Crimsoncrest: Chapter 2

Everyone was very kind last week. ^-^ Often between books I've taken a break, or if I had time/energy, put out a series of informational posts like the soulcrafting tutorials or Nine Worlds anatomy (try those if you're new). I haven't tried posting chapters slower... I don't know, maybe people will like it? I do intend to return to a normal schedule later.

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Fiyu crouched in the comforting darkness, eyes closed, searching for the invading lights.

Her senses had been significantly strengthened by her ascension to Authority, yes, but she found that what had truly sharpened her was so much exposure to light on other worlds. Lights both terrible and comforting, welcomed instead of feared. She had walked under the sky-consuming Tatian sun and even on Noven, with its frankly excessive nine suns.

Those journeys had taught her not sensitivity but differentiation. As her senses rippled over the landscape and the caravan, she was able to easily set aside the defensive shadowlamps and minor soulcrafters in order to find the true threats that glimmered within.

Other Ichili might have been blinded by the faint powers of the caravan and its surroundings, small touches of light washing out the rest of the picture. Indeed, that was why they had hired her.

The Darkwheel Traders were a mixture of strange and familiar to her: they migrated reasonably, yet traveled in large groups like cavesteaders. She found them to combine reasonable caution and strange community that would have been alarming to her before she encountered other worlds. Now she understood why Relative Guchiro had only told her of them instead of assigning her to spend time in one of their caravans.

Now, however, in the absence of other options, she had come to accompany them on a journey. The one advantage of their migratory travels was their access...

Fiyu set aside her own thoughts as she felt a malevolent flicker. She leapt into the air, soaring through the darkness to the fourth of the great wagons. Even if she hadn't been given identifiers, the soulcrafters standing guard were too unprepared to stop her. Fiyu thrust her blade between two of the wagon wheels.

When she pulled back her cantae blade, she displayed the ghostworm she had skewered exactly through its middle. The creatures were unpleasantly spongy to her senses, hiding so effectively that they barely seemed to exist. But the circular mouths at both ends of the ghostworm could bite effectively enough, chewing through sublime materials or even infecting people.

The guards, catching up to her action, turned to her in alarm. They were doing the best they could to protect their community, so Fiyu tried not to startle them too much: she held forth the dying ghostworm as explanation.

"It was chewing through the floor," she said. "It needed to be eliminated."

"I can't believe you find these things so quickly," one of the guards said with a shake of his head.

"Please have someone repair the wagon, as at least the outer coating was damaged."

Her task accomplished, Fiyu floated into the sky. She had examined the caravan thoroughly from the side, so now perhaps an aerial position would be better. The Darkwheel Traders had Authorities of their own, but they missing a troubling percentage of ghostworms.

As she returned to focusing on her senses, however, Fiyu found herself unable to find the same meditative focus. The truth was, she was increasingly restless during her time with the caravan. Even if she still felt her reasoning was sound, she wished that she were working toward her ascension more directly. Or perhaps, even though it had only been a month or two, she missed Friend Nauda.

This would have been an excellent environment for her: if Friend Nauda had been able to train her life sense to a sufficient degree, it would have been even better suited to finding ghostworms than Fiyu's own senses. It was regrettable that they couldn't travel together... but Fiyu agreed with Friend Theo's analysis that it was better to finish their own business now, before the conflict in Fithe grew truly difficult.

In theory, her time with the Darkwheel Traders was very close to paying off, and then...

Over the course of the next week, they moved into the most dangerous part of the journey: the Illuminated Ice. At first the landscape was broken by razor sharp icicles that any adult with real senses could avoid, but as they progressed, the ice began to resonate with some deeper light from below. When Fiyu extended her senses downward she could only make out filaments of liquid trailing to some phosphorescent source.

That light blinded many, and worse, it corroded defenses and even flesh. This was where the shadowlamps showed their real value, holding back the light from the caravan. The wagons proceeded slowly, spheres of shadow menaced on all sides by light. Most of the travelers and even many of the guards retreated into the carriages and the safety of true darkness.

