She'd received a good soulcrafting education, so she'd definitely be able to solve the puzzle eventually, but Theo thought it might take her a while. He suspected the first puzzle was meant to weed out incompetents, whereas this one was designed to be a true challenge. It definitely tested your ability to hold a large pattern in your mind... but he had been doing exactly that for decades on Earth.

  While Fiyu fixed self-contained sections of the soulhome, Theo tackled the broader flow. This design was an unusual one with several different wings, but it still followed the same principles. When he finally directed all the water toward the door, he waited for it to open... nothing.

  "I am not sure..." Fiyu was hesitating around a previous section, looking to fine tune the pipes, but he doubted that a few small changes would redirect enough water.

  No, the problem had to be elsewhere. Theo looked back to the center of the blueprint and found a section where the water sloshed excessively in the pipes and lost a lot of momentum. This flow might have worked for him, but apparently the creators of the trial hadn't assumed a high degree of control. When he switched to a simpler pattern, more water flowed directly through the center and reached the door.

  When he and Fiyu stepped through, they found themselves in an empty room. This one was circular but otherwise free of ornaments or obvious puzzles. After several seconds of concentration, Fiyu shook her head to indicate she felt nothing hidden.

  "Please wait," a voice told them from the ceiling. Every announcement sounded a bit strange, but Theo thought that at least three different people had spoken to them.

  "Are they doing this just to slow us down?" He directed the question to Fiyu and she floundered at the rhetorical question.

  "I do not know. Perhaps the voice is a trick?"

  "It is not." The official was back, proving that they were listening closely. "You simply need to wait for the next group to reach this section. Two teams enter and only one can proceed. Ah... here we are."

  A section of the wall beside where they had entered lit up in a portal, so Theo and Fiyu retreated to a safer distance. The Gatrium Authority with his blue mask entered - he appeared to have lost all three of his teammates, but there wasn't a scratch on him. Instead of trying to attack, he sauntered to the center of the chamber.

  "You've done well to come this far, but you can't beat me." He stretched his gray wings to their full extension as he rolled his shoulders. "But you could waste my time. If you surrender and help me stay ahead of the Dortorus teams, I'll grant you one of my blessings next month."

  "No thanks." Theo was interested by the idea of exchanging favors across rounds of the competition, but he didn't trust this man and he wasn't going to surrender so easily.

  "Don't you fools understand how this works? If you fight me, I'll make sure you go back so injured you won't recover in time for the next round!"

  Fiyu went invisible and the masked man flinched.

  "Fools! I can tear you limb from limb!" Cantae rushed around him in a blue aura, and though Theo didn't see any weaknesses in his power, he had seen that flinch. This Authority seemed too desperate to avoid the fight, which only motivated them to start it.

  Theo began by casting a gravitational field and he was surprised to see his opponent stagger. The Authority began flooding cantae around himself to keep from floating to the ceiling, but he was clearly struggling. According to Nauda's intelligence he had ascended a full month ago, so could he really have so little control? Maybe he'd focused on other skills in preparation for the contest.

  In any case, Theo decided to take the fight completely seriously. He began hurling torsion bolts and watched as the Authority struggled to negate them. Something wasn't right about the way he fought, as if his cantae flow was bizarrely distorted...

  Then Fiyu cut across the back of his legs. He dropped to his knees with a cry of pain and she fell on him, her cantae blade at his throat... but she hesitated. Even though she had their opponent pinned, Fiyu looked toward Theo with a puzzled expression. He agreed: figuring out this oddity might be more important to the contest overall than a little time saved.

  "Did you cheat to get to Authority?" Theo asked.

  "I didn't che... unhand me! No prince of Noven should be treated like this!"

  Instead, Theo walked forward and pulled off the man's mask. As soon as it came free, the Authority's cantae shuddered... and it became clear that he was no Authority. The quality of his cantae immediately dropped to a Ruler's and damage appeared on his body and clothes. It seemed like he had been suffering the injuries he had been pretending to shrug off.

