Unbound

on your left!

Atar dodged, his skeletal body flaring with white flame as he spun around a bolt of molten stone. Three more followed, each the size of a house. They were fast, but Atar was faster.

not for long, Flame warned. we’re running low on Mana. you need—

"I know what I need to do," Atar snapped. He darted around the attacks of the lava Elemental, weaving through them like a comet of white fire against the orange. His Body was nothing but a charred skeleton now, gleaming with sigildry, and his robes trailed like a tattered flag. "I just need to get closer."

That was easier said than done.

Deep fissures marred the sides of Volantris, the Superior Lava Elemental. The Manaships in the air fired upon it ceaselessly, but their cannons did little more than scour the craggy surface of the mountainous creature. While the enemy horde that clung to Volantris’ side were torn apart, the Elemental seemed nigh impervious.

those fissures aren’t natural!

Flame was right. In all the bobbing and weaving through the air, Atar had flown close enough to spy the massive structures that had been built into the sides of the fissures. Clearly of Dwarven make, he could see massive orichalcum rods that had been driven through the stone at angles designed to pry the fissures even wider. Within, molten light tinged by yellow-white sigaldry blazed. It described an array that Atar couldn't parse from such a distance. It was complicated, certainly, and it extended deep into the Elemental's Body.

The face, far above, twisted around, not even paying Atar the slightest bit of attention.

BRING ME THE FIEND!

Flame scoffed. fool of a slave! the dwarves have blinded you!

Volantris had no interest in reason. More meteors of molten stone shot upward, uncanny in their accuracy, forcing Atar to scramble in order to avoid them. Far harder were the countless spells and Skills of the foes clinging to the mountainside. At least, they would have been a problem had they been alone.

“Spears! Release!” The Chimera and Dragoons filled the skies, their powers providing enough cover for Atar to evade Volantris’ attention.

“I’ve no interest in letting them fight our fight,” Atar muttered. “Stars of the Sovereign!”

His white stars burned through dozens of Ironclads, mages all. They had no defense against his might. The Greater Fire Elementals that prowled at their side, however, were harder. At least, until Atar got close.

“Inexorable Enkindling!”

Atar yanked the power from the larger Elementals, pulling the heat and flame from their bodies. They froze into solid chunks of inanimate stone and crumbled into ash.

New Stars spun outward from Atar’s palms, decimating all of their foes and crashing into several of those Dwarven mechanisms beside the fissures. They splashed against them…and the metal was unmarred.

Damnation! Atar’s magic couldn’t heat it up at all.

fire again! this is but the meanest of our might!

"Atar!"

The skeleton mage whipped his head up to see Ondine flying by, her multicolored wings gleaming in the red night. "The Elementals are controlled by slave arrays hidden within! Destroy their primary glyphs. They will go down."

why bother, when I can just take them down together?

"You can't fight that," Ondine cried, pointing at Volantris, whose lava streams sprayed out indeterminately into the battlefield.

“I…can.” Atar wanted to vomit. Instead, he pointed at the princess. “Keep those ships safe!”

He flew off without waiting for her reply.

This is stupid!

it is!

Don’t sound so happy about it!

The pair of them couldn’t affect the Supreme Elemental. Not from the outside.

fly faster, hero! bring me my meal!

"Shut up. Primal Firestorm!"

Atar vanished, his charred bones and tattered robes becoming white flame. Nothing more than a bonfire animated by gleaming red eyes, he shot downward, diving headfirst through the nearest fissure and directly into a stream of molten lava.

Lava is not liquid, at least not in the same way water is. Atar found that out quickly. Had he been physical flesh and bone, he’d have snapped himself into a thousand pieces when they’d impacted. Instead, his flames drove into the heavy flow of lava, cutting between molten particles like water through sand. Metal and stone poured around him, a pressure that never relented, but the flame that was Atar surged forward.

Warning!

Your Mana Has Dropped To 25%!

Inexorable Enkindling!

Atar thrust the power of the Skill behind him, yanking at the Elemental heat and flame in the flow of lava in his wake.

All of it joined him. Huge gouts turned the river of lava into a plug of barely cooled stone, rapidly accreting behind his form. His Mana skyrocketed, burning past 100% and growing, and every ounce of it was spent to hurl his Primal Firestorm forward into the stream.

faster!

They shot inward, absorbing more as he went. Their speed increased by the moment, even as the pressure climbed. The hardened remnants of cooled lava clogged the river he traveled in, and the molten stone pressed against it in a futile effort to clear it out. Inexorable Enkindling sounded, its pattern skimming across Atar’s core space like a wire brush on skin. He thought he screamed, but there was no sound beyond the roar of the Elemental.

At some point, he struck solid stone, but his stolen might melted through the blockage. Inexorable Enkindling flared continuously, but it could only grasp the smallest edge of what was available. Heat and flame was everywhere, and his Body couldn’t handle it all. So he burned it off.

Stars of the Sovereign!

The stars spun like whirling blades that he sent ahead of himself. They cut deeper into the mountain, heading in whatever direction the lava flowed strongest.

there! the greatest source of heat! i can smell it from here!

