Endburn: Chapters 9-10 (Patreon)

The last time I posted a soulcrafting tutorial I made a joke about how I didn't have a face for Navim to be included. That wasn't purely a joke - I really didn't. Fortunately, thanks to Lamsey I now have a Navim face. Observe his complex emotions above!

I'm not sure when I'll actually use this, even though it would be fun to have Navim join in one of the soulcrafting discussions. I try to keep almost all my time focused on my core work, so supplemental material... kind of just happens in the margins sometimes.

Anyway, two more chapters of Endburn. Some stuff happens this week.

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Chapter 9

Isorales had been told that they had survived Tymetron's assault and were holding the empire back. On the field, it didn't feel like it.

At the moment he had just won what should have been a great victory: an enemy Stronghold was retreating from the battle and the Tymetronese army might falter long enough for the Asplundat Movement to retreat. And it just didn't feel like a win. There would just be another enemy Stronghold soon enough, possibly before the battle was even over. One of his wings was bleeding profusely and two of his rings were cracked, threatening complete collapse.

His progress had felt insane, ascending to Stronghold and then building so many chambers during the lull in the war. Now that he faced the overwhelming power of Tymetron, he understood why Theo pushed himself so hard.

Allegedly Theo was going toe-to-toe against Dominions, but Isorales couldn't do anything like that. He stayed away from the seven main armies, instead fighting all of their scattered forces, and just those battles were larger than any war he'd ever participated in. The full scope of the conflict was hard to fathom.

Even though there weren't any Dominions with this army, they were still strengthened indirectly by their presence. Previously Isorales had gotten more of a break in between conflicts, but now he was entering fight after fight. He hadn't been impressed with the Tymetronese Authorities who had tried to fight him, especially since he could neutralize many with his deadgold ring. But the Strongholds... every single one of those was a fight that risked his life.

As if to emphasize the hopelessness of it all, another Stronghold appeared above the Tymetronese army. The gold-armored figure flew toward Isorales and the army underneath let out a cheer. Isorales let out a groan and looked back, wondering if this was the moment he gave up.

During the time he and the other reinforcements had bought them, the Asplundat army had regrouped and they were leading the civilian evacuation away. But the civilians were so slow compared to soulcrafter combat, they hadn't made it far... if the Tymetronese army charged now, they would enclose them and so many would die...

So Isorales tried to ignore his injuries and fight yet another battle. He raised his undamaged rings in front of himself and unleashed the strongest beam he could. As expected, the Stronghold instinctively spun out of the way, doing nothing to block the beam from searing through the army underneath.

If he could pull that off one or two more times... no, there was no chance of that. This Stronghold was shockingly fast, already closing the distance between them. Isorales tried to intercept with a cantae bolt and he was an entire pace behind.

The enemy had already dodged aside, flanking him and targeting his wings. Isorales desperately shifted one of his damaged rings into the way and it intercepted the blow, but it exploded in the process. That stunned the Stronghold just long enough for Isorales to catch them in a direct beam.

They spun away, armor smoking... and then redirected toward the civilians. Isorales folded his wings and shot after them, barely managing to pass them with his full speed. But his opponent was more agile, turning the dive into a blow that caught Isorales.

Again and again the Stronghold attacked the retreating civilians and it was all Isorales could do to get in the way. Once or twice he managed to intercept with a beam, but usually he had no choice except to use his own body. He felt some of his ribs crack, the wound on his wing tore wider, and his forehead was bleeding from a wound he hadn't even registered.

Unlike most of the enemy, Isorales had weirkeys and could have retreated at any time. But if he did that, the civilians would be devastated. A distant voice of his tutors told him that was the correct decision, that he would protect more people by saving his own life instead of spending it like this. Somehow that voice didn't make it to his body, which kept throwing itself into danger.

Something snapped in his wing and Isorales smashed into the ground, driving a furrow through the stone. He groaned and tried to turn over, but his movements were sluggish. The most he could do was try to raise his rings into formation, but they were too slow. Now the Stronghold stopped targeting the civilians and instead plunged toward him with a savage grin.

Midway down, a green streak intercepted the attack. A whirlwind of blows hacked into golden armor, tearing away chips on all sides. Krikree? Isorales stared as he witnessed her assault: she couldn't break the superior cantae, but with four weapons at once, the sheer number of strikes was driving back the Stronghold.

