Bloodcrete: Chapters 9-10 (The Weirkey Chronicles) (Patreon)

There's loads of stuff going on, but you're still getting chapters beneath the break. First:

• There is a new TBS worldbuilding post on the worldbuilding blog, just now posted.
• If you were waiting on my AMA, the questions have died down, so feel free to check it out! Quite a good number of comments and upvotes, so thanks to everyone for coming out. ^-^
• TBS3 is getting close to a rating break point, so if anyone hasn't left a review or rating, please consider taking a moment to do so.

Anyway, there's a big development in these chapters, one of those I've been waiting to fully explain since the second book. Bloodcrete in general will be a good book for those who want an advanced understanding of soulcrafting.

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Chapter 9

Having Fiyu would have been convenient, since they could have carried out all their investigations under cover of her stealth technique. Nauda would have been best-suited to speaking with the local Fithans. Navim could have helped collate all the demonic data, and even Tythes had more taste for the political maneuvering.

Basically, Theo was starting to think he was the worst possible person for the task.

As he walked around the outer limits of another farm, he reminded himself that it wasn't really true. Anyone below Ruler tier would be in serious danger, and his range of abilities made it possible to handle multiple jobs alone. Krikree would definitely be a worse choice, since she'd already attempted to eat several of the local farm animals. But he missed having allies with specializations of their own.

So far he had mostly confirmed the lay of the land. Demon attacks were on the rise, but the farmers hadn't discerned any pattern, and they were more personally invested in finding one than he'd ever be. Finding a precise origin point was more difficult because the demons always emerged from the dust storms and crawled onto the plateaus.

Theo left that problem for later: the most important information was the political balance. He'd avoided soulcrafters from the Asplundat Movement on multiple occasions. According to local farmers, they were constantly offering protection in return for control, and they'd taken over a few plateaus to the far north by force. That meant their arguments about outsiders as the source of demons mostly fell on deaf ears, but they had enough military power that they didn't really need propaganda.

The local Fithans of the Dustwind Plateaus struck him as hardy and fiercely independent. Their soulcrafters were stronger than average, but that only meant they had an unusual number of Archcrafters. If the Asplundat Movement or the Ruling Cities decided to invade, they'd be swallowed regardless.

"Stranger!"

Theo whirled to face the voice, just in case it was an attack. Too late he realized that he'd been relaxing his gravity senses instead of using them fully. In any case, it was just one of the farmers he'd spoken to not long ago, a Fithan man getting along in years. Archcrafter, but clearly past his physical prime.

"You know we don't want help from anybody," the man said as he approached. "But there's demons again, lots of 'em. My kids went out there, but I don't think they can take this group."

"I'll do what I can." Theo used a fully powered gravitational field to launch himself into the air, over the farm. He could sense a lot of points of mass moving quickly, but for picking out the individual combatants he'd need to use his eyes.

The farm was composed of several houses surrounded by large fields of crimson crops that reminded him of corn. Most of the fighting was taking place on the western side of the plateau: it seemed like the farmer had trained all his sons and daughters, but they were being beaten back to their fences. Another group of demons was crawling from the southwest to flank them.

Theo used an inverted gravitational field to fling all of those into the air, likely hard enough to kill them. The fight beside the field was more difficult to parse, because the demons had managed to combine into at least two second stage demons. He simply dropped everyone into the air and neutralized their momentum in the air with another field.

All of the Fithans appeared startled, while the demons continued to attack in mindless rage. They might have killed one of the younger soulcrafters if Theo hadn't picked off the demons nearest him with torsion bolts. For the first time, Theo was held back by not being able to cast quickly enough. He had been gathering secondary materials for an enhancement chamber on his third floor, but it was still lacking.

One of the second stage demons wasn't so easy, but Theo flattened it to the ground with layered gravitational fields. While killing off the demons hung helplessly in the air, Theo realized that he'd accidentally suspended Krikree as well. In the robes and mask he'd used to disguise her, she was hard to make out except for the antennae poking through her hood.

