Abyssal Road Trip - 346 - Lonely (Patreon)

Amdirlain’s PoV - Outlands

Landing on the valley’s lip, Amdirlain waited for Sarah and Kadaklan to land nearby and transform back into a human shape. Running her fingers through the Wood Elf form’s autumn-hued locks, Amdirlain found it odd to be furless after so long in either Am’s or J’s appearance.

Sarah seemed to agree when she grunted after taking her first step in her lithe human form. “No claws; at least the Catfolk got those right.”

“Should I even go near Xaos?” asked Amdirlain.

“Where does that come from?” enquired Sarah. “Changing plans at the last minute, are we?”

Amdirlain huffed and spread her arms wide. “I guess I’m feeling the hit from saying the goodbyes.”

“Livia and the others have been waiting for us patiently back there,” noted Sarah. “There isn’t anything stopping us from just setting up a place in a random location while you finish off the demi-planes. Do you have enough for all the different cities?”

“The current ones each have at least a trio of levels. I didn’t make the ‘boss location’ for the next stage so easy to find this time, so they’ll have to explore,” advised Amdirlain. “Each of them is in a unique spot, so if they share intel, it won’t help.”

“Except, once they realise that, they can share where the boss won’t be,” proposed Kadaklan.

“A continent-sized land mass with cave systems provides plenty of space to hide them,” countered Amdirlain. “The only thing they’re guided towards is the nearest exit point.”

Kadaklan looked at her curiously. “You’re riding Sarah’s deflection well, so what’s on your mind?”

“What if I screwed Xaos up? Livia and the others have been vague in her messages, and I’ve stayed away to avoid sticking my nose in and disrupting Cyrus’s lessons,” admitted Amdirlain.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Sarah stepped close and looped her arm through Amdirlain’s. “You’re worrying over nothing, though I’ll teleport us since the view has changed.”

The trio appeared on a stone road that seemed to be made by dwarves, but Amdirlain could hear Gail’s voice lingering in the blocks. The road led between the rolling hills still covered in fields, but Xaos’s appearance drew her gaze away from the crops. Before, the town had occupied a narrow slice of the tall hillside; now, it covered it completely from all angles. Near Nolmar, she could hear multiple garrison buildings of a uniform design. Fortunately, they were a rare block of conformity, as the rest were as eccentric in construction as Xaos’s original buildings.

“It sounds like I had better change out the tower to demi-planes,” murmured Amdirlain. “Looks like the Commander went overboard. Though it's fine now, they could overstress the crystal.”

“It’s been getting checked regularly by Isa and Roher,” advised Sarah. “They say it’s only needed touch-ups, but that is helping reduce your imprint upon it.”

“If I get rid of the tower and flip it to demi-planes, I can pull those pillars out completely,” murmured Amdirlain, and she adjusted the crystals so that the energy from the tithe went into repairing it instead of her. “Let’s catch up with Livia and Cyrus, but I might leave the rest to whatever they’re doing.”

“Depends where they are, I guess,” replied Sarah.

“In the suite’s rooftop garden,” said Amdirlain, and she started towards the town.

A road that encircled the hill had replaced the marker stones for the town’s wards. Within the limits of that boundary road, eight winding roads now climbed the slope to meet at the fort. The gazes that Amdirlain used to draw were nowhere to be seen, even without her projecting calm. The few beings she recognised only gave her enquiring glances drawn by the dim familiarity of her features and clothing. She still drew some attention higher up the hill when she passed a few male elves, but it was proportional to her appearance. As they passed the laneway to Nolmar, Amdirlain paid closer attention to the other paths providing access and caught the lack of certain melodies she expected to hear.

Upon entering the Blazing Portal, Amdirlain found Wisp behind the counter, pulling pieces from a block tower. The Aerial Servant looked back and forth between Amdirlain and the puzzle and then started to extract an extra part.

“Is that one a solo game or meant to be played with others?” asked Amdirlain.

Wisp halted with the piece half extracted and hurriedly pulled it clear before they focused on her. “You’ve been gone a while, fleshy. Are you back to stay?”