No, pinning them in place. Isorales might have been stunned, but he could still levitate his rings into alignment near his fallen position. Now he could see the battle through them, and he had enough cantae, the problem was that he risked hitting Krikree too.

At that moment she kick-flipped off the Stronghold's chest and Isorales didn't hesitate: he unleashed the most powerful beam he could manage. It struck the Stronghold directly, burning through damaged armor and sending them hurtling back through the sky.

Had that been enough to finish them? Isorales's vision was swimming too much for him to be sure, and he doubted there was much he could do about it either way. He tried to push himself upright and suddenly a green face popped into his field of view.

"Beetle prince!" Krikree declared. "Save smaller beetles, very good."

"Thank you," Isorales said raggedly. "I need..."

"Have beetle healers, can help. Isorales-beetleprince can use beam again? On army?"

"Right, we have to stop them. Buy enough time." Isorales struggled back to his feet, slipping once, and Krikree put away two of her weapons to support him. "Yes, buy me enough time and I can manage another beam."

Pulling his rings back into position seemed terribly sluggish, though, even compared to the Tymetronese army advancing. Krikree checked he was stable and then drew weapons, prepared to throw herself into the fray, but could she actually hold them? Even an Authority as strong as she was couldn't take on an army like this, and the Asplundat soulcrafters had their hands full with the civilians.

Krikree launched herself at the enemy as if she had absolutely no question, driving them back for several seconds. When the Authorities began to surround her, however, she shot upwards, leaving Isorales free to unleash another beam directly into the army.

It obliterated one of the Authorities, scattered the others, and seared through the main group. Even as they scattered from the destruction, Krikree dropped back out of the air, spears piercing into one of the other Authorities.

For a moment, Isorales believed they could actually do it and he started to return to the sky. Then the Dominion arrived.

He recognized this one: a lean man carrying a golden scythe larger than he was. Isorales had never fought him directly, but he had seen this man drive back Citizen Dominion a few days past. They had no chance, not against an opponent like this. Seeing one of their champions arrive, the Tymetronese army regrouped.

Even Krikree retreated now, crouching beside Isorales with her antennae twitching. "Beetles not safe," she said tersely.

"What can we do?" Isorales asked. Right now they were keeping all the attention on them, but the Dominion was raising his scythe and the army was advancing...

Then the front lines erupted, a shockwave sending the army crumbling. Isorales looked around the battlefield desperately, trying to find the source. He had been looking directly at the army and was certain he would have seen a projectile. Could one of the Asplundat soulcrafters have sent an attack through the earth? Yet he'd felt no vibrations, and there was only a crater at the point of impact.

At least the Tymetronese army looked just as shocked. Krikree's antennae shot straight up and vibrated intensely, and she was murmuring something he couldn't quite hear.

A second shockwave erupted through the army, throwing them into disarray. This time everyone was more ready and Isorales clearly saw the spherical impact expand through the army. The scythe-wielding Dominion was alert as well and instantly hurled his weapon. But though it spun with blinding speed, it struck empty earth with no apparent effect.

The Dominion recalled his scythe and held it close, looking cautiously in all directions. And then he disappeared.

Nothing at all was visible overhead, but Isorales felt a shockwave of pressure as if there had been a great impact. Everyone was staring at the empty sky, as puzzled as he was. Except for Krikree, who he heard murmur "Queens" in a soft voice and then scurry forward.

Abruptly the Dominion appeared again, plunging to earth. He was still alive, but there was a vicious cut across his arm, and his scythe had been bent at an angle as if by great strength. Before he collided with the ground, he disappeared into a weirkey.

That finally broke the Tymetronese army: they might not understand what had happened, but they had just seen their reinforcements fail. By the time the Dominion could return, or Tymetron could send anyone else, the battle would be over. They were no longer chasing defenseless civilians - they were trying to face down an invisible threat.

Cantae slid over Isorales and the world faded to shades of blue as a technique enveloped him. He finally sighed in relief as he saw Nauda and Fiyu beside him.

"Are you alright?" Nauda asked, immediately rushing to him to check his injuries.

"Wings heal quickly," he told her, waving her off.

"We considered helping earlier, but we can't do this for long. They'll know about us soon."

