Icarus Awakens

Daniel was asleep when Hunter brought Tak back into town. This was for the best, as the sight of the avianoid riding Hunter might have put an irreparable dent into their relationship. Instead, he slept a few hours past dawn, courtesy of a message from Murdon passed to Janice. Simply put: ‘let the boy rest.’

That hadn’t left him with enough time to work on Hunter’s armor. As it turns out, this was fortunate. Hunter wasn’t exactly pleased with the idea of wearing metal even if it would protect him. The ringcat was similarly immune to Daniel’s assurances of how cool it would look. He’d have to work on that, but he’d have plenty of time to plead his case.

Two sets of lightning wings and an assortment of weapons were made that day, and Daniel learned more about the world. The libraries of Hagain Village and Roost’s Peak were available to him and there wasn’t much else to do with his time besides slowly feed mana to the heliorite. He hadn’t advanced from any studying this time, which was a shame. There had to be something to the process he wasn’t getting, or else reading during enchanting invalidated the activity as a beneficial activity.

Actually, he hadn’t gained any advancement potential from the three days of enchanting either. Daniel couldn’t figure it out. He was an Artificer, making magic items was what he was supposed to do! His best guess was that the helictite was spoiling him there as it did in every other way, but there was no point complaining given how necessary it was.

What Hunter had to show for his efforts was far more interesting and troubling. He didn’t go out hunting after the night Tak had been injured, and not just because the avianoid would need a few days to recover. Hunter was ready to Grow, yet there was something in the way. Not Beast Friend, to Daniel’s relief. If that had to be improved to level two before Hunter could Grow there’d be no way to get enough advancement potential before the dragon fight. Instead, there was a notification that was produced when Daniel pondered the question and felt something new in his connection with Hunter.

Alert: The Creature under the effect of Feature: Beast Friend* has reached the necessary requirements to improve to a Level: 2 form. ???

Function: Settings has been updated.

He’d immediately investigated the settings app and found a pointing arrow on the right center edge that led to another page when tapped. Instead of his silhouette, there was one of a ringcat displayed lengthwise across the center of the screen. Daniel had to rotate the phone to see it appropriately and felt slightly put off doing so. The only options here were an arrow to return him to his character screen and a flashing yellow triangle. Pressing that yielded more text, primarily in the form of buttons. Each had an icon, and everything beyond the first and last option had a red triangle beside it that a key told him meant ‘restricted access’. Despite the additional label, he could still choose any of the options.

Select an option:

• Default: Alpha Ringcat

• Common: Dawn Ringcat

• Common: Dusk Ringcat

• Common: Typhoon Ringcat

• Common: Toxic Ringcat

• Unconventional: Aquatic Ringcat

• Unconventional: Grave Ringcat

• Unconventional: Draconic Ringcat

• Rare: Spiral Ringcat

• Rare: Luminous Ringcat

• Legendary: Psionic Ringcat

• Unique: Awakened Ringcat, ???

The bonded Creature must confirm the selection for it to take effect.

That was another shock that almost ruined what he was making. Not just the revelation of different subtypes of ringcats, but that almost all of them were restricted. By who, the gods? The Octyrrum? And yet he could choose them. He had accidentally chosen toxic ringcat before tapping out and had panicked for a second. Thankfully Hunter had rejected the change out of hand, not understanding the impulse that had come over him. That was for the best, if only because it was just a common variant.

Hunter could become 12 different versions of himself. There was no explanation beyond their names and the vague idea Daniel got from each icon, but greater rarity should imply stronger forms. That was what videogame logic would dictate, at least. Each different form likely had separate powers and attribute arrays as well. Despite this, Hunter was wary of making the choice.

Daniel looked at the wing icon next to Draconic Ringcat and sighed. Hunter, we should figure this out. If you choose something that alters your body, it’ll make the armor useless if I make that first.

Hmm. Hunter was resting and took a moment to fully reply. Unsure.

That’s not like you.

Yes. Hunter padded carefully up the stairs to reach Daniel, just small enough to fit on the upper floor. It is much. Hunter squeezed through the door and sat in the middle of the room. Too much.

This is the kind of thing you have to be sure about. You’re picking your class, unless we do this again when you Grow to level three. Why is text about this hidden? Daniel shook his head. I can hardly complain about thinking too much about decisions, but we, or uh, I need to know if I’m going to make your armor.

Hmmm, Hunter grunted, looking away.

Is there something else bothering you? Daniel asked. He’d noticed unease in his friend and had attributed it to decision paralysis, but that was just an assumption. When it came to Hunter, he was trying to make less of those.

Hunter paused and sat down, putting his head on top of his paws. What if I become too different?

Too different? Do you not want to level, get stronger?

