Wakespire: Chapter 48 + Epilogue (Patreon)

Here we go. No extensive pre-chapter notes this time.

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Chapter 48

It took the city a week just to calm down enough to know if there would be any consequences.

By all rights, Nauda should have been anxious about the judgments the entire time, but her position in life was changing. Her two closest friends were Authorities now and it would take much more than local guards to stop them if they wanted to leave. They were essentially staying as a courtesy, plus Ugustial was a convenient place to recover from the battle.

Considering how many had received serious injuries, Nauda was very grateful that she only needed some bed rest. She was beginning to think she needed a clothing armament, though: she was spending too much of her money repairing her dresses while Theo's coat looked pristine the day after. But she already had more armaments than commonly recommended... one of many soulcrafting decisions she needed to consider.

Eventually they were brought before the princes of the city. It was much like the arc of Wakespire judges, but this time there more of them and they sat on golden thrones. The same Noveni woman was in the center of the group, though, and she spoke first.

"The city of Ugustial thanks you for your contribution to the safety and security of our polity." She leaned back and gestured through the grand windows to the city sprawled around them. "There are some who regret that we took on this sublime legacy, given some of the consequences, but you have been cleared of culpability. You participated in good faith and we trust you will feel yourselves well-compensated."

"The council of princes also thanks you for your restraint." An old man this time, clutching the armrests of his throne like he feared falling. "Our investigation, and the testimony of the Dortorus lineage, shows that you killed no one, even when you were under attack. There are many here who cannot say the same."

His comments caused some unrest and nasty glances between the princes. Nauda suddenly realized the true purpose of the council: more politics within the city. They knew that they couldn't really contain a group of powerful Authorities, so they used them for leverage in their own conflicts. Still, Nauda was glad that they hadn't accidentally killed anyone in all the chaos. As far as she could tell, the battle had simply been a local struggle for power, and no young soulcrafter deserved to die over that.

"All of that aside," the leader said, struggling to wrest back control, "the city of Ugustial is grateful. If you ever wish to return, anywhere in our nation, you would be welcome."

Thus implicitly suggesting that they needed to leave. Just as well. Nauda bowed along with the others and they departed the throne room. She had been looking forward to talking to Fiyu about what would come next, but before they could get far, Isorales intercepted them in one of the ornate hallways.

"They really don't hold anything against you," he said. It didn't seem a good sign that he needed to clarify that, but Isorales was smiling broadly. "I wanted to thank you personally. The Wakespire would have been very different for me without your help."

"Is the loss of the spire going to hurt the city?" Theo asked. Isorales shrugged, which was an impressive motion given all of his wings. He was holding them back now instead of crumpled and hunched.

"It would be extremely expensive to rebuild, which will be a huge argument. Many soulcrafters have been sanctioned for their actions and there will be politics over that for years. But the truth is, despite all the accusations and complaints, this contest did its job. Because fatalities were relatively low, the city's soulcrafting capacity has been substantially increased. Lineages from all across the continent are connected here, now, and those connections will have considerable value."

"But we are not welcome, are we?" Fiyu spoke quietly with her head down, as if it wasn't much of a question.

"Well, not exactly." Isorales sighed and glanced toward the chamber of princes. "Some ugly vendettas began as well, and there are still unresolved mysteries. Everyone feels that it would be easier if the strange foreigners weren't around to cast strange shadows. Uh... by 'everyone' I'm not including myself. I'll be sorry to see you go."

"We have weirkeys for Noven now," Nauda said. She stepped forward and hugged Isorales, which was only a little awkward due to his wings. "It won't be hard to come back someday."

"We'll definitely see one another again," Theo agreed. Fiyu bobbed her head as well.

"You'll all be sailing between worlds." Isorales turned away and stared out one of the windows wistfully. "It's funny, Ugustial has so many Authorities, but we don't spend much time traveling the Nine Worlds. Maybe it's lack of weirkeys, but I don't think so. We're just... satisfied in ourselves and not very curious. So I really envy you."

"You'd be able to come with us if you wanted," Theo said.