"Demons eat beetle food!" Krikree declared. "Krikree help. Krikree do good?"

"You had the right idea, I just didn't see you." Theo shifted his inverted field to lower her to the ground, only for Krikree to dive into the field again. But she'd actually moved carefully: she threw herself toward one of the floating second stage demons, properly accounting for the neutralized gravity.

While she tore into that one, Theo picked off the remaining demons. He could easily have used a miniature singularity to kill the one trapped on the ground, but he tested a torsion bolt as well. It managed to twist apart one of the demon's limbs, but couldn't penetrate the torso. The voidflint chamber on his third floor had made his torsion bolts a little more intense, but apparently it still needed work.

Most of the farmers appeared to understand that he was there to help, so Theo lowered everyone to the ground. Now that the demon numbers were thinned, and especially with Krikree present, they should be able to finish off the others. Their help mostly slowed things down, but he figured he should leave them their pride.

Once they had things under control, Theo floated toward the edge of the plateau. The dust storm roiled just a few feet beneath the plateau surface, and more demons crawled from it. Instead of using a gravitational field, Theo tried to use his gravitational senses to find demons within the dust and kill them before they even emerged. The abyssfluid within his soulhome strained in multiple directions, so his senses were rather fuzzy, but they didn't really pose any threat to him.

In fact, the only way they could have posed any threat was if the demons were summoning within the dust storm. Theo actually would have been interested to take on a third stage demon, since titans were generally considered stronger than the average Ruler. But, for better or worse, there was no sign of summoning at all, and the demon attack was dwindling.

Just when he thought he'd killed the last, his target twisted out of the way. Theo frowned and prepared to cast again as something different burst from the dust. He hesitated and the small blue figure charged directly into his knees.

"Stupid Theo, don't shoot Senka! Senka doesn't want to get shooted!"

"Senka." She looked just like she had before, and Theo bent down to embrace her before he thought twice. Logically he had expected her to be fine, but after so long, part of him had wondered.

"Give Senka yummies!" She squirmed in his grip until he finally released her, then grabbed his face. "Senka wants yummies!"

"Senka, if you're just messing with me..."

"Now! Blooky Theo!"

He sighed and rummaged inside his soulhome for something to give her. As soon as he handed her the loaf of bread she plopped down on the ground and began ramming it into her mouth. Most likely the real Senka was trapped within this bratty form, but there was always a chance she was trying to reach him through her curse because she needed food.

It was also entirely possible she was just doing this to annoy him.

"You know," Theo said, "it occurs to me that you joined us during a demon attack on Tatian. Do you have some way of following them through?"

"No talking!" Senka hurled a slobber-covered half loaf at him, then smashed her hands on the ground. "Give Senka yummies!"

He irritably handed her back the loaf, which made her bite his hand. While he struggled with her, Krikree crawled up beside them, her antennae vibrating wildly.

"What? Ivo-sister, what?"

"Stupid bug! Go away or Senka smack!"

"Food?" Krikree focused on him and pointed toward Senka. "Like beetle animals? Krikree eat?"

Theo sighed and closed his eyes. "No, this is Senka. She's a person like us, she just.. isn't acting like it right now."

"Not! Stupid. Not food?"

"Senka doesn't like the cheep cheep!"

Though he forcibly separated the two of them, Theo wasn't in the mood to deal with the squabble. Fortunately, Senka became focused on eating a rock, and Krikree subsided to emitting [What?] to herself. He thought it was just her way of talking to herself when he realized that one of the farmer's children was approaching.

"There were a lot of them," the young woman said. "We could have taken them, but it was kind of you to help out."

They definitely couldn't have, but that was as close to gratitude as the local Fithans got. Theo nodded curtly. "Was just passing through. Tell your father to keep me in mind if he ever sees anything."

"You're not one of those Asplundats, are you?"

"No, not at all. I'm... here on behalf of a group that can see the problems you're facing. You're our neighbors, so we want to do something about it, but politics keep getting in the way. So I'd appreciate if you didn't say anything, especially if the Asplundat Movement asks questions. You had it handled, I just happened to be nearby."

