Skyvenom: Chapters 16-17 (Patreon)

Here are your chapters for this week.

-

Chapter 16

The storm lasted almost until they arrived at Central Ostic, then their claustrophobic bubble within the sand popped to reveal a new vista. Metallic sands still stretched on the periphery, but the city itself absorbed an increasing percentage of the horizon. To his surprise there was no outer wall to keep out the sand storms, just a ring of pillars that flashed past underneath too quickly for him to examine them.

Once they descended into the city, he was able to better absorb the atmosphere of the place.

Unlike an Arbaian city, the people here were all heavily robed to deal with the sands and wind. As they flew over the streets, he observed the crowds navigating around sleighs and skiffs. In the outer cities he had seen some pulled by shaggy beasts, but here all the vehicles that weren't cantae-powered were moved by human labor. There appeared to be both palanquins and some sort of three-wheeled rickshaw in heavy use.

"If you make an alliance with our Stronghold, you'll have free rein in the city. Until then, we'll have to move on."

Chlira ai Darrize had introduced herself during their journey back, but hadn't revealed many other aspects to herself. Her scorn had either melted away, or just hidden itself under her laid-back attitude. Apparently her family had been an important one in Greater Ostic for generations, leveraging mercantile wealth into a soulcrafting lineage. Unfortunately, she was no dilettante and he strongly suspected that she had an Ethereal Floor.

"Ahead of us," Chlira continued, "you'll see the Grand Palace of Ostic. Given that we were delayed by the storm, you shouldn't even need to wait long. Now, Aima Nourise isn't the type to get upset easily, but we make no promises about an alliance, alright?"

Theo let Nauda handle the conversation while he examined the strange sculptures he saw as they passed over the wealthier portion of the city. They appeared metallic at a glance, yet they actually swirled and shifted: desert sand had been polished and somehow locked into a form. He guessed it was by wind, based on some more impressionistic sculptures that swept the sand in abstract patterns.

It would have been intriguing to see what sorts of sublime materials produced those patterns, but they were being rushed to the center. There was no time to sight-see, after all, so Theo refocused. This meeting with the local Stronghold would determine whether or not this entire trip had been a mistake.

The palace was larger, grander, and impressed him far less. Its architects had clearly operated on a trio of themes: silver, silver, and more silver. No doubt the entire thing was ridiculously expensive and work-intensive, but as far as he was concerned, it was just another palace.

Once there, they finally left the sleigh and were guided into a lush waiting room. Silver, of course. While Theo settled into a cushioned chair, he glanced at the others, wondering if there was anything they needed to establish. Most likely they were all on the same page, so they would just need to be flexible depending on how the Stronghold reacted.

"Please come this way, guests. Aima Nourise will see you now." There were two more Authorities coming to escort them, as if to make clear that Greater Ostic had plenty of them. Compared to Chlira, Theo wasn't particularly impressed.

They were escorted into a grand throne room that turned the silver theme into an art form, but Theo had no time for the grand spires and tapestries. His interest was in the woman who lounged on the silver throne: Aima Nourise was a middle-aged woman who leaned casually against one of her armrests, watching them with mild curiosity. As soon as the Authority escorts retreated, there was no one else in the room. Apparently they liked their silver in Ostic, but weren't much for servants.

"So you're the ones who made Sartozi so upset." Nourise chuckled low in her throat. "I can't say I was displeased to hear that, but that doesn't mean we're allies. You want me to take part in your convocation, don't you?"

"We hoped so, yes," Theo said. "Sartozi has put his reputation on the line, so this is an opportunity to humble him."

"That's all well and good, but you have to understand that a convocation doesn't always hold. If I were to declare myself on your side, there would be a very real possibility that I would actually have to go to war. And though I've fought Sartozi and will fight him again, I'm not eager to risk myself and my people."

"We didn't expect you help us for nothing." Theo tossed one of the captured sacks onto the floor, where the weak sublime materials clanked satisfyingly. "Along the way, we defeated one of Sartozi's armies that was invading your lands."

"And that is one of the reasons I'm speaking to you now." Nourise suddenly rose to her feet, deceptively swift after her previous languid movements. "But if you want to take this convocation to the end, you will need real strength. I refuse to stand on your side before I've seen it for myself."

A wind burst up around Nourise's feet and soon formed a nearly invisible sphere around her. Yet where she stood in the heart of it all, her clothing didn't even ripple, as if she stood at the eye of a storm. The same power throbbed through her body and Theo realized that he was looking at an extremely powerful Ethereal Floor - if Nourise had attacked them right then, they would have had a serious problem.

