Wakespire (The Weirkey Chronicles Book 7), page 16
"No! Senka doesn't wanna!"
Ignoring whatever was going on there, Nauda just focused on the room: it was another simple water puzzle representing cantae. Their plan had been for Theo to take charge in the soulcrafting challenges, but now he was dealing with Senka. Nauda didn't even have to look at Fiyu, the two of them simply began turning levers to improve the flow of the water.
"Just go through the portal... are you messing with me?"
"Blooky Theo! Let go, let goooo!"
Eventually Theo managed to peel Senka off his leg and hurled her into the forfeit portal. He turned back to them with an odd expression on his face. Nauda had expected an irritated scowl, but he looked more sad than anything. A moment later his focus returned as he realized that this was an inauspicious start.
Fortunately, Nauda and Fiyu had completed the puzzle while he struggled with Senka. They didn't waste any time running into the next portal... which meant plunging into darkness.
They had planned to enter each portal carefully spaced, since they predicted the dark room would come early. Nauda had been between the two of them, so she reached out to take their hands. Theo clasped hers immediately, but no matter how Nauda groped for Fiyu, there was no sign of her.
"She isn't here," Theo said. "Follow me."
"You're sure you can do this?" Nauda followed him, trying not to wince as she felt wind currents in the room. The hairs on the back of her neck were constantly prickling, as there could be traps plunging toward her at any moment.
"It isn't as hard as I expected. Just stick close."
Fiyu could see the traps in the room as plain as day, and Theo's improved gravitational sense was apparently sufficient, but Nauda was completely blind. She had asked Isorales about the room and he had explained about traps she hadn't even considered. Apparently making light was useless, because the room blinded their eyes directly, and it also tried to use cantae to suppress other methods of cheating the darkness. Fortunately, Nauda's allies had senses that the spire creators hadn't anticipated.
They passed through after a short but extremely tense walk. When Nauda stepped into the next room she was relieved, first by the normal light and second by Fiyu.
"Oh, I am glad to see you both." Fiyu stepped closer to them with a broad smile on her face.
"Did they just send you to the next room?" Nauda asked.
"I was confused at first, but that is what they explained."
Theo had already marched past them to the table, where a Noveni official sat waiting. Since it was true that they were in a hurry, Nauda followed him. "Which room is this?" she asked.
"Blessing." Theo scowled at the model spire and tapped one of the lower lights. "How is Isorales still stuck in the first chamber?"
"He may have entered the dark room first," Fiyu suggested.
Nauda shook her head. "We don't know that. I doubt the puzzle would slow him down, but his team wouldn't kill the demons as fast as we could. We got through the first two rooms much faster than average, after all."
"Then... do we bless him now, or wait? If he is just about to complete the first trial, would it be wasted?"
The official, an older man with gray wings, spoke up at that point. "If another team was about to enter the next portal, we wouldn't waste your blessing on a technicality. But if they're partially through an easy challenge, yes, your blessing is applied immediately. Even I don't know which rooms they're in, so don't try pressing me for hints."
Maybe that was what most teams did, but Nauda doubted that any of them were thinking along those lines. Theo folded his arms and scowled at the model as the lights shifted. At the beginning, they had been ahead of the others, but now multiple lights were swarming after them. Isorales remained on the lowest level, while Dortorus and Terefilia teams had already been on the second for some time. At any moment now...
One of the Dortorus teams jumped to the third floor alongside them, then a second later climbed to the fourth.
"Bless the Jadadictus team!" Theo called as he ran for the portal. Nauda scrambled after him and they plunged in.
They hadn't known for sure where the intersecting spiral chamber would occur, so they'd agreed that they had to rush. This time, it seemed like Theo's paranoia was justified. The Dortorus team, not including any of those who had fought them, was already sprinting up their glass pathway.
Theo acted with startling speed, increasing their gravity so drastically that the four were slammed down into the stairs. Nauda actually stared in shock, because she'd grown used to others being able to resist his fields.
