Wakespire: Chapters 1-5 (Patreon)

Hello everyone! Now that I've settled on "Wakespire" as the title, we'll begin our normal posting schedule. I'm reposting three chapters, but they're only slightly changed: different competition title, plus a few added descriptions. Then chapter 4-5 are your new ones for this week!

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Chapter 1

Theo flinched when the light of nine suns hit his eyes. Not because of the light itself, but because of the memories that came with it.

For so long, he'd been focused on returning to Noven to acquire the materials he needed to ascend, not thinking about how he'd died here. All his friends had been killed by the demon in the Cleansed Lands, but Vistgil had finished him on a sunny platform much like the one he stood on. Theo managed to swallow his reaction and push it behind him, but it took more effort than he had expected.

They stood on the severed top of a mountain, like so many peaks in Noven. He remembered these mountains from his first life, so he spent more time looking at the suns than the environment. The brightest blue sun shone directly overhead with two white suns nearby, washing out its color. Several other suns burned red just above nearby mountains, giving certain angles a bloody gold cast. This was actually one of the darker time periods of the Noveni cycle, though he couldn't remember what it was called.

"Are you alright, Fiyu?" Nauda asked. The others stood in a tight knot near the center of the peak, and Nauda shifted closer to Fiyu as if she wanted to protect the other woman from the light. Senka sat silently and Guchiro was a shadow even amidst all the light.

"It is okay, Nauda. I am prepared." Fiyu frowned up at all the suns as if to register her disapproval. "There are always this many?"

"They rise and set like any suns," Guchiro answered before Theo could. "They follow complex cycles that I have not memorized. There is rarely any true night here."

"Oh dear... but it is fine. I am unharmed."

While they spoke, Theo continued scanning the mountain peaks around them. Noveni peaks could be unnaturally high and sharp, just like he remembered. He spotted little glints of light moving around some of the sheer cliffs and hoped they meant his goal was within reach.

"Is this the place?" Nauda walked up beside him to examine the same mountains. "Are you finally going to tell us about these sublime materials that are so important?"

"I will unless we're being monitored. Guchiro?" Theo glanced toward the older Ichili and waited for his nod before continuing. "Alright, no more secrets. If this goes well, we can all acquire an extremely useful material for our ascensions."

The others moved closer so he didn't need to speak in a loud voice, except for Senka, who wandered randomly about the edge of the peak. Perhaps she was indulging in her cursed side to build up stamina for later. In any case, she didn't need to know any details, so Theo ignored her and gathered his thoughts.

"We have several goals in Noven," he said, "but my first is a sublime material that I failed to use properly in my first life. They're called lighteggs, and they're relatively unknown. Because they don't put off much cantae, they're not generally used in soulhomes, and they're too dense to carve. The secret is that during an ascension, they can be broken apart to permanently strengthen a soulhome."

"The specific material is unfamiliar to me," Guchiro said, "but I know the principle. What benefit does this breaking process offer?"

"If lighteggs are properly scattered, their power soaks into the foundation of a soulhome. Allegedly this can help the creation of a basement, but I was still waiting to use it properly when I... in my last soulhome."

"And we can locate them here?" Fiyu was right on her relative's coattails, apparently examining the surrounding regions with her senses. "There are many spaces within the mountains, so they could be difficult to find."

"Lighteggs may not be real eggs, but they're created by sublime beasts. They used to live in this region and I think I see some, so let's go." Theo gestured for the group to follow him back to the sleigh. It had been the last member of their party, in a sense, but Guchiro had easily been able to include it in his weirkey travel.

After so long walking scattered paths, Theo felt a little nostalgic as they all climbed back into the sleigh. Its original silver Deuxan paint would have matched the brilliant Noveni landscape rather well. The deep red paint job had fit in on Fithe, but seemed to absorb the Noveni light and glow crimson. Theo hopped into the driver's seat and waited for the others to join him. It seemed like Nauda had intended to move with Fiyu, but she ended up in the middle because Fiyu stuck close to her relative in the back.

That left only Senka, who skipped closer and whacked directly into the side of the sleigh. Theo sighed and cast an inverse gravitational field to lift her up over the side. The impact seemed to have woken her up, because she muttered something about "this blooky place" and then flopped down into the bottom of the sleigh.

With everyone situated, they began gliding over the landscape of Noven. Past the edge of the flattened mountaintop, a sea of clouds stretched in all directions. Mountain peaks rose like islands, cast in glorious shades from the many suns. Some were peaks of pale stone that simply reflected light while others blossomed with trees that grew broad despite the altitude. They shimmered with their own colors, particularly when the light of a new sun caught them at certain angles.

"What's underneath the clouds?" Nauda leaned over the edge of the sleigh, examining the white froth beneath them. Theo opened his mouth to answer, but Senka spoke first.

"There's a lot of space down there, but it's less populated. I think you can understand why."

"Another world split in half..." Nauda glanced at Senka thoughtfully, but returned to staring over the side. "Do they get any light down there at all?"

"It depends on how thick the cloud layer is," Senka said. She was still at the bottom of the sleigh, but waved through the floor. "In some places, you get a lot of refracted light. Here, it's probably completely dark."

"Could we explore below?" Fiyu asked. She leaned forward with a smile. "Might there be some of the sublime beasts we seek down there?"

Theo shook his head and kept flying the sleigh. The fact that Senka answered those questions about Noven so quickly was interesting, but ultimately it couldn't distract him. He had been sure that he'd seen some of the sublime beasts he needed before, and now that they got close to some of the sheer peaks, he was certain he was right.

Finally he spotted one: a speck glittering a different color than the vast white cliff face behind it. The circular being winked in the light as its individual parts turned, but Theo wasn't concerned about its anatomy, just what it carried. He set the sleigh to drifting and rose into the air on a gravitational field to try to capture it.

Less than a minute later, Theo regretted the attempt. They'd been easy to catch before, but he had been an Authority with a lot of enhancement chambers and an armament called the Hurricane Blade. Even with all his advantages, he couldn't fly well enough to catch such an agile creature.

"Guchiro?" He turned himself in the air and gestured in its direction. "Can you?"

By way of answer, Guchiro floated into the air and pursued the sublime beast through the air. It sped up even more, escaping his grasp several times, but shadows extended from his grip and he soon bound the creature. After a brief frown, he brought it back to the sleigh for everyone to examine.

There were different species of this sublime beast and Theo wasn't sure of any of their names, but they were unmistakable. Each one was composed of several rings that glistened with scales, except occasionally the scales opened to reveal bright golden eyes. The rings met one another at strange throbbing joints of light that somehow pivoted as the rings rotated around the central point or even spun like wheels. He had no idea how their anatomy worked other than that he was sure they didn't obey Earth biology.

"What a strange creature," Nauda said. She poked at one of the wheels and then pulled her hand back. The sublime beast spun furiously in place but couldn't escape Guchiro's grip. "These things lay the lighteggs?"

"Not quite. They generate them." Theo pointed through the rings to the middle of the beast's spherical body. Though the majority of the space was empty, a small dark gold pearl hovered at the very center. "They eat various sublime materials and excrete new material around their core. These build up over time, similar to an oyster, if you have anything like that in your worlds."

Nauda frowned but Fiyu immediately bobbed her head. "I believe I understand. Is this one complete? Must we kill the creature to acquire the material?"

"This one may be a juvenile," Guchiro said. "I don't know their life cycle, but the material in the center is much too weak to be used as a sublime material."

"They keep getting bigger until there's no more space," Theo explained. "Once that happens, they deposit the lightegg and begin growing a new one. We need a fully sized one, ideally one that's fresh. But now that you know what we're looking for, we can search these mountains for fully developed lighteggs."

Everyone set about the task eagerly enough, though everyone but Guchiro and Theo needed to stay in the sleigh. Nauda drove them around the mountain peaks while Fiyu extended her senses to search for caverns. Theo searched based on his experience from before while Guchiro quickly became adept at capturing the sublime beasts.

And releasing them. Because as many as he captured, none were even close to fully developed. As the search wore on, Theo frowned more and more often. It had been so easy, before...

"Theo!" Nauda bellowed to him from the sleigh, and when he turned to look he saw that Fiyu was beaming. Their search along the cliff faces must have borne fruit.

