Chasmfall (The Weirkey Chronicles Book 4), page 24
"It doesn't seem likely, but I think we should try to talk to them." Nauda turned back to make eye contact with everyone. "Theo, we'll have to plan the timing carefully. Fiyu, take an ambush position to support me. Senka, I suppose you should just stay out of sight."
They agreed on the basic details, then the others carefully made their way down the rocks beside the first waterfall. Theo barely kept track of them through his doorway and returned to his soulhome, beginning all the final steps.
The most essential question was exactly how close he should cut it. If he didn't attempt to use the crucible at all, he could easily ascend to Ruler. Piling in every possible material would test the limits of his spirit and result in a disastrous failure. It would be more sensible not to take a great risk, but this ascension would be the last easy one, and thus his last chance to use the crucible technique without deeper risks to himself.
In the end, he placed the miniature sun inside the crucible and then forced the island stone into his soul. It made his hands bleed before it managed to pull it inside, and the sky immediately began to rumble ominously. He had to drag it up to his roof a little at a time, the weight threatening to collapse his soulhome, but he managed to drop it into the crucible without damage. That done, there was nothing left to do but trust his own judgment and begin climbing the side.
Building up into the sky had already tested the limits of his soul, and as he climbed up a second time, he felt it push back against him. Pressure began flooding down over his soulhome, but he'd designed the roof well and it all rolled off. Only the hastily constructed crucible began to shake, and he was confident that it would hold.
When he reached the top, he threw his will upward, piercing as deep into the sky as he could. Immediately the air rushed down more intensely, and a vicious acid rain joined it, burning his skin. Before it could deal any damage, Theo kicked the lid off the crucible, grabbed two fistfuls of solidembers, and hurled them inside.
They finally exploded within his soul, blossoming into fire as thick as stone. The flames roared within the crucible and rushed upward along with the blasting cantae, burning his spirit horribly. But the intense heat evaporated much of the acidic rain and blazed a column into the sky.
Though the flames and the acid made his body into a single mass of pain, inside his soul Theo could push on with willpower alone. He let the column of flame carry him skyward, slamming against the limits of his soul. Instead of piercing through, he lingered in the flames, letting the pressure build further below. The crucible screamed and released white hot steam as the overwhelming cantae stretched him to a breaking point.
Was Nauda done with her negotiations? He had pushed himself a little too hard and could barely feel outside his soul. When his soulhome threatened to fall apart, he waited until the last possible moment and then pierced the sky.
As the new cantae flooded down, his scorched lungs took a new breath.
~ ~ ~
When Fiyu slipped away, rendering Nauda visible to everyone, there was no more time to waste. She planted her staff firmly and cleared her throat. "Excuse me."
The soulcrafters of the Asplundat Movement all reacted instantly, whirling on her position. Though they didn't attack, they did begin gathering, absurdly afraid of her despite the fact that she appeared to be a lone soulcrafter approaching their entire group. Only Homez looked suspicious, his eyes sweeping over the waterfalls around them.
"You've felt the battle change, haven't you?" She did her best to make eye contact with as many of them as possible. "This is about to get worse, much worse. I propose a truce: we forget about the Scepter of Separation and retreat to a safe location. There won't be time to find it, so you'd be risking your lives unnecessarily."
"What kind of city trick is this?" One of the Rulers raised a fist, a sledge of stone growing around it. "That scepter belongs to the Asplundat Movement, so the tyrants of the cities cannot use it to exploit anyone further."
"Then you agree that it shouldn't be used?" Nauda made sure to look at Homez then, since he was the most likely to be reasonable. "So do we. The chaos we've seen here would be nothing compared to what will happen if any of the leaders obtains such a powerful artifact. Let it remain lost. Take back your materials and your lives."
"What happened in the ruins?" Homez asked quietly. "It felt like a dimensional void."
"That's... complicated." While Nauda tried to consider what to tell them, something emerged from the stone behind her and attacked.
