after seeing what it did to Daniel, complaining that it would make his paws too bird-like. Daniel’s concentration and urgency made the ringcat break off from the group rescuing their other team members and comply.

Both Daniel and Tak had similar powers which allowed them to transform parts of their body into bestial versions, increasing damage and strength in battle. The major difference between them was that Daniel had to actively focus on the power to get it to remain active, which counted as channeling it, while Tak merely had to use his power to shift at which point it had a set duration. What this meant was Tak could use other actively channeled powers while transformed, but as Daniel just demonstrated, he could not.

This downside was what Daniel hoped to turn into an opportunity. His mana was locked down into whatever pattern it was trying to create to use the hidden power. Hunter’s foreign mana, allowed in by their bond, was not under this limitation. The feeling of holding his arms under a running river took hold as Daniel paid close attention to what Hunter was doing. He watched as what he’d hoped to accomplish happened.

The rampant mana in his core bled off into Hunter’s ability. The two mixed to create what was visibly just a normal activation of Claw Strike. However, there was a difference. Daniel suddenly felt leverage on the shield around him. What was more, he found he could penetrate the shield with his other hand. Keep it active for as long as you can, he mentally grunted at Hunter while in front of him, he put the backs of his hands together.

Evalyn watched as in front of her, the storm suddenly cut into the space around the Spire. With effort, Daniel’s hands widened more and more, creating a gap in the Shroud with great effort. “Go!” His shout startled her, and she dove between his legs. The moment she was through he fell back, panting. She heard him murmur, “Thanks, Hunter.”

“What did you just do?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, chest heaving. “But I think I can do it again.”

“Let’s get the others over here then.” She looked at him, waiting for him to telepathically pass on the message, but he shook his head and looked at the part of his wrist that had been caught in the Shroud.

“I have another idea. If you’d agree, captain.”

“Oh?”

“We need to get one of the Rangers to where the spire guard are.”

…

Somewhere on Earth, a light started blinking rapidly. The LED could emit any color but was now flashing red. An alert had come onto screen as well as an entire backlog of messages awaiting Earth-Daniel’s approval before being sent to Octyrrum-Daniel’s Focus.

Meanwhile, the young man in the room continued to oversleep.

…

Gordon readied himself for another memory he’d spend time trying to drown in drink later. Both he and Qess had a true appreciation for the brutality of what was going on before them. The utility of his powers varied, though a focus on hunting had born out. Not just ‘hunting’, a word inappropriately used for anything related to monster killing, but actual tracking, observation, and stealth. He could see exactly what was going on to a better degree than anyone else with him. The fighting was chaotic, a tragedy at the far end where spire guard were engaging civilians ruthlessly. When the last of the converted guards were gone, the crowds would either round on those who had denied them access to safety, or worse, each other.

They were all more beast-like in their adrenaline fueled rampage than the ringcat stalking forward with him. Qess, Taloran, Willow, Belonna, and that shopkeeper had all stayed back on the edge of the storm while the other five, including himself, made for the watch sergeant. The man had won some clear space in the melee by dint of holding his ground, and the mob seemed to at least partially recognize he wasn’t acting in tandem with the spire guard. The other part of the equation was the dusker with the giant bow adding an intimidation factor.

Their equivalent was the ringcat who had roared, the sound carrying a fear effect. It did little but prickle the Ranger’s own emotions. Where it met the unleveled crowd it found easier victims. That was until the ringcat had stopped its advance, refusing to react. Its Totem Warrior claimed it had something to do with Daniel, what exactly Gordon couldn’t tell. Just before Marky was going to explode, and Gadriel run into the crowd, it opened its eyes.

“Daniel can open the Shroud,” it said. “We need to get to the spire guard.”

This tripped Gordon’s old suspicions that this was all some elaborate trap, though Marky responded first with a shout that convinced the few in the crowds thinking of asking them for help to ignore them altogether. “You’re leading us to our deaths! Or are all these people here in league with you? We’re not going to help you take over the Spire!”

“Marky,” Gordon cut him off with the firm tone used for orders on a hunt, and the Druid closed his mouth. “How can he open the Shroud? The entire Spoke is powering it.”

“I don’t know,” the ringcat replied with what appeared to be honesty. “It is something with his hands, dragging it open? He needs me to do it. But there is another thing. It might help us stop the fighting.”