"Got it." The farmer examined him with some suspicion, which increased after a glance at Senka and Krikree. "These demons don't help nobody. We'll let you know if we see anything."

"Thank you kindly."

Fortunately, it seemed like they would accept that. Theo hadn't been giving anyone a name, since any of his pseudonyms would have overlapped with other politics and he didn't want to draw more attention. But if he kept getting involved this way, he might not have a choice. Saving a farm or two helped the locals, but it wouldn't solve the fundamental problem.

He picked up Krikree and Senka with a field and flew over to one of the unoccupied plateaus. Its surface was rough enough that they could hide within the rocks, as well as get some relief from the wind. After checking that nothing had disturbed their campsite, Theo removed his tent from his soulhome and sat down to get his soulcrafting for the day done.

His plan had been to rely on the materials he'd already stockpiled, but he'd discovered a useful sublime rock in the Dustwind Plateaus. Flightrock was poorly named: it didn't fly at all, it just possessed incredible inertia against all forces, including gravity. Theo couldn't imagine a material better suited to his anchoring chamber... except that its strength was only about Archcrafter-tier. If he'd found it earlier, it might have been perfect, but now he needed to adapt.

Currently he had carved a pedestal of flightrock in the center of his anchoring chamber. It was enough to begin truly using the technique, but not a satisfactory final chamber. At some future point, he hoped to find a Ruler-tier material to place on the pedestal, and combined they would have a powerful effect. That was his last empty technique chamber filled.

A few of his other chambers needed work, but one of the less obvious tasks he needed to complete was helping the grizzleroot grow. It had sent out tendrils all the way through the four central pillars of his soulhome, but it had only grown thick on the first floor. He needed the grizzleroot to be a strong column for his ascension, and ideally dig deeper into the soil of his foundation.

"Ivo-sister."

The disruption from outside made Theo's fingers slip, and he cut open his hand on the voidflint. He sighed and let the blood drip out into the central column to feed the grizzleroot. It was doing better since he'd started caring for it this way, but it still needed blood. Since he could only shed so much spiritual blood in a day without weakening himself, that was a matter of simple patience.

Once he was done, he emerged to look at Krikree. "What is it?"

"Senka-what?" She pointed unnecessarily to where Senka lay on her back, snoring loudly. "Not Senka-food?"

"Why would she be food?"

"Like beetle animals. Feed now, grow fat, eat later."

Theo rubbed his eyes with both hands. "Don't eat Senka. This is difficult to explain, but she needs to come with us."

"Senka-what? Senka-parasite?"

"We need to feed her, but she'll be helpful. Or she should be, once she changes."

Krikree sat back, clearly displeased by this answer. She spent a while cleaning her antennae with her upper hands and muttering to herself. Eventually she said "Senka commensalist symbiote" and sat back as if marginally satisfied.

Despite having traveled with her for so long, Theo was still surprised to hear a word like that come out of Krikree's mouth. The sound, not filtered through soul translation, had been just a pair of syllables. In a way it wasn't strange that the Slescans would have words for such relationships, though he wondered just how it would have translated if he didn't have a biological vocabulary from his time on Earth.

Just as Theo was about to return to his work, he saw Senka rise. Something about the way she pulled herself up - wearily instead of bouncing - immediately drew his attention. When she looked at him, her eyes were shot with dark blood and there was no trace of levity on her face.

"Hey." She coughed and pitched to the side, but he caught her. "Can't stay long."

"Why show up now? Do you have a warning?"

"Just took this opportunity to find you again. Just... don't sporp up this local blook. It's more important than it looks."

"But I suppose you don't have time to explain." Though Theo spoke sharply, he was incredibly relieved to hear her cynical voice. He'd spoken to the real Senka for such a short time, yet...

"Don't have time to explain why I can't explain... but I do have time to annoy you." Senka shot him a weary grin, but her eyes were beginning to bleed. "Found the next river. Can get there from Noven. You need to go to Noven, right?"

