Chasmfall: Chapters 19-20 (The Weirkey Chronicles) (Patreon)

I have some fun news to tease all of you with: I'm in discussions regarding the audiobooks for TWC! Though I probably shouldn't say too much at this stage, I think many of you will be pleased. That's one of the many things that's been drawing my attention, so I won't go on in this introduction, but chapters continue!

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Chapter 19

Though the attack cost them time, requiring their group to retrace their steps to find a safe path back into the chasm, the true cost was peace of mind. Theo had hoped, despite the odds, that they had stayed ahead of similar efforts to reach the vault. Perhaps if he'd sprinted directly down the river...

Once again, he reminded himself that a trap from Vistgil might be waiting at the end. Gathering rare sublime materials was more important than arriving first.

When they finally located a path down that didn't risk disturbing the Chasm in some way, he hesitated by the edge to look back toward the battle one more time. It had essentially entrenched itself around the most powerful soulcrafters, with at least three Strongholds creating fortifications that couldn't be broken by anyone other than their peers. Considering that they weren't willing to risk themselves for the rewards of the Chasm, that produced a deadlock.

None of them were attempting to push further north yet, presumably because they knew that the House of the Lost had bound them all inside for longer. Instead they primarily fought over the sublime materials located on the broad plain, and he thought he saw signs of quarrying in each base. Some of the resources there were powerful, but he'd already given up those sublime materials for lost. No amount of knowledge or trickery would let him enter a battle of that intensity.

Yet the end of the river and the Scepter of Separation... if the stories were true, that artifact actually could even any playing field. He refused to believe that every force entrenched on the plain didn't also have a strategy to try to seize it, if not the entire vault. The Asplundat movement had sent Homez and probably others to sneak into the river, and there were presumably more attempts that he hadn't encountered.

"Theo?" Nauda stood beside the path down, staring back at him. "Is something wrong?"

"Just distracted." He turned back and joined them, creeping down the slope before they shifted to climbing. Though he knew that he could stop their fall with gravitational fields if necessary, it had taken a lot out of him the previous time, so he wasn't eager to test himself again.

"I was actually wondering about this new barrier." Nauda spoke casually as they climbed, moving more easily over the rock than either of them. "What happens if the House of the Lost stops their technique? Could they evacuate their soulcrafters, halt it, and trap everyone else here abruptly?"

"Oh dear." Fiyu glanced up at them from below. "I hope that is not possible."

"It's not," Theo said quickly. "They're freezing the boundaries of the Chasm, increasing the amount of time they'll stay open. When they release their technique, the rest will take a while to fade. The most they could do is set off a panic as everyone would have about one day to escape."

"Huh." Nauda frowned skyward at the uneven line where the darkness met the original sky. "You could probably get to a boundary in a day even if you were in the very center, if you hurried. But do you suppose they could use that to try to prevent anyone from reaching the vault? Let the boundary begin collapsing so that everyone needs to rush out, I mean."

"That wouldn't make sense if they want to acquire it themselves, but I suppose it could be a last ditch effort if they feel things aren't going their way." He actually hadn't considered that, given the slow nature of such boundaries. Though not an overwhelmingly powerful maneuver, they could certainly alter the entire state of the battlefield.

Their trio reached the rocky shore without any accidents or attacks, indeed without running into a single other person. Until they met Senka, sitting on a rock and quietly chewing on what appeared to be a strand of seaweed. She said nothing for once and simply fell in behind them.

Unfortunately, the flooding river had destroyed many of the sublime materials that had been growing on the bank, in addition to carving large sections from the stone. He noted that there weren't any puddles left behind, as if the river had withdrawn back to its territory. The losses might benefit them slightly, but he wished that they had been able to harvest more plants before so many were lost.

As they carefully made their way down the river, Theo found himself increasingly annoyed at the Asplundat Movement. The cavern and ruins he remembered still existed, but many of their contents had been destroyed or washed away. Then again, they might have been looted in the century since the previous time he had visited, since the ruins were one of the most obvious places to search.