When he used his gravitational fields to propel himself to their location, he discovered a rather large cavern that had been heavily occupied by the sublime beasts. The only entrance was vertical above a sheer drop, but that was no trouble for them. A flock burst around him, spinning wildly around themselves, but their primary defenses against predators were remoteness and speed.

"They don't make nests," Theo said as he pulled the others out of the sleigh, "but some species leave the lighteggs in caves like this. Also look for any rocky fragments from their shells."

"Like these?" Fiyu had already discovered one and held it toward him. "I could feel them from the outside. They are very dense and I am not sure what use they would be."

"As a primary material, not much. But they convert well into your soulhome and they make good temporary materials for ascensions. Grab enough for all of us. Even if you don't use them for the Authority ascension, they're strong enough that they might be usable later."

While the others searched, Theo drew the fragment into his soul and examined it. Within, it was a concave piece about the size of his chest. Nowhere near as dense as the lighteggs and weak enough to break into bricks, making the shell fragments adequate materials. He'd never been worried about building his pyramid to prepare for ascension, since any material would do, but this would take another issue off his mind.

Theo left the soulcrafting for later and joined the others in their search. Unfortunately, they didn't look happy. It didn't take them long to explore the cavern, and though there were countless signs of occupation by sublime beasts, they hadn't found a single lightegg. Nauda scowled at her general vicinity while Fiyu continued collecting as many shell fragments as she could.

"Shouldn't we have found one by now?" Nauda asked. "Fiyu wasn't sensing a lot more caverns like this, so I assumed most of them lived here."

"Let me take a look," Theo said, but he wasn't optimistic. Soon enough he had covered the area and confirmed that Nauda hadn't missed anything.

"It might be the wrong season..." Even as he suggested it, Theo knew his own excuse was flimsy. As far as he knew, the creatures left eggs throughout the entire year. Finding none at all, and not even very many shells, was anomalous.

Could he have been entirely deceived? He was already basically certain that Vistgil had planted materials for him to find, but he hadn't thought the lighteggs were one of them. If they were actually far rarer than he thought, then his entire plan for his ascension would be called into question...

"Someone else has been here recently." Guchiro spoke from the entrance. He stood tall and gave absolutely no sign of how he knew, but Theo didn't doubt him for a moment.

"How can you be sure?" Fiyu asked. Apparently she was under no such limitations.

"Observe the crack near the entrance: a vehicle struck it, then the fragments were swept away by the wind. But if you observe the density of the rock carefully, you can see that this is more recent than other cracks. You can also observe trace damage from cantae along these walls..."

Technically Theo had an Ichili sense of his own to develop, but he was more concerned about what that meant. It wasn't ridiculous to think that someone else would want the same materials. Lighteggs were obscure enough that he hadn't been worried about it. Still, if the harvest had been recent, then they might still be able to acquire everything they needed with a little more effort.

"Then what do we do?" Nauda asked once the two Ichili had finished speaking. "Do we search all the other spires?"

"No." Theo sighed and rubbed his eyes. "We should assume they searched even more thoroughly than we could and took away all the mature lighteggs."

"Then do we go somewhere else on Noven? This can't be the only location these sublime beasts live."

"We could try, but this is one of the only regions where I know the local culture. No, I think it would be fastest to try to negotiate with the locals first. Even if they know the materials have value, they're hard enough to soulcraft that they should be willing to trade."

"Oh no, we have to talk to someone?" Nauda grinned wryly. "We'll have to rely on your immense charisma."

"There is a city to the east," Guchiro said. "Are you familiar with it?"

Theo shrugged. He had been familiar with it a hundred years ago, but some cultures in the Nine Worlds changed much more rapidly than others. Since searching for lighteggs directly seemed to be a bust, he dropped back into the sleigh and flew it out toward the city.

Ugustial had been a major city during his first life and it seemed like it had only grown in his absence. Now it stretched between three large mountains, a city of golden chains suspended above the clouds. From a distance what struck him most wasn't the spiraling towers but the large discs rotating over it. Some were formed from white stone and cast shadows over portions of the city while pure glass discs focused the light more intensely.

"Do we need to worry about the culture here?" Nauda asked. "I don't want to end up in a vendetta because insulting one of the suns is sacrilegious or something."

"Attacking guests is considered dishonorable here," Theo said, "but this city doesn't have any gates, so they're not used to outsiders."

"Is it not as strong as Norro Yorthin, then?"

"It might not be as diverse, but people come here from all over this continent to trade. There's a reason I chose this place for our first visit to Noven."

He might have said more, but at that point a guard flew out from the city toward them. The Noveni was just a Ruler, so he actually used his wings to fly. He had only four wings, broad and feathery, which Theo thought meant he was relatively young. Then again, he'd never gotten deep into Noveni ethnicities since he'd mostly interacted with his rival Eratius.

"State your business, travelers." The guard flapped in place ahead of them, looking much more nervous now that he realized how powerful their group was. He carried a golden staff with a sun-shaped blade at the end, but that wouldn't do him much good against them.

"We're just here to trade sublime materials." Theo stood up in the front seat and flashed his best smile. It must have looked better than it felt, because the guard immediately relaxed.

"That's a relief. But... normally we would welcome you, but this is a rather unusual time." He gestured with his staff toward the lenses floating over the city. "As you can see, Ugustial has entered a period of mourning. Most materials are dedicated toward the contest, so there's little to trade."

"Contest?"

"You really aren't here for the Wakespire?" The guard blinked several times. "When we saw foreign soulcrafters arriving, we assumed that you must be late entrants."

"Wakespire?" There hadn't been anything like that when Theo visited before and he had a bad feeling about where this was going.

"You really don't know? Well, then I suppose it doesn't matter. You missed the entire first round, so if you're not being brought in to support one of the lineage factions, you couldn't really participate. Why don't you just tell me what sublime materials you need? The noble lineages can send merchants out to you."

After considering whether or not honesty could work against him, Theo decided to just ask. "We were hoping to find lighteggs."

"Really?" The guard snorted and examined him again, as if thinking less of him. "Obviously such valuable materials have all been taken by the noble families. The only lighteggs still available are prizes for climbing the Wakespire. If you're seeking materials for ascension, you really don't have a choice."

While Theo stewed, Nauda spoke up. "You said that contest was already underway?"

"Oh yes. If you'd come a month ago, your timing would have been perfect, but it's basically too late now. Of course, there have been more casualties than usual this time, so the noble families are desperate for talent. If you wanted to offer your services, someone mi-"

"Absolutely not." Theo sat back down and began turning the sleigh away. He wanted to focus on soulcrafting, not get involved in more local problems. "We'll just be on our way and leave you to your contest."

-

Chapter 2

Several days later, Theo was beginning to regret his decision.

They stood outside a sublime beast aviary, which was only the newest obstacle to his goals. He could see the wheels spinning on the other side of the glass, but he was already accepting that this was another dead end. The aviary was an entire glass complex perched on the side of a mountain, and though they'd sneaked to that point, there were guards nearby and an entire civilization defending their materials. Most of the others had backed away, ready for their next jump, but Theo stared at his reflection in the glass.

With Guchiro's help, he had hunted across more of Noven than he had known existed. Not only countless mountain ranges, but entirely different regions. There had been a vast ocean of clouds with no mountain spires, across which great Noveni ship-cities sailed. Another cloud ocean had been eerily silent and Guchiro had insisted that they depart after less than a minute.

In each and every location, lighteggs lay beyond their reach. Many were harvested or farmed by nearby civilizations. Another continent had been engaged in total war, which included destroying their opponents' resources, and their group had needed to fight their way out. And now this peaceful corner of Noven had aviaries that snapped up all lighteggs as soon as they were mature.

He needed to face the truth that soulcrafting knowledge had advanced since his previous visit: what was once obscure knowledge was now commonplace. Acquiring a lightegg was still exactly what he needed for a perfect ascension, but that step would be far more difficult than he'd anticipated.

"Senka helps!" Abruptly she rammed against his knees, thrusting a hand toward him. Theo bent down instinctively and promptly got a fistful of flowers to his face. "Sublime flowers! Very good!"

"You little..." Theo trailed off, wondering if Senka was currently in her cursed state and doing her best to help. Her face held no trace of her true self, just earnest helpfulness.

No, it was the real Senka. The timing was too good. He grabbed her by her white hair and lifted her into the air.

"No antics," Theo said, shaking her a little. Even though he had been confident, he was relieved to see her mocking little grin. "Do you actually have anything to offer?"