"I was not able to kill the Dominion," Fiyu said softly. "He will tell the others."

"He won't be back to the fight quickly, though." Nauda returned to Fiyu at the center of the sphere. "Taking out one of their Dominions, even temporarily, should make a difference. Think we can pull it off again?"

As Nauda approached the other woman, she slid her arm around Fiyu's waist and there was something different in their movements now. Isorales saw a casual intimacy in the way that Fiyu's hips relaxed slightly, even though the rest of her posture was still highly alert. It felt strange for Isorales to think that he had once been infatuated with Nauda... seeing the two of them standing together like that, he realized that he'd never had a chance.

"Do you have military intelligence, Isorales?" Fiyu asked him.

"Seven Dominions are leading armies," Isorales told them, "and they have three reserves. I think the man you just fought was one of the reserves. I'm afraid I don't know the details of the entire front."

"That's fine," Nauda told him with a warm smile. "We need to move, the only question is whether you want to come with us."

"Queens!" Krikree abruptly stumbled into the bubble of stealth, twitching wildly in all directions, but once she was inside she crouched down beside them and declared, "Good queens good."

"Glad to see you too, Krikree." Nauda said, rubbing her head gently. "Do you know where Theo is?"

"Theo-sister tell Krikree everything! Can show queens!"

Isorales understood then and gave an odd chuckle, though it wasn't really a bitter one. There were countless places where Nauda and Fiyu could rejoin the war and part of him had been hoping that they had chosen his battlefield because of him. Now he understood that they had actually been there for Krikree, and he couldn't blame them.

It was the strategically correct choice and he'd do the same thing. "You go reinforce Theo," Isorales told them. "I'll guard the evacuation until it reaches the new Asplundat lines."

"We'll leave it to you, then." Nauda stepped beside him and gripped his shoulder. With some couples that might have been too intimate, but Fiyu didn't appear at all troubled.

Actually, the only one who was anxious was Krikree, who skittered near Isorales. "Return for beetle prince," she said. "Help fight."

"Don't worry, I'll hold out until then."

Seconds later they were gone and the sphere of stealth disappeared with them, leaving Isorales in the harsh red wasteland. But he still had defenseless civilians at his back and there was a golden army retreating in front of him. Isorales took a deep breath, stretched his injured wings, and returned to the air.

They were here to do their part, and he'd keep doing his.

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Chapter 10

It had been over half a year since Nauda had set foot on Fithe, which was longer than they had planned. Despite everything that had happened, including the assassination attempt, it had been bliss. At first she had been afraid that the union she felt with Fiyu would fade, but it only grew deeper, especially as pressure from the outside world began to affect them.

Nauda had seen many relationships broken apart when the couple faced stress in life, but she thought Ichili relationships were more likely to work the opposite way. Whenever they heard about threats to Fithe and the war potentially resuming, Fiyu drew closer to her. Now that she had overcome her internal inhibitions, Fiyu viewed the two of them as an indivisible unit and outside pressure would only push them closer together. Nauda would have to work to make sure she released her own stress properly and didn't bring it into the relationship.

Now they were finally back on Fithe and she had to admit that she had missed the crimson wastelands. And yet, as she returned from yet another devastated battlefield, she felt a flicker of guilt as well.

Staying in hiding to finish their soulcrafting had made perfect sense from a tactical perspective. It hadn't been just an excuse to stay together, as they had made some substantial progress in the past month. But now she was reminded that their progress had been bought at the cost of Fithan lives. Maybe not anyone she knew personally, but the families and lovers broken apart mattered every bit as much as her own relationship.

"Why are you upset, Nauda?" Fiyu touched her forearm, those slender fingers conforming to her so easily. Nauda had been trying to keep her face and posture entirely neutral, but of course Fiyu would have noticed.

"I'm just thinking that people died who we could have defended," Nauda told her softly. "If we had come back sooner..."

"Oh, Nauda." Fiyu slid in closer, embracing her. "The war is not your fault, and we cannot change our decisions. All we can do now is make sure that the strength we gained is worth the time spent."

"You're right." Nauda rubbed the other woman's back slowly. She wanted to hold her just like that, but they couldn't delay any longer. "Have they chosen another battlefield for us? Do you think we should use our stealth strategy again, or move to the next one?"

