Endburn: Chapters 23-24 (Patreon)

Chapter 23

Once, for a brief time, Navim had returned to the School of Emerald Indulgence. The ostensible reason was that he needed more Arbaian supplies that could not be acquired through the gate, and the real reason he begrudgingly acknowledged to himself was that the tension had been too much for him. His was a mind suited for scholarship, not war.

If he had simply remained there, it would have been a reasonable decision by many ethical standards. He had no moral obligation to fight for a place so far from home and many others from outside Fithe had already retreated without anyone commenting. But his allies would have been disappointed, and Norro Yorthin had become something of a second home, so Navim gathered everything he needed and, with great ambivalence, returned to the war.

Currently he worked at an outdoor crafting station, producing more deadgold materials for the Norronese armies. It was behind the front lines, but not so far behind, so it was always possible that an enemy strike could penetrate this far and threaten everyone's lives.

Sometimes Navim thought that he returned not due to any ethical or communal consideration, but because he couldn't stand to leave work unfinished. There were so many projects currently half-assembled: of course Theo's masks, bracers for Fiyu, a combat ring for Isorales, an improved pickaxe for Krikree. Not to mention the new projects regularly being introduced by his coworkers.

He had come to enjoy the company of the crafters of Norron, who might not be as philosophically rigorous as some, but displayed real ingenuity in their leaps of logic. This was an academic or moral exercise for him, but they were using their skills to defend their homeland. If an empire had come for the School of Emerald Indulgence, he didn't think it would be defended with the same ferocity.

As he worked, Navim asked himself whether he would retreat if there was no other choice. If an unopposed Dominion or worse struck their position, would he abandon the war for the sake of his own life? His answer had not changed despite all the times he asked the question: he would. There was nothing to be gained by sacrificing his life against a superior opponent.

"Navim-thinkrock!" The loud cry disrupted him and everyone at the workstation looked up to see Krikree streak toward them. She displayed a grim face and landed on Navim's table with uncharacteristic force.

"What is it, Krikree?" he asked. "I fear your weapon is not-"

"Not! Dominion-rock broken! Danger!" She grabbed one of his limbs as if to drag him to the location herself.

As he let himself be pulled into the air, Navim wondered if this was an irrational decision. He had only just been thinking that throwing his life away was meaningless and now he headed directly into a war zone. But what Krikree described was a potential disaster: "Dominion-rock" was her signifier for the Grand Dominaton, and for all that it was a poor substitute, it played an important role in a war of this scale.

With sufficient altitude they were able to see the battle, and even from this distance the Grand Dominaton was as obvious as a warship. It listed to one side in horizontal position, smoke floating from one of the actuators and cantae spluttering from a storage cell. Norronese soulcrafters swarmed around it, using the statue as both platform and defense, but they would be overwhelmed by the Tymetronese forces around them soon enough.

"Not big big queen!" Krikree announced. "Smaller queens and princes, very fast. Dominion-rock is like packbug, slow and vulnerable. Krikree not realize."

Her description was perhaps lacking in lexical precision, but Navim saw that she was tactically correct and could trace back a probable line of events. Whenever a Tymetronese Dominion was placed on the field against the automaton, Norronese forces made sure to support it with one of their own stronger soulcrafters. He had even seen Nauda not so long ago, doing a remarkably good job of defending the statue while taking advantage of the high-intensity blasts it could output.

This time, however, the automaton had been attacked by a group of Tymetronese Authorities. And for all that the Norronese forces scorned them and focused on higher tier forces, the Tymetronese could be smart and resourceful. They would not be intimidated by superior cantae, and given opportunity to analyze the Grand Dominaton's simple behavior, they had dealt it a critical blow.

But not a fatal one, not yet. If someone with sufficient skill could reach the automaton, some of the embedded armaments could be deployed more precisely and the shielding could be repaired. Given the intensity of the battle, however, it would be a risky maneuver. Inestimably risky, given that Strongholds had joined the initial attack force. Navim had continued soulcrafting his Authority floor, but he was not under the mistaken impression that he could fight an opponent of a higher tier.

"Rescue Dominion-rock?" Krikree asked, skittering nervously across his outer limbs. Judging from her antennae, her distress was increasing, and he realized that she was looking for reassurance from him.

