Endburn: Chapters 7-8 (Patreon)

Chapter 7

After weeks fighting battle after battle, suddenly Theo faced an entire day filled with meetings. It had only taken him a few days to finally get contact with Dave, who had invited him to come to the Mercury Court to discuss their tactics, and several other arrangements had come together at the same time.

His first priority, as he'd promised, was to find Fiyu and Nauda if they required finding. If he didn't need to do that immediately, he had scheduled another meeting with the Orphic Cabal, then he intended to check in on the Caretaker. The strange aeon-class Siatan had never contacted him and Theo hoped that the flowers that would allegedly assist with ascension were ready. After that, if he still had time, he would be able to meet with all three Norronese Dominions again.

When he received the contact signal, the meeting place was near the continent of the Mercury Court, but not the usual palace. Theo carefully followed the weirkey coordinates and emerged near a dull copper mountain that stood alone over a vast region. It was an unremarkable peak, other than its solitude, but all around it...

Only a flat desert, yet the sand itself was pure silver. When Theo shifted in the air, light rippled across the ground in surprising patterns. Small eddies of wind passed occasionally, blurring the surface in a swirl of silver and sky. Looking straight down, the surface was so clear that he could see a blurry reflection of himself, dissolving as the sand shifted.

Seated on a craggy edge of the mountain, Emperor Dave of the Mercury Court watched the desert in silence.

"What's this?" Theo asked as he hovered closer.

"Just a nice place for a private conversation." Dave didn't look back at him, just staring out over the silver desert. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I see it."

"Hopefully you'll get to see a real sandstorm, but I know you're not here for that. Sorry it took so long to respond."

"What's the problem over here?" Theo dropped down to sit beside the emperor.

"Oh, the Mercury Court always has a dozen problems. Some of our allies aren't happy, and without my 'siblings' it's hard to keep on top of everything. The biggest problem is the Salebrante, which just keeps getting bigger. They have allies now... but I'm guessing you don't have time for that."

"No, I have to stay focused on Fithe. Where are Fiyu and Nauda?"

"Don't overreact to this, but I don't know." Dave raised his hands defensively. "At first they were on their honeymoon over in Occoire Court and everything was fine. But I got word of a Salebrante attempt to assassinate them. Not sure how they learned, but the logical answer is a leak in my court. Of course I helped them out, but after that I let them move somewhere without my knowledge."

Theo cursed under his breath. He was glad they were alright, but that made the next step more difficult. "So no way to contact them?" he asked.

"You had an inter-world material, didn't you? That should have made it to them, they'll just have to make their way back on their own. When I met them, they seemed to be in good spirits and doing some good soulcrafting. Just be patient."

"I guess I have no choice." Theo picked up a rock and tossed it down the side of the mountain, then watched it bounce along a semi-random path. "I don't know how much we need to talk about, but at minimum I need to hear what you know about the aeon-class organizations."

"Well, for a start, I don't think I can be part of the Fithan war." Dave shook his head slowly. "Maybe, if there's a particularly good opportunity, maybe I can join in for one fight. But Tymetron has three aeon-class threats, and that's just too much of a risk for someone in my position, even before considering everyone who would love to put a knife in my back."

"I was wondering if that was why they were holding back."

"It could be, but I wouldn't bet on it. After the disaster over that crest thing, almost all the major factions have implicitly agreed to stay back. The Demonstalkers would fight Plutalgion if they could, but the Salebrante are waiting in the shadows to join in if they do."

"Are the two of them allied? I thought they-"

"That changed somehow." Dave gestured at the falling rock and a flicker of cantae sent it spinning out into the desert, where it plowed a glittering furrow. "I don't know the exact details, but Plutalgion must have called in a favor. They probably won't give him soulcrafters, but he'll have other factions backing him up if anyone outside Fithe tries to interfere."

"Did you hear he initiated something called an endburn? I wasn't sure if that would be so inhumane that it would-"

Dave chuckled mirthlessly. "You wish. No, if anything, declaring genocidal intent makes things easier for him. The endburn only applies to Norron, you see, so he's making clear that he has no designs on broader politics. This is just a lesser concern, as far as most groups are concerned."

"Unless he shows enough weakness."