Instead she extended one hand and gestured to them lazily. "Come, let me see one strike from each of you. Choose well, because this will determine how I interpret the stories of you."

They glanced at one another, then Nauda took a step forward. No doubt viewing herself as a sacrificial lamb, but Theo agreed with her logic. She moved beside the sphere of wind in a flash and thrust her staff against it, trying to bind Nourise in place.

The Stronghold scoffed and made a twitching motion that knocked Nauda off her feet and sent her sliding back over the glistening floor.

"Is that all?" Nourise asked.

"I could show you another technique," Fiyu said, her voice exceedingly controlled, "but it would damage your room."

"Do it." Nourise expanded her sphere of wind until it nearly filled the chamber.

Fiyu didn't hesitate to unleash a full lightstorm directly into the sphere, and the explosion of power clearly pushed back the winds. As they clashed, Theo swallowed one of his palliative pills and prepared himself for his own demonstration. Nauda had intentionally started things simply, so he needed to end strong.

When Fiyu's burst finally faded, the sphere of wind was left undamaged. From within, Nourise nodded as if mildly impressed despite herself, then gestured Fiyu aside and turned toward him.

Theo didn't hesitate: he unleashed the single most concentrated torsion bolt he could. It pierced the side of the sphere and slowed, but the winds couldn't destroy it. In fact, he'd prepared the spin to try to resist all her wind cantae and drill further in. He willed it onward as it pierced further, then about halfway to the Stronghold it was snuffed out by her power.

"I admit, you compare favorably to the strongest Authorities in all of Greater Ostic." Nourise made her sphere vanish, giving no indication how much of her Ethereal Floor she had used. She reclined back in her throne, looking over all of them curiously. "We don't stand much on formality here, so let's make a deal. I won't fight for you out of petty jealousy, but I will offer my support if you can do me a favor."

"And what is that?" Theo asked, trying to mirror her careless tone.

"You see, as a Stronghold I am unable to take the field in a balanced convocation, which includes every single conflict with Sartozi. But if I could send you to do my dirty work... you could significantly improve our lot, enough to earn the power of a Stronghold on your side. You go to war for me, I'll go to war for you. But the details... my court will prepare a welcome feast for you next week, and we can discuss all the details then."

"A week?" Theo couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Forgive us, but we're on a tight timetable and we've already spent significant time arriving here."

"Oh, please. You've accepted my hospitality, so while you're here, you're under my protection. Take a week and enjoy Central Ostic. It's a nice place for a vacation."

"I'm afraid we can't spend our time in such a leisurely fashion. Of course, we wouldn't impinge on your hospitality by rushing you. But to us mere Authorities, a week is a significant amount of time. When the week is up, test us again and see if that time doesn't matter."

Nourise raised an eyebrow, possibly mimicking his own expression. "Oh, you're rather confident. But very well, one week. We shall see if you can back up those words."

Aides swept into the room, guiding them out and making clear that the audience was over. As they were marched into the palace, Theo felt more like he was under guard than an escorted guest. That was irrelevant: as far as he was concerned, the only obstacle in their path was the Stronghold. They didn't need to just buy her nominal support, they needed to convince her that it was in her best interest to support their side... and stay there.

"One week?" Nauda walked closer to him and spoke in a terse whisper. "What, are you that convinced you can open your basement in that time?"

"We don't need to win every long shot bet," he told her, "just make an impression. I'll be aiming for a basement, yes, but the two of you can soulcraft as well. Anything that will prove she need to take us seriously."

"Sometimes I think you just enjoy deadlines... but I understand the logic."

Nauda shook her head as if to clear it, no doubt considering her own plans. Fiyu nodded, even though he thought that she was probably the furthest from a significant qualitative change. It didn't really matter: he would have to trust them to handle their own soulcrafting.

So they'd finally arrived in Central Ostic - now that their location was firmly known, they would no doubt have enemies bearing down on them, from Esaire to Sartozi to the Demon Court. Theo wasn't afraid that a week was too fast, he wondered whether it was fast enough.

Chapter 17

In other circumstances, Nauda would have been happy to explore the city of Central Ostic. It seemed to have a thriving community that she might have enjoyed coming to know, even as an outsider. Even the nobles seemed less obsessed with duels and ranks than most Deuxans she'd known, and the laid back atmosphere would likely be even stronger among those without any particular rank.

Unfortunately, she didn't have that time, not yet, and so she was forced to rely on the privileges of her soulcrafting tier. When she spoke to the courtiers about her interest in sublime materials, she was led across the city to a market that catered to Authorities.