If any truly valuable artifacts remained, they would no doubt be in the locked ruins toward the end of the river. Based on the rumors about the Scepter of Separation, the final area was still not thoroughly explored, but soulcrafters had reached it. The vaults would contain the most valuable rewards, yet given the rumors of the opened one, they could easily be a trap...

"What's our exit strategy?" Nauda finally asked as they left another mostly empty building. "Let's not be coy: you'd take this scepter armament if you could, right?"

"If possible, but that really depends on what awaits us at the end." Theo couldn't help but stare northward, even though he could see nothing but the chasm walls as they twisted. "If the Strongholds finish their battle and make it to the last ruins, they'll lock them down. But the scepter supposedly fell in the battle closer to the exits than the vault, so it might be more hidden than guarded."

"Say we happen to run into it, then. Do we take it and run for the boundary?"

"That depends on how many people we encounter. If we can slip away, of course we do. If others realize that we have it, then we'd have a major target on our backs. I think if we play it safe, we can survive long enough to leave. Once we're out of the Chasm of Lamentations, it will be in House Blacksilver's interest to protect us, and in turn Norro Yorthin and the Ruling Cities. They might pressure us, but I don't think they'd entirely turn on us for it."

Nauda frowned like she wasn't so confident, but Fiyu increased her pace to walk beside them and spoke before she could. "Do you still believe this could be a trap laid by your great enemy?"

"I... I'm not sure, but I can't get the idea out of my head. Just think of it as another way we should be cautious." Their path had been relatively easy so far, so he couldn't help but imagine the rumored vault containing nothing but another world-consuming trap. Vistgil's work had been quite effective, because it sowed both traps for his foes and doubts about any action that might benefit them.

"Then we continue moving forward. What is the next location that might help us? Would it be the island with the locked building?"

"With the ruins mostly empty... yeah, the island should probably be our next goal."

Though Theo considered spending more time scavenging the ruins for anything remaining, he suspected they had been picked clean. Their group made better time moving forward, passing the soulcrafters that Fiyu could sense trying to fight their way alongside the eastern side of the chasm. Unfortunately, as the bank of the river thinned, they needed to return to climbing, which slowed them down as they rounded the large turn.

Once they finally reached the next straight section, however, his objective was in sight. The white river had become truly wide at this point, rushing with terrible force, yet a dark island sat in the center of it. That island, more than anything else he remembered, appeared utterly unchanged. Whatever sublime material the dark rock was, it split the water without showing the slightest sign of damage.

Most importantly, the triangular building still sat atop it, unchanged by time. He saw a few scorch marks on one side, but it didn't seem that anyone had succeeded in breaking through. The entire Chasm was resistant to weaker cantae, but the construction materials for that building had been able to shrug off even an Authority's cantae.

Whatever lay inside likely still remained. Unfortunately, the lock was one mystery that Theo had no easy answer for. He wasn't sure if they would be able to determine any solution, but they couldn't afford to ignore the possibility.

There was no path leading to the island, and it was too far from either cliff to drop onto it, so they had no choice but to jump. Their current path was too lined by rocky protrusions, so they searched for a better angle. As they did so, Theo felt a small hand tug on his pant leg.

"Senka doesn't want to go." She had been nearly invisible for most of the trip, but now stared up at him somberly. For a moment, she seemed so unlike her ordinary self that he wasn't sure what to say.

"Why not? Do you know something about it? Can you smell something?"

"Senka... just doesn't think it's safe." Her frown looked decidedly different from her usual pout and he considered taking it seriously, but...

"What alternative are you proposing, then? We can't just give up and leave."

"This place... Senka doesn't want!" Without warning, she hurled herself over the edge, falling into the river, where she promptly began thrashing wildly. "Senka is drowning! Blub blub blub!"

"Did she just say 'blub blub blub'?" Nauda asked. Theo sighed and turned away as soon as it was clear Senka wasn't going to drown.

"If she wants to play in the water, she can. Let's be extra cautious on our approach, but I don't see what else we can do. We couldn't even retreat safely, having come this far. Fiyu, can you feel anything within the building?"

She knelt on one knee for a long time, then slowly shook her head. "It was built to resist powerful cantae, even more than the island stone. I cannot feel anything within, and the island itself is quite hazy to me."