"Of course. But that makes things worse for you in another way: it sounds like the Eternal Spectrum wants to pick up the pieces in the aftermath. Not personally. Obviously they wouldn't dirty their hands with lesser sublime materials. But it sounds like they're trying to arrange for some ally of theirs to turn the continent into a material farm for them, if things go poorly."

"Great." Theo winced and rubbed his eyes. "I don't suppose you have any good news?"

"Well, the House of the Lost is still out there. Not working very well with everyone, but they did some damage to Tymetron while Plutalgion was distracted with the Gold Wastes."

Even with all of that, it wasn't enough. Theo thought that a stalemate between all the aeon-class powers was probably best for the citizens of Norron, even if it made the war seem impossible to win. If they did manage to sell themselves to a group like the Eternal Spectrum, Norron would probably lose its freedom in an entirely different way. Theo was almost glad they weren't offering so that his allies wouldn't be tempted when things turned bad.

He stayed with Dave for a while longer, talking about details and not acknowledging that they just wanted to delay a little longer. Talking to someone else from Earth was easy and casual. As soon as they stopped, they'd both have to return to grim responsibilities.

Eventually Dave admitted they weren't going to get a nice sandstorm and stood up, signaling the end. Theo rose to his feet as well and they shook hands, but that was that. Both weirkeyed away and he was back to Norro Yorthin.

That was just a stop on the way, since he had so many other meetings crowding for his attention. House Blacksilver could tell him if they had word from Nauda and Fiyu, or if they needed anything else from him. Otherwise, he was off to try to make contact with the Orphic Cabal again, which would just chain into another series of meetings...

Except that the city beneath him was in chaos. It was boiling with so many soulcrafters that at first Theo looked for an attacking army, even though Tymetron was still far from Norro Yorthin. Something had happened that sent the Houses into a frenzy and some civilians fleeing by the main gates.

Fortunately, even in the chaos his arrival merited some attention. Before he could trace the patterns or float down to the Blacksilver complex, someone flew up to meet him. Karchibol, one of the old Authorities who Theo had never particularly liked.

"It's been an absolute disaster," the old man told him, words tumbling over one another. "It was yesterday, but we just found out. Tymetron sent them. All three. The soulcrafters past Dominion."

"Who did they target?" Theo demanded.

"Our Dominions, all at once." Karchibol lowered his head in grief or shame. "They say that Citizen Dominion lived, but that's the least of it. Crintak was injured... Dris Kolonb is destroyed. And we don't know what happened in the Wavefront, but there was a huge explosion. Their Dominion is dead and their lines are collapsing."

He shouldn't say it out loud, but Theo was actually relieved that it wasn't worse. Citizen Dominion surviving wasn't surprising, because he had cooperated when Theo gave him the evacuation artifact, so at least the Asplundat Movement leadership would have escaped. Dris Kolonb was a nasty blow, especially if Crintak was too injured to fight, but not unexpected.

Melitta dying, though... that really ate at him. If the explosion was noted compared to all the other attacks, it was most likely the Orphic Detonator. Had it caught Melitta in the blast, or had it fired too late? Losing a Dominion was a terrible loss, and if he was responsible...

"I don't know what we're going to do." Karchibol spoke slowly and stared over the city with hollow eyes. "They say the enemy's strongest retreated, but Tymetron sent out its Dominions. All of them. We couldn't beat them with all three, but now..."

"Don't worry, fight." Theo grabbed Karchibol's shoulder and pulled his back straighter. "This is a blow, but we've been preparing for this. We have Guchiro and other powerful allies coming. We only lose now if we let them break our will."

"That's... I wish I had your faith." Karchibol did shake off the despair, however, and looked directly at him. "I'm not here just to inform you. Crintak wanted you to come to Dris Kolonb as soon as you arrive. They want you and everyone to participate in the defense."

"Got it. You take care of Norro Yorthin, we'll handle the rest."

Theo flew higher to get a good vantage point, though he needed a moment to collect himself. Despite the confidence that he'd been instinctively projecting, this was a real setback. If Tymetron had waited until he had been able to ascend to Dominion, or if Guchiro was closer to Ophaon, or if one of their aeon-class contacts had joined them... but he didn't have any of those circumstances, just this reality.

