Chasmfall (The Weirkey Chronicles Book 4), page 23
"Stand back, Outsider!" The Asplundat Stronghold's voice boomed out, reaching everyone nearby. "We have bested the guardian and now the vault is the property of the Asplundat Movement."
Instead of answering, the tentacled figure flicked one sleeve in the Stronghold's direction. A gash tore through the air and released a scream that drowned out even all the sounds of the Chasm. Shadowy purple tentacles exploded from it the next moment, attempting to grasp the Stronghold. He immediately countered with his gray ropes, failing to realize that the attack had always been intended as a distraction.
As soon as he was fully committed, the strange figure gestured toward the vault with one flipping tentacle. The doors creaked open, and an instant later, a spark of cantae flew inside. That actually puzzled Theo, since the spark didn't feel particularly powerful. It was intense, yes, beyond any cantae he'd felt, but not even formed into a bolt. Cantae like that couldn't be an attack, couldn't be any kind of technique, so he didn't-
Then the entire Chasm of Lamentations screamed as the ruins folded in on themselves. A vortex of twisting reality, like the sun compared to the shadows of the distortions of the Chasm, expanded over the city. For a brief moment, the surfaces of the ruin turned in impossible directions, a tesseract that spread in every direction.
And then nothing. Where the highest hills of the ruins had once stood, only smooth blue stone remained.
"Are you mad?" The Asplundat Stronghold was overwhelming the remaining tentacles, fighting his way free, his face contorted in rage. "How many invaluable artifacts have you destroyed?"
The figure didn't respond in any way, instead looking to the side... where Vistgil emerged from the mass of gray ropes.
He didn't explode his bonds or cut through them, he simply walked out as if they didn't exist. The darkness that had before seemed to bind him so tightly no longer had any apparent effect. As he emerged, he brushed one of the ropes off his sleeve, the entire arc of cantae dissolving immediately.
"Years of planning, foiled." Despite his words, Vistgil chuckled as if mildly amused. He didn't once glance toward the Asplundat Stronghold, fixing all his attention on the shifting hood. "I should have known you were too clever for that, but it was still a close thing."
"A draw." The unknown figure finally spoke, a strange crackling voice that seemed to echo from a great distance. "Your games have gone on long enough. They end."
"Perhaps, perhaps not."
For a moment, it seemed as though the two of them might strike one another, and Theo felt certain that it would be the most powerful duel between soulcrafters that he'd ever witnessed. All around the ruins, the fighting had stopped, even those too stupid to realize the import having noticed when half the battlefield folded out of existence. Even the voices of the Chasm seemed to hold their breath.
Vistgil raised a hand in invitation... and the tentacled figure retreated. Theo thought he caught a glimpse of three eyes glowing within the shadows, ringed by tentacles, but it was moving away. With a theatrical sigh, Vistgil turned away and began walking into the air, not flying but as if taking invisible steps.
"No!" The Asplundat Stronghold hurled a bolt of cantae, so intense and perfectly formed that it could have torn through a hundred of Theo.
It struck Vistgil in the back and one of his shoulders twitched slightly. When he looked over his shoulder, his smile was so cold that Theo flinched even from a battlefield away.
"That wasn't particularly wise." Vistgil brushed at his shoulder as he turned around in midair. "Is this even worth the time? Fithe is doing perfectly fine, aside from that one annoyance."
"You will not leave before you answer to the Asplundat Movement!" The Stronghold let out a cry and unleashed a huge torrent of gray flames that lit up a third of the sky.
And yet, when they met Vistgil, they stopped. It wasn't that he weathered the fire: when they touched him they ceased to exist. The eruption of flame split in two directions, searing into the cavern and causing a partial collapse, yet an empty swath of stone stood untouched behind him.
