Crimsoncrest: Chapter 5

As a reminder, this is the last of my break month chapters. Starting next week, I'll return to the normal posting schedule, which I hope to maintain through the whole of Crimsoncrest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which left the central chamber and his current work.

A connection to his central column meant that he could bring down the full power of his singularity to the chamber below. He'd solved several early problems: notably that his denser cantae manifested gravity too strongly and blasted the inner chamber, requiring reinforcement and doors all around the central chamber. When training he noticed that cantae was leaking through the shaft in the ceiling, so he added a sliding hatch that could maintain his perfect flow, which in turn let him enlarge the shaft like a window into the ground.

Now, in theory, he should be able to incorporate that power into other sublime materials. So far all of his tests either failed or weakened the materials as their natures were pulled in two directions. Senka had told him that this sort of material crafting was extremely difficult and couldn't remember enough details to offer advice.

Theo threw a pebble of one of his old wall materials onto the reinforced floor, then focused. He summoned his full singularity, but instead of using it as an attack, he channeled all that power downward. This time his supporting materials on the hatch held, and the gravity ring focused the power, making it all flow into the pebble.

For a moment all the cantae in his soulhome shuddered and the sky overhead dimmed. When normality returned, the pebble seemed to have darkened slightly. Theo went to pick it up and found that it was far heavier than before... that was a success, but did it actually help him?

Running a few experiments in his other chambers proved that he'd added enough essence to the pebble to make it resonate with other gravity materials, but not to generate new gravity of its own, certainly not to power a chamber or ability. So, at best, he'd developed a technique that could strengthen supporting materials slightly.

Well, maybe not... the pebble had a crack through it, as if the immense forces hadn't been able to fit inside. He wasn't sure if the material was too weak, his technique was too rough, or he was just trying the wrong thing.

Normally he would throw the material into his singularity, but it had been fed enough spiritual mass and he hoped knowledge would be more important. So Theo carried the pebble to the mass chamber and set it on the rough table alongside his other experiments. Over time he'd uncover the fundamental principles and perhaps find a way to perfect the process.

What else to try? While sorting through his storage chamber, Theo had to constantly walk around the massive mountainheart in the room. He'd incorporated a fragment of it on his Authority floor, as a Corporeal material, but the full thing was still too powerful. It would be immensely strong if he could find a way to integrate it into his soulhome without blowing things apart... another project to work on in the back of his mind.

He was still carrying the armorstone that Krikree had brought him, not wanting to risk any experiments on it directly. It was strong on its own, worthy of being in his own soulhome if he had a free position for it. But she seemed to have a blueprint in mind, so he wanted to change it enough to fulfill her purposes, whatever those were.

Because it was easy to get carried away soulcrafting, Theo had forced a habit of checking on the time periodically. When he next did so, he realized that the hourglass had run out. He had enjoyed spending time on Slest for a while, focused on nothing but soulcrafting, but broader obligations called.

When he emerged into the physical world, he blinked out the window at Acidmount. The city maintained special quarters for visiting queens and their entourages, so he'd been placed in them. Theo hadn't been sure if that was appropriate or Krikree would feel strange about it, but the beetles seemed to take a practical approach. They were humanoid guests and they needed space, so it would do.

Theo ambled to the balcony, but before he could whistle, Krikree skittered down the side of the building toward him.

"Time?" she asked. "Theo-sister leaves?"

"I'm afraid so." When she leapt onto his back he scratched between her antennae.

"War time?"

"Not yet, I don't think." Theo would have a better idea once he checked in with the others, but if Plutalgion hadn't moved yet, it was probably because he had another priority. Considering it, Theo glanced over to Krikree. "Do you want to go back to Fithe or stay here?"

Krikree hopped off his shoulder and hovered in the air, crouching in her usual position except at his height. After cleaning her antennae carefully, she spoke confidently. "Stay, protect beetles."

"Okay, that works for me."