No. Hunter picked his head up and looked at one of his paws. It was one of the tics that gradual exposure to full strength Empathic Link was wearing into him. Daniel, likewise, had caught himself licking his hand and running it through his hair whenever he wasn’t self-aware enough to stop himself. I am worried about being not me.

So you just want to go with the default?

You said others are better? Daniel nodded in response. I want to be stronger, but not- Hunter growled softly, having trouble putting his thoughts into words.

You don’t want to lose yourself doing it.

Yes.

Would some of these versions change Hunter? Probably. He could see Dusk Ringcat being some kind of vampire murder cat, for example. Draconic Ringcat? That would be amazing, but only if it didn’t make Hunter some territorial, narcissistic jerk. I don’t know which of these are safe. Even Alpha can have some negative interpretations.

Must Grow, Hunter countered with an expression of pain. Daniel was still training with Hunter’s senses and knew there wasn’t anything physically wrong with him. Instead, it was everything he’d felt when agonizing over how to spend his advancements before the sparkbats came. In more ways than one Daniel empathized.

We could ask for help. I’m sure Lograve knows… Daniel trailed off as he noticed someone walking to the door with his lunch. He’d expected that around now, but it was Quala instead of Thomas this time. He frowned as he remembered what she’d wanted to do, feeling his anxiety peaking. Oh no.

…

“Is now a good time?” Quala asked at the door, noting both the heliorite and Hunter. “Thomas told me he normally spoke with you around this time.”

Daniel got the impression that was more to make it harder to refuse the offer than merely make conversation. Worse, he was hungry. She wouldn’t take the food with her if I said no, would she? “Now’s fine,” Daniel said, committing himself to a difficult conversation.

“I’m glad to see Hunter healthy.” She inclined her head backward to where Hunter was making his way back to rest in the house’s lounge. “Tak was quite injured when he came to me.”

“I heard about that. Thomas said he was poisoned?” Daniel asked, glad the topic of conversation wasn’t him.

Quala narrowed her eyes. “He shouldn’t have, but of course he told you. No, it wasn’t a poison. For Tak, it was something worse. I suppose you are within the same team, and you should be aware of the danger yourself.”

“Why, is it something that’ll happen with the dragon?”

“No, but if you continue to advance through combat, you should be aware of the risks associated with Regeneration.” She gave that a moment to sink in and continued when Daniel looked at her, confused. “There are some things that can be made worse by that feature. Substances that make the body fight itself, for example.”

“Wait, Tak had an allergic reaction?” He didn’t just get that from her description, but also from how Hunter had described that night. He didn’t know about the strange transformation that had affected Tak, as Hunter hadn’t included that detail. Either way, Quala seemed impressed by his insight.

“Not many know about those unless they suffer from one. Do you?”

“I’ve met someone who had one,” Daniel said, not lying. He was being very careful not to lie in case Quala shared Thomas’ lie detecting power. Or if Thomas had told her what his tell was. “That’s weird, though.”

“It is unclear why it happens, but Regeneration can make certain attacks more effective against you. I’m not aware of the expansive list, but another example is parasites.” Daniel’s expression turned towards horror. “It’s a powerful feature, but it has its faults.”

She took a bite from her meal, which shared a piece of hastily cooked meat but had a few pieces of fruit instead of bread. Daniel didn’t comment on that difference, he was too busy thinking about aliens coming out of his chest. “How have you been sleeping?” Quala asked, breaking Daniel out of the day-nightmare. Her eyes were piercing, but not in an aggressive way. She was just watching him closely for his reaction. Daniel suddenly understood that the real conversation had begun.

“Fine. The first night I started enchanting was rough but I’ve been getting enough now,” he answered evenly. He had no problem talking with Quala, except for when it came to one topic. “This wouldn’t be therapy would it?” Would she know what that word meant in this context?

Quala tilted her head to the side for one moment and kept her beak in as flat line a line as possible. It seemed to be a returned display of honesty, rather than annoyance or any other emotion. Then, she took the chair in the room and sat down nearer to Daniel than she had to, but still outside his personal space. “I don’t have a power that I’m using now if that is what you are worried about. What I’m offering is time to speak with someone who will keep what you say to themselves. Knowing my former apprentice, I imagine that should come to some relief.”

Daniel had to smile, though he did so nervously. That’s not exactly a no. “I’m not sure if I can tell you some things.”

“Daniel, you don’t need to worry. Lograve told me everything.”

It was a good thing he wasn’t actively enchanting something because he would have lost all concentration. He gave himself a few seconds to make sure he wouldn’t choke on his words, and then asked, “What’s everything?”

“Everything about the mines,” she said simply. “Thomas told me as well, even though he wasn’t supposed to. If he were still my apprentice I would try to hone that wagging tongue out of him, but he is his own Cleric now.” She said nothing else, waiting for a response.