Smiling at the term, Amdirlain shrugged. “Perhaps for a while. Are the others still using my tab?”

Spinning in place, Wisp brought up a ledger from beneath the counter and flipped pages. “Currently, two guests are staying in your suite. Livia and Cyrus.”

Amdirlain nodded. “Yes, but I won’t run out of prepayment soon?”

“Not likely, especially since the cleaners are only tidying up a single bed, so there isn’t any excess charge for cleaning services,” replied Wisp. “Are they doing fleshy-breeding things?”

“Not sure that’s something to ask a guest. It could be because only one of them sleeps,” noted Amdirlain.

“Sleep? Is that what you call it?” asked Wisp, their voice fading in and out as they continued to spin. “Most elves call it reverie.”

“Neither of them are elves,” corrected Amdirlain.

“Fleshies. It’s hard to notice. The master and apprentice are elves; I use them as a baseline,” explained Wisp.

“I’d like to get a suite key for Kadaklan,” requested Amdirlain.

Wisp quickly set a token on the counter, and Amdirlain passed it off to Kadaklan before she led the way up.

The enchantment in the lift shaft set them on the top floor, and Kadaklan looked down at it in amusement. “Very interesting.”

Tilting open the door, Amdirlain waved the others up the glass spiral stairs to the suite’s living room.

The suite’s glass walls gave an unobstructed view of the buildings that rose from the surrounding segments of the hill. Their appearance prompted Livia to race inside, and she nearly barrelled straight into Amdirlain.

“No warning,” protested Livia as she wrapped her arms around Amdirlain.

Amdirlain caught her gently, surprised by the energetic reception. “We thought we’d see if people had been up to no good.”

“Really? Not a matter of sneaking in so you can run off again?” asked Livia.

Suppressing a snort, Sarah smiled at Livia. “You know her too well.”

“Móðir?” questioned Livia.

“Let’s sit down and talk,” suggested Amdirlain, and she moved over to the cluster of chairs around a low table. “I have things I’ve already procrastinated over investigating, and I need to push myself harder.”

Rising from where he’d been meditating in the gazebo, Cyrus came inside at a sedate pace. His movements were his usual relaxed and well-balanced stride, but his shoulders had a set of tension to them. The others had already settled in their seats before he reached the door.

Closing the door behind him, Cyrus gave Kadaklan an amused glance and selected a seat before he spoke. “They had mentioned you in their updates, Kadaklan. I hope the South Wind’s court doesn’t accuse me of kidnapping.”

Lifting his chin with a mock haughtiness, Kadaklan huffed. “Let your actions speak for themselves.”

“Yes, you intellectually kidnapped him by introducing him to a strange individual,” asserted Sarah. “Should fall under general criminal charges.”

“Is everything on Qil Tris dealt with? From what Isa said, I thought you’d be years yet,” asked Livia.

Amdirlain shrugged. “I’m just passing through. I’ve completed the main framework that needed me to be on the planet. There are still thousands of demi-planes that I expect I’ll need to create even if I completed nearly eleven hundred in the last two weeks.”

“I don’t know about keeping me waiting to teach you; it’s just as well that I have a few other challenges to keep me occupied,” grumbled Cyrus.

His tone had Livia shooting him an amused look. “They’re going to build a monastery nearby; he’s so short on things to do.”

“We can speak of that later. It’s not something Amdirlain needs to help with,” stated Cyrus.

His preference to handle it traditionally was clear, and Amdirlain waved a hand at the surrounding suite. “And it’s not like you have to sit under a tree pretending to be a shrub.”

Snorting in amusement, Livia leant forward in her seat. “If you’re just passing through, where are you heading?”

“I need to check a few things in the Abyss and adjust some projects,” allowed Amdirlain.

“What sort of checking are you talking about?” asked Cyrus.

“I’m going to see if I can get my eyes on a few demon lords and break a few of those supporting Moloch,” replied Amdirlain. “I also need to check how far into its depths I can travel.”

“You’re not getting back to Gideon’s list?” asked Livia.