"I'd have already spoken up if I could. Looks like you're out of luck."

"Do you think that soulcrafting knowledge has just advanced too much while I was gone?"

"It's pretty likely." While dangling from her hair, Senka folded her arms in a gesture that looked simultaneously too adult for her body and absurdly childish. "Some advanced knowledge has declined, but it isn't like people have gotten fundamentally dumber. General knowledge is going to improve and secrets are going to get out."

Theo scowled despite the fact that she'd just confirmed his thoughts, or perhaps because of it. He crouched to set Senka down and glanced through the aviary walls again. There were a few lighteggs that looked very near completion, or they could try to steal from the nearby vaults. Given their overall strength, they could probably get away with it... but no. Stealing and then leaping to a new part of the Nine Worlds wasn't something he did anymore. There were only no consequences in the most superficial sense.

"You're not planning to mug these people," Senka said. It wasn't a question. She was looking at him with a remarkably astute gaze.

"I guess not. Since no one we've met wants to trade, I guess our best bet is that contest."

"My memory is too fuzzy to help, so I think you should stick with the culture you know. Some Noveni can be bigger sticklers for laws than others, so you could get in trouble wandering into some places." Abruptly Senka's gaze unfocused and she looked heart-achingly lost, like a parent fading into dementia. "I'm... going to go shove some plants into my mouth. Pick me up on the way out."

She wandered off and Theo could only watch her, wishing he could do more. In theory the second river she needed could be found in Noven, but he wasn't capable of helping her until he had ascended. That left him with few options.

When he straightened up, he saw the others watching and realized that they must have overheard. Before he could reorganize his thoughts, Guchiro spoke up.

"Exploring an unknown world for specific materials is generally a time-intensive task. Given what we have uncovered so far, I am not inclined to believe there will be an easy solution to this problem."

"Is that such a big deal?" Nauda asked. "You're not one for cheap solutions anyway."

Theo sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I guess we're going back to that contest in Ugustial, unless you all object. I warn you, Noveni competitions tend to get... involved."

Fiyu bobbed her head encouragingly. "I do not think it will be so bad. If they allow us to participate, we may be able to acquire other materials as well. I think that we can compete even with such powerful groups."

"Yeah," Nauda said, "but aren't we behind? They mentioned that we missed the entire first phase."

"We're going." Once he said the words, Theo became certain. "We'll be at a disadvantage, but it's still our best shot. Even if everyone knows about the lighteggs now, I think the method to soulcraft them is too difficult for them to be commonly used. We might not need to win the competition, just do well enough to get our hands on some."

"Then shouldn't we hurry? We don't know how much else has happened in the days we were gone."

Instead of waiting for further discussion, Guchiro used his shadows to pull the sleigh and Senka closer, then activated his weirkey. Normally, Theo was grateful for his tendency to act decisively instead of spinning wheels, but his stomach flipped as they passed between worlds. Maybe his body wasn't used to so much weirkey travel, or maybe he just disliked how his knowledge had become obsolete...

They popped out in the sky near Ugustial and Theo instinctively cast a gravitational field to keep them all hovering. Everyone pulled themselves into the sleigh except Guchiro, who flew to lead them down into the city.

The guards didn't look happy, but Theo's position in life had changed since waiting outside the walls of Norro Yorthin. Few cities anywhere in the Nine Worlds would be dismissive toward an Authority with a bunch of Rulers in tow. Soon enough they were approved, and though the guards acted a bit scornful, they were directed toward an ornate palace of ivory and gold.

Before they could enter, they were met by an old man with gray hair and bent wings. Not even an Archcrafter, yet he wore a vibrantly blue cloth wrapped around the base of his wings. Presumably a noble of some kind, then, since Noveni royalty tended to pursue at least one tier of soulcrafting.

"Late entrants to the Wakespire?" The old Noveni sucked on his teeth as if they had arrived solely to irritate him. "The contest is open to everyone, so I can do your paperwork, but you don't have much of a chance, given the time."

"Not just yet," Theo said. "One of the guards invited us to take part, but we need to know the terms of the contest before we agree to anything."

"A Wakespire vigil is announced when a powerful soulcrafter leaves a sublime legacy without a designated heir," the noble explained. "Technically, their legacy should pass to the princes, but in their magnanimity, they offer everyone a chance to compete for the resources. Because this is a particularly sensitive affair, the contest is open to all."

More likely, they didn't have the power to back up their claim on the resources. Noveni politics were always confusing, because it felt like half the elites claimed to be royalty and there were a dozen competing claims. His old rival Eratius had been prince of something or other, but needed to reach Dominion in order to strengthen his claim over rival princes. Major issues needed to be decided by contests, because if not, they would become wars.

"What is the nature of the competition?" Fiyu asked.

"All challengers must form teams which will undergo a series of challenges, testing their vigor, wit, and probity. No killing is permitted, and conflicts outside the Wakespire are governed by strict laws. After each month of the competition, further sublime materials are granted to those who have proven themselves best capable of using them."

The old man quickly rattled off more details. It seemed the soulcrafter leaving the sublime legacy had been a Stronghold, meaning that the remnants of his legacy would be most useful to the tiers just below him. Ugustial had planned the event to strengthen their developing soulcrafters, so they only permitted Rulers to enter the main event. Technically Dominions could have blown through the competition and given the materials to allies, but on Noven that would have been a horrible loss of face.

As for the competition itself, it sounded similar enough. The old man didn't explain in full, but there seemed to be an elaborate scoring system between rounds, so their group would be starting with an entire round handicap. Obviously an obstacle, but not an insurmountable one if they just wanted to earn enough to be granted lighteggs.

"So how long until next month's competition?" Theo asked.

"You have thirty-one days to prepare," the old man said. "The competition is quite fierce, so I suggest that you-"

"Wait." Noveni months were always a uniform thirty days as far as he knew. "Does that mean the competition is currently ongoing?"

The old man snorted. "One round behind or two will make little difference, if you're just seeking powerful patrons. But I suppose if you're so eager to fail, you could enter the current round. You'd need to be rather fast."

"To ally with other groups?"

"Oh, it's too late for that. If you really want to throw yourselves into the jaws of the beast, you'll need to begin competing tomorrow at first dawn."

-

Chapter 3

Entering a competition midway was highly inconvenient, but the Nine Worlds marched on without them. Nauda was glad that Theo accepted the opportunity they knew instead of constantly trying for a better option. If he'd kept pushing for new lighteggs, they would have missed the competition by even more.

Besides, Nauda preferred anchoring herself in a community. The fact that there were worlds upon worlds, each containing numerous continents and cities beyond counting... she struggled to really grasp that fact. Just dealing with one Noveni city was enough for her.

From above, Ugustial appeared to be a shining city of gold. On the streets... Nauda had yet to find a seedy underbelly. What struck her most was the space: even small streets were wide enough for many carts to pass, average homes had huge foyers, and she'd seen one food stall with massive portable archway. All of it lined with golden and white materials, though she'd quickly realized that most weren't true gold. Most buildings used ivory pieces to offset the overwhelming gold, which somehow kept the city from being completely gaudy.

Unfortunately, there was little time to explore or adjust to the local culture. They only had half a day to finish all of the work, and the majority of that had fallen to her. Fiyu was with Guchiro preparing for light-based challenges. Because mid-competition ascensions were allowed, Theo had holed himself in their room and begun crafting bricks. Of course, if the rules had been different he probably would have found another excuse to avoid people.

Nauda swallowed as she approached the enormous golden desk at the end of the palace wing. Either gold was more common on Noven or the nobles were extracting truly obscene amounts of it from everyone else. She had already gotten their group's papers, so this was allegedly where she needed to register their team.

"You have the paperwork?" Nauda glanced down at the bag at her side, or more specifically at Senka clinging to the side.

"Senka eated them!"

Instead of answering, Nauda shoved Senka's face into the bag. It couldn't be comfortable, because it was filled with various papers and small identification stones. Senka struggled for a bit, and when Nauda let her up, she handed over a set of papers with a glower.

"Nlerm, you're no fun." Senka folded her arms irritably. "Theo would have joked back."

"Yeah, well, you should have thought of that before you picked the person who wants to sit in his room soulcrafting all day."