None of that left them exactly optimistic, but the cliff walls became even more sheer around the island, so even if they wanted to pass, they really only had one choice. Nauda went first, since she was the best defended, a clean jump landing her safely on the island. When she indicated for them to follow, they both leapt somewhat more carefully.

The front tip of the island was showered by dangerous spray from the river, but the rest was somewhat shielded from it, perhaps the safest place this deep in the chasm. In the exact center of the island, the triangular white building sat quietly. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but the moaning voices of the Chasm seemed quieter on the island, and silent when he walked closer.

Just as he remembered, a large stone door was embedded in the side facing the center of the island, covered in inscriptions but without any mechanism that could be manipulated. Unfortunately, even with more experience than his first visit, none of the inscriptions meant anything to him. Theo walked closer to see if he could determine anything else about the entrance.

"Well, it looks like I got lucky." The voice came from above the doorway, and though Theo leapt back instinctively, he realized that it wouldn't matter. If the Authority had wanted to kill them, he could have done so.

Worse, it was the Authority he had seen representing the House of Burning Leaves, half his face nothing but scar tissue. He wore dark green armor with the sigil of his house inlaid in crimson, no doubt an old and powerful armament. Even if he wasn't the most powerful Authority in the Chasm, their situation had just become far worse.

"You see, this door is very cleverly made, impossible for Authorities to open." The man extended a leg over the side, tapping the building with one heel. "Now, I'm going to need you to open it for me. Based on how well you cooperate, I'll consider leaving some of you alive. But the boy... he definitely needs to die for humiliating the House of Burning Leaves."

"Your name is Mattan, right?" Nauda stepped forward as if to speak to him, but Theo noted that she and Fiyu both stayed at his back. "We all represent Houses of Norro Yorthin. Surely any quarrels we have can be settled within our city."

"You're not House members. You're leeches on Fithe itself. If you won't cooperate, I can kill all of you and find allies to open the door. But if y-"

At that moment, Fiyu's stealth technique rippled out past him and Nauda tapped his side. If he hadn't been so familiar with both of them, Theo might have hesitated, but instead he intuited what they wanted. The instant the stealth covered them, he leapt in the direction Nauda had pushed him.

Even taken off guard, Mattan had an Authority's reflexes. Raw cantae slammed down on the space where they had stood a moment earlier, their jump having just barely cleared it. Fiyu poked them both from behind, and though Theo wasn't entirely sure about her reasoning, he timed his next jump along with both of them, moving around the right side of the building before creeping further.

"That is really quite a remarkable technique." Mattan began stalking around the roof, examining the entire island. His eyes passed directly over them, but didn't pause any more than normal. "Hmph, you're lucky that this place helps hide you. But do you really think you can run?"

His first attempt was to drop his power over the entire island. Ordinary soulcrafters might have been flattened, but given their treatment by Authorities and their careful soulcrafting, they could still move. The air felt more like liquid, but they could make their way out. If their opponent had been a weaker Authority, it might have worked.

Walls of green cantae lit up around the island, then Mattan gestured toward one end. A column of light slammed down over it, vanishing just before another flashed a pace further inland. More and more of the columns began battering the island, as if he planned to find them by brute force.

Given their opponent, they didn't dare speak, but their thoughts were clear enough. Fiyu focused solely on keeping them hidden while Nauda glanced skyward. Theo wasn't sure if the barrier had a ceiling, or if he could lift them without being noticed. He eyed the advancing columns of light, wondering if they could dodge through the search, but he was still just an Archcrafter and the columns were moving remarkably fast.

"Hey, pay attention!" Out of nowhere, a fish slapped Mattan in the face. He was so stunned that he stopped his light columns and spun to look for the source.

Theo had half-expected Senka to be trying to rescue them, though it would have been a suicidal effort even for her. Yet the voice had been male... and to his surprise, Theo saw Tythes standing on the other side of the island, rooting around in the pockets of his long jacket.

"There it is!" He pulled out another fish and hurled it at Mattan, who snatched it out of the air.

"What is this? This... this fish isn't even a sublime beast! How could it survive in this river?"

