Wakespire (The Weirkey Chronicles Book 7), page 39
Before she could finish him off, Theo reversed his gravity and soared away. After running along the ceiling for a time, he returned to normal gravity, letting rocks fall along with him... and then used his cantae to fly in the other direction. Nifanos shot a blast where she had anticipated gravity would take him, not at his real location, and he slipped away from her.
That brought him to the chamber with a steep slope. He could see Nauda and Fiyu on the opposite side and did his best to tunnel to join them. The chamber tried to resist the effort to cheat, but the spire was so damaged, he was able to force his way through. Not a moment too soon, because Nifanos had just burst into the lower side.
As soon as she did, Theo cast the most forceful gravitational field he could, as if trying to pin her at the bottom. Fiyu and Nauda both unleashed their own attacks, filling the slope with cantae. Nifanos easily resisted the efforts and flew forward.
Just as he'd hoped, the draining influence of the slope hit harder than it ever had before. Too late, Nifanos realized her mistake. The bright lines in her wings expanded, stabbing in all directions and tearing into the stone walls. She spun in the air and the lines tore through the chamber, breaking apart the mechanisms that maintained the draining.
"Up!" Theo hissed. They retreated up the next stairs, expecting to hear Nifanos behind them at any moment... but there was silence.
They kept running until they reached one of the larger chambers, one designed for the officials to use. It could only be two or three more floors until they reached the top and hopefully backup. Theo almost felt hope before he saw the staircase ahead of them explode into rubble and realized his mistake.
Instead of attacking them again, Nifanos slid around the room and destroyed the staircase leading down as well. There were no more exits to the room... Theo tapped the key against one of the walls, but it groaned in response and failed to open. Most likely she'd melted the walls or otherwise disabled all possible exits.
Would weirkeys be able to penetrate the spire's defenses? Theo didn't think it was likely, but they were now trapped in a room with Nifanos and he thought their chances of survival were slim indeed. Judging from her grin, she agreed.
At that moment, one of the portals along the wall opened. Not the wall, swirling light like he hadn't seen since the normal competition. They all stared briefly as the Gatrium Authority stepped through and stared at them all.
"What's going on here?" he demanded. "Is this some new challenge?"
Could he really have been blindly traveling up the tower even while everything fell apart around him? The stupidity made Theo gape for a moment, and a moment was all it took: Nifanos had flashed past them and obliterated the portal. She melted every other portal outline in the wall in rapid succession, just to make sure they had no way out.
"I say, answer me!" The Gatrium man turned on Theo. "Are you one of those cheaters they were talking about?"
"They're trying to undermine the Wakespire," Nifanos said. She seemed more annoyed by the new arrival than anything, but she spoke to him instead of wasting more of her remaining cantae. "Help me eliminate them and your lineage will be rewarded."
"How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"Hey." Theo interrupted their conversation to look the man directly in the eyes and tried to muster every iota of sincerity he possessed. "I'm Theo. What's your name?"
"I... I'm Bonovan." He was still glancing toward Nifanos, but the answer seemed to center him. "Bonovan Gatrium, Authority, 10th class."
"Bonovan, listen to me." Theo managed to capture his gaze again. "She entered the spire illegally to eliminate the competition. You've witnessed her destroying the spire. Regardless of whether you trust me, we're on the same side here."
"These are absurd lies!"
Bonovan Gatrium stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. He turned toward Nifanos and raised his sword. "How dare you mar the sanctity of the Wakespire? Have at you!"
He charged while swinging his sword, sending forth arcs of cantae. It was an impressive display, for a very brief moment. Nifanos slid out of the way of the arcs and closed the distance in an instant. Her fist collided with his stomach, doubled him over, then she struck him in the face with an emerald blast. The Noveni man fell unconscious only seconds after he'd charged, his sword clattering to the stone beside him.
Fiyu flickered into sight with her blade thrusting for Nifanos.