  "That is... an impressive deception." Fiyu pulled back, her eyes so wide Theo could see a hint of them even through her face plate. "I do not know how such a thing could be accomplished."

  "Neither do I." Theo examined the mask carefully. It was clearly made of sublime materials, but he'd never heard of an armament capable of something like that. He lowered it and looked back to the fake Authority. "Doesn't matter. Do you surrender, or do we need to send you back?"

  "You ruined everything!" The Gatrium man took a swipe at him, but his injuries were too severe to put strength behind it. "This was supposed to be the Gatrium lineage's chance to show our worth... everything was going so well, then you fools..."

  Clearly he'd been counting on his armament to impress the judges and intimidate other contestants. Given his reputation after the first round, it had apparently worked, then he'd simply had bad luck running into two Rulers who wouldn't hesitate to fight an Authority. Theo almost felt bad for the raging man, as his anger was devolving into sobs, but he still had a contest to win.

  Before he could finish the man off, Fiyu stepped beside him and took the mask. She bent down next to the fallen Noveni and extended it to him. "We do not mean to steal your armament," she said. "Why don't you take it and leave under your own power?"

  "Don't mock me!" The Gatrium contestant knocked the mask out of her hands before falling onto his face. Fiyu lowered her head and drew back.

  "Do we need to make him surrender?" Theo asked the air. "I won't hesitate if that's what it takes."

  The official who had spoken to them didn't answer out loud, but the portal onward appeared. Theo smiled and ran into the next chamber.

  ~ ~ ~

  Fiyu was no longer enjoying the Wakespire. The early chambers had been fair tests of their abilities, but now it seemed that the organizers were intentionally trying to eliminate her and her companions. If the intended goal was to make all the competitors continue until they failed, she hated the very idea of this contest.

  Poor Friend Nauda had sacrificed herself so they could move forward. Fiyu forced herself to face the sublime beast in front of them.

  In any other context, Fiyu would have retreated. The beast appeared to be a sphere composed almost entirely of four different jaws that met together at the front. She could see beady little eyes between the jaws as well as various crystalline spikes from the sides of its body, but otherwise it appeared to be all mouth.

  More alarmingly, the creature's natural soulhome had more than three rings, which meant it was roughly comparable to an Authority. This would certainly be an occasion to retreat and find a relative.

  "Well, let's try this..." Friend Theo didn't attempt to use his usual technique because the creature flew under its own power, instead beginning with experimental bolts.

  One damaged the sublime beast's hide, but it immediately opened its jaws and roared. Within its jaws burned a fiery mass of white-hot cantae that exploded outward, forcing them to leap in opposite directions. Fiyu caught her breath and then let her stealth flow over her body.

  Almost immediately the beast turned toward her. Its body jerked from side to side, small eyes searching, and then it peeled back its jaws even further. The glowing mass at its core began rushing in all directions, trying to wipe away other techniques. With her Corporeal Floor, Fiyu was unaffected and began to creep closer, hoping that she could end the fight with a precise strike.

  Before she got close, the sublime beast began unleashing cantae beams in all directions. They moved very quickly, forcing her to retreat to a safer distance. Unfortunately, she doubted that such a powerful beast would exhaust itself soon enough for her to take advantage.

  Abruptly the beast collapsed to the ground, writhing. Friend Theo must have been using one of his new techniques... but the beast was already adapting. The crystals on its back began to glow with the same fiery light at its core and the beast rose. This time it was targeting Friend Theo, nearly catching him with another of its dangerous bursts.

  If they had been at their best and had Friend Nauda at their side... but that was a fantasy. Fiyu realized that they had few chances. The sublime beast was too intelligent and perceptive to allow Friend Theo to charge his best technique. She had little to offer, with her soulhome still struggling to refill itself. Her only hope was to put all she had into a single attempt to cripple the beast.