"Oh, it's not. I heard this river didn't have any fish, so I brought some from home. But I ate the third one, so you really should have had the decency to let the second hit you in the face too. I put real effort into this, and you're ruining it. Can you just slap yourself for me?"

"You..." Mattan stared at him in shock, then let out a cry of rage and unleashed a lance of cantae. This one wasn't aiming to bind anyone in place, but a full-fledged attack designed to kill an equal.

Tythes dodged by falling over onto his side. From that position he tipped backward and struck the ground hard, sending him flipping into the air at unnatural speed, his body a whistling blur. Mattan hurled another lance of cantae at him, but the spin somehow deflected it and a moment later he drove his head directly into the other Authority's stomach.

As they struggled atop the building, Theo realized part of what was wrong with Tythes's soulhome. Though he had a flawless barrier wall that suggested his blueprint was strong, he fought like someone who hadn't soulcrafted a single chamber. Nothing but spending lots of cantae reinforcing his body and moving himself around. Such techniques were only used by incompetent soulcrafters... or those who wanted to avoid letting anyone see their techniques.

Whichever one of them won the fight, Theo didn't like their odds. Despite the risk, he began generating a singularity between his hands. It wouldn't be lethal to an Authority, but if it could draw in enough of their cantae, it might be their only chance at harming either of them.

Unfortunately, the fight ended as Tythes flipped backward, his feet connecting with the other Authority's jaw. The man hurtled upward, bashing against one of the chasm walls before flying out of sight. Tythes ended the maneuver standing on his head on the edge of the building... and then slowly rotated to look at them.

"I wish you wouldn't do that." Tythes extended his cantae, much more subtly than Mattan had, and snuffed out Theo's cantae before it could form a singularity. "I just saved your lives, after all. And please drop that stealth technique. I promise you that I won't search so stupidly, and that will just waste all our time."

After a long pause, Fiyu let the bubble fade around them. Nauda moved to the head of their trio, raising her staff for all the good it would do. "And just why are you here?"

"To altruistically help my fellow citizens, of course." Tythes tipped over the edge and flipped once to land on his feet, grinning at them. "Now, out of sheer gratitude, all of you are going to work for me."

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Chapter 20

"As it happens, I consider myself a master negotiator." Tythes sat atop a rock and stroked his chin self-indulgently. "The previous Authority to approach you offered to torture and kill most of you. I believe that I can beat that offer."

Even though he was unquestionably more powerful than them, Nauda scowled at Tythes while he rambled. After confirming that Mattan wasn't coming back any time soon, they had all moved to one side of the triangular building, hiding themselves from anyone looking from above. Technically anyone else could come down, but Nauda had noticed an increasing number of distortions overhead.

"The good news is, I think we can work together. My father will not stop harassing me about acquiring some sort of Scepter of Sparkling, or something like that. The problem is, getting it would be way too much of a pain. If I make you do all the work getting into this building that no one has ever been able to enter before, then I should be able to get him off my back. You can have the excess sublime materials, I'll drop you off somewhere safe, everybody ends up happy."

"You expect us to trust you?" Nauda didn't bother to keep the contempt out of her voice. She wasn't going to offend such an unstable Authority, but she wouldn't let him walk over them, either. "The last time we met, you insisted that we duel and swore that you'd tear me apart."

"No, that doesn't sound like me." Tythes glanced at her briefly, almost as if he didn't even remember her. "Believe me, I'll be good for it. Soulcrafting is far too much work after Authority, so I figure that you can take away the extra sublime materials and save me the trouble. I consider myself a very reasonable man, so I think this is more than fair."

Though she seethed at her memories of him, Nauda went silent. If he was going to play this game, her interference wasn't likely to make anything better. Fortunately, Theo was already moving on to another approach. "If you made your way here so easily, why can't you reach the end of the river and get the scepter? Surely finding it would be easier than doing something that's never been done before."

"Oh, but you see, there's a deadlock further north. All the Strongholds are ready to gang up on anyone who tries to reach the final position. My father in particular tried to push north, only to run against a Stronghold from the Asplundat Movement. On top of that, the House of the Lost is being truly strange about all this. Not taking it seriously at all! But simultaneously taking it much too seriously, if you know what I mean."