She realized that it was a stone-armored Ruler, cantae bolts and his fist flying toward her, but he'd attacked slightly too early. Nauda spun, letting the bolts scatter off her body, and the strength of her gemstone belt held. Deflecting his stony fist with one arm, she used the other to tap her staff against his body and flip him overhead, sending him skidding toward the others.
"I could have thrown him into the river." She wasn't actually sure about that, since his armor could partially resist her binding, but she tried to project confidence to the group. "I didn't, because we're sincere about forming an agreement. Forget the scepter. Better yet, let the water destroy it."
For a time there was silence... but she saw Homez shaking his head sadly. He didn't intend to attack her, but in his gaze she saw that they would never agree. It had always been a low chance, but she had still hoped. Nauda sighed and set her feet for battle.
"Surrender and you will not be harmed," one of the other Rulers said as she began to circle. "The Asplundat Movement is generous with prisoners."
Before Nauda could respond, Fiyu flickered from out of her technique, her cantae blade slicing deep into the other woman's back. Even heavily armored, she let out a cry of pain and staggered forward. All of the other soulcrafters immediately abandoned restraint, power flooding from their soulhomes as they rushed on the two of them.
And then a new source of cantae exploded from atop the waterfall. Theo descended from the side, his coat fluttering wildly in his new rush of power. Flush with cantae from his ascension, he barely needed to extend a finger and one of his fields slammed down over the Asplundat soulcrafters.
Some Archcrafters crumpled, but many of the Rulers endured, and as they began to adjust, they sneered. Exactly the same reaction as so many others, and with the same result: when Theo reversed his field, the entire group fell into the air. As he landed, Theo cast a sideways field, and though it wasn't as powerful as before, it still sent the majority of the group sailing into the air, over the second waterfall.
Though it had become a battle, and Nauda wouldn't weep long for soulcrafters who had been about to attack her, she was glad to see that their trajectory took them beyond the final stretch of the river. Instead they collided with the misty boundary and slipped from the Chasm of Lamentations.
Though Theo's surprise assault had sent the majority of the group hurtling away, four of them remained, including Homez. One was an Archcrafter with a different armor blueprint that had apparently bound him to the ground, while the other three were Rulers. Not weak ones, either, so they were in for a tough fight.
Several boulders grew from raw cantae and flew in their direction, only to fall short due to Theo's field. When he withdrew it the next moment, Nauda launched herself at the group and saw Fiyu run with her. The other woman slipped behind the Archcrafter, cutting deep into the armor and distracting him, leaving three for her.
Nauda hit them with her staff forming a whirlwind around her, colliding with their armor in crunch after stone-shattering crunch. She couldn't easily penetrate the armor, but she'd noticed that when she damaged it, the soulcrafters usually flinched and took time to repair the damage. Thus, she could maintain the initiative with a full assault and batter them backward.
It couldn't last forever, and one of the Rulers managed to endure her staff strike and slam one fist down at her head. Nauda raised her left arm and absorbed the blow. Her belt burned around her waist, but she blocked the attack without breaking her arm.
The Ruler stared in shock, clearly having expected a dodge instead of a static block. Nauda didn't hesitate at all, thrusting the forks of her staff into a damaged portion of his armor. It didn't strike him hard, but she managed to bind him firmly. As soon as she had a grip on him, she hurled him sideways so he collided with one of the other Rulers, sending both of them over the edge of the waterfall. Hopefully out of the Chasm instead of to their deaths, but Nauda looked aside and locked eyes with Homez instead.
After meeting her gaze for several heartbeats, he shook his head and leapt to the side. At first Nauda feared that he was attacking Fiyu, but he only lifted the fallen Archcrafter into a carrying position over his shoulders. With one final glance, he leapt over the side, leaving only a ripple of blue mist where he passed through the boundary.
Suddenly lacking opponents, Nauda took a moment to catch her breath. She stared out through the veil to the red wasteland beyond, wondering if any of the dark flecks were actually the Asplundat soulcrafters. They weren't supposed to be able to pierce their way inside again, so in theory she'd gained complete control of the island between the waterfalls.