Immediately Isorales shook his head. "There's so much I need to do to support my lineage. My parents are happier with me, but I only won two rounds with your help and my rivals know it. I'll need to prove myself or-"

"Nonsense, dear boy!" The booming voice seemed to open a nearby pair of doors by volume alone and Jorotafes Jadadictus strode through.

"Grandfather?" Isorales instinctively took a step back, but the older man had already swept up to him and grabbed his shoulders.

"You truly proved yourself in the Wakespire, just as I'd feared you never would." Jorotafes spun aside and grasped Nauda by the shoulders as well, then Theo. He didn't seem to notice that Fiyu had slipped away and just kept booming. "I thought my grandson would be a coward forever! It turns out all he needed was a group of foreigners to knock some sense into him."

None of that seemed truly positive, but Isorales was smiling, so Nauda copied his expression. Theo, of course, stepped in earliest.

"We were glad to help Isorales," he said. "And perhaps we should thank you for his help in winning so much of the sublime legacy."

"Oh, don't play humble with me. You were doing this for a reward, right? I'm in a good enough mood, I'll let it pass. What do you want?"

"We don't intend to stop at Authority," Theo said with an expression of utter humility. "We would be very grateful for assistance from such a legendary artisan."

"Just what I hoped you would ask!" Jorotafes clapped Theo on the shoulders again, even more vigorously. "It took me a while to realize your worth, but once I did, it fired my old spirit. I've made a thousand statues for Noveni soulcrafters, and what have I gained from it? Nothing but annoyance! But the three of you can carry my work throughout the Nine Worlds!"

They made plans with Jorotafes and said their farewells to Isorales before departing. Nauda watched Theo the entire time, looking for signs of his smugness. It definitely had to be there, but his expression was too controlled for her to do more than imagine it. Once they walked out of the palace, she bumped her hip into his and smirked.

"That's what you were going for all along, was it?"

"I admit it crossed my mind," Theo said. He finally let a little smirk free. "Stronghold-tier artisans are rare, and you can't really coerce their work. Now that we're Authorities, we're going to need sublime materials more powerful than we can simply buy in a market. His sculptures are worth more than all the prizes at the Wakespire combined."

"Then we'll all have sublime statues... at least, once he's done making them." Nauda's smile faded as she thought back to the conversation. "Was that a real offer to Isorales, or were you just manipulating him?"

"I didn't expect him to accept, but I wouldn't have minded having him along. He's a strong Authority and I think more real combat would sharpen his instincts."

"I thought you might want to balance the genders a little, so you aren't surrounded by so many women."

Theo stared at her, for just a moment free of artifice, and Nauda realized that it had truly never crossed his mind. The next moment he snorted. "What, so we can talk about Man Things? The male parts of soulcrafting? Mancrafting?"

"Okay, okay, forget I asked." Nauda couldn't help but grin back at him.

That expression changed as she looked toward Fiyu. She and her relative were talking quietly, as they so often did these days. Nauda hadn't eavesdropped on the conversation, but she knew their conversations had grown serious. It seemed that something would soon change.

There had been many changes. Nauda thought about everything she had discussed with Fiyu and wondered just how many more there could be.

~ ~ ~

Though her relative told her that sublime statues could be an excellent addition to a soulhome, Fiyu hated the process. The Noveni assistants surrounded her with strange mirrors of sublime glass that redirected sunlight to bathe her body. Worse, as the light bounced from her, they captured the contours of her being, similar to an Ichili sense except abhorrent.

In the end, they used the information to create a miniature version of her, glowing in pure sunlight. It seemed deeply wrong for her to be represented by light, but she had to admit that the likeness was flawless. After that they needed to take several more impressions, this time while she showed them the cantae of her techniques. The tiny images captured that as well.

According to Isorales, the entire process would allow his grandfather to create statues perfectly suited to them. Fiyu disliked leaving behind so much of herself, but perhaps that was a childish thought she needed to set aside. After all, she had won great contests in front of an entire city.

Once the recording process was done for all three, they could finally leave. Apparently it could take months or even years to complete the greatest of sublime statues, so she needed to set the matter out of mind. Jorotafes Jadadictus seemed unconcerned about the fact that they would be worlds away, and perhaps now that they were Authorities, it truly wasn't so great a barrier.