When Vistgil stepped down, he didn't seem to overpower the cantae, he simply annulled it. Though Theo couldn't sense exactly what had been done, he didn't think he was looking at a special technique, just a gap in power that he didn't know existed. A long time ago, he had been a Stronghold, and Vistgil had killed him easily. This time, he wasn't surprised or in shock, so he watched every moment.
Not understanding, the Stronghold continued releasing wave after wave of cantae, joining gray ropes to his flames. Vistgil walked through the assault and struck him on the forehead, a blinding white line piercing his body and the city beyond.
Unlike the gray flames, the brilliant beam disappeared an instant later. The Stronghold-tier soulcrafter dropped instantly.
Though his allies in the Asplundat Movement roared in anger, they were too stunned to attack immediately. Vistgil spread his arms wide and turned in a circle, as if inviting further attacks. When none came, he turned away and disappeared into the ruins.
All at once, Theo stood back on the shoreline. The body that he'd nearly forgotten was clammy and gasping for breath. Around him, House Blacksilver stared in shock, Karchibol most of all. Only Fiyu and Nauda looked toward him instead of the devastated ruins, perhaps putting together his stories. Senka had her face buried in his pant leg, releasing a constant low moan.
"Just... what was that?" Dhan asked. Karchibol merely sat shivering, while Janne answered quietly.
"A Dominion-tier soulcrafter. One who has passed beyond even the champion of Dris Kolonb."
Theo doubted it, and he realized that he would accomplish nothing more with this group. He made sure not to look too confident as he turned to Dhan and got his attention. "As far as I'm concerned, that's just another reason that we should retreat. All the Strongholds will be distracted, so this is the best time for us to reach the waterfalls."
"Right... the scepter." Dhan shook himself and regained a bit of his old confidence. "It clearly isn't safe here, either. Go. If anyone fires on you, we'll try to intercept them, but once you enter the other branch of the chasm, we won't be able to help you."
Simply nodding acceptance, Theo urged the others to continue. He didn't even bother struggling with Senka, since there was no time to waste, and she followed silently for once. Fiyu had maintained her sphere around them the entire time, despite the events, and now she renewed her efforts.
Though they crossed the ruin-studded river carefully, they weren't in any danger. Most of the strongest soulcrafters were looking toward the central ruins or trying to gain an advantage in the new balance, and any who looked in their direction would see nothing. Because the river itself was a threat, they concentrated on their work over the fastest-running part.
The impact of the Stronghold's blast caused stones to continue falling from the ceiling, though the cavern was in no danger of collapse. By far the greater threat was the mist rolling in from the damaged areas, causing soulcrafters to retreat or die. Theo signaled for their group to put on their masks, actually reducing the danger as they moved further away from the battleground.
But as they neared the first waterfall, they reached the end of both silence and safety.
"That man..." Nauda shook her head slowly. "You're going to tell me that he was the Vistgil you talked about, aren't you?"
"Completely unchanged, even after a hundred years." Theo glanced back over his shoulder at them, but there was no time to stand and talk, so he pressed forward. "He must have set up another vault as a trap, and tried to coax his opponents into opening it and dying in the reality fold."
"Who were those opponents?" Fiyu asked. "One of them was a Lost One, and I recognized it from the House of the Lost. Do they all take that form? Underneath the robes, its body was composed of many tentacles, and a core that... I cannot describe, because I am not sure I understood it."
"One thing we can agree on," Nauda said wryly, "we can be glad that Theo isn't that kind of Lost One."
Though Theo had been considering that angle, he hadn't come to any conclusions yet. Since they still hadn't reached the waterfall, he shared his thoughts aloud. "I think Vistgil must be exploiting connections to worlds outside the Nine. With Earth, he manipulates people to come and kills them. With this race that leads the House of the Lost, they're his enemies. It isn't a war, he's trying to control something..."
"Why?" To his surprise, the interruption was actually Senka. Though she trotted after him with a childish gait, her eyes bored into his. "Why why why?"