“No, I will. He updated it the other day, so I need to figure out the easiest tasks to complete. I’ll split my time between it and dealing with my own concerns in the Abyss.”

Livia lifted an eyebrow enquiringly. “What about matters with the cloister? I would have considered those more important than revenge on Moloch.”

“Moloch’s lackeys just provide convenient targets for experiments,” clarified Amdirlain. “I’ve no burning need to destroy them, and I know they’re evil, self-serving tools he can likely replace.”

“So why?” enquired Livia.

“Killing them will temporarily weaken Moloch. I also need to practice against those with multiple home planes,” explained Amdirlain. “I haven’t had to destroy an entity that required killing it on multiple planes. If I summon them even on their Home Plane, does that count as releasing them? I never got to try that on Naz; she’s the only demoness I knew who was Planar locked.”

“It would,” advised Sarah. “The summoning brings them to you through the conduit into your circle. If they’re still planar locked, access to a summoning conduit would be impossible since it exists between planes. Since the Hag killed Naz, you wouldn’t have been able to call her anyway. “

Nodding, Amdirlain gave Sarah a thumbs up. “Cool. I know not to try that with any of the named demons or demon lords I kill. They’re my whetstone to sharpen my edge and work out tactics. It’s also a motivation to turn the more self-serving against Moloch. Would they want to keep serving someone whose subordinates get killed? Maybe they can’t or won’t leave, but if I kill enough of them, word will get out.”

Livia turned thoughtful. “You’re hoping to block his recruitment of replacements.”

Sarah’s lips pursed sourly. “I’d still like you to be stronger before you try it; their Skill levels are effective multipliers if you get up close and personal.”

“I’ve checked some of the demons I’ll start with; their stats and Skill levels are lower than mine. I’ll deal with some of their troops to lure them out, but I’m trying to work smarter, not harder,” said Amdirlain.

“Subtle?” teased Sarah.

“Hardly. I was thinking more surgical,” explained Amdirlain. “I’ll meet Cyrus at the foundry to spar between taking down demons.”

“Not here?” asked Livia.

Amdirlain smiled sadly. “Too much temptation to be distracted. I needed the last few years to shed some stress and grief, but now I need to get stronger. I had a notice that gave me good guidance for what I need for a better Prestige Class. While learning in peace is nice, I’ve found combat more effective in forcing me to progress in some areas.”

“Temper yourself in battle, and I’ll help you hone your edge,” promised Cyrus. “We each need to find our Dao.”

“I’ll be doing some tempering,” agreed Amdirlain. “I noticed a lack of guests from Limbo at Nolmar.”

“They didn’t quite work out, though your four friends are still working with Ras to clear the undead from Cemna,” explained Livia.

Wincing, Amdirlain sighed. “I likely should have stuck around to smooth the initial stage over.”

“Some worked fine, but enough issues arose that the monastery’s council suspended things,” explained Livia gently. “Or at least that is what they said. Though, I believe they’re hoping you’ll come for a visit rather than them having to deal with the strange ones in this place.”

“Not all experiments work out,” sighed Amdirlain.

Livia nodded. “Not that you’re short of teachers. Most of the faiths involved in garrisoning this location contribute teachers. The sole exception, the Commander says, may understand there is a place of learning here in a century.”

“He said some didn’t see time the same way. I’m surprised there is only one not contributing,” replied Amdirlain. “What about Goxashru and Rana? I don’t hear them in town.”

“Goxashru and Rana are currently hunting down some rumours,” Cyrus advised.

“Rumours?” asked Amdirlain.

“Maybe about Dryad children with golden skin,” quipped Livia.

“Well,” huffed Sarah. “Look what you did, miss!”

Amdirlain poked out her tongue. “I know Livia’s kidding. I already knew about the Dryad children, and they won’t be Anar or Lómë.”

“Only partly; we’ve seen the dryads. They’re cute,” argued Livia, and she shot Amdirlain a cheeky smile. “They have golden veins through the normal Dryad dusky skin and are much stronger than most dryads.”