“Honestly, I don’t feel bothered by what happened.” She kept watching him. “I know what you’re doing,” he sighed, but she just patiently waited. There was a force to it, like her silence was pulling at the words within. “If Lograve’s right, then what happened is pretty bad for everyone, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m surprised to hear that,” Quala said, breathing air back into the room. “I heard you were mired in self-pity and indecision on the way here.”

Thomas, Daniel thought, cursing the Cleric’s name. “Well, yeah. I’d just survived a dragon attack.” Daniel shrugged weakly. “People died and I just needed time to figure that out.”

“So nothing is weighing on your mind now? You have no regrets?” She was hounding him. That wasn’t how this was normally supposed to go, was it?

Daniel looked at the heliorite, not because he had to but because Quala hurt more to look at than the shining metal. “I shouldn’t have gotten involved with Claire. Evalyn straight up told me this was a bad time to get in relationships and like an idiot I ignored her. I just made everything worse.” She was staring again. He kept up the silence for a minute, seeing who could last longer. It was Quala. “Look, I’m just not the kind of person that can be in a relationship. I can’t deal with things going wrong, or really care about someone that way. It was just something I did because I wanted to and I hurt someone because I didn’t think it through.”

Quala’s silence lasted long enough that Daniel was about to say something else, but she interrupted him. “I think I don’t need to use metaphor. You’re smart enough to take my point, but I’ll gladly walk you through it if you don’t. Relationships, whether they be a friendship or something more intimate, are difficult. You aren’t meant to be perfect or make no mistakes. You’re supposed to learn from them.”

“I knew what I had to do,” Daniel protested. “The problem was I just, I couldn’t. I couldn’t face her after what I’d done.”

“What did you do?” she fired back.

“I didn’t save her brother,” he answered simply. “At the time it all felt like it was my fault. It still is, partially, but I’m not the one to blame.” The image of Rorshawd came back to him again. He never knew what the man had looked like before the Upswell having only witnessed his draconic form. Not killing him was now his biggest regret of that night, but at least he hadn’t troubled them after Murdon’s last attack left him crippled.

Quala shifted slightly at those words, but she still remained locked on to him. “Feeling as you do now, do you think you could have talked with her at any point on the way here?”

“I-” He’d thought the hard part of the conversation was avoiding his origins, but Quala had somehow discovered another hole in his heart. Or rather, one that should have been filled that turned out to be bottomless. “It doesn’t matter. It’s too late now.”

“Yes.” She nodded, not sparing him any doubt on that matter. “Some mistakes are fatal, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improve afterward. I fear you have learned the wrong lesson.”

Somehow, Daniel found that funny. “Did you just come here to help with my love life?”

“I help keep people healthy. That includes assisting them in forming healthy relationships. You would be surprised, but it is a valuable service to those having trouble forming a bond.”

Right, bonds. Daniel thought. I guess the fact that I never made one with Claire is just another reason it wouldn’t have worked. “So you’re saying I should try to find someone else?”

“When you’re ready. What concerns me is your belief that you were undeserving or incapable of love. I don’t expect this one talk to change your mind, but I wanted to set you on the right track.” She turned and glanced out of the window. “I won’t say your attitudes now are perfect. Far from it. The worst thing you did was to stop trying. Of anything, that is the fastest way to kill a relationship.”

“But I should stop trying with Claire?” Daniel clarified.

“Yes. I could be wrong, but I think the damage has been done.” She looked at him sadly with that, not commenting further. He knew there were things about Claire she wasn’t telling him, but Daniel had no right to know. Instead of pressing further on the topic, asked, “What else would you like to talk about, if there is nothing else on this you’d like to say?”

My family, Daniel’s heart said, but his mind countermanded it. There was something else. Nothing about him but something that could be helpful. “Do you know if there are different kinds of ringcats?”

Quala blinked, caught off guard by the seismic shift in the conversation. “Yes. They grow stronger with level and while they are a more mundane monster, I have heard the level six variant is truly fearsome if one can get that far.”

“No, not like that. Like, species of ringcat? Subspecies?” That wasn’t helping. “Have you ever heard of a Draconic Ringcat?”

Quala rested her head on an arm and thought for a moment. “No, I haven’t.”

“It’s something Hunter can become now if he levels up. There’s a lot of options.”

“Is this from a power of yours?” She asked without the blatant disbelief Daniel was expecting.

“Maybe? I’m not sure. That doesn’t surprise you though?”

“I don’t know everything about monsters, and I know less now that I’ve heard one speak.” That was fair. The two spent a collective moment reminiscing darkly before she continued. “Why ask me? You know a Beastmaster.”

“Uhh.” No. Nooooo no. “She’s probably not the best to ask.”

“I see. I’m just not sure how I can help.” Daniel was surprised at how easily she admitted this and then wondered why he was surprised at all.

I guess I should tell her something. It’s not like she can say it’s impossible. “Hunter’s not sure about what he wants to become. He wants to be ready for the dragon, but there are too many options. And he’s afraid of changing. He did the first time, but that was just him getting smarter.”