Though Senka no doubt had more to say, she shut up as Nauda approached the desk. Another Noveni sat behind it - Nauda couldn't help but see Noveni wings first, in this case a gloriously white set. They were all folded up, so it was hard to judge exactly how many. So far, she had seen between four and eight. Nauda made herself look past that and instead observed the middle-aged woman. Aside from her elaborate purple robes and the wings, she could have been a mother anywhere.

"We want to register a late team for the Wakespire tomorrow," Nauda said with a smile. She set their papers down on the desk carefully.

"Well, at least you're not registering the morning of the competition." The attendant chuckled as if at a private joke and then pulled up diamond-shaped glasses to examine the papers. "Oh, but this won't do. It won't do at all."

"What do you mean? I was told we were all accepted."

"You have three Ruler applications, and you have an Authority to serve as your team patron. But the actual team that enters the spire needs to consist of four members, and that doesn't include your patron. No exceptions."

"Ah..." Another rule that they'd misunderstood due to all the rush. Nauda wasn't sure if Tatian smiles would do any good here, but she delivered her best one. "Sorry, but we're outsiders here. Since we're already at a disadvantage, what would it hurt to register a team of three?"

"No exceptions!" The woman adjusted her glasses as if she was willing to die for the sake of this arbitrary rule.

Nauda sighed and glanced down at the table. If only they had taken Navim along with them, or even Krikree, this would be no trouble. Her gaze wandered over the room, noting the various inhabitants and wondering if any of them were potential competitors. It sounded like teams could change between phases and in fact some of what she'd heard made more sense now that she knew each team was invariably four people. But trusting a stranger sounded like a good way to be disappointed, if not stabbed in the back by another group.

Senka coughed. Nauda glanced down at her and groaned.

"I'd like to register a fourth member," Nauda said begrudgingly with a gesture toward Senka.

"Are you sure?" The registrar frowned over her glasses with deep disapproval. "Dead weight is permitted, but each contestant needs sufficient cantae to enter the challenge. I don't know what this is, but-"

"I am a noble princess of Siata," Senka said imperiously, "Alitheareitrasia, seventh of my name! I will not permit you to insult my family!"

Drawn up seriously, Senka looked absolutely nothing like the imp that had pulled at their heels for so long. What she said was nonsense, but she really did sound like royalty. Her attitude was enough to convince the registrar, if not make her approve, so they managed to establish their team with only a little more paperwork.

"Is there a list of rewards?" Nauda asked. The Noveni woman removed her glasses and used them to point toward a large book across the room.

"This isn't a game or a market, girl. Everyone will be given their just rewards as determined by the council of princes. But of course everything within the sublime legacy is listed in full for competitors."

So it wasn't the Fithan system, even if it used similar-sounding points. Nauda thanked the registrar, for all the good it did, and crossed the room toward the book. There were a few other competitors in line, so Nauda took her place at the end.

While she waited, she wondered at the size of the book. She knew about sublime legacies, of course, but she had never encountered one so significant that it needed an entire book to list and started a multi-month competition. Looking over the sublime materials would be interesting for its own sake, not just to get the information that Theo and Fiyu wanted.

On the lower side of Tatian, she hadn't even known that soulcrafters could leave behind sublime materials when they died. The spiritual trauma of a violent death destroyed the entire soulhome, so though she'd seen many powerful soulcrafters die, none had left anything behind. It was only on the upper side that she'd been taught that sufficiently-reinforced materials could survive. They weren't as powerful as in their original soulhome, but they took forms that were uncommon in nature and thus highly prized.

The soulhomes of Archcrafters would entirely dissolve in the process, and even Rulers needed both polish and inner peace to leave anything behind. Thus the sublime legacies she had seen were limited to a few materials and armaments. Presumably the Landguards on Tatian carefully managed all Authorities and shared their resources, so she'd never seen larger legacies.

Apparently, the sublime legacy of a Stronghold could be large indeed. As Nauda finally approached the book, she realized just how absurdly massive it was. Each page was larger than her torso and she couldn't imagine how it could be read if it wasn't on a pedestal.

Nauda snorted as she began reading and realized that the book didn't need to be anywhere near so massive. Each page was covered in massive flowing script, difficult to read even through soul translation. The individual entries were so overly verbose that she skimmed the names alone until she found what Theo cared about:

Lightegg (edifice-quality sublime material): This exceptional sublime material is the fascinating product of a rare sublime beast. When development is arrested at a certain instance, which can occur both naturally or artificially, it forms a supremely durable sphere. It would make an undistinguished construction material, so unlocking its true puissance requires breaking it apart, which is nearly impossible before Authority. [Four remaining.]

There were four listed, but as Nauda leafed through the other pages, she saw a duplicate entry. This time it said only two remained... looking back to the top of the page, Nauda realized that each spread of pages represented a different month's potential rewards. She flipped through and confirmed that there were only six lighteggs offered overall, on the second and third phases, then began looking over the Wakespire as a whole.

There were ten pages filled, which was just another way that the book was absurdly over-sized. Each spread held all the rewards for that month's competition, divided into several categories that were entirely opaque to her. The only thing that made sense was that the further down the page the more powerful the materials, which suggested there were different tiers of rewards. The lighteggs were in the second highest categories, so they definitely had their work cut out for them.

Even though she hadn't meant to review all the materials, Nauda soon realized that they wouldn't have their pick, so she ended up browsing through them. Not everything listed was a sublime material: there were apparently famous works of art, mysterious curios, and other normal legacies of a life. Not much money or other tokens of raw value, but otherwise it appeared to be everything the deceased had owned.

Every item on the first page had been crossed out by thin golden lines. She read the pages anyway and noted a few items designed to restore damaged soulhomes. If only they had come a month earlier... but no, it was too late to worry about that.

Since Theo claimed to have everything he needed, Nauda was looking mostly for herself and Fiyu. There didn't seem to be many materials appropriate for the Ichili woman, which was no surprise given the constant sunlight. Nauda found more for herself and began making a mental list of all the potential rewards. Some of the sublime materials sounded perfect for her, especially in the final two rounds of the Wakespire, and particularly an unusual sculpture:

Bloodglass Sculpture (monument-quality sublime material): This extraordinary work of sublime art is constructed not via conversion of ordinary sublime sand, but instead from the remnants of numerous glassiform materials believed to have been gathered from across the world. Notably, its unique nature permitted it to survive the legacy process little-reduced. It emits large quantities of pain and violence oriented cantae and could severely damage other sublime materials, but in return will increase a soulcrafter's potency and savagery many-fold. [One available.]

Every entry seemed a bit exaggerated to her, but the bloodglass sculpture was the only one that included a warning, which she hoped spoke to its potency. Such a material could probably fit in her death tower, since it didn't contain any fragile materials. There were a few other items of interest, but none stuck out to her as much as the sculpture.

Eventually the people behind her became restless, so Nauda stepped away from the book. She'd registered their team and checked the prizes, so she didn't need to do anything else. For a moment she thought she still had plenty of time left in the day, then she remembered that they didn't have normal evenings on Noven. She had no idea how late it was or when "first dawn" actually was.

Still, just based on her internal sense of time, Nauda knew the day wasn't over. There was nothing else she strictly needed to do, but she had hoped to gain a better understanding for the competition. The only question was how.

"Senka, what..." Nauda looked down and saw that the strange creature had fallen asleep in the bag. Well, she probably needed it to avoid turning into an obnoxious imp. After pulling the top flap over Senka's head, Nauda went to look for information.

No one seemed inclined to talk to her, and a few responded to her hails with far more derision than the guards or registrar. It seemed that in this palace being a Ruler meant nothing. She felt a bit of shame at the state of her soulhome before remembering that none of them could see through her shielding wall. Apparently these Noveni were just habitually snooty.

"Hey."

She almost didn't hear the soft voice over the bustle of the competitors. But when it repeated, she looked to the side and spotted a man he hadn't seen before. One of the white-winged type. She couldn't tell how many wings he had, but they weren't folded neatly behind him: all were bedraggled and one projected at an odd angle as if damaged. His white clothing was as neat as everyone else, but his long blond hair hung messily around his face.

"Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" The young man seemed to struggle to raise his voice at all, and he became even softer when she walked close. "You're a foreigner... umm, not from this world, right?"

"You're observant," Nauda said, gesturing toward her back. "I had hoped to hide it, but you seem to have spotted a slight difference." Immediately she winced internally. After experiencing so much scorn, she had reacted automatically to the first person to be kind to her.