The cantae edge sliced through one of those golden wings and pierced Nifanos's back. For an instant, Theo hoped that it might be enough. But then a terrible green light exploded from the injury and enveloped Fiyu. She was blown backwards, her blade snuffing out, and she crashed into one of the walls.
When she collapsed, she didn't rise. Theo suppressed all emotions and focused on tunneling another singularity toward Nifanos. She was tired and holding her injured wing, but not slow enough. She dodged aside in the same motion she turned on him.
Nauda attacked with a loud cry, her raw emotion pushing her to burn more cantae than before. Though her blow deflected off the emerald cantae, Nifanos staggered. Nauda struck her a second time, and it almost seemed like she had the upper hand, then it was already over.
Nifanos grabbed Nauda's staff in one hand before it could connect, then struck Nauda across the face with her other hand. As well as Nauda had been fighting, she couldn't stand up to an Authority. The blow sent her flying across the room without her staff.
All Theo could do was strike with another miniature singularity. Nifanos ignored it and turned back to him with a grim smirk.
"You really thought you could outlast me?" She raised her hand for another blast. "I have more than enough to kill you."
Theo waited until he thought she was going to release the attack, then tunneled across the room. But she didn't strike. Nifanos simply turned toward his new location and continued approaching. When he hurled torsion bolts, she dodged them. Singularities were snuffed out in her aura. His gravitational fields barely affected her normal cantae.
All she did was wait for her moment, smile growing all the while. Theo was beginning to exhaust himself, his mind worn down by all of the portals. When he next made an attempt to tunnel across the room, his control faltered and one of her cantae bolts struck him in the face.
He fell back, too stunned to do anything but watch as she closed the distance. Her fingers flexed just slightly, the light in her palm grew... and spluttered out.
"What? No..." Nifanos stared in horror as the emerald lines in her wings faded.
She had been rationing her Ethereal Floor carefully, but she'd failed to consider that he'd been stealing bits and pieces with each singularity. Even if he couldn't make them intense enough to threaten her life, they were draining from her Ethereal aura, not her normal cantae. All her careful training, knowing the exact limits of her special state, worked against her. He hadn't been sure that it would be enough, but she'd come up empty in her moment of triumph.
"No matter." Nifanos drew herself up and glared at him. "I can still-"
A staff struck her in the side of the head. Screaming in raw rage, Nauda laid into her, striking over and over again. Nifanos did her best to defend herself, but her Ethereal Floor was empty and all the attrition she'd incurred during the battle returned with a vengeance. Soon she had collapsed on the floor, barely able to shield her face from the blows.
"Wait." Theo raised a hand to stop Nauda before she could beat the Authority to death. "I don't think we've killed anyone yet and we shouldn't start now."
"Really?" Nauda glared at him, still holding her staff like a bat. "She was trying to kill us! Who knows how much she hurt Fiyu?"
"I will live..." Fiyu sat up from her position. She looked much worse for the wear, but she managed a smile.
The sight of her broke Nauda's fury and she rushed over to attend to the other woman. Theo cast a gravitational field to pin Nifanos on her knees, just in case, but it looked like the fight had gone out of her. He walked over slowly, less for the effect and more because he hurt all over.
"We never wanted this." Theo leaned down next to her so he could stare into her eyes. "Nothing you've done has made any sense. Just what were you after?"
"All we wanted was to win the Wakespire." She glared back at him, not giving an inch. "But then one of our own was murdered. When I investigated, I discovered his body discarded like a used rag. The more I searched, the more I realized that there was someone deep within Ugustial, working against us."
"And you think it was Ractifus? Why would he cause all this chaos when he just wants the lineagegem?"
"And why do you believe that? Because he told you?" Nifanos shook her head slowly. "I thought you were monsters, but it turns out you were just unwitting dupes. All of this over nothing. And now we're all going to die in the blast."
"The blast?"