"Well done, Nauda." Fiyu passed her with a smile and Nauda smiled back, almost forgetting about what had happened between them before. "But we must hurry to try to find the scepter, or at least take their remaining materials."
Pushing aside emotions, Nauda walked to the pile of supplies that the Asplundat forces had collected. Fiyu and Theo were better suited to analyzing the battlefield that hadn't been searched, so Nauda focused on shoving as many of the sublime materials into her soul as possible. None of them were exceptionally valuable, or as interesting as the glove Fiyu had found for her. The resources piled up outside her soulhome, but that didn't matter since she'd finished what might have been their last fight in the Chasm. The only question now was whether or not they left with the scepter in hand.
It might still be better to just destroy it, though she doubted that she could convince Theo. Now that he was a Ruler-tier soulcrafter... no, better not to think that way. If they did find the scepter, she would need to reach out to him with reason alone.
When she looked up again, her companions had traveled close to the edge of the island. They appeared to be searching methodically, while Senka was nowhere to be seen. No doubt she'd wandered off and would reemerge with a sublime material in her mouth. What mattered was that the other two didn't seem pleased by their findings... at least not until that moment.
"Is that it?" Fiyu straightened oddly and she changed course. "There, lying against the rock by the fall..."
Nauda looked in the same direction, toward a rocky cliff beside one of the larger waterfalls. A few broken pieces of armaments lay nearby, but there was a thin white rod... could that be the Scepter of Separation? It didn't look like much, not enough to inspire a near war, but it was difficult to determine the value of armaments at a glance. She hurried to join the others, gathering her arguments...
And an Authority's cantae slammed down over them, sending the group stumbling back. Nauda forced her neck up and saw Mattan land on the island not far away. He wasn't strong enough to fly here, but he still burned with more cantae than they could possibly fight.
"Touch that and you die!" he roared as he rushed between them, toward the scepter. "It belongs to the House of Burning Leaves!"
Fiyu retreated, which was sensible, but Nauda was a Ruler and couldn't let herself give in so easily. Not when it would mean standing by while another Authority acquired the means to become a tyrant. She glanced toward Theo and she saw that they had the same thought: their only chance was to get the armament first.
When Mattan lunged to grasp the scepter, it suddenly slipped away from his hands, tumbling to the side just along the edge of the fall. He immediately whirled on them, growling with rage... and then an onslaught of gray cantae struck him from the side.
Another Authority slammed to the ground nearby, covered in full Asplundat stone. Though they'd more fallen than landed, their attack knocked Mattan further from the scepter. The two Authorities turned on one another and then attacked, emptying their soulhomes as quickly as they could to try to end the battle quickly.
It grew into a maelstrom of stone and flame, a shockwave sweeping over all of them. Theo grimaced as he was pushed back, clearly trying to reach the scepter with his gravity but unable to penetrate. The storm forced Fiyu down to one knee, making her whimper and shrink inside her cloak.
Nauda took a step forward... and then something in her soul buckled. Too late, she realized that the raw cantae exploding from the Authorities had penetrated her defenses and rushed into her soulhome. If she hadn't already experienced it, she might have been overwhelmed, but she pushed through... only to realize that fragments of their attacks were entering her soulhome. This wasn't just pure cantae, it was filled with destructive intent.
She watched in dismay as a line of flame streaked across her soul, incinerating some of her vines. A gray boulder materialized in the sky and collided with her wall... and a large chunk of it fell. Each attack that entered only weakened her defenses further, and though Nauda let out a scream and tried to throw her willpower against the assault, it swept over her like an avalanche.
Her body remained mostly unharmed by the battle, yet Nauda was barely aware of it. She desperately rushed to one of her walls, trying to hold it up as her soulhome fell apart around her...
Chapter 26
Only a year ago, the onslaught of cantae from soulcrafters two tiers above her would have torn Fiyu apart. She desperately focused on her barrier wall, fearing that the gatehouse would betray her, but even the door held firm. Intense as the cantae was, it slipped away from the polished boundaries of her soul without harm, and she felt a flicker of pride as she realized that she could weather the storm.