"I wish I had any idea." Theo wished he could stop and rub his eyes, but he needed to pay attention to the river. "There will be time to discuss all that later. We need to get over the waterfalls and search out this scepter."
"Are you sure?" Nauda asked. "You just got clear proof that he was setting up a trap in the vault. What are the chances that the scepter's location is trapped as well?"
"It's possible, but I think that was just bait. Vistgil seemed to lose interest as soon as his opponent left, so I think his interest in this is done. Our greatest strength is that he doesn't even know we exist, so this is still a chance to gain an advantage against him."
They agreed silently, and had the decency not to say that a few sublime materials wouldn't make any difference against that kind of power.
Chapter 25
Though their group reached the waterfalls easily enough, as they looked over the first cascade, Theo realized that of course it couldn't be that easy. Getting across the battlefield to the lower region might have been difficult for most, but it wasn't impossible. A cluster of Asplundat soulcrafters moved about on a central island between two layers of waterfalls, collecting sublime materials.
No, not just materials, but debris and broken armaments from a battle. This group must have slipped around the others in order to reach the waterfall region first. Exactly how, he wasn't sure, but now they were methodically searching for the fallen Scepter of Separation.
"Him again." Nauda pointed toward one of the sides, where Homez coordinated several others. Theo resisted the urge to say anything about it being better to have killed him earlier.
By his count, there were four Rulers and seven Archcrafters scattered over the central island. Though it was slightly odd that there were no Authorities, the Asplundat Movement might have used the same strategy of sneaking in lower tier soulcrafters during the battle. Unfortunately, the three of them couldn't fight numbers like that, at least not under normal circumstances.
"Do we need to fight at all?" Fiyu asked. When they glanced at her, she gestured over the waterfalls. "The destructive water has prevented them from setting up elaborate wards, and they are unlikely to be able to pierce my technique. Perhaps we could simply move ahead of them and find the scepter first?"
"It's worth trying." Theo looked over the group, noting how they searched aggressively and mostly threw objects they found into metal boxes. "I think if they had found it, they would have immediately called their allies, but we can't be sure. Investigate what they've found, then the regions they haven't arrived at yet."
Fiyu tilted her head to the side. "Not all of us?"
"I think we should stay back to assist you in case they have backup, or notice you somehow. Besides, you can slip in better alone."
"Senka too." The imp left his leg and hid under Fiyu's cloak, though she didn't attach herself in the same way. Since she appeared calm at the moment, Theo just waved the issue away. Maybe she could smell out the scepter, or more realistically valuable sublime materials the Asplundat soulcrafters had already located.
After Theo and Nauda positioned themselves behind cover, Fiyu and Senka slipped away, vanishing from his sight as he left the sphere. Even exerting his full gravitational senses, he had only a faint awareness of their position as they moved further away, then he completely lost track of them.
It was worth an attempt, but Theo didn't believe they could find the scepter first. More likely, Fiyu would be scouting the location in preparation for the inevitable fight. Theo sat down and entered his soulhome, considering the only option that he thought could give them an edge against such numbers.
This deep into the Chasm of Lamentations, his gravitational fields were too weak to dominate a battlefield. They would be slightly better as a Ruler, but even more so in the immediate rush of energy that followed an ascension. He'd already made many preparations while Tythes had imprisoned them on the island, so he was essentially ready. A Ruler ascension would probably be lost in the chaos of the battle, so it wouldn't attract attention, then they could sweep through, grab the scepter, and escape.
The real question was whether or not an ordinary ascension would be sufficient... Theo had only climbed up to his roof when he felt a touch in real life and Nauda's spirit emerged in his soulhome.
"You're ascending?" she asked as she floated after him.
"I think it's the safest way." While traveling through the Chasm, Theo had gathered many different kinds of sublime stone, and though many weren't appropriate for his soulhome, they were more than durable enough to help ascend.
"Safest assuming that we need to fight, but a fight here is dangerous. With flight so suppressed and the river everywhere... it'd be easy for anyone to fall in."