"I do not understand," Fiyu said. Nauda expected Tythes to mock her, but he just shrugged and continued.

"They used their huge technique to keep everyone inside - which is absurd, because it means more work - and then began searching the Chasm. But not for the scepter or the vault, for a person. We have no idea who, but they're acting downright murderous. Really, they seem to be off in their own little world, but whatever they're doing is getting in the way of everyone else."

Tythes glanced between them, but when they didn't volunteer any more questions, he shrugged and moved on. "Anyway, I consider myself an extraordinarily handsome man, so I decided to try to win a victory while everyone else is distracted."

Fiyu frowned. "I do not understand how those statements are related."

"What are you talking about? Shouldn't you be helping me open that door?" Since they didn't really have a choice, they went to join him at the door. Tythes slouched up to it and rapped on the intricate designs with one hand. "Somebody dead put much, much too much work into this. You see, it requires cantae of a precise intensity and quantity. Anyone who has ascended past Ruler will burn straight through it, defeated by their own strength."

"You can't modulate your cantae down?" Theo asked.

"Whoever built the door was thinking of that, and it's extremely sensitive to high intensities. Anyway, did I say I wanted your help? Shut up and help me." Crouching down beside the door, Tythes ran a hand over the inscriptions, briefly not looking so foolish. "But the lock is nothing that can be easily opened by lower tier soulcrafters, either. Ten years ago, my father brought a number of first tier soulcrafters to unlock it, hoping that their weak cantae would do the trick. They all turned to ash. But I'm sure that won't happen again, so now I need you to come over here and touch the Instant Death Door."

Nauda edged closer, wishing that she saw any other option. Despite his nonchalance, Tythes had clearly studied the door, pointing out several spirals where they were meant to place their hands. It was an unusual sort of lock, nothing like what Nauda had seen before. The technique itself involved gently pouring her cantae through the inner workings, but it was like trying to push water through stone.

After over a minute, perhaps a fifth of the door glowed with cantae, but they could push no further. Tythes sighed and tapped the door, his cantae immediately overpowering theirs. The metal reacted instantly, power flashing across it like lightning through water. In an instant all of them were thrown back, though when Nauda checked the others, none of them had been harmed.

"Oh, this is obviously going to be a such a pain." Tythes slapped himself across the face twice. "But the three of you did better than most others who've tried. Did I mention that everyone adding cantae needs to be able to work together well? That's also a requirement. Did I mention that you have to wear special hats? You don't have to, so it would be silly if I'd said that."

Gripping her staff to contain her irritation, Nauda forced her tone to remain civil, if not polite. "Then just what are you going to force us to do?"

"We're going to stay here until you can open the door for me. One of you is already a Ruler, and the other two are close, so it just requires some practice and a little more power. I'll force feed you some sublime materials, make you ascend, then we can open it. Come on, buck up, this will be fun! If you try to run away from the fun I'll kill you, of course."

When Nauda looked to her companions, she could already see the expected reactions on their faces. Fiyu disliked the situation strongly, but intended to keep her head down and accept it. Theo kept his face neutral, but she could tell that he was planning to turn the situation to his advantage. Though Tythes wasn't truly their ally, if he intended to make them ascend, he would both defend and assist them.

"Alright, do you understand?" This time, Tythes seemed to be actually expecting a response, so Nauda decided to speak for the group.

"Thank you for your immense generosity, Lord Tythes."

"It really is immense, isn't it? I'm so glad we can help each other."

The ease with which he accepted the false praise irritated her, so Nauda broadened her smile. "We've never seen such magnanimity from a more powerful soulcrafter. We thought we'd entered the Chasm of Lamentations to find sublime materials, but we should have been searching for you."

"Good." Tythes examined his fingernails with an air of self-satisfaction. "I'm glad that you seem like reasonable people who can cooperate."

"Truly, tales of your kindness today will be told for millennia."

"Well, I wouldn't go quite that far myself, but I do seem to inspire depthless awe in everyone I encounter." Tythes smiled back at her, an exact mirror of her own false expression, and Nauda gave up. There was absolutely no getting through him that way.