  While it was distracted, Fiyu leapt at its back. At the last second she summoned her cantae blade around her hand with all her new strength, just before she cut across the beast's flank.

  Her blade sliced one of the crystals in half, but ground to a halt against the beast's gnarled flesh before she could sever one of its jaws. It roared in pain and began to turn. No time. Fiyu struck again, severing another crystal and hoping she could cut off the entire-

  Dozens of needles caught her shoulder and agony shot through her body. Then suddenly she was falling and striking a soft pad.

  Fiyu lay on her back, gasping for breath. The sublime beast must have turned faster than she had realized, using its superior speed to bite her. Not only did her body feel somewhat burned from its fiery core, she could feel the points of pain all down her chest and back. Clearly, she had been rescued, but not before she had been injured.

  "Fiyu!"

  The voice of a friend broke through her shock and Fiyu struggled to sit up. Friend Nauda was beside her, bloody but thankfully not ground to pulp. She moved forward as if to touch her, then immediately pulled back, all her muscles going tense.

  "Nauda." Fiyu smiled at her friend and reached up to take her hand. Once they touched, Friend Nauda used her strength to help her to her feet. "I am glad to see you well."

  "They let you take a nasty hit before pulling you out." Friend Nauda winced and touched her side. "There have been others coming through and some of them have broken bones or worse injuries. This is ridiculous."

  "I do not like this competition."

  "That's how they get you." It wasn't Friend Nauda but an unknown Noveni who sat at the side of the chamber, one of his wings apparently broken. Friend Nauda's back relaxed slightly when she turned to him, so he must have been known to her. The man gave a wry smile. "It only pulls you out before a lethal blow, so you can take heavy injuries. The Dortorus teams are using that to eliminate the competition."

  "Not much of an excuse," Friend Nauda said. "Isorales, this is Fiyu, one of my teammates. I didn't see you fall through."

  "Oh, I came through the next room over. When I realized that I wouldn't be able to make it much further, I failed out in a way that wouldn't cripple me."

  While the two of them spoke, Fiyu examined the room more carefully. It was another cube, much like those in the Wakespire tower, but this one had windows along one side that revealed the normal Noveni landscape around them. There was a space for portals to appear on the ceiling, dropping failed contestants onto a soft pad. Through the doors Fiyu could sense several identical rooms, many of them filled with heavily injured contestants.

  As they retreated from the room, Fiyu remained closer to her friend. "Nauda, is it possible to watch the progress of the others?"

  "Apparently the princes and judges have special windows," Friend Nauda said, "but for the rest of us there are only big model towers. I was watching your light and hoping you made it through."

  "I am fine, Nauda." In truth, she was still shaken from her near death. She desperately wanted to either be alone or be with Relative Guchiro, but she was glad to have Friend Nauda with her.

  "Are you sure?" Friend Nauda's glance suggested that Fiyu had not been successful at hiding her emotions. "You look like you took a burn and something sharp really tore into you. I've been working on my healing, so I could try..."

  "Yes, please do."

  "I'll need to touch you to do it, though."

  "That is acceptable. You may proceed."

  They entered the room just outside the entry point, which included various benches around a large model of the spire. This one gave more information than the smaller versions Fiyu had seen within the tower, but she was too weary to examine it. Despite what she had said, the injuries remaining did pain her significantly.

  "Alright, move your cloak out of the way and I'll do what I can for these cuts." Friend Nauda took her to a sheltered corner of the room and laid her hand on her shoulder very gingerly.

  Her touch was not unwelcome and it carried with it a wave of healing cantae. Yet, as she healed Fiyu's shoulder bites, Friend Nauda's heartbeat increased rapidly. This saddened Fiyu: her friend was still so nervous about offending her that even a healing touch made her nervous. Navigating the differences between worlds was difficult, but she would try to find a way to reassure her. Perhaps Relative Guchiro could advise her after the competition.