"I think we should switch to create more uncertainty. If they are still unaware of our arrival after that, we can return to the stealth strategy."

Before they could speak any further, Antha burst into the courtyard, waving a scroll. "I just got word from Janne!" she called. "It looks like Theo is going to fight another Dominion. Their pattern is sending one of their reserves against him, so you're not getting a better chance."

"Thank you, Antha." Nauda took the scroll from her and looked at the coordinates.

Then she glanced at Fiyu, but there was no longer any need to ask her if she was ready. The answer was clear in everything from her posture to the silvery shadow of eyes underneath her mask. It was time for another battle... and an essential reunion.

While Fiyu maintained her bubble of stealth around them, Nauda took them toward Deuxan and then back to Fithe at the exact location of the battle. An observant watcher might detect the use of a weirkey, but they would leave no ripple at all where they arrived, which would no doubt increase uncertainty all the more.

That bought them precious seconds to analyze the battlefield. She saw familiar Wavefront armor on all the soldiers defending some sort of base, though the location itself was new to her. The base was heavily fortified, but it couldn't endure sustained bombardments from Strongholds and one Dominion could likely punch through immediately.

At this stage no one tried to explain the overall strategy to them, since there was too much to catch them up on. It was enough to know that the Wavefront wanted to defend this point and that they needed help, because they were facing... yes, two Dominions. The enemy had been reinforced in the time it took Nauda and Fiyu to arrive.

One of them was a woman in golden armor, no doubt dangerous but common by the standards of Tymetron. The other was familiar: a large man in even larger demonplate armor. Where his fellow Dominion wore shaped and fitted armor, he was clad in a pile of demonic metal. Unfortunately, she knew from experience that it was quite durable, plus it didn't even slow him down as much as one might hope.

On the opposite side of the field floated Theo along with two Wavefront Strongholds. He had already brought out his singularity but was struggling to move it well enough to intercept all the golden metal hurled by the armored woman, especially because the man in demonplate was constantly chasing him. The Wavefront Strongholds were harrying the Tymetronese Dominions, only delaying them slightly.

Throwing a few more Strongholds against Dominions might seem like it wouldn't matter, but Nauda was willing to bet that the enemy would be surprised. Indeed, they had bet lives on it.

Nauda slipped away into the sky while Fiyu gathered her cantae and then unleashed a storm of light into the enemy army. The assault was even more devastating than before, destroying siege engines, wiping out soulcrafters, and injuring Authorities. Every fight on the battle stuttered as the combatants turned to look.

In that moment of distraction, Nauda plummeted toward the man in demonplate armor, knocking him out of the sky and driving him to the ground. His landing formed a crater and she tried to drive him deeper, but he reached up and grabbed her wrists.

"You again!" Through the eye slits she could see his burning eyes, but they weren't burning in anger. "You... hnh, you got stronger."

Not strong enough. Nauda could match some Dominions for strength, but the man in demonplate was stronger than average, so she desperately needed her position of advantage. His grip on her wrists took all her strength to resist and he was twisting his back preparing for a maneuver.

Before it could finish, Nauda pulled back just enough to bring up one foot, delivering a nullification stomp to his chest. The shockwave wiped out cantae effects in the region, but unfortunately didn't seem to weaken his demonplate armor. It still put a dent into the chest plate and drove him back into the ground.

He didn't let go of her wrists, though, and used her instability to pull her down as he lunged upward. Their heads collided and Nauda refused to let herself flinch, instead hammering her forehead directly into the metal.

Both of them rocked back and pain shot through Nauda's skull. But she was only bleeding a little and she saw that several of the spikes on his helmet had been smashed. The man laughed as if pleased, and in his surprise she managed to pull her wrists free.

As the storm of light continued to flood over the battlefield, the two of them glared at one another. From the corner of her eyes, Nauda saw that the other Dominion had tried to attack Fiyu, but Theo had moved his singularity into position to shield her. Now that he had a single target to defend, the enemy couldn't slide techniques around him very easily.

The man in demonplate didn't look away even slightly, and Nauda knew that if she wanted to survive this, she had to do the same.

When he lunged he was shockingly fast again and she barely managed to meet his face with her deadgold gauntlet. It would have been devastating to someone relying on gold armor, but unfortunately the demonplate resisted. He endured the blow as well, managing to get a grip on her arm.