"Yes, it's my next goal. Where is the next one? Is it like the Chasm or-"

"It's in Senkaland, dummy!" The little brat slapped him across the face and then ran away to eat rocks. Her eyes weren't bloodshot anymore, but in a sense Senka was suffering even more. 

At some point while she was lucid, they'd need to talk about exactly how much she could perceive while she wasn't in her right mind. If she was trapped in there, listening, then her antics would be much less insufferable. For the time being, he decided there was no point in interrogating her further.

"Not commensalist symbiote?" Krikree crouched nearby, wielding a spear in Senka's general direction while flicking her antennae toward him.

"It's... hard to explain."

"Senka-what?"

"Just don't eat her for now." His words didn't appease Krikree, but she retracted her spear. 

So now he had another reason he needed to get to Noven. All he needed to do was navigate through byzantine local politics and stop a war between superpowers funded by shadowy entities from outside the continent and likely the world.

Theo got back to soulcrafting.

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Chapter 10

As much as Fiyu had come to enjoy Siata, they returned to Ichil for her ascension. There was really no question about it. Her Corporeal Floor would define who she was as an Ichili adult, so she wanted to be bathed in her world's own darkness.

Her relative had taken her back by weirkey, so there hadn't been any extra soulcrafting time to prepare. Instead she had taken several days in one of their safe houses to fully prepare everything. She had removed several temporary constructions, such as the vestibule that Theo had suggested she build. Finished stabilizing her pyramid on the roof, of course. Then yet more polishing, just in case, as she double and triple checked every individual component.

Still, even as she stood on the precipice, she hesitated. This was the first time in her life that so much was riding on a single moment. Other errors could be remodeled, but a fatal flaw in her Corporeal Floor might potentially be beyond repair. If she hadn't struggled through so many challenges with her companions and even ascended in order to defend them, the idea would have been paralyzing.

"You are nervous," Relative Guchiro said from the real world. "You need not be. I have explained every detail of the ascension, and you have grasped them all. There is nothing to fear."

"Yes, but..." She looked toward her relative uncertainly. Only after having done so did she realize that it was a habit picked up in other worlds, useless here. Perhaps another way in which she had changed too much...

Her relative's body was completely unmoving for several heartbeats, then he spoke somberly. "You are no longer a child, to follow after a relative. Perhaps if you understand the broader theory, you will understand the paths not taken, and no longer fear the one before you."

"Yes, please." Fiyu abandoned her soulcrafting entirely and wiggled forward to sit in front of him. Even though he told her that she was an adult now, she wanted to learn at his feet one more time.

"An ordinary soulhome interacts with the body on solely a spiritual level, mediated by cantae. That power reinforces the body, but only temporarily. A Corporeal Floor partially merges your soulhome with your physical body. You will cease to be simply flesh and become partially cantae. This floor may grant less power, but there is no suppressive force in existence that can take away its gifts."

Fiyu had heard some of this before, but her relative had never spoken so directly to her. She leaned forward and listened carefully as he continued.

"There are many techniques, following many approaches. For example, it is common for soulcrafters to build their Corporeal Floors slowly, heavily reinforcing each organ and using their ascension to seal their work together. But there are limits to this method. The soulhome can only be fused to the body in the fires of ascension, so the preliminary reinforcement can often embed errors in the design. To be fair, many soulcrafters cannot afford to wait to finish an entire floor. You have no doubt felt your limitations already."

"Could that method be done effectively?" Fiyu asked.

"It is not unheard of. One could follow a blueprint to the tiniest detail, or carefully rebuild the body one step at a time. There are benefits to this, but in the end, the ascension is acquired to complete the connection. For that reason, I prefer singular transformation." Her relative paused, tilted his head oddly, then spoke in a different tone. "Can you guess what sort of problems might be caused by partial rebuilding?"

Normally he didn't ask her questions in the middle of lessons, so Fiyu scrambled for an answer that wouldn't shame them both. "If a warrior strengthened their arm... would the shoulder be too weak? And the shoulder requires the torso, and so on."