Gordon paused for a moment to consider exactly how powerful a bond had to be to overwhelm a Spoke, before asking, “How?”

The ringcat inclined its nose at the crowds. “He is still figuring it out. Wants Qess to come to him while you stay with me.”

The Ranger didn’t detect any dishonesty from the ringcat, which was a strange thing to need to do. “I want details by the time we get to your friends.” He adjusted his jerkin, making sure there was nothing loose or easily grabbable. “And I still want answers after all of this.”

…

Doran’s hard-fought balance was upset with the arrival of the ones the gestalt had been marking as friendly. The struggle on the outer edge sent ripples throughout the pond. A woman bumped into him, saw his armor first, and swung a stolen shield at him. He ducked and pushed her back, drawing the ire of the people around him. At this point, Doran sorely wished he had some kind of power that turned his attacks nonlethal, but the Octyrrum hadn’t been generous in that regard. The friendlies were close and now also accompanied by a teal aura, but that distance was measured in many more bodies both living and dead.

They were going to have to advance towards the coming allies and try to carve out another safe spot. After that, Doran didn’t know. That the spire guard were still butchering the crowd behind him defied belief, but their combined numbers and levels would easily overcome his small force. Maybe the entirety of his HURT squad could have handled them, but they were just a shadow of that. He looked to the only other surviving member. “Vascott, we’re pushing towards the friendlies. Going bright.” The other man hastily dragged his hood down. “You two! Cover your eyes!”

He wasn’t sure if the gestalt understood well enough to obey, or if they needed to. Doran gave them a few seconds and then used another Cleric power: Flash Brilliance. According to the church it was their unique second level ability every Cleric of Torch got, even multi-classers. One would assume the signature power of the church of knowledge would fall directly under that auspice. Rather, this power aligned more with the patron’s name.

A burst of pure light emitted from Doran as he shouted an incantation. Compared to the Nova ability and its permutations this carried no damaging or disrupting energies, only an initial blinding light. His surroundings remained illuminated, turning night to day in a sphere over ten meters wide. “Go!”

They pushed through, everyone around them recovering their sight. Doran had feared the magically animated bodies of the guards would do so faster or not be affected at all. The opposite was true. Already, people at the edge of the sphere of light were capitalizing on the disruption to bring down the remaining former guardsmen. Without his ability to see auras depart with death, they often battered the corpses far longer than necessary. Doran hurt to see it, but kept moving.

He spotted the ringcat first, unsurprised by its appearance only because of the report that had initially gone out when they thought someone was robbing the Artificer. Hearing it talk was something else entirely. “We need to get to the door!” it almost roared, before adding, “Uhm, Druid.”

“That is not a Druid!” a young man who, by appearances, definitely was exclaimed. He was smacked on the head by Gordon, someone Doran recognized as the co-leader of one of Aughal’s better hunting teams.

“Ignore that,” Gordon told him, casually grabbing an arrow out of the air that had been aimed wide. Incidental attacks were flying throughout the throng, everyone in Doran’s group had minor injuries due to someone else’s poor aim. “We have someone that can open the Shroud. Can you get the spire guard to stand down?”

“I doubt the Council could do that now,” Doran fired back bitterly, following as the Ranger started moving towards the Spire. He sensed a kinship with the man that was heartening, someone who kept control when everything was going wrong.

“You hear you have to see cityborn as shit to get in their ranks, but I never really believed it until now.”

“Can it, Vascott,” Doran reprimanded. “If you really can open the door, we’re going to get rushed in moments. What’s your plan then?”

The Ranger looked at his hand briefly as a stone appeared from nowhere. This wasn’t commented on, although Gordon did knock someone away with an elbow after they crashed into him and almost made him drop it. Every step towards the Spire was a fight, and the mobs only got denser towards the main gate. “There’s another plan. I don’t know if it’ll work, but it may stop the fighting.”

A Hero with them, looking horrified at his surroundings, grimaced. “I know not if what Daniel proposed is within the realm of normality, but he has shown commendable intelligence in the past. If there is any way to stop this bloodshed I implore you to consider it.”

Doran sighed. “Not the first time I’ve followed orders I didn’t understand. If you’re on board, so am I.”

Gordon hesitated a moment before the stone in his hand disappeared. “Fine. Let’s do it.”