They grappled fiercely and ended up locked together, both arms gripping the other. That should have been a solid position, but Nauda underestimated just how powerful her opponent's flight ability would be. Both were grappling in the air, adding additional leverage via cantae, but he could do it better than she could and so she ended up hurtling backward.

Her back smashed into the ground, but it didn't hurt her much. Nauda endured the blow and pushed off, sending them tumbling into the Tymetronese army and knocking enemy soulcrafters in all directions. The Dominion didn't seem to care about collateral damage and she was just glad that they were on his side of the battlefield. If they were grappling over the fortress, it would probably end up destroyed.

"There it is." The Dominion grinned and Nauda realized that he'd been smarter than she'd realized.

Their struggle had taken them to the front Tymetronese lines, placing them in between Fiyu and the army. The storm of light had stopped, just as anyone would expect. Nauda pretended to struggle, but the Dominion managed to hold her in place, using her as a human shield. When Fiyu tried to fly higher, he propelled Nauda into the air, keeping her in between him and potential attacks.

"Yeah, I figured." His grin grew wider and his gauntlets dug into the flesh of her arms. "She doesn't want to hurt you."

"She doesn't," Nauda agreed. She stopped struggling and prepared herself.

Fiyu released another storm of light and the man in demonplate was shocked for a moment. He actually looked pleased and simply twisted Nauda into position as he angled his body, intending to use her as a shield for himself if no one else.

But the two of them had not simply been spending time together beginning their relationship. Each had carefully nurtured sublime materials in their soulhome for the other, in particular a Deuxan material called soulsilver which they had forged into bracelets. The half in Nauda's soulhome tied directly into Fiyu's cantae at a more intimate level than anyone else.

When the storm of cantae struck Nauda's body, it felt like a warm rain. The cantae slid around her body in an instant and continued forward, blasting the Dominion in the face. Taken off guard, the man in demonplate lost his grip and Nauda pinned him in place.

Above, Fiyu began to close her hands and intensify the lightstorm. The cantae on Nauda's back grew a little warmer and the streaming bolts began to tear apart the Dominion's armor.

"Not bad." He chuckled, even as his flesh started to burn, then suddenly activated a weirkey and Nauda had a split second to make a decision.

She'd had his arms pinned, but he must have placed a weirkey within his armor against his skin, or somewhere else he could use it instantly. Unfortunately, her grip wasn't enough to prevent him from escaping. The most she could do was follow him through, and there was logic in trying to finish him off while he was weakened, but there was also a risk that he would retreat to a trap for her.

Accepting that she couldn't finish this, Nauda let go. His fingers tried to drag her along, but she had enough stability to resist, so he fell away as space folded around him and he disappeared. That left her standing in the wreckage with no living soulcrafters in a vast swath of the battlefield.

Overhead, the remaining Dominion saw that her ally had fled and hesitated. There was still a considerable army underneath her and it was shameful for a Dominion to flee from a few Strongholds.

Seeing her hesitation, Nauda leapt into the sky to join Fiyu. Her partner had already shifted closer to Theo, who had his hands raised, controlling his singularity. Fiyu lit up a cantae blade around her palm and Nauda formed her gauntlet into a fist.

The Dominion blinked away.

Before that point the three of them had barely looked at one another, united in purpose. But now the Wavefront soulcrafters showed that they weren't cowards and charged: the weakened Tymetronese army couldn't stand against them and they began retreating desperately.

Which meant the three of them were finally together again and had a moment to breathe. Fiyu remained focused as a sharpened blade, but Nauda could see the shift in her neck and knew that the other woman relaxed slightly. She was more worried about Theo, whose eyes looked extremely hard as he surveyed the battlefield. One of his arms was covered in blood and his face had a long scar from a wound that had yet to fully heal.

Would he reprimand them for taking so long, or for not chasing down the Dominion? They had so few opportunities to take down one of Tymetron's top soulcrafters, it was a reasonable tactic to risk anything for it. Even Nauda wasn't sure if she had really made the right decision or if she simply hadn't wanted to leave Fiyu.

Instead of saying anything, Theo suddenly pulled them both into a fierce hug. He gripped so tightly that it almost hurt, but Nauda could finally let herself breathe.