It was perhaps an irrational choice... but there was no one else.

"Given the resources available to us," Navim told her, "our only viable strategy is speed. We fly low and circle to the bottom of the Grand Dominaton, letting the enemy believe we are using it as a shield. If you can defend me for a sufficient period, it may be possible to repair."

"Navim-thinkrock good! Go, go!"

They shot forward at their full speed, or rather Krikree matched pace with the most Navim could manage. Now that he was an Authority, he could accelerate until he reached a limit determined by his cantae stores and wind resistance, but the difficulty was accelerating back down when he arrived. Calculating the optimum acceleration path kept him composed as they plunged into the battle.

Soulcrafters swarmed around them in all directions, but Krikree exploded into a frenzy. She would leap away in one direction, colliding with an opponent who might threaten them, and ricochet back to Navim. Once he realized her strategy, he could compensate for her landing with cantae of his own, preventing him from being knocked off course. That allowed her to use his body as a sort of mobile platform, so they cut their way through the battle to the drifting automaton.

If anything, their arrival might have been too effective, because it meant they merited tactical consideration. As attention shifted to them, however, Krikree launched herself at one of the Strongholds and her ferocity redirected focus.

Meanwhile, Navim slipped to the underside of the Grand Dominaton and attached himself to the bottom in inverted position. Soulcrafters flew underneath, battling with one another, but relatively few of them looked up to glance at him, and some might not even recognize an Arbaian as a person, against the stony bulk of the statue. He had noticed that many beings with bipedal body structures still oriented themselves to the ground, even after they gained the ability to fly, so the underside received less attention.

The first problem was insultingly easy to diagnose: there was a golden spear jammed into one of the flight mechanisms. Navim removed it and began making repairs with one set of limbs while he considered other problems within range. Unfortunately, the Dominion-tier cantae that had been spent or lost was impossible to replace now, so he judged that defensive mechanisms were higher priority.

Though he had not displayed any false modesty when he said that Fithan soulcrafters had been responsible for the vast majority of the Grand Dominaton's functions, he had worked with them long enough to understand the basics, and he had a store of Fithan materials within his soulhome. As soon as the flight mechanism was repaired, Navim shifted to the nearest shielding armament.

Obscurity was not a reliable defense, however, and Navim felt the presence of a Stronghold. Another figure in their common gold armor, but this one had noticed him. The armor floated around the side of the statue, preparing to launch an attack that Navim could not possibly block.

Offense would be the best defense, here: Navim released his strongest beam from the center of his body, targeting it directly into the Tymetronese soulcrafter.

Protected as they were by armor and superior cantae, the soulcrafter braced themselves to weather the blast. They failed to realize that Navim sought not injury but velocity. Though it had been modeled after a laser, his beam was composed of cantae instead of photons. It accelerated the Stronghold at great speeds away from the Grand Dominaton, buying him more time.

The strategy would not work for long, and Navim had relatively few recourses if the import of his repair was noticed. He redoubled his work.

~

It was supposed to be a break. Theo was mentally drained, even if his cantae had refilled and his body had repaired itself, so he needed some sort of solace. He couldn't justify taking a vacation when the war was so grim, so he sought a position where he could do some good in a less mentally taxing way.

His plan had seemed good at the time: he'd go join Krikree and Navim on the Ruling Cities front. It would be good to see them again: he could discuss armaments with Navim and soulcraft with Krikree. All of those would benefit their cause overall, so he could justify taking a few precious moments away from the front lines.

When he'd arrived, it had seemed like a fortuitous decision: the Grand Dominaton appeared to be damaged and the Norronese soulcrafters were trying to defend its retreat. He even spotted his friends, Krikree defending Navim's position while he repaired the giant statue. It was still smoking in several places, but was flying better than when he arrived.

Since they were doing well enough on their own, Theo remained hidden and began generating a binary singularity, just in case. The Tymetronese had seen it plenty of times, but most of them couldn't effectively counter, so it was still his best opening move. When his friends got themselves in trouble, or once they got to a good range, he could unleash it and turn the tide of battle. No one here had been expecting support from a Dominion, so he could be their reinforcements in a nice and uncomplicated way for once.