  In the room beside them, another contestant fell from the ceiling, screaming and scattering blood in all directions.

  As the pain of her injuries eased, Fiyu's senses wandered back to the central spire. It was not amenable to her normal senses, so she was forced to use her eyes to track the small flicker of light that represented Friend Theo. Now he traveled alone against the dangers of the Wakespire.

  Chapter 7

  When Theo finally entered the next portal, he was limping. That sublime beast had been a nasty customer that he wasn't sure he could have beaten without Fiyu destroying several of its crystals. Even after that, it had become a grueling battle to whittle down the creature before it could pin him down. Before he finished it off, it had struck him several times with cantae bursts and gnawed on one of his legs.

  To add insult to literal injury, just when he was about to finish it off, it had vanished just like the contestants. He knew that the Noveni couldn't afford to throw away such powerful resources, but he had been looking forward to killing the thing.

  Fortunately, the next room didn't seem to be combat-oriented. There was a gap in the floor, then a series of swiftly moving clay targets on the opposite wall. That shouldn't be a problem. His blueprint's efficiency meant that he wasn't hurting for cantae, even after the previous fight, so he had been most worried about stressing his injured body. This chamber would give him a chance to recover a little.

  "Just take out the targets?" He asked the question to the air, but the trial proctors didn't answer.

  He raised a hand and began casting torsion bolts. It took him a couple tries, as the targets were made of a sublime material that somewhat deflected cantae. Not well enough: a precisely-placed bolt would still break apart the clay. Alert for any additional threats, Theo simply began taking out the targets left to right.

  Just when he was beginning to think that there was no hidden obstacle, he saw clay slip from out of the darkness and reform a target. He immediately took it out, but there were others rising. Soon they were reforming faster than he could fire torsion bolts.

  Recognizing a losing strategy, Theo stopped and just watched the targets as they returned to their original position. This would have been a perfect opportunity for Fiyu to eliminate them all with a lightstorm, but he'd have to cobble together another solution.

  First he tried forming a larger, slower moving torsion bolt that would persist through multiple targets. When he launched it into the center, the targets rerouted around the bolt instead of crashing into it. No luck. A singularity might have been able to destroy them all, but he didn't want to waste so much cantae, especially if there was a chance that they'd still be able to evade.

  Gravitational fields and points of mass managed to push the targets around, which was good for setup. Once he had the positions as good as he thought he could manage, and confirmed he had no other ideas, Theo hurled several bolts and tore apart the clusters.

  Or at least a significant portion of them. Some of the targets escaped, others were flying out of range, and they'd start regenerating any second.

  Theo started destroying the remaining targets... and he realized that he wasn't fast enough. He had never relied on torsion bolts as a primary technique, so he hadn't realized the limitations. Even though his flow was flawless, always providing cantae from his spherical pattern, something was slowing him down. It couldn't be the mental process: he was trying to shape another bolt and his cantae simply wasn't reacting fast enough.

  The first target began to slide up from the shadows. Theo let out a roar and released everything he could: not just torsion bolts, but generic spheres of cantae and even less formed attacks.

  For a moment he was afraid that even that wasn't going to be enough. The last bolt left his fingers weakly and he staggered backward, but it destroyed the last remaining target. Once they were all down, the fragments dropped into the shadows and the portal onward shimmered open. Technically he should have floated into it, but instead Theo dropped to his knees and considered his near-failure. Long term soulcrafting was more important than one little contest.

  So far, his strategies had always involved decisive techniques instead of raw volume and he had no intention of spamming attacks. Yet lacking the capacity felt like a weakness. As the speed of his opponents increased, being able to use techniques rapidly would only become more important. Surely there was some way to improve that. Perhaps it could even speed up how swiftly he could generate singularities.

  Regardless, that was a problem he wouldn't solve right then. Theo idly considered if his blueprint was flexible enough to accommodate a change as he limped into the next portal.

 

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