Now she wandered through the tables of assembled sublime materials, hoping to find something that would make a difference. There were certainly many valuable materials, but how many were appropriate for her? In the time she'd been searching, she'd only seen one other Authority shopping. The owners didn't seem troubled, no doubt familiar with the pickiness of advanced soulcrafters, but she still felt uncomfortable shopping alone. If only Fiyu hadn't needed to pursue materials on the other side of the city.

Nauda picked up a rich blue gem and felt the cantae roll through her fingers. It was labeled as a "calmgem" and it apparently could cancel out various wind-based attacks. That was similar to her nullification glove... but not similar enough.

Once she might have purchased it, along with many other decent materials, but soulcrafting with Fiyu and Theo had raised her standards. She needed to find materials that synergized perfectly with her blueprint, not just ones strong enough for her tier. Even though she had full command of their 10,000 Silver Crowns if necessary, she wasn't going to waste them on some temporary filler material. And that meant the search continued, through table after table.

After thoroughly searching the store, Nauda had only made a single purchase: a block of metal called wardsilver. It wasn't the most powerful sublime material there, and only cost a few hundred Crowns, but it was an excellent match for her warding necklace.

She departed with her purchase, planning to return to the palace on her own. To her surprise, Chlira was waiting for her in another golden vessel - not the same as before, armored against the sand, but a broader sleigh with an open top, clearly more suited to pleasure cruises or exploring the city than long journeys.

"Find what you needed?" Chlira asked. She gave a false smile and Nauda's only question was whether it was meant to deceive, or whether the Deuxan woman intended for her to know it was false.

"Not exactly." Nauda stepped into the sleigh and balanced her staff on her knees. The Deuxan woman glanced at her but didn't say anything else.

Her goal wasn't simply to gather materials - she needed to strengthen herself enough to impress the Stronghold who ruled the whole region. As Nauda's finger gripped her staff, she realized that the armament itself might be the weakest link. It had been powerful when she selected it from the Blacksilver vaults, but now it lagged somewhat.

That was the weakness of relying on armaments: ongoing maintenance. At least her staff tower was perfectly built to adapt to new weapons, so she just needed to find one.

"Do you have armament-focused stores?" Nauda asked, holding up her staff. "This has served me well, but it might be time to replace it."

"It seems a potent weapon," Chlira said. "No doubt you've been relying on it up to this point."

Was the implicit insult intentional? The Deuxan courts had been subtle so far, so Nauda assumed it was meant to be hostile and responded with a false smile of her own. "That's so generous of you. A humble soulcrafter such as myself could never have uncovered such wisdom on her own."

"Got a tongue on you." Chlira chuckled as if unthreatened by her sarcasm and smiled more broadly. "I could take you to a dozen other stores, but it won't make a difference. The man you're traveling with is some sort of genius, and the woman may be the most lethal Authority in the city, but you? You aren't their equal, and it doesn't matter how many armaments you acquire, you never will be."

Despite herself, Nauda's eyes widened. Tatian insults were subtle and masked, and the Deuxans usually operated by implication, so having someone insult her so directly took her completely off guard. Even though it struck directly at her insecurities, it was so overt that it almost didn't hurt. Unfortunately, her surprise probably made her look shocked, because Chlira only chuckled and flew them back to the palace.

Originally Nauda had wanted to ask about her third objective: some sort of personal item to place inside her corporealbottle. But there wasn't likely to be anything, she couldn't finish an appropriate room in time, and it wouldn't change her massively anyway. What was the point?

When they returned to the palace and Chlira flew away, Nauda walked back to their chambers. The words stung more than she wanted to admit - not at first, but they sank in over time, like cuts on her hands she only realized existed when she started to rest. She had just caught up to the others, so she hated to think that she was still holding them back.

Determined not to let the insult slow her down, Nauda dove directly into soulcrafting. She worked furiously on her staff tower, using up the bricks she'd been preparing for that purpose. Her work that day actually finished one of the chambers, and she thought she could finish the other two before the week was up.

And what good would that do? A little more cantae, that was all.

Nauda constructed a plinth and placed the wardsilver in her completed chamber. It would need to be shaped later, but its raw cantae reinforced the warding necklace around her neck. She was briefly pleased before she imagined Chlira's smile and realized this wasn't a qualitative difference: it just made her a little tougher, which wouldn't change things here or in a battle.

What options did she even have available to her? While Nauda thought over the issue furiously, she went down to tend her garden. At least the new Deuxan and Aathali seeds were growing well, not that they helped her much. Maybe in the very long term their roots would help her develop a basement, but that would just be catching up to the others again.