Not any more: his cantae at Authority flowed like a burning liquid and the resulting gravity flattened all four. The field had appeared startlingly fast, too. She knew that he had been altering his blueprint to improve his speed, but she hadn't expected it to be nearly instantaneous. The Rulers were burning cantae to resist and not able to do much more than push themselves up enough to breathe.
But like all the Dortorus teams, they had an Authority among them. He finally recovered enough to release his cantae and surround his teammates, lifting them all into the air. In response, Theo increased the pressure and they all slammed back into the stairs. The Authority stared at them in shock, burning cantae wildly and only just able to rise.
A crack formed along the glass tube. Several of the stairs crumpled. One of the Rulers hung limp in the cantae, squeezed from both sides. Nauda realized that the limitation wasn't going to be Theo's maximum gravity, it was the structural integrity of the room itself. Before the Authority could escape, Nauda thrust out her staff and bound his chest. All his efforts had been focused on resisting Theo's gravity, so he was unprepared when she threw them all against the side of the glass tube.
While Nauda and her allies fought, they'd been climbing their own staircase, almost overtaking the first Dortorus team. Nauda was starting to think they could recover when Fiyu let out a soft gasp. Behind them, there were not one but two teams entering: the Terefilia group as well as a second Dortorus quartet.
Fiyu immediately send a burst of light over the entrances of both tubes. She wasn't using anywhere near her full strength, but the teams weren't going to throw themselves into a hail of cantae bolts. Both flinched back, stuck at the base of their paths, and that gave Theo time to flatten them as well. It looked like he could easily maintain the three powerful fields with strength to spare. Even one of the Authorities, a woman with an inefficient generic soulhome, was struggling to resist. Though Theo remained serious, she caught a whisper of a smile on his lips.
It took Nauda another second to realize the second problem: all four pathways were now occupied. They hadn't known for sure that they'd end up in the same column as Isorales, but they had hoped to enter together. Now they couldn't hold off the others while Isorales advanced and they had no idea how well he was doing.
"No choice." Theo was gritting his teeth now, as even his cantae levels couldn't compete with three other Authorities forever. "We delay them as long as possible, then advance."
By that point, they'd reached the very top of the chamber. Even though it was harming their own chances, apparently Theo was going to honor the agreement. They'd fight as long as they could to hold back the other teams.
The groups below were no longer intimidated by Fiyu's burst of light and they were burning cantae to resist Theo. One of them had developed a shield technique overhead while an Authority was simply sprinting out and returning fire. Theo cast another field at both, a reversed one that threw them into the air when they tried to climb the stairs. It thoroughly disrupted both teams... but it drew his attention away from the other Authority.
In an instant, the first Dortorus team burst free. One of their Rulers grabbed the Authority and began generating a new technique, some kind of cantae field. Operating purely on the assumption that it was designed to resist Theo's gravity, Nauda hurled cantae bolts at them.
Just ordinary bolts, since she didn't have any good long range techniques. But with the group so fixated on their struggle against Theo, they were taken off guard. She struck several, staggering the team before they could continue their climb. How long had it been? They'd frozen progress, but they couldn't hold out forever against twelve other soulcrafters.
"Look out!"
Nauda heard the words and turned without being sure who was speaking. She caught a glimpse of an enormous beam of cantae, then something cool slipped around her waist and pulled her down against the stairs.
Flattened against the steps, gasping for breath, Nauda took several heartbeats to realize what had happened. One of the teams below had broken free and their Authority had launched a beam of scorching cantae. It had been subtle enough that Nauda hadn't even noticed, but Fiyu had grabbed her with her new darkness technique and pulled her down. If not, she would have taken that beam to the face.
