There was no official closing signal, but that seemed to be the end of the meeting. Some of the ministers departed immediately, the Minister of War went to speak to Homez, and some of the others came to her. Since they seemed much friendlier than before, Nauda reflected the same emotion to them, hoping that this was actually a step closer.

  If they could work together with the Asplundat Movement, that would be a huge step toward preventing Plutalgion and his empire from destroying everyone. But from what Homez had said, they were already trying to infiltrate the Movement, so this couldn't be the end. Nothing but a first step in some larger plan she didn't know.

  Before she could find any answers, Nauda found herself face to face with Tythes.

  "Some may approve of your insouciant manners," he said gravely, "but you should treat this place with more respect. There is no space for such antics."

  "Apologies if I gave offense." Nauda barely managed to keep her tone neutral as she stared into those familiar eyes. "Minister Tiberionius, was it? Have we met before?"

  "I cannot imagine how that would be, as I have served as the Minister of Tubers my entire life." Tythes placed his mask over his face and, at the very last second, winked at her. Then she could see nothing but his eyes and he faded back into the group of other ministers.

  Homez came up to stand beside her, putting an encouraging hand on her shoulder, but Nauda found herself staring after Tythes and the others. Whether or not this was a positive step toward a peaceful resolution, she felt as though she'd just realized that the race started a long time ago.

  Chapter 4

  Across the Nine Worlds, relatively few creatures could stand up to an Authority-tier soulcrafter. They were extraordinary sublime beasts, truly rare entities that were desired more than feared, not this bloated ghostworm. And so, as the Authorities of the Darkwheel Traders lifted into the air to attack it, they did so confidently.

  Fiyu hesitated, and she did not believe her hesitation was a mistake.

  Associate Hitemo and two other Authorities soared out, beginning with tongues of shadowy flame that made the monstrous ghostworm recoil. An old woman hurled a great thorn through the beast's core, pinning it in position so it could only thrash. Another attempted to attack with a sword and was knocked aside, but the ghostworm appeared to be pinned. Soon Associate Hitemo used a web-like technique to bind the monster in place.

  Their victory seemed assured and they closed in, and yet... Fiyu did not understand the sublime beast's actions. Beasts were not demons, to attack with mindless hatred. Most only wanted food, and even if they were predators, they would avoid conflict if the struggle did not seem worth the risk. Attacking a caravan with multiple Authorities seemed foolish, even for such an over-sized beast.

  Too late, Fiyu saw the teeth of the ghostworm glow with uncanny light. The others had no time to respond as it spewed a flood of cantae-charged light.

  The power blew through the web in an instant and struck the sword-wielding young woman, smashing her through a nearby glacier and no doubt leaving her heavily injured. With little hesitation, the ghostworm turned its head, sweeping the beam to strike Associate Hitemo, who only barely dodged aside. In the same movement it burst free of the thorn, no longer pretending to be pinned, and fell upon the last Authority.

  Fiyu whisked past, grabbing the older woman with tendrils of darkness and pulling her to safety. She looked shocked by the speed, but recovered enough to hurl more dark thorns that stabbed deep into the ghostworm. That at least slowed the beast as it pursued them, coiling over glaciers and unleashing beams of light.

  Dodging the attacks was possible for Fiyu, especially while retreating, but they couldn't afford to run long: the ghostworm was rapidly approaching the caravan. It seemed as though Associate Hitemo was summoning more webs, at least slowing down the beast, so she should switch tactics.

  Soon Fiyu alighted on the glacier where the last Authority had been smashed, finding her alive but injured. Fiyu left the older woman to attend to her, hopefully returning both of them to the fight in time. Then she turned back and flew toward the ghostworm, which still loomed over the landscape like a pallid tower.

  Associate Hitemo seemed to be keeping it at bay, wrapping webs of darkness around the worm's upper body until its glowing teeth were pointed skyward. It struggled, able to break some webs, but could no longer turn its head enough to fire on them. It almost seemed like he might have it under control, but something about its movements...