"But if war, Krikree fight! Protect Fithan beetles."

"Now that we have a decent set of weirkeys, it shouldn't be hard to come back and get you." Theo was about to leave, but it seemed that Krikree had some more materials for him, specifically for House Blacksilver and the Dustwind Plateaus.

One was even specifically labeled for "Nauda-queen and the farm beetles" - Theo had absolutely no idea what that was about. The fact that the detail had slipped past him was irritating at first, then he decided that it was just good division of labor. Nauda was better at social connections than he was, so he would leave it to her. Theo scratched Krikree's head one more time, then flew far enough into the air to use his weirkeys without disrupting anyone and Slest folded into darkness.

One mind-bending trip later, he was floating outside Norro Yorthin. It looked like the whirlwinds over the city had increased in size, charged with cantae that he thought had anti-weirkey properties. They were increasing security to keep Authorities from dropping directly into the city, which had no doubt annoyed many of the Houses. The tension ratcheted ever higher.

When he stopped by the Blacksilver complex, he was disappointed not to see anyone he knew. Fiyu was still gone, past her estimated journey time, and even Antha wasn't present.

Instead all he had were a number of messages, varying wildly in importance. Some soulcrafting inquiries from younger soulcrafters, which he would get to eventually, and some offers from other Houses, which he basically treated like junk mail on Earth. The most interesting message was a golden scroll, sealed by the sigil of the House of Coin.

It was allegedly an invitation to discuss trade with them, signed by Kathina. Reading between the lines, he suspected that she wanted to meet to discuss politics. She had been so busy with her new roles in the House of Coin that he hadn't seen her since the Battle of the Dustwind Plateaus... and their negotiations then had led to Dhan ascending, so he took that invitation seriously.

Finally he had a mundane brown letter that he'd almost missed amid the fancier scrolls. Theo barely glanced at it at first, thinking it was a Dustwind request, then he abruptly realized that it was actually an indirect message from Nauda. Sent through a proxy, which made him suspicious at first until he saw that she had included their code. Definitely from Nauda, just sent through someone who didn't realize the importance of the message.

Suddenly he had a new top priority. Theo swept aside the junk, sent a brief reply to the House of Coin to meet later, and then focused fully on Nauda's letter. She specified a location to meet, and though he hadn't fully memorized the Fithan system of latitude, he could tell it was so far north that it would be in the Asplundat Movement.

His first thought was that she had been captured, or that this was some sort of trap. It definitely would have been better to go in with more information, but Nauda wouldn't send an urgent request like this for no reason. He'd go prepared, but he'd have to trust her.

After checking in on a few more details, Theo made sure his armament coat was fully functional and then flew out of the city. He briefly considered going back for Krikree or other backup, but they were spread thin enough as it was. Better to just find out what was going on before making major decisions.

Since he'd had some time to practice with the Fithan weirkey, Theo was able to curve away from the world and arc back to nearly the exact location. He appeared above a Fithan wasteland that was redder than usual, with dense sublime stone underneath that varied from what he knew in Norro Yorthin. Nothing particularly indicated that he was in the Asplundat Movement, and there was no sign of Nauda, so perhaps he simply needed to investigate.

As an interloper, Theo didn't plan to do anything particularly dramatic. If he caused enough trouble, he might actually get the Asplundat Movement to send one of their Strongholds at him, and even if he'd bet on himself in that fight, he didn't want to start a war. So at first all he planned to do was scan the environment.

There were two small settlements in range, pretty mundane places that felt like they had symmetrical, centrally-planned designs. Functional but unremarkable. What drew his attention was something to the north, something far more massive than he would have expected based on its size. Even though Theo knew that it was likely important to the Movement, he couldn't help but fly toward it.

The land in that direction seemed to grow richer, with reddish plants across the ground and what felt like trees ahead to his gravity senses. Those were mostly washed out by the gravity of a larger city, but everything was overwhelmed by the source.