Lead the way.

Flame did, taking a piece of Atar's awareness and guiding them onward. They burned deeper as they ripped past sigaldry carved deep into the Elementals' flesh. Vast, complicated arrays cut into caverns the size of towers, but Atar couldn't take the time to study them. All of them were symptoms, pieces of consequence extending from the central glyph. The more he saw, the more he understood.

But his way was not uncontested. Greater Elementals swarmed, leaping into his path, unconvinced that he was just a simple Flame Elemental. They tore at him, but they had no success. Atar destroyed them, pulling their fire and heat away and leaving them nothing more than brittle stone. And, in turn, he used that power to cut into the heart of Volantris.

nothing can stop us! Flame proclaimed. we are a living god!

A final barrier gave way before their might. Though it was littered with a wall of sigaldry, flame had no substance. Atar slipped between its molten characters and emerged into a vast, empty area that was dominated by a crystal the size of a large town.

Burn me…

It hung suspended upon flows of lava that lifted into the center of the room. Inscriptions covered it with a blindingly complicated array, and elaborate Dwarven machinery was latched onto its sides, like armor.

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And it was defended.

Elementals surrounded the core, hundreds of them.

Inexorable Enkindling!

Spaced Wills rose up against Atar and Flame, but they were a ripple compared to a wave. Their Mana was his.

You Have Killed A Greater Flame Elemental (x210)!

XP Earned!

your might will be put to better use, crowed Flame as brittle stone dropped into the distant lava pool below.

Experience and Mana poured through him in near equal measure, and notification windows clogged his vision. Atar dismissed them all, ignoring the rush of potency that filled him as stats soared.

Congratulations!

You Have Earned A New Title!

Savage Kinslayer (Epic)!

Kinship ignored, you have slaughtered enslaved Elementals without hesitation or mercy. You now deal 50% more damage to Elementals of all Types, and 75% more damage to Fire Elementals.

Though he no longer bore a mouth, Atar could still feel a frown twist his phantom lips. Kinslayer…

worry not over the demise of these creatures. they were broken long ago, same as the mighty one we stand within.

Atar didn’t care about the Elementals. No matter what the System said, he didn’t feel a lick of connection to their kind. But Ondine had mentioned the slavery, too. Arrays bent to control the living elements. His lip curled. The Dwarves had much to answer for.

Cleared of enemies, Atar’s view ahead was unobstructed. He could see the full artifice that the Dwarves had built around the vast crystal core, but it was confusing in design and function. It didn’t block off the entire crystal, but wrapped around it, in half moon sections that were littered with sigaldry. Just like the fissures on its exterior, orichalcum rods thrust through the core entirely, and they pulsed with a steady, droning rhythm.

Stars of the Sovereign!

White-hot projectiles splashed against the mechanism and the core itself, a faint, prismatic ward manifesting around it.

Exactly the same as the constructs outside.

There, it had been an insurmountable problem. He hadn’t the power to melt the Supreme Elemental from the outside. Inside, however, was a different story altogether.

Here, there was all the power in the world.

Atar thrust his burning hands into the fountains of lava that held up the core. Inexorable Enkindling!

Heat and flame flowed through him, pulled from Volantris itself in a mighty torrent. This wasn't the stolen flow of an incidental artery, but the riot of its very heart. Atar gasped, his burning form flaring to twice his normal size—and still he didn’t have the room to hold it all. Not even a fraction of a fraction of its power scoured through his channels, enough to sunder a lesser mage.

feel it, atar! had you remained corporeal, your very bones would have melted! Flame cackled. this is power like no other!

Together they swelled, the lava flows hardening to steaming stone as Atar became a towering pillar. White flame tinged by a deep crimson lashed against the pool far below, and his head brushed against the cavernous ceiling.

Stars of the Sovereign!

Every bit of power he consumed, he thrust into the stars. Ten cut through the air, each one the size of a wagon and spinning in a blur before cratering against the Dwarven artifice.

Metal screamed, bending beneath the force of his magic.

more!

They formed mid-flight, each star packed with a piece of Atar’s stolen might. The metal dented, its surface glowing a cherry red.

The final star burst through the weakened artifice with a muffled roar. Mithril and orichalcum melted, sigaldry sparking into colored plumes of liquid Mana. The stars cut through, the delicate internals bursting in rapid succession and triggering a thunderous clap from within.

The mechanism fell apart in sections, each larger than the last. The wards flickered and failed, exposing the huge expanse of crystalline core.

Atar landed on its craggy side, burning feet finding purchase among the rough, faceted stone.

destroy the core, atar.

Destroy this…? he muttered incredulously as he parsed the sigaldry spread across its entire surface. We can’t.

Inscriptions coated the ancient core, and they were all saying the same thing. Fail safe upon fail safe layered over the slaved Elemental, precautions against the very thing Flame would have him do.