Once he was confident he could maintain control, Theo used a pair of weirkeys to travel to Dris Kolonb. Even though he was confident in his path, for a moment he thought he had to be in the wrong place. Where there had been marble pathways and countless fancy buildings, now there were only ruins.

Most of the city had been devastated by sheer force, just a byproduct of the primary attack that left marble blocks scattered across the wasteland. Military defenses had been explicitly targeted, turned into craters, and there were stone shells everywhere. The central building, the seat of the Ruling Cities, had been flattened, leaving nothing but a gold sword gleaming as a symbol.

Intellectually Theo knew that the many fronts of the war continued in his absence, and that he lost time every time he used a weirkey between worlds. Seeing the impact of that so viscerally, however, left him with a heavy feeling he couldn't put into words.

How many people had lived in Dris Kolonb? It wasn't as populous as the major cities, instead serving as an administrative capitol, but it wasn't a small number. Based on the destruction, it didn't seem like many could have survived. The people he saw moving below didn't look like civilians; they were soulcrafters analyzing the damage.

"There you are!" One of them flew up toward Theo. "Crintak needs to see you immediately. If we don't act now, all is lost."

"That's why I'm here," Theo said. "Take me to them."

-

Chapter 8

The second time Theo visited the undersea base he had even less time to enjoy it than before. He didn't need guidance, he just flew directly to where he'd met the Dominions. Instead of the main meeting room, he discovered Crintak and Citizen Dominion standing in one of the first chambers, talking to their subordinates in low voices.

Contrary to reports, both of them appeared to be injured. Citizen Dominion had a long bloody slash across his chest, while Crintak had half his body burned and one arm in a sling, though his sapphire eye burned fiercely from the burned side. Crintak waved aside the subordinates they were talking to as soon as he saw Theo and gestured him closer.

"They hit us hard." Crintak tossed a sphere of red stone at him and Theo caught it instinctively. "One of our Arbaian allies got a record, if it will do any good. Take a look before you judge us."

The sphere was actually unfamiliar to Theo, but he saw a ridge around the side and figured out that it could be twisted with a bit of cantae. That made part of the sphere slide into the other half, revealing a glassy plate of marble. It didn't look like a screen, but when he sent a little cantae into it, he felt a vision swimming into his mind, similar to observing a soulhome.

Within the vision, he was standing some distance outside Dris Kolonb, at a height as if he stood atop a tower. There was no sense of cantae, so he didn't see the gleaming figure at first. But the city itself responded, a shell of rock growing over it - that must be the Great Dome they boasted about.

Plutalgion hung in the air, less a person than a dead suit of armor. His movements were slow and deliberate as he drew a sword of liquid gold, as if he was in no hurry. Then, all at once, he swung and cracked the city in half.

Whatever power had been built into the Great Dome, however much it had been designed to endure, it wasn't enough. The swing of the golden sword destroyed it, creating a shower of the shell-like stone that Theo had seen all over the ruins. That didn't end the recording, but when Plutalgion released a blast, a shockwave flashed out, knocking the device to the ground where the vision ended.

"They were holding back their strongest until they could get all three of us," Crintak said grimly.

"And they would have, normally." Citizen Dominion turned to Theo and bowed deeply. "Your device did exactly what you promised, transporting everyone away when the soulcrafter beyond Dominion appeared. A few hundred died in the outlying areas, but it should have been so much worse."

"Then why are you injured?" Theo asked.

"I... should have gone with the others, but I foolishly stayed. I thought I could stop the enemy before he attacked. The one beyond Dominion... I didn't know what I was dealing with. He didn't have arms or legs, like... they had been removed, replaced with golden blades. I didn't even meaningfully slow him down, I just distracted him."

"That's the one called the Goldreaper," Crintak added. "At least that's what our intelligence suggests. He's been fighting on the western side of Tymetron before now, so we don't know much about him other than that he's allegedly extremely fast."

"So Plutalgion went to the Ruling Cities," Theo went over the strategy, "the Goldreaper attacked the Asplundat Movement, and I presume the Demonweaver struck the Wavefront. They were trying for a decapitation strike to take out everyone."

"So it seems. It could have been worse... but it could have been better. Should have been."