"A valid example," Relative Guchiro said, "but most are not foolish enough to run into that error. One I have actually seen is soulcrafters who attempt to strengthen their heart first. Without their veins being reinforced, it pumps so powerfully that their veins burst open."

Fiyu shivered at the thought and inventoried everything on her second floor again. She knew the blueprint was well-tested, but what if a small error led something similar to happen to her?

"Once forged, the link between body and spirit cannot be easily reforged. For this reason, it is impossible for soulcrafters to simply remodel an old floor at a later time. That is why this ascension will be so difficult: there are many steps you must take now because they can only be done now."

"I understand." Learning that did make the task seem a bit less ominous, but Fiyu decided that she should air her remaining doubts as well. "I wonder if we could place more sublime materials on my second floor. It would not create clashing cantae, would it? Is any empty space now a missing opportunity forever?"

"Never fear." Her relative smiled beneath his mask. "What you have soulcrafted is a complete system: every aspect of yourself represented and no dependency missing. However, when you have reached Authority and beyond, you may desire modifications. The remaining space will allow you to improve your soulhome on future ascensions, without cutting out essential features."

"Then... one last thing." Fiyu swallowed, but pushed forward. "I have wondered about the staircases you have instructed me to build. My companion Theo has emphasized internal space... the stairs take up so much space, and they do not generate much cantae. Why did your blueprint include such large stairs?"

Relative Guchiro was still again, then his entire body relaxed. "Perhaps I should have told you more of the design from the beginning. For now, the staircases do appear to be wasted space. However, when it comes time to build an Immortality Conduit, you will not regret having them. Your companion is not wrong, simply mistaken about the intention of your first floor."

That doubt had been growing in her mind for some time, but hearing her relative's explanation put it to rest. Part of Fiyu wanted to ask him about Immortality Conduits and another part of her mind felt full. No, best to focus entirely on the soulcrafting ahead of her. The task was difficult enough.

At least she was no longer struggling with the concept. When Fiyu walked through her second floor, it felt right. She could imagine all of these sublime materials, carefully worked with her own hands, becoming a part of her body. Some of the more dangerous steps now made sense, and she looked forward to fusing her body and soul.

"I am ready." Fiyu straightened her back and focused all her senses on her relative. "I wish to complete my Corporeal Floor now."

"I believe you are." Relative Guchiro reached into his soulhome and revealed a shallow cup. He placed a sphere of metal inside it and then focused his cantae, melting the metal into a bubbling liquid which he set before her. "You may begin when you wish."

After a deep breath, Fiyu contracted all her senses until she felt only herself. In the real world, she pulled the pouch from her clothes and clenched the sphere in her fist. She kept that pressure in her mind and stepped into her soulhome to begin.

She walked to the top of her soulhome very carefully. Her partial pyramid extended into the pressure overhead, but it left an opening into the central chamber of her second floor. When she looked down into it, she saw the metal sphere glinting there. It pulsed in time with the sphere in her physical fist and she finally understood why. Soon the paired sublime materials would be one.

As she began to climb the side of her pyramid, the wind pressed down against her, but Fiyu could struggle through it. Actually, it was easy. She had more than enough willpower to push to the sky, just as Friend Theo had said. If she had wanted to simply ascend, she could have done it that moment.

Instead, Fiyu reached her limits and pushed gently. The heavens thundered down on her and she let them push her back instead of piercing through. Her entire soulhome wavered as she stood on the edge of ascension, her boundaries weakened and thus ready.

Quick as she could, Fiyu dropped down into her central chamber. She cupped her spiritual hands around the sphere and awakened it, just as she had been taught. The sphere lifted into the air and then began emitting pure darkness. The shadows flooded through her second floor and for a moment Fiyu choked. She knew that this step was meant to fill her second floor and unify it, but she was spiritually suffocating, and her physical body gasped for breath.

Yet she knew why, and it gave her the strength to climb back to the roof. Her soulhome had been flooded with material meant for the real world and it was reacting violently. If she could ascend and unify both, then the immense pain in her chest would become a strength.