And, given the gap in strength, they had no way of escaping him. Their only way out might be through the impossible door that sat darkly before them.

~ ~ ~

For almost the entirety of their third day in the Chasm of Lamentations, Theo had no choice but to assist with the door. If they had been limited to the original three days, he would have been furious. Instead, it was a rather more ambiguous imprisonment, like an invisible countdown to an explosion, only an ominous ticking sound every moment.

The door itself was the most obvious challenge, requiring a difficult mix of strength and skill. After several attempts, Theo was willing to admit that it couldn't be done with skill alone. He still possessed most of a Stronghold's facility with complex cantae work, yet his best efforts only brought the door to half lit. Most likely the only viable option would be to find more cantae, either by another soulcrafter or ascension, either of which would take time.

But the more difficult enigma was Tythes himself. Observing his behavior in a concentrated stretch, Theo was almost completely convinced that the Authority used apathy to hide a darker purpose. Exactly how malicious it was, he couldn't be sure, yet he felt certain that Tythes lied continually and methodically.

Growing bored after several attempts, the Authority left the rest of them and wandered to the other side of the island with vague threats. Though Theo couldn't parse his exact intentions, he was sure that the arbitrary contradictions and cruelty were themselves the message: a reminder that his strength put him beyond any sense of reason. It was annoying enough that Theo sometimes hoped that Mattan would return to fight him again, but when they weren't interrupted, he decided to commit to the problem itself.

Tythes had left them with a chamber blueprint that Theo judged was useless for anything except unlocking the door and thus immediately discarded. Their second decision wasn't so easy. The solution that had struck him as most obvious, both of his companions crafting a vestibule to increase their cantae efficiency, had been disregarded.

For whatever reason, Nauda didn't feel that it matched her soulhome, while Fiyu felt that her present environment was not right for making permanent blueprint changes. He managed to convince her to craft a temporary room that would serve the same purpose, so she set about her work.

When he turned back to Nauda, she glanced toward Tythes, then drew Theo into her soulhome. Even though they were alone there, she lowered her voice. "Alright, I understand that the room he gave us wouldn't offer any advantage. But would cantae alone help?"

"Possibly." Theo glanced toward her home, eyeing the third floor with only a few chambers fashioned. "Are you thinking of expanding?"

"That's right. I have the bricks stored for it, and if necessary we have plenty of sublime stone. By the time I finish my third floor, I'll be able to store quite a bit more cantae, and in the process I'll be able to show him progress. The benefit is obvious, but do you think I can get away with it?"

"Very hard to tell. He's opaque by design."

They both peered out of her soulhome enough to examine Tythes, who currently sat on the side of the island, throwing rocks into the water. Possibly in an extremely inept effort to skip them across the surface. When he ran out of rocks, he fell over onto his side to scrabble for more, refusing to actually stand up even when it meant crawling.

"I say you focus on your third floor," Theo said as they pulled back. "I think he's more serious about this than he looks, but that he won't harm us, especially if we seem to be making progress. Given the room you have to grow, you should be able to focus fully on your Ruler tier."

With that, they left her soulhome and set to work. Theo wished that he could float within his own soulhome as he did in others, but within himself his spiritual body existed in a deeply concrete sense. Currently, all he had to move between floors were the ladders set in his heart column. Briefly he considered setting up something more permanent, to make his soulcrafting easier, but he was almost completely certain that once he'd ascended enough, he would be able to set up gravity transportation within his soulhome. That would be just a little more efficiency, so he could deal for the time being.

As for ascension itself, there was no question in his mind that he eventually could, the true concern was if it would cost him anything. The early Archcrafter ascension hadn't bothered him, but now he found himself thinking back to Nauda's question from before the Chasm. It would have been better to find more potent low tier materials to fill his early floors, particularly the enhancement chambers.

Still, he could admit to himself that the core of his work was complete. He had two floors of solid architecture as well as a finished barrier wall. The singularity at his core was better than he had planned, continually absorbing power and keeping up with his growth. All eight of his technique chambers had powerful and appropriate sublime materials within, even if he hadn't fully developed all of those skills. Most likely he could pretend to struggle with ascending to Ruler, giving him time to gather a few more materials to fill the emptier rooms.