"Are you alright, Nauda?"

In her self-absorption, Nauda hadn't been using her new vitality sense at all. She flinched inside her soulhome and then returned to reality slowly, making sure to smile at Fiyu. "Just tired. I don't think I can soulcraft enough to impress the Stronghold."

"I think you have a better chance than me, Nauda." Fiyu sat down beside her with a rueful smile. "All of my soulcrafting goals are somewhat longer term. I could not find an appropriate material to power my lightstorm technique, so I will not make progress."

"Yeah, it isn't easy to buy materials at our tier." Nauda started to explain about her search, intending to focus solely on the soulcrafting, but found the entire story spilling out. Fiyu listened somberly and shook her head when Nauda awkwardly shared about Chlira's insults. But when she finished and trailed off, the other woman didn't respond how she expected.

"It is just a lie, Nauda. You should not listen to her."

"A lie?" Nauda couldn't help but frown. "She's not wrong: I'm still behind the two of you. My binding technique is less useful against Authorities, my other tricks are situational, and beyond that I just have strength. Everyone has strength at Authority, so-"

"Not like you." Fiyu took her hand gently and traced over her fingers, which sent a thrill through Nauda. "When Theo and I were trapped in Esaire's formation, your strength was what allowed us to free ourselves. That strength had great value, Nauda, and you should not let anyone insult it."

"Maybe, but-"

"I was sincere when I said it was a lie. Chlira did not intend only to insult you, she intended to impede you. Remember that your blueprint only comes into its full strength throughout the Authority and Stronghold tiers. Chlira sees a threat in you and hopes to prevent you from reaching your full potential."

Perhaps Fiyu was a little biased, but Nauda still found herself encouraged. She didn't have the words to respond, so she took Fiyu's slender hand in her own and squeezed a little. Fiyu smiled back and didn't pull away, apparently completely at ease.

"I do need to come up with something for this week," Nauda said after a warm silence. "We need to impress Nourise, or this will turn from a polite war to a slaughter."

"Your next major goal is to unify your towers, is it not?"

"That's right, but... here, let me show you."

Nauda drew Fiyu's spirit into her soulhome and showed everything that she had accomplished so far. She had finished a significant portion of the bricks that would unite her leg towers, but those pieces weren't remotely ready to be mortared into position. After that she fully described the problem with her staff tower. Once Nauda had finished explaining what she thought was her unsolvable conundrum, however, Fiyu only smiled at her.

"It seems to me that, no matter what you soulcraft, you will need temporary connections between your towers," Fiyu said.

"Well, yes, but..."

"Then for this stage, you do not need to represent yourself perfectly. Instead, you should create temporary connections that will be useful to you even after they are replaced."

Nauda rocked back on her heels, considering this new approach. "You mean... some sort of connection to the staff tower that I could repurpose into my statue's arms later? I suppose they would need supporting struts."

"Yes, exactly. And you could also do the same for the connection between your other two towers, to support the bricks. That is appropriate, is it not? A triangle is a strong shape, and if it is not exactly a statue, it will still be a strong, balanced construct."

"You might just be right." Nauda grinned and ran into her life tower to check all her storage chests.

To create supporting struts, she didn't need overwhelmingly powerful sublime materials, just sturdy ones. Considering that was the opposite of her usual balance, it might be possible to find them. The most obvious were the remnants of the metal bones she had used to construct the ladders in her death tower, as they could definitely support a connection between two towers.

So that could pass from death to life... no, as Nauda considered them, she realized that she needed active struts that channeled cantae between all three towers. If she viewed the metallic bones as passing from death to her staff, that would work. She still had sturdy old timbers from Tatian that would be perfect for passing from life to death. That just left one more strut from staff to life, and she was sure she could find something in time. Some sort of inert but vibrant material.

When she stepped out, she found Fiyu's spirit kneeling in the center, observing her garden. She looked up and smiled again. "Everything seems to be growing well, Nauda."

"Maybe so, but the plants aren't granting me much power." Nauda bent down beside one of her most successful plants, a bush that grew purple-green spheres. "I could maybe find a place for these in my life tower, but I can't finish the fourth floor in time."

"But these are sublime foods, are they not? Surely they are meant to be eaten."

"I can't eat food grown in my own..." Nauda trailed off as she realized what the other woman meant. "You know, I haven't tried. Maybe they'll just turn into tiny little vegetables, but I suppose it's worth the attempt."