Fortunately, the Noveni man just gave a weak grin. "Sorry if that was improper. I... wasn't sure how to get your attention without yelling something strange."

"I'm not going to be offended."

"Then could we talk a little? There are a lot of foreigners here, but not many from outside Noven, and all the ones I know are mercenaries hired by princes. I hope it won't cause offense to say that you seem like, uh... a normal person. A soulcrafter, clearly, but you seem like... a normal visitor."

"I suppose I am." Nauda gave him an encouraging smile. "I don't know how much time I have before tomorrow, but I wouldn't mind talking."

"Oh, good. Then let's sit down."

The young man shuffled to one of the ornate benches along the side of the room. Nauda had noticed them, but only then realized that they were all some distance from the walls, presumably to allow space for wings. Whoever he was, the young man sat down and then gave her a smile containing more worry than warmth.

Just sitting down should have been trivial, yet Nauda hesitated. On Tatian, she never would have second-guessed sitting right next to him. Now Ichili withdrawal and Fithan customs crowded into her mind and made even the simplest action fraught. Then again... he had approached her as an outsider, so he probably didn't care. Nauda sat roughly in the middle of the rest of the bench.

"My name is Isorales, by the way." The young Noveni smiled at her. "And... you are?"

"Call me Nauda. I'm from Tatian."

"I don't know, uh, a single thing about Tatian. Most of the foreigners we get here are from Aathal or Slest. So I was surprised to see you looking so... normal. I wondered if there were wingless Noveni I didn't know anything about. Oh, and we get some Fithans. But their skin colors are different and they're usually mercenaries, so..."

Isorales trailed off as he realized he was rambling. He flushed and lowered his eyes.

"I'm used to most people looking similar," Nauda said gently. It was possible he was an insanely talented actor, but she thought she understood him. "Are you a participant in the Wakespire? Can you tell me anything about the competition?"

"Oh.. you want to, uh, do an exchange?" Isorales frowned over the room. "I don't mind. But given how little time is left... maybe we need to make a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"If I give you information now, will you promise to tell me more about your home later?"

Nauda blinked in surprise at the surprisingly beneficial arrangement. She really was beginning to worry that he was manipulating her in some way she couldn't see, but...

"I'm just trying to be fair," Isorales said with a wobbly smile. "There's a good chance you'll fail out tomorrow, so... umm, no offense. But I can wait on getting more information, especially if it means that you stick around longer."

"What kind of challenges will we face?"

"Oh, wow, straight to the serious questions. We're not supposed to talk about those, though everybody does. But knowing ahead of time won't do you much good. They aren't that sort of trial."

She wasn't so sure, but she wasn't going to push the only person who had been friendly to her so far. Instead of the questions Theo probably wanted her to ask, Nauda's mind moved in a different direction. "Why are we all fighting over someone's legacy? Who managed to reach Stronghold, but didn't have any heirs who wanted their sublime materials?"

"Prince Katarikus was the head of the Terefilia lineage," Isorales explained. "He's, uh, not from around here. He only left one family member, an Authority who is on an entirely different path. Name's Ractifus. He's one of the princes governing the competition, you'll know him when you see him."

"Are you sure about that? I'm not familiar with Noven."

"Oh, you'll know. You've probably noticed some minor differences between people here, but those just have to do with where you're from and which sun is most prominent there. But the Terefilia nobles are from... below. Uh, from below the clouds, I mean. Their wings are always black, so there's no mistaking it."

He said "below" like it had great importance and Nauda's heart began beating faster. Was all of Noven really split between factions above and below the clouds? And they even had light and dark colors separating them... it might have been a coincidence, but she couldn't help but see a parallel to Tatian. There was a major split on Fithe as well, and she struggled to find the true parallel between them.

"I guess you don't know about that?" Isorales shifted awkwardly, which produced a lot of noise due to his wings. "Prince Katarikus moved up here, and he had enough power he was accepted, but he was never really welcomed, and of course the noble lineages didn't merge. So he became increasingly isolated until Ractifus was the only Terefilia left in the entire city. And since Ractifus didn't want the sublime legacy, he set this entire competition."

"What does he get out of it? Money?"

"Yes, all the fees go to him, and the city compensated him greatly. They say Ractifus is a dour old man who only cares about money. I wouldn't know, because he seems to hate everyone. Anyway, you'll need to know who he is if you stay in the Wakespire, because he's one of the main judges. Wait, did I... I said that, didn't I?"

"Alright, I guess that answers my question." Nauda leaned back and considered that sad story. "So none of the deceased Stronghold's relatives from 'below' can come get his legacy?"

"A few have claimed to be in his lineage. I'm not sure if they're telling the truth or not, but it doesn't really matter, because they're probably not going to win."

"Who's favored, then?"

"The Dortorus lineage. They're easy to tell apart too... just don't look too much." Isorales pointed cautiously toward the other end of the room, as if he was afraid his finger would be broken.

The motion seemed timid until Nauda looked and realized that one entire side of the room was controlled by a mob. All of them had golden brown wings, which she assumed marked their common ethnicity. Other than the wings they varied considerably, but the whole group looked tough and experienced. Few used shielding walls, revealing that several of them were Authorities.

"Look like they have even more Authorities than before," Isorales almost whispered. "Rumors say they knew the old man was dying or even killed him, because they had a lot of ringers prepared."

"Ringers?"

"Umm... sorry if that didn't translate. They entered soulcrafters at the very peak of Ruler, then had them all ascend in the middle of the first challenge, straight to 9th or 10th class. That gave them a huge advantage and they've been trying to take out their rivals."

"And it's not cheating because you're allowed to ascend during the competition."

"Yeah, basically." Isorales sat back and sighed. "They have three full teams, and none of them are weak. There are some other noble families fielding more people, or just local groups in the city, but there's no point telling you about them because they don't have much of a chance. So when the competition begins, just hope you don't end up against any Dortorus teams."

It did look like they had intimidated the rest of the chamber, but Nauda wasn't willing to accept it so easily. "Surely there are other teams who have a chance to beat them."

"Oh, there are some. I was... oh, there's one now. The Gatrium team just walked in.."

Nauda looked up to see a group of four Noveni enter and pass the Dortorus crowd. Their leader was a muscular man with a strange blue mask that covered his entire face. Whatever he was hiding, it wasn't his status as Authority, which blazed in every direction as he swaggered through the crowd. All of that might have been pertinent, but Nauda was more interested in the fact that his team had gray-colored wings.

"Their wings..." She realized she might be stumbling into a sensitive issue, but plunged forward. "Is that what happens when white and black wings merge?"

"What?" Isorales stared at her as if she'd said something absolutely absurd. "I don't, uh... I don't know how it works where you come from, but no. Gray wings are normal, for normal mountains. They're not from undercloud nations at all."

"Oh, sorry. What makes them a challenger?"

"Nobody thought their lineage was particularly important, but their leader also ascended to Authority during the first round. An 8th class Authority, too, not like you'd expect. It surprised everyone, so now he's been gaining allies and his patron has made a lot of money off it."

More Authorities. Even though Nauda had stood among many powerful soulcrafters, she found herself a little intimidated. Yes, most of them probably didn't have brilliant soulhomes, and the intensity of cantae couldn't compare to the battle between Strongholds on Fithe. But these were people about her age, people she was going to be competing against in a matter of hours. Fiyu and Theo might be able to keep up, but could she?

"Anybody else?" Nauda shook off the thoughts and looked around the room. "Most of the other Rulers look average to me, but they can't all be here."

"Well, there's the Jadadictus lineage. Which means, umm, me." Isorales raised a hand in an awkward wave. "I'm Isorales Jadadictus. Should I have said that before? Wasn't sure if that would mean anything to you."

"I'm not familiar with local politics, so it's fine." Nauda gave him a smile despite the fact that her entire body had tensed up. He was a rival after all, and possibly much more dangerous than she had expected. His shielding wall must be fantastic, because she had honestly thought he was an Archcrafter.

"Technically we're a major competitor, but I wouldn't worry about us. We started with four teams and the Dortorus teams took out half our soulcrafters in the very first round. And I'm basically a disappointment to my entire lineage, so I don't know how long I'll be able to stay in the competition."

"Was this all an attempt to recruit me, then?"

Isorales looked dismayed for a moment, then grinned weakly when he saw she was joking. "No, no, nothing like that... I really just wanted to talk. My family doesn't want to lose face relying on others. Besides, we're declining, so it's not like you would want to join our teams."