  The teeth might be aiming skyward, but they glowed with unnatural light. As she felt the beast's cantae surge, Fiyu braced herself without slowing.

  A sunburst exploded from the ghostworm's mouth, cascading over the landscape with physical force. For a moment the hills of Ichil were lit up like day on another world, drawing cries of horror from the caravan. But the burst of light hit Associate Hitemo worst, stunning him with its force and sending him spinning downward.

  Though the unnatural light struck Fiyu as well, she pierced through it and forged on. She had closed her eyes at the last second, but the light could have burned through her eyelids: only her mask, forged to defend against all kinds of horrible suns, protected her.

  The impact of the light was the worst since the attacks Fiyu had received on Noven, but it wasn't enough to fully shake her. When she got into range of the ghostworm, she arced upward and unleashed a lightstorm, attempting to annihilate it as she had the others.

  Her bolts of cantae tore into the ghostworm's body, but couldn't destroy it entirely. The beast twisted away, rolling over the edge of a glacier to avoid her attack - and worse, the damaged sections bled out a host of smaller ghostworms, which began crawling toward the caravan and all the others.

  Even if the small ones were no threat to her, Fiyu could not afford to be distracted by them threatening the caravan, or even gathering around her Authority allies. Since the large beast was shielding itself with glaciers, she turned her lightstorm against the others. Her bursts ravaged the side of the path, but they eradicated every last trace of the ghostworm tide.

  A giant head peaked over a glacier, just long enough to unleash another beam of light. Fiyu pirouetted across the sky and prepared a counter, but held back as it ducked again. If it was behaving like a predator, she should take this moment to think.

  This giant seemed to be an amalgamation of many other ghostworms, despite or maybe even because of the fact that they were corpses. All attacks that broke it apart so far had only unleashed smaller worms, which suggested that Associate Hitemo's strategy of binding might be wiser. It might be possible to kill it via slowly eliminating every constituent ghostworm, but that would take a great deal of time. As much as her cantae reserves had increased, she couldn't afford to unleash full scale lightstorms repeatedly.

  Perhaps she should try a direct attack, then. It had not worked for the young woman wielding a sword, but Fiyu thought her own chances were much better.

  She let her stealth technique slide around her and then flew in an arc to strike the ghostworm from behind. It turned about uncertainly, and though it was perhaps smart enough to pretend, she doubted that it could see through her technique because her stealth was tied so strongly to her Corporeal Floor. As Fiyu flew closer to the tuberous body, still on edge, the ghostworm seemed to finally ignore her and move toward the others again.

  Attacking the blubbery side would be useless, but the end with its teeth acted as a dangerous weapon. Fiyu hovered behind the creature's neck, or the closest thing it had to one, and prepared the longest cantae blade that she could. Not enough to decapitate the creature in a stroke, but she could try.

  Fiyu flashed down at full speed, cutting a massive gash through one side of the beast's neck. Smaller ghostworms tumbled from the injury and the head sagged to the side, so she reversed direction, intending to cut through the other side and finish it off.

  As she rushed in, she realized that the mass of the creature's body was swelling dangerously.

  It exploded, sending a shower of ghostworms in all directions. Fiyu had absolutely no chance of dodging, so she desperately reached for her incorporeality technique. Several ghostworms made contact and Fiyu shuddered in revulsion as she felt their essence pass through, but none of them managed to infect or truly touch her.

  The giant ghostworm was swelling up again, however, preparing to unleash another burst of ghostworms. Fiyu still held her cantae blade in one hand, but she wondered if she should dismiss it in favor of a lightstorm at point blank range. She could eradicate the burst of worms, but would that be enough?

  Dark webs flew over the bulging part of the ghostworm, tightening and seeming to suppress another burst. Fiyu turned to see Associate Hitemo flying nearby, having covered his own head in webs. It seemed that he had recovered from the disorienting blast of light. She extended her stealth technique into a bubble around him and they hovered near the injured ghostworm.

  "Do you have any insight?" Fiyu asked.

  "Never heard of one this big," Associate Hitemo said grimly. "It can't separate forever, so do you have enough cantae to kill all the little ones inside it?"