Crintak stared directly at Theo with his remaining eye, refusing to so much as blink, yet there was a heaviness to him. Theo realized that this was as close the man would get to apologizing, since he was implicitly admitting that Theo had been right. It didn't feel right, in the face of what they'd lost, especially if Melitta had been killed by Theo's bomb.

That was the answer to his questions about their strategy, at least. Tymetron had launched the ships with their main army to lull Norron into a sense of complacency, convincing everyone that they intended to sweep across the continent from north to south. When problems like Theo had arisen, they had brought out a few Dominions, as if they were still under pressure. But as soon as they had their targets, they had executed a strike that came close to ending everything.

"So what do we do now?" Theo asked. "I heard something about Tymetron sending out their Dominions?"

"Eight of them," Crintak said gruffly, clearly glad to return to strategy. "We think they're holding three in reserve, either to counter our efforts or working on something else. But that's eight of their armies that have gone from manageable threats to unstoppable ones."

"Any sign of their strongest remaining?"

"That's the only good news. Their enemies probably punished them for this, so they had to go back to Tymetron to deal with the fallout. I fought one of their Dominions out in the Wavefront, to try to keep things from falling apart there, and I wasn't targeted again."

Left unsaid was the fact that the aeon-class soulcrafters might not be necessary to win the war, not anymore. Just like with the tournament, Tymetron tried to deploy its strongest carefully, using them for high impact assaults that wouldn't leave the empire with many openings.

"I brought Guchiro back," Theo said, since they clearly needed the encouragement. "Given time, I could find you more Dominions, but I don't know how much time we have."

"Very little, if we can't save the Wavefront," Citizen Dominion told him. "Our lines are only holding because of all our defenses and formations facing the north. We've laid out enough anti-weirkey stone to prevent a simple attack, but if they break through the Wavefront, they can just fly to flank us. If that happens, we wouldn't last a day."

"The Wavefront is tough," Crintak said, "so they won't collapse without Melitta. But they definitely need support. From everyone. You, your Ichili ally, anybody else you're holding in reserve."

"Alright." Theo ran his hands over his face as he thought about the tactics that remained to them. He'd need to set aside a lot of longer term plans that were no longer viable, but they still had options. "Here's the best I can do..."

~

Something strange was going on in the Wavefront, but Theo didn't have enough time to figure it out. With Melitta dead their lines were buckling, and the others had already emphasized just how disastrous that could be for the whole continent. Yet the retreating forces seemed preoccupied - perhaps they were concerned about a depths Fithan attack on top of Tymetron?

In any case, he was being sent out to try to tackle one of the Dominion-led armies, all on his own. There had been discussion of an alternate strategy where he and Guchiro tried to take out one of the Dominions, but they judged that their opponents, after attempting a decapitation strategy themselves, would be highly alert. Instead, Guchiro was going to stop another Dominion while Theo tried to punch above his weight. Hopefully they could stay the Tymetronese advance and reduce their momentum.

That strategy brought him over a strange territory that featured rocky spires rising from marshes. This was the first time he had visited a part of the Wavefront that wasn't abutting the ocean, which he knew was common: it only looked like it hugged the ocean on a continental map, when in fact most civilians lived away from the militarized border cities.

Normally that would have protected them, but now the Tymetronese army was advancing on an undefended marsh region. Their mid-tier soulcrafters levitated vast golden barges that contained the majority of their soulcrafters while they had Strongholds in the lead and a Dominion hidden somewhere.

Of course Theo began by generating his singularity, since that was his best surprise maneuver. Now that Tymetron was aware of him, he half-expected someone to sense his technique and stop it, but nothing interrupted him. His singularity flared to life in front of the advancing army, immediately drawing in one of the barges that blundered into it.

An instant later, cantae descended from the heavens, forming a triangle of pillars that blocked off his singularity.

Theo abandoned his tactic in an instant, stepping back through a portal before the Dominion could target him. It was bad luck that he'd ended up against the same Dominion he'd fought before, but he had to assume that they'd be able to neutralize the singularity.

He was more than his best technique, though, as Theo was about to show them.

When he stepped out of the portal into the bulk of the army, Theo immediately cast the strongest reversed gravity field he could. The barges, which were outputting so much energy to keep their weight aloft, suddenly hurtled into the sky. Theo cast torsion bolts in all directions, drilling through the mechanisms of the barges.