"So we could be fighting each other tomorrow."

"Well, most of the challenges don't involve fighting each other, but we'll definitely be competing. Have you seen the scoreboards? Points are given on a curve, so it's hard to work together."

Nauda had seen the scores, just like she'd heard everyone talking about Authority "classes", and she had ignored them. More ranking obsessions, as far as she could tell. Other worlds were so concerned about who was stronger than who. There didn't appear to be any strategy they could access based on all those points and scales, so they didn't matter. All she could do was offer everything she had during the competition.

"Isorales!" The blue-masked Authority boomed out from across the room, marching in their direction. "You still haven't ascended, huh?"

"I'm..." Isorales started to say more, but swallowed as his opponent spread his gray wings to either side.

"We're coming for you, tomorrow!" The Gatrium soulcrafters sneered at them on their way out and Isorales kept his eyes lowered.

"I... good luck tomorrow." Isorales mumbled out the words and then fled, his mangled wings bobbing after him. Nauda wanted to ask him about the apparent conflict, or even just help him feel better, but there was no time. She needed to sleep for the competition, and tomorrow they would all be enemies.

On her way back, she found herself instead looking back toward the Dortorus teams. Those golden wings were so familiar... as she walked into a relatively empty hallway of the palace, Nauda opened up her pouch.

"Senka, were you listening?"

"Mostly." She stuck her head out, hair tousled but eyes sharp. "Normal Noveni politics, sounds like."

"Do you think this Dortorus family could be related to Ariano of the Golden Wings? Back on Tatian, I mean. I know he left Noven because-"

"Are you sporping kidding me?" Senka regarded her with malicious amusement. "Wings that color are one of the most common types. There have to be hundreds of noble lineages with those wings across the world. The chance that there's any connection is basically zero."

Nauda scowled down. "Who made you the expert on Noven?"

"Shut up, gurfoop!" Senka laughed as she wriggled out of the bag, then ran off ahead. Grouchy as she was, Nauda let her go.

Or maybe she was just tired. Not only was it difficult to gauge how long she had been awake, the sheer light itself was starting to wear on her. Her only point of comparison was the desert of Arbai. That place had been drier and bleaker, yet the sterile light of all the Noveni suns wearied her in a different way. Nauda decided just to go back to the others and get a good sleep before the competition.

After she got back, it all went absurdly quickly. Nauda had been looking forward to a proper Noveni meal instead of rations, but when she got back the others had already acquired food. The light flakes of bread were sweet, but unremarkable. After that, Nauda fell asleep and seemed to wake up a moment later with Theo shaking her.

She blearily pulled herself together as she realized that the strange light had made her oversleep. Unlike the usual washed-out white, the sunlight was more blue than anything. They took their sleigh and joined all the other competitors as they flew away from Ugustial city and toward a massive tower atop a nearby mountain. It was only while staring at it that Nauda's brain reengaged.

"Wait, are we going to a ceremony?" she asked dully.

"The ceremony was part of everything we missed last month," Theo told her. "Make sure you're awake, because I think we're going in as soon as we arrive. We're running late."

Hadn't she been registering their names and eating just an hour ago? Nauda slapped her cheeks and forced herself to focus. There was no time to look at the tower or think about anything else - she needed to be ready for anything. When they got closer, a Noveni official directed them toward a large blue portal.

"As soon as you step inside," the official said, "your second trial of the Wakespire will begin. Please enter quickly."

Except it was their first time and Nauda had no idea what to expect. Guchiro had already taken over the sleigh, so they needed to head inside. Nauda gripped her staff, glanced at the others, and plunged through the portal into the unknown.

-

Chapter 4

Entering the spire briefly reminded Theo of crossing between worlds, then he realized they were nothing alike. All the disorientation, none of the liminal elevation. The portal entrance definitely transported them across space, but it simply dumped them into a room in the same world.

That room was a cube, roughly twenty feet along any side. No entrances or exits, but they'd emerged from a carving of an archway. Since every other surface was formed from plain white stone blocks, scrubbed of any significant details, all the rest of his attention fell on the four columns of light on the opposite side of the room.

Even as they took a step inside, the light shivered and vanished, revealing a quartet of stage two demons. These had spider-like bones emerging from their backs, but otherwise they were the same as second stage demons on any world. Four of them against four contestants: clearly a first room designed to filter out Archcrafters or completely incompetent Rulers. For their group, it should be no trouble at all.

"Let's finish this quickly!" Theo said. He was already casting a gravitational field underneath the demons.

All demons had some resistance to cantae abilities, but with his spherical flow handling the raw power of his singularity, Theo could multiply gravity significantly. He might even have been able to kill them all himself, but to conserve energy he simply smashed them against the ceiling, then caught them in mid-air as they fell.

By now the others didn't need any direction. Nauda already had her staff raised while he was casting the field and she quickly used her binding skill to push the demons together. As soon as they were aligned, Fiyu unleashed a storm of light bolts that tore through them.

A matter of seconds after they had entered the room, the challenge was over.

"And I'm also here!" Senka stood with her hands on her hips and an exaggerated look of pride on her face. "But really, my only contribution will be to step out now."

"Are we allowed to forfeit?" Theo asked.

"You can announce it or walk out," Senka said, already walking behind them. Two sides of the room had lit up: a blue portal circled in the archway behind them while another had emerged on the opposite side. Just before Senka stepped into the swirling cantae, she glanced back at him. "You should be able to handle this, but hurry."

As soon as she touched the portal, she vanished. As he jogged toward the portal onward, Theo couldn't help but wonder what she meant. If she knew something specific, surely she would have told him earlier. Then again, her memory could be erratic. It wasn't like he'd planned to waste time, so he focused onward regardless.

On the other side of the spatial twist, they entered a second room with the portal already fading behind them. This chamber didn't look like a battle arena at all: the floor was covered in glass and water flowed through translucent silvery channels underneath. Above the glass stood a large number of levers that appeared to change gates in the channels.

"A puzzle? Really?" Theo muttered to himself and hoped that the Noveni in charge had a better sense of puzzle design than the average game developer. He'd been prepared to fight his way through a gauntlet, so having to finish random puzzles just irritated him.

"Looks like it's supposed to flow into here?" Nauda crouched down on the opposite side, examining some sort of mechanism underneath the glass.

"There are golden lines drawn beneath the pipes," Fiyu pointed out. "They appear to be rooms. Could this be a representation of a soulhome?"

Theo laughed as he realized that his experience with video games had actually tripped him up. Without any preconceived notions, his allies had immediately seen the truth: this was a cantae flow exercise. As soon as he started looking for it, he saw the representations of chambers and understood the objective of the task.

"Think of the end gate as the window for a technique," Theo said, already hauling on one lever. "We probably need to get all the cantae flowing there instead of being wasted."

The others immediately joined him. He'd worried about trying to coordinate their efforts, but the puzzle itself wasn't that hard. Because they all saw the flaws in the cantae flow, they quickly switched the channels until all the pipes all flowed in the same direction. The combined force pushed against the mechanism Nauda had pointed out and the portal onward opened.

Nauda grinned at him as they moved on and Theo automatically grinned back. Fiyu appeared to be smiling as well from just behind them. It was more than their teamwork that cheered him, however: his faith in the people running the test had been restored. The water puzzle might not have been challenging, but it would stymie anyone who didn't have a decent theoretical knowledge of cantae flow. You wouldn't be able to win the Wakespire with brute force alone.

Theo was beginning to feel like he had a handle on the trials, then they entered the next room. Or rather a tunnel. When they stepped from the next portal, they stood inside a large tube of glass. It was completely cylindrical except for a flat floor across the bottom.

"Some kind of trap?" Nauda advanced forward first, but the tube appeared to spiral upward harmlessly.

As they moved inward, Theo saw that their tube was only one of several, all gently spiraling around the sides of a vast cylindrical room. The other paths soon became half-tubes with open tops, and he braced himself when theirs lost its roof, but nothing attacked them. So far, he hadn't noticed any threats at all. It looked like they could simply continue up their glass pathway until they reached the portal at the top.

He wasn't sure what to make of the room at all. Each glass tube ended in a different portal, so perhaps there was an element of risk there? Since there didn't appear to be any danger, they sped up toward the top.

"Do you feel anything?" Nauda whispered to Fiyu.

