Chapter 187: Defiance

The flap of wings grows erratic as Raven’s flock avoids my needles, only to see them turn around in the air. They carve vicious arcs through the air, twisting back around and flying right for the birds again.

Seeing as much, the sumeen gives a loud cry and then consolidates again.

Which doesn’t break my tethers. The flock of ravens becomes their cloak, and a moment later, a dozen needles dig into their back. Instantly, their imbued enchantments trigger, and I see the sumeen go to one knee. Then, Opal reaches me, drenched in blood, and throws me higher up the tree. 

“Go, go!” they say between laughs, a wide grin on their face. “The kids are almost through! Run!”

I turn my [Observation] upwards and see Trey about to step through the portal at the top of the tree. For a moment, my heart slows. And then, the mana inside the tree shifts.

Inu flinches, pulling away from her fight to tear up the stairs. I see Thatch retreat, and Sylves rapidly spiraling upwards on a column of wind. A heartbeat passes, then two… and then, I feel an authority crash down on us. 

It’s more vast than any I’ve felt before. And, at the same time, it’s almost placid. Calm. A gentle warmth, even, and yet one that makes it hard to move. It’s heavy, pressing on me, but it’s also thin.

With gentle steps, Respitia’s oracle, Delfine, enters the tree. Her eyes are still covered by a blindfold, and yet, I can tell that she’s watching me. Humming softly to herself, she walks forward, and taps Raven as they lay on the floor, mending their wounds. “Calm,” she says with a smile. “Respitia wishes for all her children to return to her.”

Two city guards step out from behind her, one of them pressing a spear against Raven’s neck. “No one move!” he barks, and the oracle lightly pats his shoulder.

“Do not worry,” she says, in that same calm, aloof voice. “Everything will be alright.”

Still, the air feels frozen. I grit my teeth. This enforced calm. This lack of movement. I can feel my blood boil at the sensation, at how it infuriates me. And I refuse. I refuse to acknowledge it. 

So I fight. My efficiency boils against my skin, willing me to move, to escape. I take a slow, quivering, pathetic step, and I feel the Oracle turn to me. All at once, the authority wears heavier on me - but in response, Opal moves. Then, when she focuses on them Inu moves another step forward.

Slowly, the Oracle’s lips pull into a frown. The weight on me grows yet more. My mantle weighs heavily on my shoulders. I can feel the way it wants to crush me, and the way it bristles against who I am.

I breathe. And flare [Suppression].

[Suppression 31 > 32]

There’s no point in my life at which I didn’t have problems with authority. My parents. My teachers. My bosses, my professors. Older kids at school. 

Can’t stand it. I can’t. For so long I tried to fit their expectations. To fulfill what others wanted of me. To suppress my own needs. To be who I needed to be. To fit in and earn their approval.

But that’s not me.

No. 

This oracle wants me to stay calm, and I refuse. I fucking refuse. 

My [Suppression] reaches out with all my leftover mana. The stupid fishbowl around my face cracks and begins to flake away. Blood pours from me as I wreck my body in the attempt. Every single drop that I can get, that I can scrape from within my vessel floods out and presses against her authority. 

I’m worn ragged from the fight. Everything hurts. I’m bleeding, and in shit shape. The tree underneath me is quivering, and still, I refuse. To give in to her? To let myself be trapped like some fucking pet in a cage?

[Suppression 32 > 33]

That’s not me. That’ll never be me. 

I refuse the artificial calm. I refuse to be slowed. I take another step. The weight grows. I fight. With my everything, my mind boiling, I analyse her authority. I see where it’s thin, and fight against it there. I do it efficiently, while she spends it like she has an ocean to give.

But she doesn’t. I press, and take another step, another stair upwards. The pressure on me grows, but then, things shift. Opal moves, and so does Thatch. Thick streamers of red wrap around him, and he reaches me in a single leap. And then, some of that anger flows into me.

Inu links us with her [Empathy]. I push myself, further and further. I refuse to be torn from this, to stop my climb. I take another step.

“Cease your foolishness,” the oracle says with a frown. “It is pointless,” she says, and slowly takes her own first step forward.

Only for Raven to wrap a hand around her ankle. “They’re mine,” they growl, full of hatred. 

She looks at them with all the consideration one might give a pile of dirt, and stomps on their hand. Raven howls, but their authority flares against hers. So does that of Cleaver, and Coldscar. One by one, their pieces rise. They’re all climbers, after all. People who want to go up. People who want to be free.

I fight.

My own authority twists and pushes against hers, but my efficiency is simply not suited for this. I can keep moving, but it’s weak. Slow.

So I reach for more. I push out every drop of mana I regenerate, I grit my teeth and let my flesh wilt as the runes dissipate, turned into more mana for me to wield. I break my healing experiments in my arm, and Abiding Apathy feeds me more mana. With every possible fibre of my being, I decline this. I defy her.

And then, something breaks.

Against all the rising pressure, the bark of the tree splinters outward. The titanic wood groans in pain, tilting to the side. I grit my teeth. The oracle’s authority spills outwards, wider, thinner. It shifts and weakens.

Fighting tooth and nail, I drive my skill into that weakness. I let myself want something. Really, properly want something. I fight and struggle and claw at this cage. With everything.

“Tower. I want to use a lesser request to break her authority.”

There’s another crack, and a soft scream. I push further, harder, bleeding, breaking apart even that fishbowl helmet to give myself just a little more mana to work with. The crack widens.

[Suppression 33 > 34]

And I earn what I was already offered.

[Congratulations!]

[You have claimed the authority of Defiance!]

My feet fall faster. I rush up the staircase, pushing our weaker members through the portal. Opal, Inu, Thatch and Sylves all dash upwards. The wood groans and tilts behind us - and then, with a crack collapses. 

Looking back, my eyes meet the Oracle’s blind face once more. There’s a look on her face I can’t quite decipher. Almost… conflicted. Mournful.

Then, I step through the portal.