That essentially sealed his conclusion: he'd make actual progress toward ascension to keep Tythes happy, but put it off in case another Authority defeated him or the situation otherwise changed. It wouldn't be difficult to find sublime materials in the Chasm, the tricky part might actually be finding materials weak enough that he didn't need to lock them away.

At first he had presumed an interruption was more likely, but no one else appeared above the chasm and the atmospheric disturbances appeared to be increasing. There was no day or night in the Chasm of Lamentations, but eventually Tythes gave a loud yawn and proclaimed, "Night time!" He reached into his soul and pulled out an entire tent before dropping it onto the island.

"Is that...?" Nauda blinked in surprise, which unfortunately got his attention.

"Didn't you know that you can store non-sublime objects in your soul once you reach Ruler?" Tythes asked. "There's no point having extra space in your soul if you can't use it to travel in style."

Nauda frowned, obviously having known that, but didn't argue that she had been on too tight a schedule to fully develop such secondary capacities. Theo might have pushed her to do so, if the Chasm wasn't composed so overwhelmingly of sublime materials they could absorb and extract later. They only needed to carry food, water, and a few other supplies.

They had only taken one tent, currently rolled up in Fiyu's pack. Previously, they had used it individually, and Theo wasn't entirely sure if Tythes changed that equation. As she set up the tent, Fiyu continually looked in his direction, saying nothing while her posture screamed discomfort. Eventually Theo left his soulhome to go speak with her.

"You're uncomfortable?" he asked. Fiyu immediately nodded.

"Perhaps Tythes needs us alive, but I do not believe he can be trusted. I know that the tent provides no protection against him, but..."

"After traveling together for so long," Nauda said, "do we really mind sharing? One person can keep watch and the other two can each take half."

Fiyu hesitated, then smiled at both of them. An odd smile, but not forced. "You are both trusted companions. I would be more comfortable if we rested in this way."

Theo had been anticipating some awkwardness, but that plan worked out better than he expected. He and Nauda were entirely business-like about it, while Fiyu appeared a little apprehensive but went to sleep once she'd thoroughly wrapped herself in her sheets. It wasn't uncomfortable physically or socially, and that was all that mattered to him. Nothing to distract them from their soulcrafting.

On the fourth day, the darkness in the sky showed no signs of abating. Tythes said that there was a major clash between Strongholds further north, though he seemed entirely distracted. Other than hectoring them to work harder, all he did was pull random objects out of his soulhome and toss them into the water, chuckling to himself as they dissolved or disappeared into the waves.

Regardless of his demands, all three of them worked as hard as they could. It wasn't much compared to Authorities, but it was the only thing they could do to take any control over their situation. Nauda made excellent progress on her chambers, Fiyu was well on her way to completing her vestibule, and Theo spent most of his time carving the walls of the rooms he'd left incomplete. Simple carvings didn't have the greatest impact on his strength, but he wanted them finished so that they would be continually reinforced by all future ascensions.

They did have an interruption on the fifth day, but it ended swiftly and brutally. A group of Asplundat Rulers tried to sneak into the chasm and attack them, to be killed by Tythes almost immediately. He began trying to use their bodies as boats, shouting at the corpses to try harder when they kept dissolving into the water. Theo decided not to ask him any questions that day and just kept his distance.

By the sixth, he decided to risk asking Tythes to help them acquire sublime materials. Though he complained the entire time, he actually didn't put up much opposition, carrying them individually to different parts of the chasm to search. In the process they discovered a few sublime materials he hadn't counted on finding, giving them a slight additional edge.

On the seventh day, Tythes abruptly demanded that they give up on the door and try tunneling under the back side of the building. When the rock proved nearly immune to cantae and they only dug a few feet down, he abandoned the idea just as abruptly and then pouted all through the eighth day.

With help from an Authority and everyone else deadlocked before the end, Theo was starting to think that their situation was actually to their advantage. So, of course, on the ninth day life had to get in his way yet again.