Back in the palace, her relative came to meet her and Fiyu realized that it was time for something even worse. He didn't say anything to her, only nodded. Struggling to control herself, Fiyu sat down and removed the kinstone from her soulhome.

It felt even heavier than before when she handed it to him, and she didn't know if the weight was solely in her mind.

"Thank you, Fiyu." Relative Guchiro accepted the kinstone while placing his hands over hers, and though he drew it into his soulhome, his touch lingered. "You have been my perfect ward, but now the mantle has passed. This is the material I have sought for so many years."

"I do not want you to go." A tear rolled from Fiyu's eye and caught in the bottom of her mask. "I wish you would stay. I still have so much more to learn..."

"Fiyu, we're both Authorities now. My ability to protect you has greatly decreased, as you saw."

"Only because you were lacking the kinstone! Even now, I feel such a great gulf between us. And you will be ascending soon, will you not?"

"Fiyu..." Relative Guchiro reached out and touched the sides of her face gently. He could have said more, but it was unnecessary. They had already discussed this, many times, it was just so difficult to finally face the farewell.

"So I am... no longer your ward?"

"You are an adult by any standard, and an extraordinary soulcrafter of Ichil." His eyes glistened as he stared into hers. "But you will always be my ward, in my heart."

It was such an overwhelming moment that Fiyu couldn't speak. She leapt up to embrace him and her relative caught her in his arms one more time. He still felt so strong and she felt so safe wrapped in his dark cloak, it seemed impossible that they could be at the same tier. However... thanks to her help, perhaps that would not be true for long.

Fiyu would have been happy to leave with that heart-aching but perfect moment. She sat alone, thinking about her own soulcrafting instead of the absence. But as it happened, that was not quite the end. Before her relative could leave, he was intercepted by Friend Nauda. They spoke quietly so that she shouldn't be able to hear, underestimating how much her ascension had improved her hearing.

"So that's just it?" Friend Nauda asked. "You raise Fiyu to incubate your sublime material, then as soon as she can upgrade it, you take the materials and leave?"

"Because my ward cares for you," Relative Guchiro said in a measured tone, "I will not take insult at your words."

"But that was why you were doing this, right? Fiyu said that you raised other wards, too, and left them at Authority. You've been using them to enrich the same material with ascensions, over and over, until it reached the state you needed."

"Isn't that how communities work, supporting one another? You should be familiar."

From the tautness of her muscles, Friend Nauda was clearly frustrated. Fiyu wanted to rush into the room to urge them both not to argue. She was grateful that Friend Nauda wanted to defend her, even as she felt pained that one of her companions would accuse Relative Guchiro of such a thing. Being able to help him, to repay some small part of his kindness, was a great joy.

Eventually Friend Nauda stepped back and loosened her grip on her staff. "You'd better be telling the truth. If you aren't, if you hurt her..."

Relative Guchiro chuckled and Fiyu couldn't understand the emotions that played underneath his mask. All he did was say "The same applies to you" and turn away. Seconds later, he was outside and then simply gone. Vanished into another world.

For the first time in her life, Fiyu no longer had an elder relative. She was her own woman, and one day she might be the elder relative.

One day Relative Guchiro would return to her, she knew. She would need to work as hard as she could so that he would be proud of her. Fiyu wasn't certain what she thought about the strange conversation or the new emotion growing between her and Friend Nauda.

Life had proved to be so much stranger and more confusing than she had ever imagined. And yet, sitting in a bright city with nine different suns burning down on her, Fiyu was happy.

~ ~ ~

Over the course of his first life, Theo had saved a lot of cities. He'd swept in at exactly the right moment, killed the person who needed to be killed, and been celebrated for it. As he stared over Ugustial for the final time before their departure, he realized that he liked this better.

True, no one had hailed him as a hero for his role, and by any rational standard he wasn't their savior. The battle had been chaotic, with no one really in the right. As far as he and Isorales could deduce, everyone had been fed misinformation in an effort to pull as many forces as possible into the spire to be destroyed. For that reason it was assumed the culprit was one of the nation's enemies, but no one actually knew who was responsible or how they had placed the bomb.