Straining his senses, he could barely see it: a lone mountain standing beyond the city. Yet the mass of the mountain was dwarfed by something atop it. Aside from the mass and powerful cantae, all he could tell was that it was shaped like a flat slab of marble. Almost like the identity tablets that most cities used, though this one could only have been used by a giant. Not only was it far more massive than it should have been, he didn't think it was gravity-aligned, that was just a hint of greater power...

Distracted by the strange artifact, Theo realized too late that Authorities were popping into existence around him. All wearing Asplundat robes or their characteristic stone armor, all prepared for a fight. This was clearly an Authority-eliminating squad, dispatched to take out the weirkey invader.

"Halt!" One of them extended a hand and liquid stone leapt out with startling speed, wrapping around Theo's right arm. It began to condense as if to break his arm, but they underestimated Theo's brute force thanks to all his Corporeal chambers.

He struck the stone cast with a torsion punch, shattering it entirely. Another jet of liquid stone shot at him, but now that he was prepared for its speed, Theo dodged aside. It seemed like there were four of them, more than enough for the average stray Authority, but he thought he could take them. Those using the conventional bludgeons would be weak against his coat, so the threat was-

"Wait!" Nauda's voice, coming from below. She hadn't arrived by weirkey, she was streaking toward him above the ground.

A fake, or another step of the trap? There was a fifth Asplundat Authority following her, so was she asking for backup? Theo could only win a fight like this if he took initiative to counter their greater numbers, so he only had a moment to decide.

In the end, he believed that it was really Nauda, and that she had a reason for requesting this of him. The power was definitely hers, and her expression looked worried more about him than for him, which was too characteristic of her.

Theo sighed and raised his hands passively, letting more liquid stone strike him. As it hardened it didn't crush him after all, but it was binding him in place and it felt unpleasant where it bound to the skin of his neck.

"Stop in the name of the Asplundat Movement!" one of the four Authorities shouted.

"I've stopped," Theo pointed out. "I'm not here to attack anyone."

"You weirkeyed in from the Ruling Cities!"

"But as you can see, I'm not Fithan. I'm here on the invitation of my ally, also not Fithan and I believe approaching."

By then Nauda arrived - the Authority following her was Homez, who wasn't chasing her after all. He flew up to the four, ordering them to stand down, and the two sides began a strange Asplundat face-off where they called each other "citizen" a lot. Keeping just a fraction of his attention on that, Theo turned to Nauda as she flew up beside him. Which basically meant rotating via gravity, since he was encased in rock.

"Thanks for waiting." Nauda seemed like she was touching him on the shoulder, but actually began to break off the stone. "I know you could have fought them, but it would have caused problems."

"Jumping in via weirkey was what caused problems." Theo began shattering stone elsewhere on his body with a torsion field. "I assume you had a good reason for calling me so urgently?"

"The Tymetronese empire is already here." Nauda lowered her voice as she spoke, eyes flickering toward the horizon. "They're putting pressure onto the Asplundat Movement to join them. It seems like a prelude to war, except..."

"Except?"

"There's something else going on. Even Homez doesn't know what it is, but it's worse than he thought: Tythes is here. I have no idea how or why. He's not the only one, because the Asplundat Movement is allegedly treating with Houses from the Ruling Cities. Everything is out of balance now."

That was bad enough on its own, but Theo couldn't help but gesture over his shoulder toward the mountain. "Do you know anything about that bizarre slab?"

"Just that it's some sort of sublime material the Asplundat Movement is working on." Nauda spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness. "I don't think I should handle this on my own, so I thought it was time that we all start focusing on Fithe. What do you say?"

"I say we figure out what's going on." Once they brushed off the last of the stone, Theo touched her shoulder briefly in return. He thought about telling her she'd made the right decision, but judging from her smile, it wasn't necessary.

Instead they turned together toward the Asplundat Movement, the enemy empire, and the unfathomably dense mountain.