Then he saw a glint of gold dropping toward the statue and he knew it wouldn't be that easy.

Theo identified the sharp limbs of the Goldreaper and immediately held nothing back: he tunneled his binary singularity directly into the man's path.

He hadn't been optimistic enough to think that the Goldreaper would plunge directly into the singularity and die, but it went even worse than he expected. The aeon-class soulcrafter reacted with unreal speed, unleashing a blade of cantae that was too intense for Theo's Dominion-tier power to absorb.

It annihilated a singularity... but only one. The second half of the binary swung around, nearly impacting the Goldreaper's chest. Instead of hesitating even slightly, which might have been fatal, the Goldreaper sacrificed a limb, thrusting a blade of dense gold into the second singularity. Both annihilated one another and the soulcrafter was launched to the side by the explosion.

Not even stunned. The Goldreaper began reforming his bladed limb as he turned to focus on Theo.

Instead of even attempting to stand his ground, Theo dropped back into a portal, and it almost wasn't enough. He emerged on the other side with a vicious cut across his arm and a glimpse of the Goldreaper in the closing portal behind him. Theo had been preparing to fight opponents beyond his tier and there was no flaw in his preparations, the gap was simply too large: a Dominion without his strength could have died in that first clash.

Since he had a little distance, Theo cast all his base techniques as the Goldreaper streaked toward him. The chance that this monster would be stopped by his disorientation technique was nearly zero, but it cost almost nothing to try. Gravitational fields were likewise ineffectual, but he secretly pulled rubble out of the battle and sent it skyward for a later bombardment.

On their second clash Theo was more prepared for the Goldreaper's immense speed and he got through a portal first. But the third time, the Goldreaper was even faster and thrust a limb through after him, stabbing into his back.

Theo cried out in pain and instinctively closed the portal, hoping to lop off another limb. But when he turned, he saw a golden spike still straining toward him with the portal grinding around it: his cantae wasn't intense enough to slice off the limb. Perhaps at a higher tier he could create a true spatial trap that would destroy anything, but he wasn't there yet.

When the Goldreaper attacked again, Theo flew to a superior position and launched torsion bolts down into the Tymetronese army. All he learned was that the Goldreaper didn't care about his own allies. In theory Theo might have tried to use this to his advantage, weakening the army every time he missed the Goldreaper, but in a fight like this he couldn't afford any secondary concerns.

Actually, he was lucky that the Goldreaper wasn't using his allies against him. Theo could barely keep up like this, so he couldn't possibly defend allies as well.

The fight seemed hopeless, no matter what tactics he considered. Theo's only chance at ever taking down an aeon-class threat was to retreat and finish soulcrafting his Dominion floor to even the odds a little. There weren't even any major objectives here that required his defense, and losses were inevitable in war.

He could follow the inexorable logic easily enough: fighting here would only risk his life and cause further destruction. Taking a loss now would allow him to prevent worse losses in the future. With the Goldreaper focused on him, he might even pull away attention with a retreat. A different man could have argued that abandoning the position was the best way, the only way, to defend it.

Yet he saw Navim and Krikree fighting below... and he stayed. It wasn't the strategic value of the Grand Dominaton that kept him, it was the fact that his friends were at risk. If they had fled into weirkeys, he would have abandoned the hopeless battle, but because they fought on, so did he.

Next time the Goldreaper clashed with Theo, he tried to dodge with sheer agility. He only took a light cut across his armament coat and landed a torsion bolt directly on his opponent.

The Goldreaper slid back through the air, not seriously injured. He revealed golden teeth and made a sort of gurgling laugh, as if surprised that Theo hadn't retreated. Maybe it was mad, but he was committed to this now.

After several minutes of exhausting combat, Theo finally saw his chance: the Goldreaper was sticking to a position underneath the rubble that Theo had sent skyward. He let it fall now, accelerating by gravity alone and invisible to most cantae senses. Yet he'd underestimated how slow that could be, compared to the speed of combat at this tier, and took another two cuts while waiting. At the last second he cast another gravitational field, increasing the speed of the falling projectiles even further.

Not a single one connected.