When Fiyu attempted to climb the pyramid again, she almost immediately fell against the steps. Her will might have been strong enough for a normal ascension, but now she was struggling against great pain and attempting to force her entire body to transform. She immediately gave up all hope of walking up with dignity and began crawling up the steps.

Three quarters of the way up, she had to pause to collect herself. It hurt more than she had expected, and the pressure was beginning to make her soulhome tremble. Her carefully polished walls deflected most of the power, but the opening to the central chamber was beginning to shake.

Stilling her mind, Fiyu concentrated enough to keep everything in place. No errors, no mistakes. Her Corporeal Floor would be perfect when she broke through. The pressure was coming in more powerful waves now, and threatened to be even worse at the top, but she could overcome it with a little focus.

Burning cold touched Fiyu's face and she gasped. When she opened her eyes, she saw that snow was falling - no, had been falling for some time. Drifts were building up on her roof, threatening to collapse it. Worse, the chill was penetrating inside, threatening to freeze everything she had built. There was no more time, she needed to ascend now.

In the real world, Fiyu reached down and picked up the dish of boiling metal. She forced herself to drink it in a single gulp and immediately let out a strangled cry as the metal scorched down her throat. Only her cantae prevented it from killing her, and it was burning through her reserves at a terrifying rate.

When Fiyu reached for the next step, her hand stuck to the frozen stone. She forced herself up, losing some of her skin. Step after step she struggled onward, losing a fingernail against the third. The cold was seeping deeper and yet it prevented none of the pain. Her body and soul were both racked with agony as she forced herself against the heavens, yet she pushed upward.

She needed to stand when she reached the peak, yet Fiyu realized that she could not. Her knees struggled to bend, and threatened to crack as they froze. All around her, the snow came down more swiftly, blown by the pressure from above. Fiyu managed to lift one leg and almost immediately fell, doubled over against herself. While she groaned in the pain, the snow covered her body.

In the real world, Fiyu gripped the metal sphere in her hand tighter. Then she slammed it into her chest and leapt.

Finally the clouds gave way, revealing only glorious darkness beyond. Cantae flooded down and Fiyu dissolved in it, her spiritual body breaking apart and rushing down into her soulhome. For a moment she was aware of her scattered spiritual flesh, her dying physical body, and even every single sublime material. Then it all rushed together and Fiyu was left lying on her back, gasping.

For a time she had no idea whether or not she was in her soulhome or the physical world. When she stared upward, she saw both the ceiling of her soulhome and the roof of their cavern. Only as she pulled her other senses back into service did she recollect herself.

"Well done." Relative Guchiro offered her a hand.

At first she didn't think she could take it. Hadn't her body frozen and burned? Yet when she raised her arm, it felt whole, and when her relative swept her into an embrace there was no pain at all. Fiyu found herself laughing with relief as she clung to him.

She had truly linked her body and soul, and it changed everything. When Fiyu extended her senses, they pored over the world around her with new precision. For a time she simply examined her relative in great detail, marveling in the change. Senses that had been drilled into her from a young age were now truly a part of her.

"You should test yourself." Her relative took her shoulders to pull her away, but he couldn't bear to let go, and she felt the pride in his grip. "The first purpose of your Corporeal Floor was to make cantae techniques truly a part of you. The difference should be clear immediately."

When Fiyu attempted to use her stealth technique, it failed at first, but that was because it was too easy. Cantae that had once required conscious discipline now flowed as easily as moving her hand. She raised an arm and watched the stealth flow down its length, hiding it a little at a time. Some opponents, such as the Slescan royal guards, had been able to blow away her stealth cantae. Now her body would be truly invisible.

That was the most obvious difference, but the change burned in every part of her. When Fiyu generated a blade of cantae around her hand, she could feel the edge naturally extending from her skin. Deeper than that, her very bones helped generate the blade. When she drew a breath, she could feel a storm of light in her lungs. For all that her techniques were meant for combat, all she wanted to do now was relish the experience.

"This is only the beginning," Relative Guchiro said with a smile. "This has allowed you to do the possible more efficiently... as a Ruler you will take a step toward the impossible."