This was where Fiyu could again show them her worth, remaining outside and eliminating the ghostworms that seemed to thrive on the ice. Normally during this portion of the trip the caravan acquired many, necessitating repairs later, but she held them at bay. The other Authorities protecting the caravan began to miss more and Fiyu picked up the slack, so she made sure to ask them for assistance whenever possible so she would not disrupt the community. Sadly, even with her efforts a few people were infected by ghostworms, and all she could do was escort them to healing Authorities.

Amid the constant work and tension, Fiyu found happiness and melancholy swirling together within her. She enjoyed the landscape, which her relatives had never allowed her to visit before due to the risk, and at the same time wished that she could have journeyed together with the others, because they would have enhanced her journey.

Friend Nauda, of course, always Friend Nauda. What colors would she see in this landscape? Fiyu removed her mask to try to appreciate them as the Tatian woman would, admiring the blues and blacks instead of the densities around her.

If Friend Theo had been present, perhaps they could have uncovered the mystery of the glowing ice together. Ally Navim would have been pleased to investigate, and perhaps they could analyze the shadowlamps together. Ally Krikree would leap from icicle to icicle, investigating with a child's sense of wonder, yet enough power that she was not at risk.

Associate Senka would also have been present, and that would be... acceptable.

Overwhelmed by the melancholy, Fiyu retreated into her soulhome to soulcraft whenever she was not engaged in her duties. She was working on bricks atop her roof, preparing a stairway to Stronghold, and yet whenever she examined the dark heavens above her, she hesitated.

Could she truly be within reach of ascending? Fiyu believed that she had the strength of will to accomplish it, yet was plagued by uncertainty. Relative Guchiro had spent decades at Authority, polishing his soulhome in order to attain his true potential. Even Friend Theo, always so hasty in soulcrafting, spent a long time making sure to eliminate all flaws at the critical Authority transition. So how could she possibly think that she was close?

Yet the seven chambers on her fourth floor were largely complete, all filled with appropriate sublime materials. She had finally developed her incorporeality skill on Tatian, then enhanced her lightstorm on Deuxan, just as she had always planned. Now only her two chambers to produce darkness required further polishing, as well as further training since they still lagged.

Fiyu drifted away from that work, instead floating down to her garden of sunlessroses. The ring of them surrounded her soulhome and deepened her foundation, but she had cleared off a circle opposite her entrance. There, she picked up her tools and began to work on her ground.

Tradition stated that basements should be developed at Stronghold tier, but it was just possible at Authority. Relative Guchiro had managed it over many years and had suggested that she wait for ascension instead. Friend Theo had opened his basement, but only thanks to his unusual soulcrafting knowledge. In order to assist her relative and strengthen the kinstone, Fiyu had not used the same technique, which meant her foundation was less developed.

She did not regret that decision, yet now she felt as though she risked falling behind her companions. Friend Theo had carved out a full basement, and Friend Nauda's foundation was strong, even if it was too hard and fused with her damaged soul. While she... had her soul grown enough to have soil beneath the roots of her sunlessroses?

With a careful breath, Fiyu picked up the darkegg that she had carried with her ever since Noven. She brought it down against the earth of her soul carefully, thumping it against the indentation in the soil. Day after day, blow after blow, she pushed further into the soil. The darkegg's true purpose was in her next ascension, but for now she used it as a spiritual tool. She hoped, though she had no guidance to prove it, that this would prepare the way to opening her basement as well.

"Excuse me, mercenary?"

Just when Fiyu thought that she might soulcraft and ruminate for the entire journey, she was interrupted by another Authority. She repositioned her mask as she emerged to greet Associate Hitemo, who was one of the primary Authority guards for the Darkwheel Traders. He was an extremely thin man clad in ragged robes, and like all the traders, he wore a gauzy scarf that protected his mouth from vapors.

"What is it?" Fiyu asked. "I can attempt another deep scan if necessary."

