Crimsoncrest (The Weirkey Chronicles Book 10), page 28
One of the last stones sat in a hollow, making it difficult to budge. Nauda ignored the pain shooting through her spirit and pushed, nudging the boulder a little. As soon as it rose, she swept her foot, creating a line of wards to keep it from rolling back.
That held the boulder, giving her precious time to recover, but she saw that her wards were crumbling away faster than she'd hoped. Gritting her teeth, Nauda reset her feet, put her shoulder against the stone, and pushed with the rest of her strength.
Finally it got out of the hollow, instead rolling a short distance in the right direction. Nauda dropped down to one knee, catching her breath. Just a few more... she'd be done already if she had help.
Tythes lay on the other side of the field, slumped against one of the remaining boulders that was twice his height. If not for how his eyes were closed, she might have thought that he was just casually leaning against it, and she still assumed he was loafing. He'd been even less helpful than usual during these past days while they tried to finish the work.
Nauda stomped over to him and grabbed his shoulder. "Come on, get back to work."
"I can't," he muttered, flopping back against the stone.
"No more excuses, we need to finish this!"
"Nauda, I can't."
When she took a second look, her perception flipped in an instant. She'd often seen Tythes apathetic and shirking work, but now his face was wan and his eyes heavy. In the past he had been an entire tier or more ahead of her, easily equal to the challenges facing them... and now, he wasn't.
"I have mediocre strength for an Authority," he said wearily. "You likely outstripped me as soon as you ascended. Yes, I was being obnoxious earlier, but I tried to move this one before and I honestly can't. You're not seeing stubbornness, you're seeing just how weak and pathetic I really am."
Normally she would assume he was indulging in self-pity, but his eyes looked so exhausted... "Why have you really stayed at Authority this long?" Nauda asked quietly.
"You know my soulhome was destroyed, but it's deeper than that. My self-identity as a warrior was what crumbled, and I can't rebuild that. Yes, I've spent years soulcrafting - I don't know if you understand how difficult it is to rework like that, but I've been trying. But even when it's done, I'll never be a warrior again."
His soulhome had such suspicious walls, Nauda had always assumed that he was hiding some sort of nasty secret. Yet now, with the perspective of having seen so many other Authorities, it didn't seem overwhelming to her anymore. It was strange to think that she might have surpassed him, and that if she ascended with her allies, he'd actually be weak to them.
"I'll handle the rest," Nauda said, taking his shoulder and moving him to sit down on one of the larger flowers. "I'm not trying to torture you, honest. But can you be honest with us?"
"Why not?" He waved a hand skyward with a bit of his old theatricality. "It's too late for my plan to work, anyway. I'd infiltrated the Asplundat Movement, and the plan was to get close to the crest and stop my father. Maybe if we'd all cooperated, we could have stopped this."
"Stopped what, exactly?"
"House Crimson getting so close to their goal, of course. I can't prove it, but I suspect that the Salebrante sent that outsider to trigger a conflict with Tymetron. That let Wiltur fight to defend the crest, earning more of their trust. Your friend stopped Roker from doing something, right? He has a plan to intercept the infusion process and take everything for himself. This is his moment to take the world stage and acquire real power."
Nauda frowned and thought back over events again. "I can buy that, but why are you doing all this? Even if you sabotaged House Crimson, what does that get you?"
"I suppose there's no point hiding it anymore: I was hired by the Eternal Spectrum." Tythes gave her a weak shrug. "They don't trust the House of Coin to do the job, and they probably don't trust me either. I assume they're hedging their bets, asking multiple factions to bring them the final crest. It doesn't matter to them who wins, they just want the sublime material."
"We already suspected that. Seems like one of the only good options is to sell it to them."
"Oh, but it could have been me instead. I had an amazing plan to infuse it and the marble slab would have had a huge picture of my face. Think about it: the effect of these aeon-class organizations fighting over a sublime material, then wherever it goes, they'd have to stare at my face the entire time they soulcrafted it."
For a second Nauda wanted to swat him for his ego, then she realized what he really meant. "You're saying that it isn't just about selling the material, it's about establishing a broader reputation."
Tythes flicked her forehead weakly. "Obviously. That was my father's real goal: infuse it so that it becomes the Crimsoncrest, and the name of House Crimson is spread across the Nine Worlds. Then it would be everything he's always wanted and I always feared: his old tyranny spreading further and further as his reputation grows."
"But if we protect it, the slab will become the Asplundatcrest. That would be good for the Movement, right?"
"Sure, if you want to be boring about it."
Nauda turned everything over in her head, looking for the gaps or deceptions. It sounded authentic so far, and Tythes sounded so weary... maybe this was the time to strike.
"We actually agree that it's best to surrender the crest," she said, "but we don't want to give it to the Eternal Spectrum. Too much greed, not enough loyalty. Do you have a way to contact the Orphic Cabal?"
Tythes sat upright and stared at her. "No, no, you don't want to give it to those crusty old scholars. The Eternal Spectrum is rich, wealthier than you can dream. They'd definitely give the best rewards for the crest, even if you're being stubborn and want those rewards to go to the Asplundat Movement."