The Goldreaper wove between them like a serpent and the projectiles impacted the ground in a vicious orbital bombardment. Theo had chosen his position carefully, so the destruction only hit the Tymetronese forces, not his allies who had continued retreating, but the shockwaves didn't even buffet the Goldreaper from his position.

He couldn't do it. Theo tried to open another portal, but his strained soulhome couldn't make cantae flow as easily and the golden blades were streaking toward him so quickly...

Dark blades intercepted them. The crash of cantae rippled over the battlefield and Theo realized that he was looking at Guchiro's back.

-

Chapter 24

After so many months throwing himself into the path of enemies, Theo was almost stunned to have someone else defending him. Suppressed tension flooded through him and for a moment he just stared.

Guchiro and the Goldreaper clashed together, darkness slashing against gold. Unlike Theo, who had survived via mobility and distance, Guchiro didn't give an inch. Blades of darkness rotated around him even as he lashed out with long cantae blades on both arms. Yet the Goldreaper didn't retreat either, not flinching at the initial cut taken in surprise and then deflecting every attack afterward.

The only possible explanation, even if Theo couldn't feel the newly solid cantae in front of him, was that Guchiro had ascended to Ophaon. What concerned him more was how the repair process had gone and how much the ascension had strained it. Based on what Senka had said, Guchiro had taken the step backwards very efficiently, so he was in a strong position to ascend, but Theo had to wonder about the remaining details.

And, if he was honest with himself, he was a little disappointed that he hadn't been able to see it for himself. But there were much more important concerns at the moment.

Both soulcrafters finally spun in opposite directions, each having landed a blow on the other. Guchiro might have reached Ophaon himself, but he couldn't have had much time to soulcraft his next floor, whereas the Goldreaper had been supported by Plutalgion for years.

As they fought, Theo began to generate a singularity again. The instant he did so, the Goldreaper spun on him, intending to take out the weaker opponent. Guchiro punished this just as quickly, unleashing a focused storm of light that battered the Goldreaper into a nearby mountain.

Trying to separate them was a strategic error, because Theo and Guchiro could easily work together as a unit. They had known one another modestly well before, and fighting together as Dominions during the war had only strengthened their cooperation. If anything, the difficult part had been recognizing the ways that Guchiro's blueprint was distinct from Fiyu's, despite the common design.

Now the two of them fought together against the Goldreaper, Theo providing support even as he built up his singularity again. He was beginning to feel hopeful and swallowed the emotion, fearing that he would bait Plutalgion to attack them or something worse.

Despite the odds, the Goldreaper only grinned at them with bloody jaws. Guchiro had landed a few good blows, but they didn't seem to be slowing their opponent down, and they certainly weren't intimidating him.

Most of the battle below was irrelevant compared to the aeon-class soulcrafters, but the sound of an armament warming up drew attention. A new source of Dominion-tier cantae appeared on the battlefield: the Grand Dominaton was repaired. It had fallen to earth, but its eye pointed upward and was gathering cantae for a beam.

For several tense seconds the Goldreaper looked between all of them, then it gave a wordless snarl and disappeared into a weirkey. Angry, not fearful, but the battle was won nonetheless.

Even this didn't break the Tymetronese army, which was still buoyed by their string of victories. But Theo had underestimated how much of an effect their victory would have on the Norronese side as a surge of soulcrafters burst into the field. They hadn't been cowards for avoiding a fight that could snuff them out as collateral damage, and without an aeon-class threat they threw themselves onto the battle to take control again.

Things might actually be alright. Theo couldn't quite believe it and kept looking for Plutalgion, but there was no subsequent attack. Below he could see Navim continuing work on the Grand Dominaton while Krikree danced around him waving her weapons.

"It would have been wiser for you to retreat," Guchiro told him as he floated closer.

"You too," Theo said with a shrug.

"I am aware. Nonetheless."

"I really want to talk to you about the ascension, but I should thank you for saving my life. I guess I'm lucky you finished just in time."

"No, I ascended eight days ago and I have been soulcrafting since then, waiting for an opportune moment." Guchiro frowned and flickered into his soulhome before shaking his head. "Soulcrafting at Ophaon is... challenging. Even bricks are not forming as easily as they should."

"Wait, you have Ophaon-tier stone?"

"My allies have been working on a composite material of sorts, though the difficulty may be proof that it is inadequate for the task."