“Only Amdirlain could get a Dryad pregnant without any fun bits going on,” huffed Sarah. “Let me guess, you gave them a rush of Ki?”

“Yes,” said Amdirlain. “I’ve grown used to the Catfolk’s body language. I’ll miss being able to flip you off with a tail twitch.”

Sarah snorted.

Livia fixed them with a look of disbelief. “Are you two children?”

Chuckling, Kadaklan raised a hand. “I can answer that one.”

Amdirlain readied a cushion to throw at him. “Hush you. Livia was talking about Goxashru and Rana. What are they looking into?”

When Kadaklan zipped his lip, Cyrus’s brows lifted at the byplay between them, but neither acknowledged his curiosity.

“A matter for Mielikki; Goxashru wanted to thank Rana for all the training. It could be some time before they return,” advised Livia.

Sarah grunted. “You should still let him know you were in Xaos and give him your approval to continue; otherwise, your Talon might feel he’s offended you.”

“Thanks for the advice,” said Amdirlain. “The joys of draconic diplomacy: got to watch for the offended pride.”

Amdirlain dispatched a quick message to Goxashru to compliment his initiative in helping Rana, and she approved the continuation of his efforts.

“I considered supplementing Nolmar’s tower with access to a training complex. It would reduce the immediate danger of the foes but provide the weaker members of the garrison and school an opportunity to grow,” said Amdirlain.

Livia hummed. “You considered?”

“The town has grown a lot already. If I put a whole training complex in place, or even a small one, it would have a real population explosion,” explained Amdirlain. “It’s something I’ll have to think about. Any other news of interest?”

“Yngvarr and Alfarr are still here, along with their little girl, Orillia,” offered Livia.

Amdirlain smiled. “That’s one reason to drop into Nolmar, but I’d spoil her.”

“They can come up here, so you don’t steal students from me again,” rebuffed Cyrus.

The little sniff Amdirlain gave in response didn’t merit so much as a twitch from Cyrus. Livia started to provide updates on other things she’d sent in various messages.

When Cyrus headed off to teach at Nolmar, it broke up the conversation, and Admirlain excused herself to work on Gideon’s list.

“Are you going to send Roher the memory crystal for the training complexes?” asked Sarah.

Amdirlain tossed Sarah the crystal with a grin. “The melodies for linking them are in there as well.”

Quick notes created a stack of mithril ingots on the floor, and Amdirlain motioned to them. “To get a new lab and workshop set up.”

“Alright, go and think things out. You’ve spent two weeks making demi-planes and pushing levels. Might be time to focus on True Song progress,” proposed Sarah.

Kadaklan’s nose twitched as he eyed the ingots. “Do you think we can’t fend for ourselves?”

Giving the top bar of the stack of Mithril a pat, Amdirlain smiled. “I’m allowed to spoil people.”

Her smile didn’t fade as she opened a Gate and stepped through, giggling mischievously at Livia’s protest. Perched on a valley rim, she studied the details in Gideon’s list. For the most part, the complexity of the work involved was more significant, but a quick scan of the themes showed a few were on planets in the original list. The planet with the ongoing volcanic eruptions was among them, though the songs had changed in complexity, with multiple sites.

When Amdiralin arrived, she looked up to see a grey haze where there’d once been a blue sky interrupted by ash clouds. Lifting off to get above the dying brown grass, Amdirlain looked over the ash-choked shoreline. Her mouth set itself into a grim line as she took in the kilometres of death about her. As far as her enhanced eyesight could perceive, all the plants looked grey and lifeless. Resonance indicated many had gone to seed, so there was still hope of restoration. However, the brutal winters with minimal food in the growing months had killed thousands of animals in her detection range alone. The week of work she’d done wouldn’t have been enough; the planet had needed ongoing attention.

The result would have been the same if I hadn’t worked on this planet. I hope whoever Mor’lmes and Cla’nes pass the job onto doesn’t drop the ball.

“I’ve got some planetary clean-up work to do. I’m not sure how long it will keep me busy.”

