B2 Chapter 255: Confinement, pt. 2

It had been almost a full day since he’d woken in his cell.

Mostly, it had just been sitting and waiting. Ianmus and Porkchop had woken a few hours after that, and he’d briefed them as quickly as he could—using Porkchop as an intermediary just in case they were being listened to.

They’d looped Kenva into their conversations—asking her more sensitive questions, but had been careful not to mention any details of who they were, their builds, or their plan to escape.

She’d still been ecstatic at finally having talking partners, and they’d made sure to talk idly out loud to throw off any listeners.

Unfortunately, she knew little that was helpful. Their captors were fans of sedatives—knocking her out any time she was transported through the compound. All she knew was that after the first couple of week of holding out under torture, she’d been left to rot, the cell’s guard only checking on her once a day to throw a cup of slop onto the floor of her cell.

With all the down time he, Porkchop, and Ianmus had gone through their skill selections.

His were bitter sweet—both were glyphs, one of which was one that finally revealed why his class had required a soul-bonded companion. Unfortunately, in the current circumstances they were all but useless.

He needed his mana unshackled before he could inscribe his latest additions, and even if he could, he was unsure of how much help a level one skill would be.

To that end, he’d held off on picking a spell to go with his latest casting glyph. After escaping, their best bet to stay free would be to dive into the nearest Depths portal they could find—using the confusing warren and the lockout period to flee as far as they could. Considering the sheer variability of what they might find, he wanted to keep his options open to tailor it to their future needs.

Still, even if the skills weren’t the most helpful to their current circumstances, they were still great in their own right.

He pulled up their descriptions, refreshing himself.

Latent Glyph of Vyrthane:

Class Skill – Tier I

Affinity: Arcane, Martial

Type: Glyph-binding, Runic, Spellcasting

Selection Available!

Heroic

The ‘Glyph of Iron’, Vyrthane is the lynchpin of the Vesryn order’s rumoured invincibility. Its hymns are an adamant shield—defending the Runeblades from threats mundane and obscure. Stout and unshakeable, it is inscribed on the heart, where it can best defend the core of its bearer.

This skill allows the user to inscribe Vesryn barrier and defensive spell-hymns to be activated at will, limited only by the availability of mana to reserve into the working, and sufficient space on the body. Creates a hymnbook on the user’s status if one is not already present. Multiples of the same glyph can cast hymns inscribed on their counterpart.

Each level moderately increases the power, range, and area of effect of spell-hymns cast through the glyph.

Each level slightly decreases the physical size of inscribed spell-hymns.

Every 100 levels the user may learn another runic hymn of the relevant tier to add to their hymnbook.

Spell-hymns Known:

Tier I –

Selection Available!

….

Sigil of Vesryn’s Pact:

Class Skill- Tier I

Affinity: Arcane, Soul

Type: Glyph-binding, Runic, Bond, Enhancement

Selection Available!

Unique

A totem to the ancient pact that bound the Penswari to Vesryn forever more. A symbol of unity, it represents a sharing of strength—a seed that blooms when watered. Layered with glyphic gifts, it rests on the sternum, granting strength to the eternal companions of the order. Bestowed power, that will one day reverberate backwards in kind.

This skill allows the user to inscribe the Vesryn Pact Sigil on the sternum of their bonded companion, greatly increasing the distance at which they can communicate.

The sigil can be inscribed with glyphic formations that permanently bolsters the bondeds capability. Creates a formationbook on the user’s status if one is not already present.

Each level moderately increases the potency of inscribed formations, new and existing.

Every 200 levels the user may learn another inscription to add to the sigil.

Formations Known:

Tier I –

Selection Available!

Both skills were fine additions—beating out his other options by a league.

Vyrthane had been an immediate pick. After the back to back batterings he had received at the hands of the bone biters and his captors, the idea of shielding spells had been more than welcome.

Vesryn’s Pact on the other hand…that had been interesting. Something he hadn’t quite expected to see, but one that he welcomed all the same. Porkchop’s strength was his strength, and he knew that picking a skill like this in the first tier would serve them both well. It was highly likely that as the skill rose through future tiers, it would gain additional capabilities that multiplied the force that he and his brother could leverage when working together.

It had been enough of a tempter that he’d picked it over a Heroic metamagic—not that he was too stressed about that choice. He was confident that he’d be able to bring the skill up a rarity in tier two.

Porkchop and Ianmus had made their own selections as well.

His brother had picked Interceed the Weak and Jadecrash. The first of which was a skill that would let him rapidly reposition, and if used to intercept an attack meant for an ally, would significantly empower his retaliation. The latter was a little more interesting—it would let Porkchop coat one of his arms in jade during an attack, stunning his target.

In Kaius’s mind, both were perfect—building on the foundation that Porkchop had set as he worked towards being the unassailable anchor of their formation.

Ianmus, on the other hand, had only a single selection to make—a prospect that had irritated him greatly. After waking he’d spent a full fifteen minutes fuming that he’d been taken out of the fight so quickly and missed out on not only additional levels, but an Honour too.

In the end, he’d picked Starlight Alacrity—an ability that let him move incredibly quickly as long as he channeled mana into the skill, but only in straight lines. Kaius had expected him to pick another metamagic, but the mage had shaken his head—insisting that any caster who ignored mobility was as good as dead, and that it would mesh finely with his general skill Magister’s Dash.

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In totality, it was a bittersweet addition to their capabilities. They’d grown stronger, but had been captured with their resources suppressed. Without being able to fully dive into the newest avenue of their growth, it felt fake. Unreal.

Kaius leaned back on his hands, ignoring the cold touch of the damp stone as he sighed.

They’d get out—he’d make it happen. By the forsaken hells, he’d rather die trying to escape than let his jailors pick over his mind until they had found what they wanted and disposed of him in a shallow grave.

Right as he settled in to spend more time waiting, a door slammed out of sight from his cell, the noise booming through the hard stone hall.

Kaius jolted upright.

Footsteps clattered through the hall, drawing closer by the second. He launched to his feet, puddles splashing as he readied himself to get his first look at their jailor.

Through his cell door, he watched Kenva shy away—racing from where she had sat near her door to huddle in the back of her cell. Her eyes were wide—orbs of solid blue standing out in the murky shadows.

She was scared.

“Be ready, they might be coming for one of us.” Kaius pushed along his bond, willing Porkchop to pass the message along to Ianmus.

Every footfall hit his chest like a hammerblow—the anticipation building. He clenched his fist, knuckles whitening as he stood up straight, refusing to fall to panic.

They stopped outside of his cell.

A man leered through the bars, yellow teeth bared as the jailor’s eyes shone with a cruel delight from behind greasy strands of dark hair.