They both returned to the physical plane, Nauda plucking several of the fruits and vegetables to take with her. To her surprise, they entered the real world at full size. Many materials, particularly stone, were vastly compressed in the real world. Sublime foods always remained the same, so that was strong evidence for Fiyu's theory: in that case, these were really more enhancements than central materials for a chamber.

"May I try one?" Fiyu asked hesitantly. Nauda quickly handed over everything and watched as the other woman ate them carefully. It was hard to tell, but she seemed to close her eyes under her mask. "These are very good, Nauda. I will place them with my Nine Worlds Feast."

"Are you sure? These can't equal the sublime foods that w-"

"But you grew them as an Authority. They carry your cantae... and I would rather carry your cantae than some meal we purchased."

The warmth of that statement swept away the remainder of Nauda's hesitation and they quickly delved into experimentation. Not every plant she'd grown was equally potent, but this was clearly a worthwhile process. In the end, Fiyu had significant improvements to the Deuxan and Aathali portions of her Nine Worlds Feast.

One disappointment was that Nauda couldn't effectively eat her own crops. Oh, she could chew and swallow them, but it was unsatisfying in the same way that swallowing her own saliva didn't quench her thirst. The attributes of herself that made the sublime foods effective for Fiyu made them less effective for Nauda, since they were just duplicating what she already had in abundance.

"I am sorry I cannot grow anything for you, Nauda." Fiyu's face fell as if this truly crushed her. "My soil has not been prepared for agriculture. Perhaps in the distant future, but..."

"You don't need to be sorry, I'm just glad I could help you." Nauda hesitantly placed her hand on the other woman's shoulder and was relieved when Fiyu smiled at her.

"I do have sunlessroses... they grow very slowly compared to sublime foods, but I could remove one..." Fiyu's body dissolved into a soulcrafting haze as she entered her soulhome, then she emerged bearing a pitch black flower with a thorny stem.

"You don't want me to eat this, do you?"

Fiyu laughed freely. "No, Nauda, please do not. But I hope it can find a place in your soulhome."

Nauda took the flower reverentially and carried it inside. The sunlessrose was as dark as Fiyu but definitely alive, so it needed to be in her life tower. She threaded it through a branch of her heartoak and then stepped back to admire it: a single rose didn't significantly impact her strength, but she was glad to have a token of Fiyu there.

Once that was done, the two of them began to consider other soulcrafting possibilities, from the corporealbottle to new synergies between them. For a time the world was just the two of them and Nauda forgot about everything else, certainly about Chlira and her insults. When the thoughts eventually intruded, however, she started to think about others as well.

"Do you think we should test this with Theo too?" Nauda asked.

"I think he would definitely benefit from the sublime foods. However..." Fiyu's lips compressed into a thin line. "Perhaps we should not disturb him now. He seems very busy."

That reminder cooled a bit of the warmth as Nauda thought about the challenge facing them. That was the thing about Theo: he didn't push others just to be a taskmaster, he always pushed himself hardest of all.

~ ~ ~

Theo knelt in the hole, resting his aching hands on his knees. They were covered in dirt and blood... he knew where the dirt had come from, since it was covering him, but when had they started bleeding? His entire spirit felt too numb to feel any pain, so he distantly wiped the blood onto the nearest grizzleroot as if he was moving someone else's body.

Four days of the week had passed... or was it five? In a new city where he didn't know any of the routines, it all blurred together. Whatever the exact number, time was running out.

In those days, he'd managed to dig only about two feet into the soil of his soulhome. That wasn't far enough. The depthsgrinder had been helpful, but it grew down extremely slowly. Most frustratingly, it was like he was approaching a mathematical limit: the first inches had been effortless, the first foot not so challenging, but now he felt like he was spending hours scraping concrete and making no progress.

Theoretically, the more difficult digging became, the closer he was to breaking through. Unless, of course, he'd miscalculated and it was still impossible for him to open a basement. Senka said that basements were an exact science, but a science with so many unknown variables that he couldn't predict how close or far away he was. He could break through the next hour or not at all.

The increasing difficulty wasn't just an illusion: the cheap spirit trowel he'd been using was now bent and damaged. In theory he could get a different one, but he wasn't sure it would matter.

As far as he could tell, he'd set up everything right. He'd chosen the spot opposite his vestibule, since he liked the symmetry of that, and none of his digging had damaged anything. The grizzleroot and the depthsgrinder had prepared a path downward. But all he'd accomplished was digging a filthy hole.

Willpower mattered, as it always did in soulcrafting, but it wasn't enough. Theo stared down at his bloody hands and the useless hole and wondered if this time he'd bitten off more than he could chew.