Regardless of all that, he was happier to leave a city like this. He strongly suspected that the easy victories from before had been illusions that left behind greater messes than he'd known. For the reality he lived in now, he was just glad to leave a location in good condition with a clean slate. No piles of bodies, no vendettas chasing them, no wars brewing. Nice and simple, for the real world.

One absence marred the peace of it: Senka had never reemerged. He hoped that she was simply searching for the next river she needed, but after everything they'd shared, he'd expected her to return to at least talk to him. If she actually was in trouble, he had no way to locate her.

After a brief time enjoying his new freedom as an Authority, he had begun thinking about all his limitations. He could travel freely on Noven, but so many other worlds he could only access via gates. Even  using House Blacksilver's resources, his reach was limited. They needed to begin collecting weirkeys as quickly as possible.

Nauda and Fiyu waited behind him. He'd expected them to talk more to one another, but they seemed happy to stand side by side. So, once he'd gotten his fill of the view, Theo turned back to face them.

"We haven't talked about what we're doing next," he said. "But we can't really delay any longer than this, can we?"

"Where will we travel next?" Fiyu asked. She was smiling contentedly and Theo hoped that his thoughts weren't going to mar her happiness.

"We need to decide if it makes sense to travel together. What are your highest priorities?"

Fiyu frowned, but answered quietly. "I am not sure. I would like to return to House Blacksilver and speak with some people in Norro Yorthin. If possible, an Ichili weirkey would allow me to visit more distant relatives who I have not seen in years."

"I have a lot of people to visit too," Nauda said. "I want to check on the Slescan beetles, obviously, and I also think I should visit Tatian. The last time I spoke to Nanjuma, he told me things were more complicated than I thought at first. I think there's more to do there."

"For my part," Theo said, "I need to investigate my last companion from before. He was Aathali, so I need either the right gate or a weirkey. Learning more about him could help me finally get to the bottom of… everything."

"So there's no reason we have to travel together, but..." Nauda glanced between them and grinned. "Why not? We've been through so much together, do we really want to split up again?"

"I agree with this." Fiyu bobbed her head eagerly. "We are stronger as a group, and we still need to improve as Authorities. It would be better to travel together."

Normally, this was the moment when young soulcrafters faced the Authority trap. They could easily travel to almost any location and be respected. In any town or smaller city, they would be the most powerful soulcrafter around. It would be easy to live a life of luxury and simply stop striving upward.

Looking over the group, Theo knew that none of them would be falling into that trap. Perhaps more importantly, they would be staying together. He pulled out his weirkey and held it up between them.

"Alright. Let's find our way back."

-

Epilogue

Ractifus Terefilia emerged in Deuxan and smoothed down his robes. The wings, the clothing, the skin... it all felt so wrong after the blast. He'd needed to cut it close, of course, or he would have been interrupted.

While he waited, he let his eyes run up the silvery spike beside him. Statues of demons had been impaled along its length, which was somewhat ironic given how many had no choice but to work with demons now. Ractifus wasn't disturbed by it - nothing had disturbed him for a very long time - but it did strike him as reckless.

"Did you get it?" Calvatrina appeared not far away. His colleague was dressed in her usual silver robes and as she walked, frost formed around her feet. Nice to see Deuxan robes after so long on with the Noveni wrap equivalent.

"Did you really doubt me?" Ractifus unveiled the lineagegem from his soulhome and handed it to her. "Fully kindled by their local squabbles, but believed destroyed in an explosion."

"Do they suspect you?"

"Probably, but who really cares?" Ractifus shrugged expansively, enjoying his wings just a little longer. "Do we have any more interests in that part of Noven, anyway? Let them think I was suspicious. We have what matters."

Calvatrina made a noncommittal noise as she examined the lineagegem. Ractifus didn't know which member of the Salebrante it was destined for, or whether it would be bartered with an inter-world organization, and it wasn't particularly relevant. He knew it was an extraordinary sublime material, which meant another successful mission and potentially a promotion.

"The real pity," he said to himself, "is that I didn't manage to kill their best soulcrafters. I had seeded so many conflicts, but perhaps I pushed a little too hard. It took me too long to get this body and I had to rush. Some random children I manipulated ended up resolving the fighting before the explosion could take them."