"It appears to be an empty tower. Four pathways leading to the top, with no..." She trailed off and Theo glanced back at her just in time to see Fiyu turn in alarm. "There's someone else here!"

Four figures emerged at the bottom of another of the glass pathways: three Rulers and an Authority. Theo wasn't sure about the purpose of the room, but he suddenly understood the risk. The leader of the group was a man wearing a featureless blue mask... he must have been the Gatrium contender that Nauda had blearily told them about.

"How did you get here first?" Even through the narrow mask eye holes, his rage was obvious. "Attack, you fools, stop them!"

All four began sprinting up their pathway and hurling cantae bolts as soon as they were free of the glass roof. As he sped up, Theo noted that none of them tried to fly or leave their pathway. He decided to do the same and cast some torsion bolts of his own: not toward the group, but toward the walkway ahead of them. Most had to retreat and only the Authority pushed through his bolts.

"Stealth?" Fiyu asked, coming up beside him. Theo shook his head: they had a head start and they were almost to the exit, so there was no point revealing another one of her techniques.

Before they reached the portal, they had been nearly singed by a multitude of attacks. Another team had come through a third glass tube as well, this one all with Dortorus golden wings. The Gatrium team turned some of their attention to the new arrivals, leaving Theo and the others to plunge into their portal.

On the other side, darkness surrounded them. Theo took a deep breath and began focusing on his new gravity sense, which revealed a cube filled with a host of smaller objects. He had hoped to take a moment to talk to the others about the previous room and their strategy going forward, but it seemed like there was no time for that.

"Do not worry." Fiyu's fingers gripped his sleeve and he could feel that she was pulling Nauda as well. "Follow me and this should not be difficult."

Without her guidance, the room would have been a hellish gauntlet of apparently bottomless pits, spinning blades, and sliding blocks. It was all more than Theo could keep up with, so all his new sense gave him was dread. But since he trusted Fiyu, it was a simple matter to follow her directions. They made it through the room without any injuries and stepped into an ordinarily lit chamber.

This one was smaller, containing a desk with a number of books and a model of the golden spire. Strangest of all, there was a Noveni man drawing papers out of a box. He stared at them and his jaw worked soundlessly before he managed to summon any actual words.

"You're here already?" He shook his head. "So sorry, not quite ready yet..."

"Is this some kind of trick?" Nauda asked. She brandished her spear in his direction. "Are you going to give us a riddle or attack us or something?"

"No! What kind of barbarians are you?" The man sat down behind his desk and frowned at them. "This is the first Room of Blessings. You can observe the progress of your rivals here and choose one of them to grant a benefit in their next trial."

"Do we have to give one?" Theo asked.

"Yes, it's a requirement to move on. And you can't choose yourselves."

"Oh, then it is a strategic question," Fiyu said.

She nodded as if this was reasonable, but to Theo it sounded like a con. The largest families could bless one another, either equally or pooling all their choices toward their best team. Small teams would be at a disadvantage... but that didn't matter.

"We're not wasting time on that," Theo announced. "Just pick someone, anyone."

"Let's help Isorales Jadadictus," Nauda said. She shrugged when he glanced toward her. "He seemed nice and might be an ally later."

"Doesn't matter, the point is to hurry on."

"You don't... want to examine the tower?" The Noveni official blinked at them in surprise and gestured toward the spire model. Theo was already rushing past him and it seemed like the next portal was active, so there was nothing to stop them.

He didn't have enough information to play the local politics, so Nauda's instinct was as good as any. Theo was much more concerned about the fact that they seemed to be ahead of the curve. That was probably in large part due to Fiyu, but the reason didn't matter. Even before Senka's comment about hurrying, he'd suspected that there were rewards for speed. Leading the pack was their best chance of catching up to all the teams that had participated in the first round.

The next room was another empty cube... except for a large statue in the center. Fiyu readied herself as soon as she saw it, while Nauda just sighed.

"I don't suppose this is a statue-based puzzle?"

As an answer, the apparently squat statue unfolded into a lean golem over twice their height. Its entire body was made from a shimmering silver that felt like a sublime material to Theo. Building automatons was difficult as far as he knew, and the materials alone had to be expensive. One thing was sure: this was going to be a bigger challenge than the demons.

"Another team has applied a curse," a disembodied voice told them calmly. "This chamber's difficulty will be intensified."

Cantae rolled over the golem's body. It pulled two long blades from within its chest cavity and charged.

-

Chapter 5

Theo really should have panicked. As the golem marched toward him, its blades swinging, he calmly cast both a gravitational field and a series of torsion bolts.

Against a normal opponent, that might have been the correct decision. But the golem appeared capable of resisting his gravitational change and his bolts reflected off its shiny surface. It was on him faster than he expected and its reach was far larger than he'd anticipated, as it crouched down and swept one blade in a long horizontal sweep.

He leapt backward out of range and only then felt the line of pain across his arm. His coat had blunted the blow, but it had still been split in half and he could see a thin line of blood. Even if his armament would repair itself, that injury would slow him down. They couldn't afford to be taking attrition so quickly.

It lunged after him, crossing the space faster than he would have expected. Before it could strike, Nauda intercepted it, catching the arm between the forks of her staff. She twisted and drove the golem to the ground, but it wouldn't stay pinned. Instead, the construct's limbs rotated around in a way that no real creature could and it climbed back to its feet, stabbing at her with its other arm.

"A little help?" Nauda desperately backtracked, fending off the strikes. This golem was clearly intended to challenge a peak Ruler strength-for-strength, so she was struggling to keep up. "Does it even have vital organs?"

"There should be a material serving as the core." As he spoke, Theo cast several more torsion bolts at its joints. None of them managed to sever the golem's limbs.

Maybe Nauda should have panicked too, because she was taking a beating. The golem managed to slam her against one of the walls, then swung wildly, its blade scraping against the wall. Nauda barely managed to stay ahead of it and she still took a few bruising knocks as well as a nasty cut to her side.

Just as he was wondering if it was worth using a singularity so early, one of the golem's limbs split in half at the knee. Theo froze a moment, searching for the nearly imperceptible blur of Fiyu. Nauda didn't hesitate at all and drove her staff directly into the golem's head.

It had no face to damage, but the force drove it back to the ground. Unfortunately, the golem simply reoriented its limbs and reached up to stab Nauda. Just before it could do so, a brief swath of blue cantae cut through its arm.

This time, the golem lurched toward Fiyu's former position. Theo had no idea if she could get out of the way in time, so he just cast a gravitational field over the entire area. Nauda fell toward the ceiling and presumably Fiyu did as well, getting them both out of the way of the wildly thrashing golem.

"There, toward the top of the torso!" Theo finally spotted the golem's core hidden within one of the shoulder pieces. He returned gravity to normal and hoped the others could adapt.

Nauda actually leapt off the ceiling and slammed into the golem's other shoulder. Her impact carried enough force that she drove its torso down to the ground and flattened its remaining arm. An instant later Fiyu's blade pierced through its core within the armor.

As the golem slumped, the invisible aura slipped away from Fiyu's body. Theo gestured for her to follow, since they needed to get to the next room and make up for lost time, but she instead turned back.

"Nauda, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Nauda tried to give Fiyu an encouraging smile, but she was favoring her side, which was covered in blood. "Given enough time, I'll regenerate."

"I hope that we do not have too many combat rooms."

"They've all been varied so far," Theo said. He reached down to pull Nauda to her feet and gestured for them. "Come on, we have to hurry before the others send more curses our way." All he could do was presume that there were rooms for cursing and that other teams had already encountered them.

With the golem down, the portal had already opened. On the other side, they found themselves on a balcony... over an endless pit? Theo blinked as he saw several glowing orbs fall from the ceiling into the darkness, only to reappear at the ceiling. So the chamber was looped vertically via some sort of space-manipulation technique. The Noveni really were putting a lot of resources into this competition.

"What are we even looking at?" Nauda leaned heavily on her staff and stared at the falling orbs. "I have no idea what this is supposed to be."

"Look at the openings." Fiyu pointed toward the sides of the room, where there were a large number of circular openings. "Perhaps something with them?"

Fiyu's senses had taken them far, but here they made her miss the obvious: the colors around the openings were the same as the falling orbs. The orbs seemed to be speeding up as they continued accelerating downward, so retrieving all of them might have been a real challenge.