That pride turned to ashes as she heard Friend Nauda give a low moan and collapse. Fiyu first looked for an injury, then realized in horror that it was her soulhome that had been struck. Even from a distance, she saw terrible damage within and her heart ached for her companion.
Yet she could do nothing to help her, and the battle could yet prove lethal to all of them. Fiyu desperately looked to Friend Theo, who had abandoned the idea of reaching the scepter first. He saw her look, then Friend Nauda's injury, and frowned.
She pointed toward the barrier, hoping that he could find some way to throw them out of the Chasm. Friend Theo glanced at it briefly, but with the intense cantae flooding all around, they had few opportunities to make any difference.
Friend Nauda's nullification technique would have been the perfect choice, if only she had been healthy. She took a deep breath and attempted to draw up similar cantae, even though it would be a pale imitation... she could only hope that here in the Chasm they might be weakened enough for it to work. She waited until they collided, the cantae of their attacks dissolving against one another, and then unleashed her wave of nullification.
It did no harm to them at all, only briefly making Enemy Mattan stumble. In that moment, the Asplundat Ruler attempted to tackle him... and Friend Theo cast one of his gravitational fields.
The two Authorities arced upward, flying directly toward one of the waterfalls. Fiyu briefly hoped that they would collide with it and die, but their cantae was much too powerful. Both unleashed techniques downward, pushing themselves up so that they hurtled over the top. Yet this very recovery took them further away, and as they fought one another in midair, the distance only increased. Every time one attempted to move closer, he was warded away, until they could no longer be seen from the waterfall region.
Which meant the two of them had a chance. Fiyu quickly turned to where the scepter lay... only to see someone else emerging from the stone. Another Asplundat Ruler, either newly arrived or having hidden himself away. He was much closer to the scepter than either of them, reaching down to grasp it...
Friend Theo made the scepter fall up out of his hands, but the enemy Ruler reached up too quickly, snatching it with his other hand. Fiyu reached him the next moment, her blade slicing at his arm. She couldn't fully penetrate his armor, but he grunted and flinched. A moment later, Friend Theo struck the same arm with a torsion bolt. Stone flew in every direction and the scepter tumbled from his hands.
The three of them struggled by the edge of the cliff, the waterfall groaning beside them, the deadly pool churning below. Together with Friend Theo, Fiyu was sure that they could eventually gain the upper hand and acquire the scepter. Once they had it, they might even be able to stand against the enemy Authorities when they returned. It was only a question of-
Then the stone crumbled beneath them. Fiyu realized too late that the enemy soulcrafter had struck the ground, risking all of their lives. It seemed foolish to her, because he began to slide over the cliff's edge as well, then she realized that it was a suicidal attack. He intended for all three of them to die in the pool so that his allies in the Asplundat Movement could retrieve the scepter safely.
He had not counted on Friend Theo, who used his full strength to arrest his fall and hover above the collapsing cliff. Fiyu stared up at him, so close to the scepter, as the rocks broke away and she began to fall.
~ ~ ~
In the end, it wasn't even a decision, Theo's body moved on its own. Or so he told himself. He had enough strength to move himself to the scepter or to save Fiyu, and he ended up splitting his gravitational fields to prevent her from falling.
The two of them still tumbled down the collapsing side of the cliff, but he managed to grab hold of a solid outcropping. He reached to grasp Fiyu's outstretched hand, just missing her fingers... it took his full strength to reverse her momentum and pull her up. She grasped hold of his wrist immediately, leaving him exhausted and both of them dangling from a stone just beside the falls.
Once their momentum was arrested, he needed a second to recover enough to cast another gravitational field. In that pause, he examined the field carefully. The Asplundat Ruler had fallen as well, but not as far as they had, instead sinking his hands into the rock of the cliff near the top. He could have attacked them in that moment and possibly killed them, but instead began struggling back up, eyes fixed on the scepter.