Quala had started frowning halfway through his explanation, conflicted. “This was before the mines?”

Daniel nodded, guessing where she was going with this. “He wasn’t even there.”

“Where did you find it? Originally?”

“He found me,” Daniel said awkwardly. Quala’s way of referencing Hunter did not escape his attention. “I have a power that automatically charms weak beasts if I’m alone, not that I knew that then. That’s a long story. The short version is I woke up and he was there.”

She looked down, deep in thought. “Do you think it’s possible that a god could have created that ringcat to act as your guardian?”

Daniel stared at her. He wanted to reject that theory but found it hard to do so conclusively. “Hunter did tell me he was alive before he found me, but if we’re saying a god did it then we might as well say the memories are fake. Does that happen?”

“There is not much beyond the abilities of the Octyrrum and its subservient parts. This being the Hammer’s domain would make it easier to believe your ringcat was physically created. They also hold power over souls.” Quala grew calmer as she spoke, seeming to comfort herself with the reasoning rather than convince Daniel. “You haven’t encountered any other creature like Hunter besides that dragon, have you?”

“No. So if Hunter was created by the gods, or a god, that could explain why he’s different. Same with Rorshawd. But why me?”

“You survived the Upswell,” Quala said quietly. “And unwittingly contained the soul of one responsible. The gods are mighty but they cannot act or be everywhere at once. Not in their full strength. This being the Hammer’s domain, I could see him creating an agent to help assure your survival so that this soul could be brought from the region and interrogated.”

Daniel did not like the sound of that at all, for many reasons. “If that’s the case, then the only thing they accomplished was waking up that thing.”

Quala shrugged. “It’s the nature of free will. Even the most powerful of Torch and Hourglass’ faithful cannot perfectly predict the future.”

“People can predict the future?” Quala nodded and Daniel took a moment to think about that before asking, “What does this have to do with the different kinds of ringcat?”

“The Octyrrum is vast. I have not spent my life collecting knowledge like a certain lanky human. It’s possible these different variants can be encountered elsewhere.” She held up a hand, flat palm facing him, and light projected from it. It was like her shield ability, but more focused. It took Daniel a second to recognize the rough shape of the world, complete with each god’s symbol. Seeing it instilled the slightest amount of reverence in him, though it felt artificial like sharing in Rorshawd’s discovery of the origin beast. “If your guardian is of the Octyrrum, then it would carry its blessing. Perhaps that gives it the ability to be any form of ringcat that exists?”

“Then why do I have to choose? I have to choose,” Daniel clarified. “Then Hunter can accept it or tell me to pick something else.”

“It is your guardian,” Quala answered simply, before walking the statement back. “I am not presenting this as the truth, only a possible explanation. One that would make me seem quite foolish for suggesting you rid yourself of it the first time we met.” She smiled self consciously. “In the end, it is up to you what your ringcat becomes. And it, if it has the will to deny you.”

“He’s my friend,” Daniel countered, though he couldn’t be angry enough with Quala to put force in his words. “I won’t make him do anything.”

“Good,” she said slyly, still smiling. “I’d hoped you would say that even if your friend is far outside what I would consider normal. If you ever doubt your ability to form and commit to a relationship, consider the one you have with Hunter. As far as your original question, I can’t say. I’m sorry.”

Daniel ran a hand through his hair, reasonably sure he hadn’t licked it first. “It’s fine. We just need to decide soon so that I can make him his armor.”

“Should you be making other things now?”

Daniel glanced at the heliorite. “A lot of the big stuff is done so I can split up the rest. Murdon still hasn’t told me when my deadline is, but I have time.”

“I see. In that case, what else would you like to talk about?”

“Nothing else for now,” Daniel said, still holding off the urge to talk about his past. Maybe one day, if he knew she wouldn’t kill him for it. Quala seemed nice and wasn’t too upset over what Hunter was but he couldn’t be sure. The Cleric was devoted to the Octyrrum and the teachings surrounding it. Even if she would only think less of him for introducing more heresy into her life, he didn’t want to risk it. She stood to leave and then Daniel had a thought. “Wait, have you talked to Khare?”

Quala turned her head again in confusion. It was a peculiar gesture that was either specific to her or avianoids as a whole. “No. Should I?”

“I think so. They’re, well, I’m not sure exactly. I just think they might not be alright after what happened in Roost’s Peak.” Daniel thought about what he was asking her to do for a second. “Ah, but it’ll be hard to talk to them won’t it.”

“Yes, I am quite busy, but I will see if I can spare the time. We should do this again as well.”

Daniel looked at her blankly. “You’re going to do it? What about the fact that gestalt can’t really speak?”

“I’ll figure something out,” she replied knowingly, as if she already had a solution in mind. She left with that, though her words remained.