  "I fear not. Is there no more efficient path?"

  He didn't seem to know one, and they were running out of time in any case. The ghostworm moved more swiftly than the caravan, so it was closing the distance. A dark thorn leapt from one glacier, pinning the ghostworm again, but it retaliated with a light beam that forced the old woman to retreat. She would not be able to delay the beast for long.

  "You had the right idea taking out the jaws." Associate Hitemo took a deep breath and began gathering cantae in his arms. "I'm not strong enough to finish it off, but can you?"

  She nodded and then they separated to act. Fiyu flew toward the uninjured side of the ghostworm's neck, cutting another long gash before it detected her. Associate Hitemo provided support, hurling webbing over the injury as well as the swelling. As the ghostworm thrashed, Fiyu turned and hacked at the neck a third time.

  The upper part of the ghostworm sloughed away, its remaining connections dissolving into smaller worms. It splattered over the glacier, but Fiyu kept her eyes on the rest... despite having severed the "head", the giant ghostworm was still capable of movement.

  Its blunt stump thrashed wildly, striking Associate Hitemo in a burst of smaller worms. He seemed to have defended himself in a sphere of his webs, but the impact knocked him far away across the glaciers. The ghostworm thrashed forward, crossing another glacier, tearing away from several thorns and getting closer to the caravan, bleeding worms in all directions.

  When the giant collapsed to the ground, some in the caravan shouted hopefully, but Fiyu was more concerned about the beast's other end. It arched into the air, revealing another maw of teeth, just as dangerous as the first.

  Fiyu threw out a hand, extending tendrils of darkness as spikes that she drove into the beast's side. She managed to knock its head down, sending the first blast off course, but she couldn't hold it for long. Relative Guchiro could make his shadows so powerful, but hers were still weak in comparison. Even as she tried to use more to stab into the ghostworm, she was only dealing small injuries, failing to prevent it from advancing toward the caravan.

  "The heart!" The elder Authority appeared atop a glacier, glowing with cantae. "We have to eliminate the heart!" Then she hurled one more dark thorn.

  It pierced into the side of the monster, again failing to pin it to the ground, but this time Fiyu understood that it was a signal. In the haste of combat she hadn't been able to tell the difference, but there did seem to be something denser within the ghostworm around that point. Unfortunately, its skin was thicker there, not easily pierced even by the thorn.

  Still, it was their best hope. Fiyu flew down, her cantae blade cutting another deep gash. This time the ghostworm retaliated almost instantly, spurts of smaller worms trying to strike her, but she was prepared and dodged around them.

  Associate Hitemo was present as well, stopping some of the spurts with webs - his assistance was appreciated, though not required. Fiyu attempted to advance on the damaged length again, aiming to cut for the heart, but she could sense an ominous light growing overhead.

  Even though the ghostworm struggled to move without one end, it managed to unleash another sunburst, this time directly at her. Fiyu managed to endure it, though the force left her scorched as she skidded backward through the air. The elder Authority was forced to retreat, Associate Hitemo was only partially stunned... and all the guards of the caravan were completely disabled.

  Even as she flew down toward the heart, cantae blade emerging, Fiyu realized that she had made an error. The severed end of the ghostworm was bulging again, but not to spew any worms toward her. No, it was targeting the caravan.

  Since she was focused on the central target, she was too late to prevent the burst. Her senses, greatly enhanced by her ascensions, gave her too much time to watch the flickering worms fly through the air, aiming to blanket her allies and the entire caravan.

  Fiyu raised both arms and unleashed a lightstorm directly on them.

  It took all her control, but she barely managed to arc the bolts as they flew, flowing around her allies. They tore through the storm of ghostworms and then curved upward, barely missing the caravan and its defenders, who stared in shock.

  That burst took a great deal out of Fiyu, but fortunately the giant ghostworm seemed exhausted as well. Perhaps, if infecting others was its means of reproduction, this was effectively a suicidal rush to spawn as many as possible. She thought that its efforts had been foiled, though they would need to be extremely careful in analyzing the caravan.