"We'll have to talk to Senka," Theo decided. "I'm sure things are harder at Ophaon, but it can't be that much more difficult. Special techniques may be required. I'll see if we can't buy you even more time for that."

"This was... sufficient. At least by some standards." Guchiro went silent as soulcrafters from their side flew up to greet them.

The Ichili man remained at a distance as the celebration began, ostensibly serving as a symbol or guardian but, Theo suspected, discomforted by all the attention. Guchiro, just as much as Fiyu, would have been happy to go back to Ichil and journey alone. All the Fithans were grateful that he was fighting for them, they just didn't know how to show their gratitude.

As he took on the foremost role, Theo gathered more information about the state of the front, from the Grand Dominaton to the Tymetronese reinforcements. Apparently this was the first time anyone here had ever seen the Goldreaper retreat from a battle, which was a boon to their morale. He had clashed with the Underqueen multiple times, but those were stalemates that perversely made the lower tiers of soulcrafters more important for the flow of the war.

Technically everything had gone as well as they could possibly have hoped: Navim and Krikree were safe, the Grand Dominaton had survived, Theo was intact, and Guchiro was a new aeon-class soulcrafter on their side. All Theo wanted to do was sleep.

~

Fighting on the front lines, every battle could feel like the most important event in the world, and they were, for the people whose personal worlds were at risk. Nauda knew intellectually that was a distortion, yet she was still shocked to learn that so much had happened without her.

Since she had finally pushed herself to the brink, she had been allowed to retreat from the war for a break at Outpost #127. She didn't mind the old waypoint so much, but it had become more militarized in her absence and she would have left if not for a Blacksilver representative telling her to stay so everyone could coordinate. Apparently the others would converge on her location soon, and until they did, she only met with numerous representatives who didn't introduce themselves.

It was a whirlwind of news that didn't really sink in until Fiyu arrived, along with a whole host of others, including Theo, Guchiro, and Senka. None of them mattered as much to Nauda as her wife, so Nauda rushed in to embrace her.

"Nauda, it is lovely to see you again." Fiyu sank against her, apparently perfectly happy despite the difference Nauda could immediately feel.

"What happened to your soulhome?" Nauda held her tightly, as if that could protect her.

"Do not worry, Nauda, there is no permanent damage. When I drained my soulhome, I performed a small version of the step backward my relative has already done. I will be able to repair everything."

"But you emptied your Ethereal Floor... you spent so long saturating your cantae..."

"I will just need to do so again." Fiyu pulled back just enough to kiss her. "Yes, I know this will delay my ascension. That only means you will be going first this time. We will still be walking together."

That made sense, and Nauda was relieved that the disruption in her wife's soulhome didn't represent permanent damage. It still left her strangely off-balance, as if the world had been turned on its head. Ever since the early days when she had been pushing upward too quickly, Theo and Fiyu had always gone ahead of her and helped her catch up. Ascending ahead of Fiyu, who had been polishing her soulhome for so long, felt vaguely wrong.

Did Nauda think that she could make the jump? Her reversed tree had certainly been growing over the past months and she would need to take a careful inventory. For now, she didn't want to think about soulcrafting and just held Fiyu.

As much as Nauda wanted to inspect her wife's soulhome, Fiyu seemed to be seeking some sort of stability and Nauda was glad to provide it. So they entered her soulhome instead and Fiyu approved of the growth of her tree as well as her carvings, even though they were still a work in progress. Just being away from the battlefield, discussing soulcrafting with her wife, did a lot to help Nauda feel like a real person again, and she thought it did the same for Fiyu.

Since she had been assigned here for recovery, Nauda returned to focusing on her soulcrafting, now with a new goal. She could do brute force work, such as making bricks, while in between battles, but polishing all her Stronghold chambers required a higher degree of focus.

In particular, she wondered what else she could do with her Noveni statue of herself. It was well-positioned in the core of her soulhome, and would eventually mirror the entire structure, so she needed to maximize its value. Integrating her marital bands with Fiyu had already worked well, and the statue took to the change more easily than expected. Adding even more materials might be difficult, but Fiyu offered suggestions and they tried to puzzle it out.