She lay against the stairs and saw the beam blazing just a pace from her, held back by the sublime glass of the side. The beam wasn't letting up and the glass was beginning to glow orange as it melted. There was no guarantee that it would hold long, plus the other teams had gotten free and resumed climbing. When Nauda looked up to Theo, he nodded. They had done the best they could, but they could only hold off the other teams so long.
Nauda brushed her hand along the hot glass, forming a line of wards, then urged her allies on. They sprinted forward, trying to keep low as they raced for the next portal. Her wards held out for a sadly brief time against the beam of cantae, barely enough to protect them the last few steps.
As they tumbled through, Nauda wondered how everything could already have gone so wrong. They might be in the lead, but they had no idea if their plan was working at all.
Chapter 18
Fighting so many opponents in a narrow tower had been nerve-wracking for Fiyu. Her mind had stretched to scrutinize the bodies of a full dozen opponents, doing her best to anticipate when they might attack. With all combatants on narrow pathways, there was nowhere to hide or retreat. Even with her utmost watchfulness, one of the Authorities had nearly struck Friend Nauda. The tower had become even more dangerous in the final seconds while they ran on.
By comparison, the second stage demons were trivial.
She had discussed potential strategies with her companions, but they hadn't been able to improve much on their original instincts: group the demons and let Fiyu eliminate them. With Friend Theo having ascended, the demons could no longer resist his gravity at all, so the room was completed with minimal use of cantae.
Unfortunately, their easy path did not continue. The next portal took them to the artificial mountaintop and its many invisible targets at the edge of her senses. It seemed an unfair test, too tightly designed for Noveni capabilities. They had discussed the room several times and the best solution they had come up with relied on Fiyu.
And she was uncertain if she could justify her companions' trust. One of the techniques on her third floor was supposed to be the evolution of her lightstorm, allowing her to guide the bolts collectively or individually. That had been the chamber she had struggled with most, despite her relative's best efforts. She had built enough to influence the movement of her lightstorm, but striking targets at such great range would test her limits.
Fiyu carefully released a few bolts with one hand and directed them toward a far-off target. Even after they left her, she could still feel them clearly and make them curve in the air. She managed to guide them toward the target, but at such a distance, some of them slid past instead of connecting. The target was more durable than she expected, so she needed a second strike to destroy it.
Even requiring two attempts, that was more efficient than a full lightstorm. She would be able to complete the room without exhausting herself too much. Fiyu took a breath and turned toward the next target.
"Another team has applied a curse. This chamber's difficulty will be intensified."
"Are you serious?" Friend Nauda growled at the sky.
"I really wonder if they have some method of cheating," Friend Theo said.
Their anger was somewhat affirming, but it couldn't keep Fiyu from wilting as she felt the changes. All of the mountain peaks receded from the central position and a thick mist floated around them. At such a great distance, it was almost impossible for her to pick out the targets. She could blanket each peak with bolts, but that would exhaust her and lead to the same problem as in their first attempt.
"I can still reach them," Fiyu said, "but the cost..."
Friend Theo picked up a rock and applied some sort of gravitational field to send it falling to the side. It accelerated greatly out toward the target but failed to connect and he grimaced. "Not precise enough," he said. "If we're going to waste cantae on this challenge, it's probably better to use mine than Fiyu's. But do we have a more efficient solution?"
While they considered, Fiyu did her best to destroy a second target. But despite her best efforts, it took a considerable number of bolts. The cantae bolts wanted to obey her will and simply couldn't, due to both soulhome and technique limitations.
"Alright, I have something we can try." Friend Nauda stepped up behind Fiyu, her entire body tense. "My telescope isn't particularly great at looking long range, since it was built for soulhomes, but it's still a telescope. I can use it without burning cantae, assuming it can help."
"We can try." Fiyu faced the third target and gestured for her friend to help.
She had known that Friend Nauda would need to touch her for the technique to work, but was still startled by it. Instead of simply brushing a finger, Friend Nauda laid hands on both her shoulders. Her fingers felt strong and so very warm...