"Oh yes. You didn't know about the artifact? I'm surprised the spire hasn't already been destroyed. I can't escape any longer, so I hope you have a solution, but I'm not holding my breath. Your pettiness will leave us all to die here."
He could have said something about her pettiness, but Theo realized there was no time for that. The damaged chamber was still completely sealed as far as he could tell. When he grasped one of his weirkeys, the defenses of the spire still blocked him. If anything, they felt even more powerful than before, as if the cantae meant to run all of the challenges was instead being redirected.
"Is she telling the truth?" Nauda asked. Fiyu concentrated for a time, then sighed.
"There is interference, but I do sense what may be dangerous sublime materials above us. If they were designed to harm, that would be very bad, and I do not... oh!"
At that moment, one of the walls exploded. Guchiro stood on the other side, but what surprised Theo more was that there were Noveni officials rushing behind him.
"You have to stop it!" one cried.
"We need more time!"
"Come back, we can still-"
"Enough." Guchiro cut them all off with a glance and then turned toward the group. "We need to leave, immediately."
Theo grabbed Nifanos by her wings and dragged her along with them, since he wasn't about to let her get away with her attack. Had they all made it through? Bonovan Gatrium was in terrible shape, but Theo levitated him assuming that he could survive with medical attention.
Outside the central column, Theo saw that a hole had already been blown in the wall. Their sleigh hovered on the other side, waiting for them. There were only a few Noveni officials nearby, some pleading with Guchiro and others fleeing, arms overflowing with papers. Just when it seemed like they would all make it out, someone ran from below.
"The lineagegem!" Ractifus Terefilia staggered into the group, his eyes wide. "You're abandoning it? No, no... it wasn't supposed to go like this..."
He started to grasp at Guchiro's clothes, but a wave of darkness swept him away. Sobbing, Ractifus ran past the others and sprinted up the stairs. One of the officials half-heartedly started after him, then abandoned the effort in order to flee.
Once Theo dropped into the sleigh, he let his body go slack. Yes, there was some sort of bomb in the spire and they might all still die. But he'd done everything he could, so the rest was up to fate. In his current state, he couldn't fly any faster than the sleigh, so he had only one chance of escape.
From his position in the back seat, he stared at the receding tower. Just as he was beginning to feel a bit of nostalgia for the spire, the top erupted in white hot flame. The destruction utterly consumed the upper portion of the tower, then the damaged stones began raining down. After enduring so much fighting and damage to the walls, the spire could hold no longer.
It seemed to break apart slowly, from a distance. Golden plates tumbled, glittering in the light of nine suns. Great blocks of white stone struck one another, shattering into shards that cascaded down in waves of destruction. Soon nothing remained of the tower that had contained the Wakespire.
Chapter 48
It took the city a week just to calm down enough to know if there would be any consequences.
By all rights, Nauda should have been anxious about the judgments the entire time, but her position in life was changing. Her two closest friends were Authorities now and it would take much more than local guards to stop them if they wanted to leave. They were essentially staying as a courtesy, plus Ugustial was a convenient place to recover from the battle.
Considering how many had received serious injuries, Nauda was very grateful that she only needed some bed rest. She was beginning to think she needed a clothing armament, though: she was spending too much of her money repairing her dresses while Theo's coat looked pristine the day after. But she already had more armaments than commonly recommended... one of many soulcrafting decisions she needed to consider.
Eventually they were brought before the princes of the city. It was much like the arc of Wakespire judges, but this time there were more of them and they sat on golden thrones. The same Noveni woman was in the center of the group, though, and she spoke first.
"The city of Ugustial thanks you for your contribution to the safety and security of our polity." She leaned back and gestured through the grand windows to the city sprawled around them. "There are some who regret that we took on this sublime legacy, given some of the consequences, but you have been cleared of culpability. You participated in good faith and we trust you will feel yourselves well-compensated."