While they worked, Theo and Senka were endlessly consulting with Guchiro. Despite the fact that they were discussing soulcrafting, Theo looked grim. It was one of the smallest and least significant casualties of the war, but it hurt a small part of Nauda to see Theo's passion be reduced to this.

Eventually their work was disrupted because Guchiro was called away to discuss aeon-class strategy with the Underqueen. Having two on their side should make a big difference, though leadership seemed to think it would just stop the bleeding, not turn the war. Right now Tymetron was primarily being held off by the unknown variable, so they all wanted to take advantage of the window of opportunity.

With him gone, they had a chance to consult Senka. Nauda had been happy to indulge Fiyu for a few days, but she was concerned about her wife's soulhome. They got Senka to look it over, which she did with uncharacteristic solemnity.

"I've never heard of someone trying the step back technique at Stronghold," Senka finally said, "but there's no reason it wouldn't work in theory. You should be able to repair this."

"You see, Nauda?" Fiyu patted her arm. "It is fine."

"I didn't say that. You heard me talking about how some veteran soulcrafters go through the process naturally, didn't you? Well, that's not wrong, but it has risks. Risks I would have talked about at greater length if I'd known you were thinking about something like this."

"Please tell us now," Nauda urged.

"Well, for example, take a look at this." Senka floated over to the Demon Court gem Fiyu used to enhance her lightstorm and ran her spiritual finger over a hairline crack. "You can repair this, certainly. But after it's repaired, is the material stronger or weaker?"

"Trick question, because there are different kinds of strength. Even with mundane materials, shear strength is different from tensile strength, and it's even more complex with sublime materials."

"Different kinds of weaknesses, too. No matter how much you reinforce this, there will still be a flaw." Senka folded her arms and frowned at it. "I'm sure that it will be fine if you ascend to Dominion, because the ascension fuses all your materials. Then you get the advantage of the repair without the disadvantage. But if you do it repeatedly..."

"I see." Fiyu lowered her head somberly. "You are suggesting that some veterans prepare themselves for ascension in steps, but others gradually weaken their soulhomes."

"Exactly. Some people end up with materials that have been reforged so many times that they can't survive all the ascension pressure, and that's another way to get stuck at a dead end. I don't recommend that you do this again, and absolutely not until after you've ascended."

"So you wouldn't suggest it for me?" Nauda asked. "To prepare for Dominion, I mean."

"The step back is most important before the seventh tier and it can be overdone." Senka tilted her head and peered at Nauda. "You need it less than most, because you already repaired so much damage to your foundation after the collapse. Now you've recovered admirably, but you're the last person who should be taking risks like these."

They spoke for a little longer, but Senka had no more warnings for Fiyu and no concrete suggestions for Nauda about getting to her next ascension. She needed to go sleep off her curse, anyway, so that left the two of them to keep working together.

This sort of soulcrafting had been satisfying for a long time, but Nauda found herself impatient for the moment when they were both Dominions who could enter one another's soulhomes. It was an entirely different sort of motivation that pushed her to keep working, preparing every chamber of her soulhome and even crafting bricks at night after Fiyu went to sleep.

Astonishingly, they were actually left alone for a full week, which was glorious. Nauda wasn't sure whether Tymetron was really so thrown back or whether they were just being granted a reprieve after sacrificing so much for the cause. When they were finally interrupted, she realized it might be neither.

A single chariot sat outside their house, emblazoned with the symbol of the House of Coin. Kathina stood at the front, completely alone instead of with her usual entourage. There was no sense that she had arrived to declare another emergency, yet something about the silent waiting for them was worse. Nauda was glad to stay back with Fiyu and let Theo take the lead.

"What is it?" Theo asked.

"The leaders are debating what to do now that we have another soulcrafter beyond Dominion," Kathina said as she stepped out of the chariot. "The Dominions want to play this conservatively, and I understand the impulse. We've suffered a lot and we have a chance to drive them off Norron. But I think Tymetron will regroup soon enough, so we can't keep following the same patterns."

Theo folded his arms skeptically. "You're coming to us directly because you couldn't convince the others, aren't you? What makes you think we'll agree?"

"We've been analyzing the enemy's supply lines and we've found a discrepancy. While everyone is distracted, this might be our last chance to go on the offensive."