"Not happening, but you didn't answer the question: can you contact the Orphic Cabal?"
"I suppose it might be possible, but why do you think they even want it? Maybe they're not as dangerous as some of the others, but they're still an aeon-class organization, so there's a risk. A huge risk, honestly, because they don't like being disturbed..." Tythes was starting to worm away, but Nauda reached out and grabbed the collar of his coat, pulling him back.
"Help us arrange a meeting," Nauda insisted. "After that, tell us exactly what House Crimson is plotting to steal the crest. If you do that, we'll help you stop your father permanently. Isn't that most of what you want, anyway?"
"And would you still treat me as a prisoner?"
"If you actually treat fairly with us here, you'll have prevented a disaster. You do that and we'll call things even."
After a long moment staring at her with dead eyes, Tythes smiled.
~ ~ ~
Fiyu had returned to her cleared space many times, striking at the foundation of her soulhome and attempting to drive lower. The only difference was that this time Relative Guchiro was watching her, and that made far more difference than she expected.
Her fingers slipped on the darkegg again, not landing a proper strike. When she sighed, she felt Relative Guchiro touch the edge of her robe in real life.
"Calm," he commanded. "There is no urgency."
"But there is," she insisted. "I must assist my companions, and the sooner I break through..."
"Your passion does you credit, but brute force is not the path to opening a basement early. What you have already done has enriched your foundation and brought you closer. To proceed, I would suggest a different method."
"What is it?" Fiyu emerged from her soulhome in anticipation.
"Take this." Relative Guchiro handed her a black spike that looked something like a tent peg, though it was sharper and clearly a sublime material. "It is a foundationstake, and it is one of the methods I used to open my own basement at Authority. Given what you have already done, you should be able to use it without excessive trouble."
She took a deep breath as she accepted the foundationstake and carried it into her soulhome. It felt far heavier than other spiritual tools, so it was tricky to position it in place and try to drive it into the ground.
"Patience, slow and steady." Relative Guchiro's words reached her like whispers from the outside. "It is not that your foundation is locked away, it is that you must push the boundaries of your soulhome down. You have taken the necessary steps, now you must gradually expand yourself."
It was fortunate that he had given the advice then, because Fiyu had been considering trying to stomp up and down on the top of the spike. Clearly, Associate Senka's strange training was infecting her. She tried to set aside all such things and follow his advice, working the foundationstake deeper even though it felt like there was nowhere to go.
Minutes slowly gave way to hours, and in the expanse of her mind it could have been days. Then, all at once, she felt something give. As if the unbreakable barrier beneath her soil had a crack in it, and the tip had slipped further down. Fiyu raised her hand, slow and controlled, and pressed down on the top with all of her soul.
The stake plunged deep, the ground of her soul trembled, and she felt her soulhome open. More importantly, the trembling ground released a new wave of intense cantae that made the air feel as though it was filled with joyous fire.
Pleased as she was, Fiyu didn't rush to leave immediately. Instead she picked up the foundationstake, which remained intact, and handed it to her relative with a smile. "Thank you, Guchiro."
"Keep it." He gently folded her hands over the spike. "I have no more use for it, but perhaps one day you can pass it along to a ward of your own. Congratulations on opening your basement."
Fiyu immediately set to digging, eager to see how far she could get, and soon realized that it would be immensely challenging. Even the upper soil felt shockingly heavy, and when she dug a few inches downward, she began to encounter dark roots of non-existence that blunted her tools. She emerged and folded her arms, considering the problem.
"You could very slowly enrich your foundation," Relative Guchiro advised, "but I would consider another path. Your friends have pushed their development forward via their egg materials, but basements are traditionally developed at Stronghold, so I advise that you wait to begin truly digging until then. You could soulcraft for a year and not fully excavate your basement - I know from personal experience."
"But..." Fiyu looked down at the spiritual dirt on her hands. "I worked so hard to open it early. I want to gain more from it than just cantae intensity."
"You can. Instead of thinking of your basement as a new floor, think of it as space for you to finish your Immortality Conduit. Dig only a shallow space, then complete the most important components, without activating them. Then, when you ascend, you will be closer to a true Conduit than any of your companions."
Fiyu's eyes widened as she realized what he intended. Yes, this was a good plan: each of her companions could specialize during this stage and continue to support one another. Plus, she had already done so much work in preparing for her Conduit, she would not be delaying her ascension by too long.
"I... have been struggling with my Conduit," Fiyu admitted to her relative. "I had hoped to speak with you about the process."
"I may not be the adviser you need." Relative Guchiro shook his head slowly. "My Conduit follows the same design as yours, but I needed to develop it to be fully functional at Authority. That required very slow and deliberate methods that would not be suitable for you."
"Please tell me. It would help so much to at least know what you did."
"Very well... at Authority I built my eternal chamber and found the appropriate materials. The spiral staircases were already intact and highly reinforced, with a mirrored material at the bottom very similar to your own. But if I had attempted to activate my Conduit forcefully, the newer materials on my fourth floor would have shattered and damaged me irrevocably."