It seemed the armor protected the soldiers within from his disorientation technique, but Theo didn't need to touch the army directly to affect them. He added a tilted gravitational field, sending the barges spinning as they continued to rise upward.

That had to be shaking the soldiers around, but he didn't have time to do more, because the top Tymetronese soulcrafters had spotted his new location. First a Stronghold charged at him - just another one wielding golden armor and weaponry, so Theo was able to redirect the man with a portal. But more cantae pillars descended from above as the Dominion targeted him, and when Theo attempted to generate another portal, he found it blocked by the new field.

Cantae glowed overhead as a far more destructive attack prepared to descend on him. That might have stopped someone else, but Theo braced his arms and threw himself against the field, easily breaking through. There was another Stronghold on him the next second, so he retreated through a portal across the battlefield.

This time the Tymetronese reacted even more quickly, zeroing in on his new location. But they failed to consider that, without his gravitational field, the ascending part of the army reversed direction. They crashed to the ground, smashing into their own forces that had continued to advance. Though many soldiers survived, they crawled disoriented out of broken barges into the marsh.

As he flashed from location to location, staying just ahead of his opponents and disrupting the army, Theo wondered if he had a chance at winning this. He was wrecking the bulk of the army, but he couldn't take on a Dominion supported by cooperative Strongholds.

Instead of using his full strength after each portal, Theo began focusing more singularity energy in one hand, intending to advance to his binary technique. The original singularity was still bound, ignored by almost everyone. If he built up to a binary and started consuming the cantae from the pillars, that might surprise them enough to tilt the balance back in his direction.

Assuming that he could survive that long. As he tried to do everything at once, Theo took a few glancing hits from the Dominion's cantae, and one of the Strongholds cut him across the shoulder with a sword. That slowed him further and would have been a disabling wound without his coat.

Without warning, the Dominion was directly in front of him. They had stayed at a distance this entire time, but they must have seen their chance, because now he faced a figure in golden armor that obscured all traits. Whoever they were, they cast a field of emerald cantae all around them, pinning Theo in place in midair. As Theo tried to struggle free, the Dominion focused and generated a long emerald spear aimed right at his heart.

Bladed gauntlets punched into the Dominion's back.

Theo had no time to catch up to what was happening, he just knew the field shattered and the Dominion faltered toward him. He immediately cast a torsion bolt at their helmet, cracking it further. When the Dominion fell, Theo cast a gravitational field to force a crash.

Behind the Dominion floated Melitta. The front of her armor was covered in blood, but it didn't look like hers, and her eyes locked on him.

There was no time to think about what had happened, Theo just shifted to support. He extended his field to cover Melitta, sending her down after the Dominion at top speed. The Strongholds were flying in, now intending to save their leader, but Theo intercepted them with every technique in his arsenal, holding them off for precious seconds.

Melitta caught up to the Tymetronese Dominion with a hammer-fist, pummeling them into the ground and driving blows deeper and deeper into their back. The Dominion reached for a weirkey, but one of her gauntlets came down on their arm and broke it before the motion could finish.

When it was done, Theo was bleeding from more wounds but the Dominion lay dead. Melitta rose higher and smashed her gauntlets together, creating a shockwave that spread across the battlefield, hurling the army back into itself.

Only the Strongholds were able to resist it, but when they saw their leader had fallen, they fled as well. Theo chased them for a while, trying to take down more barges, until the Strongholds started playing defense. He couldn't risk chasing after them and potentially falling into a trap, so he held back, telling himself that stopping the Tymetronese advance was enough... and wondering what had happened.

"Sorry I let them get so close to you," Melitta said as she floated beside him, "but I could only play that card once."

"You faked your death?" Theo guessed.

"Exactly. After our discussion, I took a consistent forward position in a base we'd abandoned. When the Demonweaver attacked, I set off the bomb on my way out. Unfortunately, I don't think it killed her, maybe at best it caused an injury. But so few knew about the weapon, most assumed I had been caught in the blast, so I decided to wait for my chance."

"And the rest of the Wavefront either didn't know or played along?"