After she’d dispatched the simple message to a few people and received their acknowledgements, Amdirlain skipped between the song locations on the planet and found multiple volcanoes spewing ash into the air.

Concentration speared Resonance down into the mantle, and she traced the volcanic occurrences along the link of a tectonic plate. While the first eruption had been caused by seawater getting into the volcano’s magma chamber, not all the pressures on the tectonic plate were so natural. Multiple rifts among the first volcano she checked led to the Elemental Plane of Fire and the Para-Elemental Plane of Ash. Mindless exertions of entities from those planes had caused the first volcano’s eruption to cascade into a chain.

She shifted the elemental energy about the first rift, and Amdirlain listened to how it weakened the natural attunement. Targeted pressure waves caused magma within the chamber to push against a rift’s attunement. After repeated attempts, the magma’s proximity fractured the natural rift to the Plane of Fire. Molten metals were drawn together to cap rifts into the Para-Elemental Plane of Magma and wrap protections around the metal before she stripped the heat away. Without having to attack any of the rifts directly, one after another, they failed.

With no more elementals incoming to the first volcano, Amdirlain banished the greater elementals home. A few hours later and hundreds of rifts closed, Amdirlain hadn’t even started on the clean-up. While Gideon’s list provided melodies to adjust the atmosphere, she’d have to compose the changes to the mantle and the tectonic plates alone, yet she only had a song to create a volcano.

Creating more volcanic islands at the sites should ease the pressure, and then I can clean up.

The music speared through the crust and hollowed out a magma chamber for runoff from the first two to fill. When the melody ran to completion, a small island was spraying ash and magma. Using the theme Gideon had provided, she set out to clean the sky and bind up the released chemicals—the megatonnes of airborne ash and debris she used to quicken the volcanic island’s growth. She repeated the process at each site and tweaked the melody whenever it threatened to run off true. Resonance let her listen for problems and visualise the changes as they progressed. Slowly, the grey murk showed hints of blue, and the last volcano brought more than just an experience notification.

[Planetary alterations:

Volcano, Major x1

Planetary, Minor mantle change x1

Planetary, Tectonic change x1

Total Experience gained: 39,500,000

Ostimë: +19,750,000

Ontãlin: +19,750,000

Knowledge: Physical Geography unlocked

Physical Geography (1)

Physical Geography synergy with Skill True Song Architecture detected

Physical Geography (1) -> [B] (1)

Note: It helps to pay attention instead of just singing the notes.]

Gideon, stop being a jerk. I paid attention to the changing animals, or do they come under Planar Biology?

[Physical Geography

Details: This knowledge encapsulates numerous branches and related fields. While studying Geomorphology, Hydrology, and any associated fields in a narrow context is possible, this knowledge covers overall knowledge in the interrelated fields of study.]

Okay, so I unlocked the big picture one because Ori focused on that or because I was also tracking changes in the water and air? True Song Architecture gives me the details of how to create them all, increasing my understanding by knowing the songs that interconnect and what they’d do. In comparison, gaining the field’s Knowledge Skill lets me know why the parts are essential with less experimenting.

With her other projects for restoring dead planets, the knowledge points sitting in her profile beckoned temptingly to invest in the Knowledge Skill. Amdirlain pushed it aside, positive that there were more broad fields she’d need to learn. Taking in the warming land around her, Amdirlain surveyed the state of the grasslands that ran from the ocean’s edge. While her Analysis Skill provided her with the names of various grasses and low shrubs, it didn’t tell her enough to know what she needed to revitalise the place into a stable ecology. Elements within their slumbering themes matched the savanna that Amdirlain had watched the animals migrate across and used in some of her demi-planes.

I could let it recover on its own or meddle. I’ll keep getting the murk cleared and see what life recovers.

Flight and teleporting let her rapidly chase the sun, and she collected the tonnes of material that made up the murk into hills and islands to allow more sunlight through. Here and there, patches of life remained in various niches and reassured Amdirlain they could be left to recover independently. The continuation of the work stretched True Song’s reach over an expanse beyond what she’d tried before, a fact that was acknowledged after days of work.