That matched everything Fiyu had heard, so she simply nodded in agreement. Even though the method was not applicable to her, her elder relative seemed so much more relatable than Associate Senka.
"I nearly closed the circuit, then had the cantae begin moving extremely slowly. Over the course of years, and including various enriching methods, I gradually conditioned all the materials to survive the intensity. By the time I completed the Conduit, it had reached the necessary state, but that took a great deal of time."
"I have been advised to activate mine all at once," Fiyu said. "Not now, of course, but I should prepare."
"That sounds like a similar method," Relative Guchiro told her. "But it's designed to prepare your materials for a later breakthrough instead of conditioning them gradually."
"Would that method be... inferior in some way? It seems difficult."
"I can think of no reason why the end result would be inferior. Indeed, it has the obvious advantage that it does not require years of slow acceleration. I strongly suggest that you build your eternal chamber, and if such exercises feel right to you, attempt them with the completed circuit."
There was no choice, then. At least Fiyu had a great deal of engaging soulcrafting to focus on instead of trying the same exercises, since there was no point until she had completed her work.
Over the next several days, Fiyu gradually scraped out a section of her basement while also building pieces of her eternal chamber. The final version would be much larger, but she focused on the component that would receive the full force of her enriched cantae. Her filtermirrors were more than up to the task, thankfully, and the eternaldark was a perfectly suited material. When she built up the final channels and walls, this section would be the weakest link, so she needed to carve and fuse everything precisely.
Fiyu had yet to actually make a decision about the shadowlamp, despite their discussion. It felt so much easier to continue soulcrafting with her relative instead of trying to sell it to so many different strangers. She told herself that this was acceptable because she needed to finish this work more than she needed additional materials. It was not as though sublime material requirements would disappear at Stronghold.
Soon Fiyu began to forget about all the outside conflicts, to think that she would have plenty of time to ascend. She could attain the next tier with her relative, then return and impress Friend Nauda and maybe even Friend Theo. Perhaps they could all be fully prepared before the crest was complete and she could fight together with Relative Guchiro when the enemy attacked.
Reality returned in the form of a weirkey activation not far from her. It was Friend Nauda, being escorted by Ally Homez. They rushed down toward Outpost #127 so quickly that even Relative Guchiro leapt to his feet, prepared for another invasion.
"Are you okay?" Fiyu asked. "Is Tymetron coming?"
"It's both better and worse than that," Friend Nauda said. "I pushed Tythes until he tried to contact the other organizations. At first it seemed like there would be no responses, now suddenly the Orphic Cabal wants to meet! I'm not prepared for this."
"Where is Theo? He should know what to do."
"I was hoping he was with you."
Friend Theo and Associate Senka had yet to return, so it seemed there were no answers. When Fiyu glanced to her elder relative, he only shook his head, as these were mysterious aeon-class organizations. It seemed they had no one to answer for them, and they would have to come up with something on their own.
Chapter 30
They assembled the others, including Krikree to guard Tythes in a separate room, but as far as Nauda was concerned, they were just buying time. It wasn't likely they'd get so lucky that Theo would return in the next few hours, so they were going to need to make those decisions on their own. She felt capable of making them... but Theo would be unhappy about missing the meeting.
"Can we reschedule?" Fiyu asked, roughly the same question she had asked twice before.
"We only have a narrow window," Nauda had to explain. "Tythes doesn't actually know these groups, he just sends a message and hopes they respond with a location. Based on how much they seem to hate him, we're lucky they even agreed to meet."
"I heard that!" Tythes yelled from the other room.
"And is it inaccurate?"
"It's completely true, I just wanted you to know!"
After frowning briefly, Fiyu wrapped her bubble of stealth around both of them and moved closer. "I do not mean to be dismissive of us, Nauda," she said, "but I would be more comfortable if Theo were here as well. He is the one who wanted to meet with the Orphic Cabal so badly."
"I agree, but our objectives are the same either way." Nauda closed her eyes and thought back to what he'd said after first meeting the emperor named Dave. "The Orphic Cabal studies matters of the past, which puts them in conflict with Vistgil. In theory that means we should have common cause."
"But I do not believe it would be wise to start with statements like that."
"No, you're probably right." Now that Nauda thought about it, she wondered if Theo wouldn't have wanted to send them anyway due to his paranoia. When it came to these mysterious aeon-class organizations, maybe he wasn't actually paranoid at all. "Let's focus on the easy part: they probably want the Asplundatcrest."
"Are we sure of that?"
"No, we just heard that they were among the organizations watching. But I don't trust anything I've heard about the Eternal Spectrum, so the Cabal is our only option."
Before they could speak further, Guchiro stepped into their bubble, or rather a bubble of his own merged and the area increased. He only seemed to have heard the last words they said... but that was apparently enough. Guchiro folded his arms and looked between them darkly.
"You've decided that you're going to meet with them?"
"Do you know something we don't?" Nauda asked.
"I have not had any dealings directly with the Orphic Cabal," Guchiro said. "They do not seem... as corrupt as the other ancient organizations. But nothing that has existed for so long does so without cost, which is why I and my allies have avoided them."