"Which is why I want to strike them all at once, before they have time to retaliate."
"I'm not telling you to stop, just..." Nauda's spirit folded her arms and frowned in his direction. "I think you need to take two possibilities seriously. First, we might be able to negotiate with them. Second, they might have more soulcrafters lying in wait."
"So you're proposing...?" He kept positioning the rough bricks regardless.
"Let me go out and talk to them. If it works, we get through without unnecessary risk. But if they do refuse to negotiate, it will draw out others and group them together."
Theo turned from his construction long enough to grin at her. "I can agree with that logic. Getting the timing exactly right might be difficult, but I think I can manage it." He returned to his work, now building small walls around the foundation. "Are you just doing this because Homez is there? I'm not convinced he's as reasonable as he acts."
"I'd like to at least avoid more acts of war against an empire as large as all the Ruling Cities combined. Would you be able to send them out of the Chasm instead of into the water? That would get rid of them just as effectively, for our purposes."
"I'll try, but that's assuming that both you and Fiyu fail."
Since that was the most likely outcome, Nauda sighed and left his soul. In her absence, Theo continued to rapidly build the structure atop his soulhome. He was willing to consider all options, but he fully intended to have the power to back them up.
Though it resembled a new room, his construction had no ceiling and pushed into the limits of his soul far too intensely to function as a chamber. If he'd been planning on an ordinary ascension, a normal pyramid would have been more durable. But he didn't anticipate that breaking through the pressure would be beyond his abilities, so he planned something more difficult, an advanced technique that he previously hadn't used until Authority.
Instead of a path upward, he was building a crucible. In the moments when he attempted to pierce the sky, sublime materials that his soulhome could normally never support could be temporarily incorporated. It would make the ascension immensely more difficult, but if successful, he would forge a bond that would last as a Ruler. And fortunately, he'd just spent a great deal of time in the Chasm assembling such materials.
The most valuable was clearly the dense stone from the center of the island, previously too difficult for him to even draw into his soul. He might be able to manage it during the ascension process, but it would set another time limit and nasty consequences for failure. Before he made the attempt, Theo started to add other materials he'd assembled into the crucible, though the walls shook with the cantae of the materials, threatening to explode his work.
Outside, Fiyu had yet to return, so he took a step back and fashioned plating out of the blueshards they'd collected earlier. He'd never imagined they would be worth anything but money to him, but the durable crystal reinforced his crucible well enough. That established, he could put together all of the other materials, though he still needed a covering to prevent them from threatening the integrity of his soulhome while he waited.
For the actual ascension, he intended to use the solidembers, which would help the crucible at the same time. While he waited, Theo took a bit more time to reinforce the walls, build some simple stair steps, and increase the height a little more.
Just about the time his spirit required a break, Fiyu's stealth cantae passed over him. He reemerged to find Fiyu and Senka, carrying a few materials but frowning.
"They are guarding the unsearched area carefully," she said. "They seem to believe that the scepter will be found on the western end, but are afraid that one of their own might take it and behave selfishly."
"So there's no way to steal it?" Nauda asked. Fiyu shook her head slowly.
"We took some of their sublime materials, but even that risked attracting attention. Not many were valuable, but perhaps this..." Fiyu handed Nauda an armament in the form of a glove, which appeared reasonably powerful. Though Theo intended to examine it, he was soon distracted.
"Senka found this." She thrust both hands up, revealing a glowing white sphere. Theo glanced in annoyance at first, then looked again, taking it out of her hands.
White fire burned deep within the orb, roiling and surging in patterns that reminded him of the surface of the sun. It was unquestionably a Ruler-tier material, and quite suited to his soulhome. He glanced at Senka, wondering if she had retrieved it specially for him, but she plopped down and stuck her head between her legs. While he considered the new sublime material, Nauda stepped to the edge of the bubble to look over the enemy soulcrafters.