"The council of princes also thanks you for your restraint." An old man this time, clutching the armrests of his throne like he feared falling. "Our investigation, and the testimony of the Dortorus lineage, shows that you killed no one, even when you were under attack. There are many here who cannot say the same."
His comments caused some unrest and nasty glances between the princes. Nauda suddenly realized the true purpose of the council: more politics within the city. They knew that they couldn't really contain a group of powerful Authorities, so they used them for leverage in their own conflicts. Still, Nauda was glad that they hadn't accidentally killed anyone in all the chaos. As far as she could tell, the battle had simply been a local struggle for power, and no young soulcrafter deserved to die over that.
"All of that aside," the leader said, struggling to wrest back control, "the city of Ugustial is grateful. If you ever wish to return, anywhere in our nation, you would be welcome."
Thus implicitly suggesting that they needed to leave. Just as well. Nauda bowed along with the others and they departed the throne room. She had been looking forward to talking to Fiyu about what would come next, but before they could get far, Isorales intercepted them in one of the ornate hallways.
"They really don't hold anything against you," he said. It didn't seem a good sign that he needed to clarify that, but Isorales was smiling broadly. "I wanted to thank you personally. The Wakespire would have been very different for me without your help."
"Is the loss of the spire going to hurt the city?" Theo asked. Isorales shrugged, which was an impressive motion given all of his wings. He was holding them back now instead of crumpled and hunched.
"It would be extremely expensive to rebuild, which will be a huge argument. Many soulcrafters have been sanctioned for their actions and there will be politics over that for years. But the truth is, despite all the accusations and complaints, this contest did its job. Because fatalities were relatively low, the city's soulcrafting capacity has been substantially increased. Lineages from all across the continent are connected here, now, and those connections will have considerable value."
"But we are not welcome, are we?" Fiyu spoke quietly with her head down, as if it wasn't much of a question.
"Well, not exactly." Isorales sighed and glanced toward the chamber of princes. "Some ugly vendettas began as well, and there are still unresolved mysteries. Everyone feels that it would be easier if the strange foreigners weren't around to cast strange shadows. Uh... by 'everyone' I'm not including myself. I'll be sorry to see you go."
"We have weirkeys for Noven now," Nauda said. She stepped forward and hugged Isorales, which was only a little awkward due to his wings. "It won't be hard to come back someday."
"We'll definitely see one another again," Theo agreed. Fiyu bobbed her head as well.
"You'll all be sailing between worlds." Isorales turned away and stared out one of the windows wistfully. "It's funny, Ugustial has so many Authorities, but we don't spend much time traveling the Nine Worlds. Maybe it's lack of weirkeys, but I don't think so. We're just... satisfied in ourselves and not very curious. So I really envy you."
"You'd be able to come with us if you wanted," Theo said.
Immediately Isorales shook his head. "There's so much I need to do to support my lineage. My parents are happier with me, but I only won two rounds with your help and my rivals know it. I'll need to prove myself or-"
"Nonsense, dear boy!" The booming voice seemed to open a nearby pair of doors by volume alone and Jorotafes Jadadictus strode through.
"Grandfather?" Isorales instinctively took a step back, but the older man had already swept up to him and grabbed his shoulders.
"You truly proved yourself in the Wakespire, just as I'd feared you never would." Jorotafes spun aside and grasped Nauda by the shoulders as well, then Theo. He didn't seem to notice that Fiyu had slipped away and just kept booming. "I thought my grandson would be a coward forever! It turns out all he needed was a group of foreigners to knock some sense into him."
None of that seemed truly positive, but Isorales was smiling, so Nauda copied his expression. Theo, of course, stepped in earliest.
"We were glad to help Isorales," he said. "And perhaps we should thank you for his help in winning so much of the sublime legacy."
"Oh, don't play humble with me. You were doing this for a reward, right? I'm in a good enough mood, I'll let it pass. What do you want?"