  Associate Hitemo and the elder Authority acted before the ghostworm recovered: webs covered its mouth and several thorns pierced through its throat. While it thrashed and tried to strike at them, Fiyu turned back and this time reached her destination.

  Even her second strike couldn't reach the heart, but her third finally tore open the beast's core. Not trusting the slime that remained, Fiyu extended darkness into the body and curled it around the pulsing core she found there, then ripped it out.

  At last the body began to collapse, much of it dissolving into smaller ghostworms. Some lay still, but even those that appeared to be alive twitched lethargically. Fiyu retreated from the body, just in case it had a final trick, and finally allowed herself to relax.

  "You should destroy that," the old woman said, eyeing the ghostworm heart suspiciously.

  "Is it dangerous?" Fiyu asked. "Will it revive the giant or cause infections?"

  "I don't know about that, but I was always taught we had to smash the cores. And that was for ghostworms the size of houses, not... that beast."

  "I will take care of it," Fiyu said, but in fact she simply secured the heart in a cocoon of darkness and hid it with her stealth technique. "What about the teeth? Can those be used as sublime materials?"

  The Darkwheel Traders seemed more open to that, since apparently there were known uses for ghostworm teeth. They were considered too weak a material for normal soulcrafting, but at this size each tooth was an arm-length span of crystal. Because Fiyu had carried most of the battle, the caravan let her take fully half of them, even helped her secure and clean all the teeth.

  There was some risk in taking all these materials, especially the heart, but Fiyu judged that this was the time to trust her own judgment over elders'. She was an adult now, with more traveling experience than all of them despite their roaming. Besides, it had been their error that had led to the attack in the first place, so she didn't trust their risk assessments.

  As Fiyu began to scrutinize the entire caravan for stray ghostworms, she was surprised when Associate Hitemo flew closer to intercept her.

  "All is well," he said, "you can rest. You've done enough."

  Fiyu blinked at him. "But I was hired to take you to your destination."

  "This shortcut may have endangered us, but it still worked: we're almost there. We'll be meeting up with the other Darkwheel caravans and then we can begin negotiations."

  "Oh, I see."

  Inwardly, Fiyu sighed as she realized what was to come next. Part of her was pleased to finish her journey and join her true companions again, but there was still the most dangerous portion of the trip: meeting up with a very large community of traders and negotiating her final pay.

  If only there was another giant monster to fight.

  Chapter 5

  Working within his basement, Theo almost didn't care where his body was. Technically he could still look out in the physical world, as he could from anywhere in his soulhome, but in the basement he felt safely enclosed, free to ignore it. If he could have soulcrafted on Earth, he almost wouldn't have minded being trapped there.

  Of course that wasn't actually true. Better not to think about it. There was work to be done, which was both a pleasure and an obligation.

  By this point, his basement felt like a real workshop even if it wasn't fully complete. His essential goal was to structure his rooms as a shadow of his first floor so that the cantae could float up and strengthen his first sphere when he wasn't working. So far he had six out of nine rooms essentially in place based on that blueprint.

  Two of his corner chambers felt mostly finished: his northwestern chamber had become a "gravity workshop" with all his gravitational materials while he'd added materials to the stormpowder in the southeastern chamber to make a "torsion workshop". His other two corners were empty: in theory he wanted them to be dedicated to mass and anti-mass, but at the moment he didn't have enough sublime materials appropriate for those themes.

  He'd filled the southernmost room with materials aligned with deathdust, which were strong but not particularly useful for crafting. The plan was still to make the northern chamber into a place for refining sublime food, though he needed more skills in that regard. That left the western and eastern chambers for the exciting work.

  The skyvenom sat in the west, still potent in its basin even though he had yet to effectively use it. In the east he'd taken some suggestions from Dave, building a sort of special storage room that could not only hold items but slowly enrich them. Not enough to leap a tier or anything absurd, just a tool he couldn't afford to overlook. Currently he had all of his materials for his future Immortality Conduit stored there, slowly preparing for their eventual use.

 

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