"Killing local soulcrafters there was never the objective," Calvatrina said flatly.

"Oh, I know, I just wanted to. I was sick of Ugustial by the end."

She placed the lineagegem within her soulhome and refocused on him. "Regardless, you did well. The Demon Court is managing well enough on its own, so we're sending you on another mission outside Deuxan. We need you to track down one of the remaining unclaimed Artifacts of Elghiera."

"Track one down? If you need ancient artifacts, why not just kill one of those outsiders carrying them?"

"We do not touch them, not for now."

"Why?" Ractifus stared at his colleague, but Calvatrina had the best stare he'd ever seen. There was definitely something suspicious about their erstwhile allies who played with outsiders. Ultimately, it wasn't really his concern, so long as there weren't new games afoot within the Salebrante. "This order comes from the top?"

"From the old man himself. Ask him if you want." Calvatrina didn't so much as blink and he didn't think she was bluffing.

"No, no, just curious. I thought we were going to spread our influence on Deuxan."

"We are, but we need to trade for greater power. If we want the Salebrante to be more than just the hand of the Demon Court, we need power to rival the other inter-world organizations."

"If you insist." Ractifus had been sent after more than a few specialized sublime materials, so an Artifact of Elghiera wasn't so different. "If you don't have a lead for me, I suppose they have a lot of weakly-defended archives on upper Tatian..."

"Not Tatian." Calvatrina's lip curled in distaste. "There are Borvian fleshmaskers there and you can't be trusted to get along with them."

"You sent the Borvians to Tatian? I thought my colleagues were meant for that assignment."

"We needed to send them to Fithe instead. Our ally there called in his favor earlier than expected and the old man said we needed to invest in the conflict."

"Well, I hope they manage t-"

"It was a disaster." Calvatrina wasn't particularly fond of fleshmaskers, but even she appeared grim. "The vast majority were killed, which means they barely recovered any of the bodies that were supposed to be our payment. Our ally is furious and the inter-world organizations are unsettled. So you can't go to Fithe, either."

Ractifus raised his eyebrows and his wings lifted automatically as well. "Huh. So Fithe is likely to be the next hotspot, then?"

"You just learned most of your old compatriots were killed and that's all you have to say?"

"You mean I should take revenge on whoever killed them?" Ractifus scratched his chin and then shrugged. "Never liked them, anyway. I'm a member of the Salebrante now. But since we're such dear colleagues, surely you can answer my question?"

"The potential war on Fithe has been greatly delayed." Calvatrina answered him in the same tone she'd greeted or accused him. Ractifus had to be good at reading emotions, given his role, but he wasn't sure she had any. "Given our losses, we will only placate our allies while strengthening the Demon Court. Your successful mission will assist greatly in that goal, but we require more."

"Off to another world, then."

He received a scroll featuring a list of potential leads, which was more than he was often given. Nothing on Noven, and he didn't want to return. Before he departed, he shed the flesh of Ractifus Terefilia, then stepped into the chaos between worlds.

-

Thus concludes the seventh book in The Weirkey Chronicles! I hope that everyone has enjoyed it. ^-^ Did anyone catch the hints about when exactly Ractifus was replaced and which events he was responsible for? I think I entirely missed the mark on the foreshadowing this time, because it has been too obscure so far.

This book marks another turning point in the series. As I've said in various pre-chapter notes, one of my goals writing progression fantasy is to avoid the feeling that the characters are on a treadmill fighting opponents that just scale to their level. I've tried to include growth of various kinds over the series, but now that the cast is reaching Authority, you'll see substantial differences in how they're treated and the kind of impact they can have on the world(s).

Several people have asked about when the next book will start, and the unfortunate answer is not quite yet. I need to do some editing and preparation for this book being released, plus readers have caught up to me and I no longer have a buffer. I hope to continue publishing the series as quickly as I can maintain quality, but I'm afraid some delays are inevitable.

However, in the interim between books, I have quite a few fun things prepared for you! Please look forward to a full account next weekend, though you will hopefully be getting information on the new edition before that.