[True Song Genesis [S] (30->31)]

Putting the rest of the songs into a memory crystal to share with others, she organised them by location, difficulty and purpose. After she’d shifted through them again, she cleaned herself of the local organisms and moved to the place that required the most manageable melody. The rush of starscapes across her awareness was almost leisurely, and she appeared on a muddy flat with storm clouds overhead flickering with lightning.

[World Step [J] (31->32)]

The atmosphere around her was a thick haze, though the gravity seemed slightly lighter than on Earth. The music from Gideon’s list created hundreds of different amino acids from the chemicals in the pools and a unicellular organism. She stretched the melody across the planet’s primordial ooze, leaving more materials and organisms behind. With it expanded for over three thousand kilometres in a circle across the planet’s surface, even the simple songs strained at her limits.

Okay, you want to teach me the lessons for my projects and stretch True Song? I’ll cooperate.

As she worked from planet to planet, Amdirlain ensured she didn’t transport materials from one to the next to avoid contamination. Amdirlain moved from early-stage worlds to increasingly more complex ones, splicing genetic changes into fauna and flora at different steps. The delicate touch of the songs needed to affect lifeforms over kilometres provided fierce challenges that strained her True Song Genesis through multiple increases. The clean resolution of multiple tasks allowed Amdirlain to ground herself after the mess in the Matriarch’s Dominion.

Scores of planets later, she appeared on a ledge perch above an ocean’s waves to the latest notification.

[World Step [Ad] (6->7)]

A sense of deja vu struck her, and Amdirlain paused, only for the sensation to grow sharper. Her gaze searched her surroundings, but there wasn’t a single thing that stood out. A brilliant blue ocean stretched into the distance, and the hillside rose at an eighty-degree angle behind her two hundred metres above the rough surf. The morning’s golden yellow sunlight glistened off the ocean, and the sound of seabirds competed with the surf.

Frowning, Amdirlain sat on the ledge’s lip and tried to determine what had struck a chord with her. A teardrop splashed off her leg and surprised, Amdirlain raised a trembling hand to her cheek. The emotion that rushed inside her wasn’t grief or pain but joy. The sounds and scents lifted an ache away despite Amdirlain not knowing what had eased it. Closing her eyes, Amdirlain shut down Resonance and listened to what her normal senses told her. She took in the breeze’s gentle gusts that brushed her cheeks and played with her hair.

The salt air tickled her nostrils and then waves that broke against the rocks caught her attention. The regular rhyme was a drum carrying the sea’s message out to whoever would listen. A faint memory of a woman’s dancing teased at the back of her mind, and a song rose with it. Not the liquid beauty of words in Celestial or Elven, but an ancient Greek dialect and an image hit.

A tiny child’s hand pressed against the sun-warmed Mediterranean skin of a face. As the memory came into focus, the smile that lit the woman’s deep brown eyes caught the child’s focus before she leaned sideways to gaze at the plants and houses behind the woman. Their surroundings blurred in the child’s eyes as the woman held the child in her arms and danced. Despite the landscape’s blur, the world’s music painted her movements and their surroundings clearly in the child’s mind.

Joy filled the laughter that bubbled out of her throat, and when the woman repeated her melody, Orhêthurin stopped laughing. She was only a baby in her mother’s arms but joined the music. Her wordless child soprano was a bird trill that flitted around the words with the same light-footed grace with which the woman danced. The woman’s warm smile and words held Orhêthurin’s focus when the dance stopped.

‘Will you sing for your father when we get to the forge, or will you go quiet? I promise your father would love to have a little songbird perform for him. Singing before you can talk, what other talents will you show?’

The memory ended with Orhêthurin burying her face against her mother’s shoulder. Resonance had already shown Ori her father’s broad smile hundreds of metres away and out of her line of sight.

“Where did you and the twins end up? Did Hades have you somewhere in his realm, or did the Greek gods never bring your souls along? That song I heard wasn’t enough to trace, I need an older memory when she might have heard enough details.”