If he destroyed this, Volantris would not die, not immediately. It would rampage across the battlefield instead, expressing every ounce of its wrath before it crashed into the earth. That might take out the enemy, but it would absolutely kill the Legion and all of his friends.

what are you waiting for?!

Atar ignored the Urge and put the horrific visions of his friends’ demise out of his Mind. He focused, decoding the sigildry where he could and compiling a list of ones he didn't know. Pieces of the array started to make sense, but he was missing too much. He flew up, crossing the vast crystal core and raking its sigaldry line by line.

There is a way around it. There had to be. It wasn’t until his second revolution of the enormous crystal that he found it.

A gap.

A weakness.

Once covered by Dwarven artifice, now it was a bare patch in the sigaldry, where two arrays met.

If I strike there. If I can be exact…

a great many”ifs.”

Atar reached out, his hands as well as his magical senses. If the chamber around him was too much for him to handle in its entirety, the core was a thousand times that.

But he saw it. There was a way. It was costly, and it would kill the Elemental outright.

do not hesitate, atar.

I'm not hesitating because I'll kill it. Flame, I'm not sure if you're seeing what I'm seeing. This much power, it'll kill us.

i am made for greater things than this, mage. we shall burn as bright as the sun itself, and all shall revel in our glory.

We'll blow up!

The whole Elemental shook, another step taken toward his allies, his friends.

Alister.

fear is for lesser beings, atar. we do what must be done.

Blood and ash. The mage cursed, but his incorporeal flame hands were already seizing the glyph stone. Power arced across them, trying to burn him away unsuccessfully.

The things I do for love. Astrum Revelation!

A crown of brilliant white appeared before him, ringing his Body like a fence of searing heat. It amplified his control and capacity for fire Mana, even as it soured his Mind, sending all three to new heights as it tore through the remaining mechanisms nearby. It pulsed, prickling at Atar's Mind like a giddy drug. Before him, the core vibrated in time with his own.

let us burn!

Within, his temple altar blazed higher than it had ever been. Atar's lip curled in a sneer.

Only the weak fall.

Inexorable Enkindling!

Volantris took a single, ponderous step forward. Its lava flowed unceasingly into the Legion’s lines. While the Manaships peppered its sides, driving it to distraction, they weren't enough. A deep, concussive wave hit Alister where he stood on the prow of the flagship.

A molten barrage screamed to starboard, and the wave of pressure resolved into a keening wail as the shields of another Manaship failed. The craft sheared in half, consumed in fire before it careened into the volcano’s side in an explosion that drove deep cracks into the Elemental’s flesh.

The Supreme Elemental screeched, driven to pain as the Mana engines ignited, but soon that power folded inward—absorbed—and the Elemental strode forward again.

Warning!

Your Mana Has Dropped To 50%!

“Potion!” Alister croaked, throat dry and lips cracked. The heat near the volcano was immense, and the constant bloom of its meteoric projectiles amplified it by a thousand. Someone tipped a blue potion into his mouth, and Alister drank it gratefully. It tasted like sour metal, and it cut at his channels like acid. His Mana surged back up to 65% but no further.

One of the mages at his side stiffened. “Incoming!”

It was all the warning Alister received. His shields shook and he struggled to hold them as another lava flow slammed into the forward side of his ship. The Skill flickered, its blue hue cascading through startling yellows and greens as the Manaship listed beneath the weight of molten stone. The strike was a glancing one—Volantris didn’t seem concerned with attacking the ships directly—and it wasn’t their primary issue.

“Release!” a Legion captain called.

Legionnaires shot off their Skills as a dozen Major Elementals of Wind and Flame advanced on their ship. Skills hit and cannons fired, taking limbs off of some, but many regenerated before they hit Alister’s shields. They quaked again, and he gritted his teeth as his Mana fell sharply.

He would only last so far. The mages of the Towers were distracted, handling their own lines. The Legion was on the ground, and the Unbound…Alister didn't know. He couldn't see anything. All he could do was hold the line.

Thunder cracked the sky.

Without warning, Alister was hurled back, his shield shattered to pieces. He tumbled across the deck, fetching hard against the foremast, and it took his aching Body several heartbeats to respond to anything more than groaning breath. Yet no Elementals fell on him or his people. He was alive, and as his vision cleared, Alister could see the remnants of the creatures scattered against the ship’s gunwales. Notifications of their deaths littered his sight, but they couldn’t distract him from the riot of lightning that filled the air above Volantris.

What is happening?

The storm tightened, lightning coming faster as clouds pulled inward toward the Supreme Elemetal. Heat and light and lava slipped into that same point, all of it yanked back as if by a mighty, unseen hand.

Volantris' massive, inhuman face twisted, a snarl of rage that pulled inward like a whirlpool, until its wrath was more confused than anything.

My Kin…? I Return…To You.

The night went dark, leaving Alister to blink through the spots across his vision. The red sky had vanished, and Volantris had stopped moving.

You Have Killed Volantris, Supreme Elemental!

XP Earned!

Its mighty form dimmed until it turned cold and lifeless as stone. A mountain in truth, and mountains did not walk.

It fell on the Dwarven army.