"I'm surprised that the deception lasted this long. But it worked enough to take down one of their Dominions, which is the most we could hope for."

Once they confirmed that the Tymetronese army was fully in retreat, they moved back to a Wavefront base. Everyone there seemed to know that Melitta was alive, though they still greeted them with celebrations. They insisted on treating Theo, so he was healed by a woman with hybrid purple skin like Tythes. Theo wanted to learn more about her, but there was no time because Melitta seemed focused on reconnecting with the others for their new strategy.

Surprisingly soon, they were joined by the other Dominions, who looked more than a little relieved. Citizen Dominion had fully healed the wound across his chest while Crintak still had burns across half his body. Everyone else pulled back to allow them to talk, but they didn't send Theo away, so he listened.

"Cruel choice," Crintak told Melitta. "I approve."

"So there are still three of us," Citizen Dominion said, "at least as soon as Crintak finishes healing. We have the Ichili as well, giving us four Dominions to their seven Dominion-led armies."

"But they have three in reserve. They'll be looking to finish us off... they can afford a loss like today. We can't."

"We have to acknowledge that this would have gone far worse without Framkis." Melitta nodded to him and the three leaders acknowledged him directly for the first time. "I couldn't have fought the Demonweaver, even with support."

"Question is whether they'll be throwing their top three at us again," Crintak grated out. "We can't keep enduring strikes like this."

"They must be limited, or they wouldn't have used them so selectively."

Citizen Dominion turned to smile at Theo. "Do you have any other tricks you could share?"

"I'm afraid I'm almost out." Theo said it casually, but he was actually feeling grim. Yes, he had helped them survive the aeon strike, but he'd burned through all but one of his resources from the Orphic Cabal before the war was even a month old. "I can keep fighting like this, but I can't stop that many Dominions."

"Look, we aren't helpless." Crintak folded his arms, though one clearly still pained him. "The Ruling Cities have been working on something big and we've almost bought enough time to deploy it. And the Asplundat Movement has something, right?"

"We... hope to have reinforcements," Citizen Dominion said mildly.

"I still hope to finish negotiations with depths forces," Melitta added, "but we don't have much else in reserve. We'll need your help to stop this concentration in our territory."

"And you shall have it. We remain a united front."

The three of them sounded pleased, but Theo couldn't share their cheerful assessment. What they had done wasn't victory, it was only delaying defeat: unless the aeon strike had cost Tymetron more than it appeared, they still had a strong advantage. Winning would require chaining together a lot more victories like this.

By the next day, Theo was fully healed and ready to be sent out into battle against another Dominion. Before he could do so, however, he was surprised to receive another message from the Orphic Cabal, sending him to a remote location. For a moment he hoped that they had changed their minds, perhaps impressed by the efficacy of the counter, and would give him more resources.

When Theo saw the grim expression on the Tatian man's face, that hope evaporated.

"The Orphic Cabal is extending more information as a professional courtesy," the man told him. "You don't need to be worried about Plutalgion attacking you in the short term."

"You don't seem happy about that," Theo observed.

"What you don't know is that aeon-class forces attacked Tymetron after they deployed their strongest. They lost a city and the Demonweaver is injured. However... the Demonstalkers sent three of their own to assassinate Plutalgion while he was drained. They failed."

"You mean they died?"

"Of course not." The Tatian man snorted as if that was absurd. "But they realized they couldn't overcome him and his allies were regrouping, so they retreated with injuries. Listen, I spoke up for you, supporting the Cabal getting more involved. But if the Demonstalkers couldn't finish Plutalgion, everyone else is going to stand back. If they didn't win, that means we lost."

"I see." Theo ran a hand through his hair and considered the situation. "So their aeon-class soulcrafters are off the field for a little while, but we're not likely to get more allies."

"Or you could say that both sides took a great risk, both survived, and the war continues."

The worst case scenario had been defeat and loss of all leaders, which Theo had managed to avert. But the best case scenario was that powers across the Nine Worlds saw Tymetron as weakened and joined in, and that hadn't come to pass either. If the Orphic Cabal's information was right, other powers might have been convinced it was better not to get involved.

Left unsaid was that fact that Tymetron could keep taking risks, but they only had to succeed once. Norron had to survive every time and Theo wasn't sure what they had left.