For a team with different skills. Theo reversed gravity in the center of the chamber and cast anchoring points until he finally got all the spheres to halt in the center.

"I've neutralized gravity over the pit," he explained to the others. "Let's match the colors as fast as possible."

To her credit, Fiyu immediately understood once she started considering the colors. She drifted into the center of the room, by now familiar with operating under his gravitational fields. Nauda joined her, moving a little slowly due to her injury but easily capable of grabbing spheres. Theo joined in and with each sphere deposited in the correctly colored circle, the walls gave off a glow and a chime of approval.

This one really did remind him of a game. Without having to worry about gravity, they finished the room quickly enough: with the last sphere, a new portal on their balcony lit up.

On the other side, they found themselves standing atop a mountain surrounded by nothing but clouds.

"We can't be done..." After staring for a while, Nauda sat down and stared. "This must be another challenge."

"This space is... wrong." Fiyu rubbed her forehead with both hands and frowned. "We are still inside a smaller chamber, but it is using a technique to distort that space. I do not understand what we are meant to do."

For once, Theo had no more idea than they did. There were no objects on the mountaintop to draw his attention and the clouds were even more nondescript than the ones in the real Noven. He spotted mountains in the distance in a few places, but there was nothing marking them out as special and they might not even be real.

Were they supposed to venture beneath the clouds? That was the only idea he had, but if Fiyu was right and they were still inside a chamber, then the clouds were near the base of the cube. He really was baffled about what the challenge was even supposed to be.

"You need to destroy the targets." The disembodied voice returned briefly, then after a long pause continued speaking. "Can you see the targets placed on each mountain? You need to strike them without leaving the mountaintop."

"Really?" Nauda shielded her eyes as she searched futilely. "Maybe if my telescope was fully repaired, but right now I can't see anything."

"They are... very far." Fiyu walked to one edge and focused her senses. "Can you assist me?"

Obviously she meant Theo instead of Nauda, but he wasn't sure how much he could help. He joined her at the edge and tried to extend his gravity senses outward. There was definitely some sort of spatial manipulation that was making his senses go haywire. But even without it, he struggled to help her pinpoint these invisible targets. The fact was that he had been so focused on his soulcrafting that improving his base skills had fallen by the wayside.

Eventually he thought he could feel a dense point just in front of a mountain, and there seemed to be others. Fiyu used his assistance to get the precise angle and then fired a thin stream of light bolts. She needed to correct several times before the target was destroyed, since the artificial mountains were quite far away and even the slightest shift in her fingers would produce a miss.

Future targets fell quicker, but by the time they had destroyed them all, Fiyu was breathing heavily. The fact that she had built a Corporeal Floor was usually an advantage, but it did leave her with less overall cantae. That never would have been a problem if they hadn't faced a challenge that forced her to use so much. Even as they walked toward the portal that appeared in the air, Theo had to wonder just what that challenge was even supposed to be.

Given that one of the officials had spoken to them, something must have been wrong. His best guess was that Noveni had good enough eyesight that the targets jumped out at them. If so, then the room was a test of range and accuracy. Still, something about that idea wriggled in the back of his mind, as if he was missing something...

Theo heard the next room before he saw it. Metal and stone smashing together violently, over and over again. When he fully left the swirling cantae of the portal, he found himself facing a swarm of blocks. Instead of a cube like most of the rooms, they appeared to be at the end of a wide corridor. He couldn't even see the other side through the shifting maze of blocks smashing against one another.

"We have to go through that?" Nauda asked. "I don't see a path through."

"I could, if my new skills were more developed." Fiyu lowered her head as if this was a great failing. "But I fear I cannot, and I would have no way to help you through in any case."

"Let's stay calm and begin testing," Theo said. "See how they respond to interference and look for patterns in the meantime."

His first experiment, as always, was a gravitational field. Either the blocks were immune or the test proctors had increased the difficulty, because the maze of blocks resisted his cantae. He tried a torsion bolt, just in case, but it only damaged part of one block. Smashing through the haze of blocks might be an accepted solution, it would just drain so much stamina that it wouldn't be worth it.

In a strange way, by optimizing himself so much, Theo wasn't well-equipped for these challenges. He had numerous skills that he hadn't even tried, such as his disorientation technique. That was very useful against opponents he would normally face, and not useful at all in this kind of artificial circumstance. All told, he preferred actual efficacy, but it annoyed him now.

The critical exception would have been his tunneling technique. Unfortunately, there was no way it would work for human-sized objects until he was an Authority, so that was a dead end. There did seem to be a pattern of movement, so maybe if he looked long enough...

"Another team just applied a curse." They all groaned, but the disembodied voice continued after only a brief pause. "This challenge will be intensified."

"This is what we get for being first." Nauda grimaced and began rolling her shoulders as if she planned to take a run at the blocks. "I guess we should try something before even more teams target us."

Theo shook his head. "The real question is: where do these curses even come from? Maybe the blessing room changes after the first person? That would be really unfair against the leaders, though."

"Are we sure everyone has the same room order? I mean, I guess we did meet other teams in the spiral room..."

They both trailed off, since there was no point trying to analyze the details. Time was ticking away and Theo doubted this room would be nearly as much of an obstacle to teams including Authorities. Unless they came up with something fast, their attempt would end here.

After the curse, the blocks had begun flowing with fresh cantae and moving more quickly. That would definitely make them more dangerous, but the change in tempo made it easier to see the patterns. There was no clean path all the way through, even for the fastest of soulcrafters. He could occasionally see a hint of the portal on the other side, about three cube-lengths away.

If it had been a game, there would have been a space that opened between the smashing blocks that could be followed through the storm. Here, the pattern seemed to have been tweaked precisely to avoid that solution. There were several points where they could follow retreating blocks deep into the swarm, but they were always decisively cut off by new blocks smashing from other directions.

Fiyu seemed flummoxed, while Nauda could only test her strength against the outer blocks. She was able to slow them with great effort, but once she let go they sped up to rejoin the pattern. There was no creating a new pattern through the blocks, then. Theo honestly didn't see any easy solution, given their limited resources.

"I know what we have to do." Nauda took a deep breath and then handed her staff to Theo. "There's an opening that gets blocked by those two long blocks from the sides. If we all run in, I'll brace myself when they hit. You two should be able to get through the rest if I can buy you a few seconds."

"But Nauda..." Fiyu turned toward the blocks, her senses searching for another path, and then she hung her head. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"They said there were safety protocols." Abruptly Nauda grinned at them. "Besides, I owe both of you. You've been carrying me so far and helping me recover... let me do this. Then at least the team can keep moving forward."

Fiyu looked like she wanted to argue, but they didn't have any other good options. Theo got a better grip on Nauda's staff and gave her a nod of respect. Even if her life wasn't in danger, he had a feeling that her plan was going to hurt.

"Alright, on three. One... two..."

When the next opening appeared, they all darted into the swarm of blocks. The first steps were easy: they raced forward until they got past the smaller steel blocks that collided in swift patterns. Then they pulled back as two large stone pieces ground against one another. But when those opened, there would be nothing but the final sprint...

Just in case, Theo ran as hard as he could. Not fast enough. The stone blocks came slamming closed around him and he heard Nauda give a cry of pain.

If she had failed, they all would have been crushed. Theo sprinted the rest of the way. He misjudged one of the patterns and a stone cube struck his hip, but he skidded out of the swarm on the other side. Fiyu emerged a moment later, immediately looking back.

Through the swarm of cubes, they could just see Nauda struggling to hold apart the two largest rock platforms. She was braced in between them, her arms shaking as she struggled to hold them apart. Theo began calculating a perpendicular gravitational field, to try to pull her out, and then he saw stone blocks closing in from above and below.

"Go!" Nauda shouted the word at them and then all the blocks slammed in on her.

A cacophony exploded from the maze of blocks as they ricocheted against one another in patterns that had never been intended. When they resumed their former pattern, there was no sign of Nauda. Fiyu shuffled closer to Theo's side and grasped his sleeve.

"A technique warping space pulled Nauda out," Fiyu said quietly. "That means she's alright, yes?"

"They don't let anyone get killed in competitions like these," Theo said. He gestured for Fiyu to follow him into the next portal. "Let's keep going and make sure her strategy works."

Even though his words were true, Theo felt like he was trying to convince himself. As he stepped into the next portal, he glanced backward toward the shifting deathtrap. The sides of the stone blocks were stained with a lot of blood.