Fiyu gathered her thoughts and accepted her ally's support. Unlike the technique that peered into soulhomes, the telescope was now attempting to extend her visual range. Even though Fiyu would have much preferred to use her other senses, she could identify the targets in the mist by sight alone. She took a deep breath and released a small lightburst.
This time when the cantae flew out, her eyes tracked it into the distance. With such a clear vision of her bolts, she could make them respond more closely to her guidance. They scattered mist in all directions and nearly all struck the target.
"Oh, this will work!" Fiyu smiled back to Friend Nauda and applied herself to the next targets. Now that she was more confident in the technique, she was able to use less cantae to destroy the remaining targets.
As soon as it was done, Friend Nauda withdrew her hands immediately. Perhaps that was to be expected, given her direct refusal in the Chasm of Lamentations. Fiyu busied her mind with thinking about the experience. If having a clear vision of her lightstorm had made it easier to guide them, then perhaps she could modify the design of her equivalent chamber. Instead of moving the bolts like part of her body, her senses would ride along with them to their target.
Through the next portal they again faced the chamber with falling spheres. Friend Theo once more neutralized them with gravity and this time Fiyu was able to assist in placing each sphere in its destination even more swiftly.
"We have to be doing this faster than the others," Friend Nauda said as they worked. "I wonder if the Dortorus team got ahead of us."
Fiyu nodded. "I also wonder if Isorales was able to catch up."
"Well, we're about due for one of those curse or blessing rooms, aren't we?"
"They're allegedly random," Friend Theo said sharply as he passed them. "They could arrive in any order."
"I'm not sure that's true." Friend Nauda deposited the last sphere and then kicked off the wall toward the portal. "Isorales said that people never ran into the office rooms back to back in any previous round. There may be other rules to the ordering."
Whatever the potential laws of the spire, they did not find an office in the next room. Instead, they faced the maze of blocks slamming into one another. All three of them hesitated, remembering what had happened the previous time.
Fiyu closed her eyes to focus. She could feel the entire pattern at once, like a maze where the passages shifted every second, some opening and others slamming closed. This time they had not been cursed by another team, but she still could not find a path forward. It was an obstacle to be overcome, not a puzzle to be solved.
"No luck." Friend Theo had been attempting to use gravity, but lowered his hand. "My field might be stronger, but there are several Authorities pumping cantae into those blocks. Seems they really don't want people solving this room with techniques."
"There's a brute force method." Friend Nauda stepped to the edge of the blocks and flexed the fingers in her gloved hand. "I haven't been able to test this, but..."
She tapped one of the metal blocks as it passed her by, without any strength. A wave expanded from her touch, nullifying the cantae that reinforced the obstacles. All of those that were touched drifted aimlessly along their previous paths, no longer slamming into one another with such startling force.
Soon they recovered and returned to their pattern with great violence. Friend Nauda smiled and rolled her shoulders. "Alright, I can get us through, I just need to use more cantae."
"Wait, save your strength." Friend Theo stepped up beside her. "While they're neutralized, I'll use a gravitational field. That should get us at least partway."
"Sounds like a plan. Fiyu, can you tell us when the far side opens up?"
"Yes." Fiyu nodded and got into position behind her companions. She ignored the front half of the maze, instead paying attention to the rest until the moment when many of the blocks slammed together and were about to open a partial pathway. "Now!"
Friend Nauda struck the blocks with more power, neutralizing an entire wave of the first blocks. Her companions rushed in and Friend Theo acted as well, dropping all of the drifting blocks. That left them free to run over the top, covering the first half of the room without difficulty before they plunged into the remaining half of the block maze.
The stones beneath Fiyu's feet began to restore themselves and she lost her footing. She had still timed things well, so she slid forward through the brief opening. But her friends were behind her, just a second later. When Fiyu skidded out the other side she turned back, horrified by the thought that she would see Friend Nauda crushed by the blocks once again.