"Not this time," Associate Hitemo said. Instead he floated away and extended one foot forward, pointing where the landscape became increasingly illuminated by glaciers. "I wanted to tell you that our elders are discussing taking a different path. Ordinarily we travel northwest, through a ravine that is narrow and slow, but secure. Instead we will be using the northeast passage through the ice, which is more direct but also more infested with ghostworms. What do you think?"

To be polite, Fiyu stretched her senses northward to examine both passes. Without direct information, it seemed obvious that they were taking a much greater risk, especially because they already struggled to defend against the current frequency of ghostworms. No lives had been lost only due to the layered defenses of guards, shadowlamps, and armored carriages.

"I would never want to contradict your elders," Fiyu said. "I will do my utmost to protect the caravan."

"Of course." Associate Hitemo twisted his long tongue strangely, which Fiyu had noticed the traders tended to do when irritated. Perhaps few of their kind used senses that penetrated their defensive scarves. "But you are here as a consulting mercenary, so might I get your opinion?"

"I am only present due to my capacities, not my knowledge of this area. That is why you are right to call me mercenary, not guide. I can only bow to your wisdom regarding the risks."

Another tongue twist, but the increasing tension in the man's body didn't seem focused toward her. "That may be true," Associate Hitemo said, "but you see the danger, right? If we wish a safe journey, wouldn't the less icy route be safer? If you would say as much..."

Now Fiyu understood: he was seeking reinforcement, and had few enough allies among his own people that he sought a foreigner. Fiyu thought Associate Hitemo was a reasonable man, so she followed him and spoke with the elders to say that the ice-bound northeastern route was a significant risk in her professional opinion.

In the end the elders rejected their objections, actually citing how easy the journey had been up to this point. Fiyu reflected that her success might have led her to greater risks as they headed northeast.

As the light from the jagged glaciers increased, even many of the Authorities began to retreat into the carriages. Fiyu tried to see as her companions would and suspected that even Friend Nauda would not appreciate this light: it offered only sickly and flickering illumination that cast the path in unstable shadows. Worse, the ghostworms blended in almost perfectly, their bodies nearly the same density as melting ice and thus difficult to find even for her.

For a day Fiyu conducted her work as normal, then she was actually attacked by a ghostworm that leapt from a glacier overhead. She turned on instinct and obliterated it, shredding the sublime beast in a flood of light that reflected eerily through the glaciers.

Yet she did not feel secure, because in the time she had sensed the ghostworm before it was annihilated, it had seemed much larger then the others. Fiyu ceased using her lightstorm, instead focusing on her senses and stalking ghostworms.

She managed to find one ahead of the caravan and, before it could turn on her, cut it in half with her cantae blade. As she had feared, this one was larger than her body. Stranger, when she cut a slit through its side, multiple smaller ghostworms fell out. They appeared completely dead, so they could not be young, yet she could not explain their presence.

While returning to the caravan, Fiyu felt a degree of regret. The ghostworms might be unpleasant creatures, but they were just animals in the end, trying to live their own lives. Killing them and leaving the bodies to decay on the ice felt horribly wasteful.

"Hitemo." Fiyu bowed to the Authority as soon as she found him. "I wish to ask you some questions about the ghostworms, for the furtherance of my work."

"Of course," Associate Hitemo said, rising from his carriage. He wrapped his scarves over his eyes to ward against the light from the glaciers around them. "But I must tell you, I know relatively little. They are only a threat for this section of our journey, and I am no specialist."

"Are there any sublime materials that can be gathered from their bodies? They have cantae, so there must be some, yet..."

"Definitely not." Associate Hitemo flew away from the caravan, expecting her to follow, and found the corpse of a mid-sized ghostworm. "Their bodies are sticky, and they get worse after death. Soulcrafting them gums up your soulhome, and using them for armaments leads to infections."

"There is no way the stickiness can be removed, or other surfaces treated to resist?"

"Maybe there is, but the elders say that it isn't worth the risk. They keep sticking together like this no matter what you do and cause unexpected problems."

"I see." Fiyu gave him a thankful bow and began to return. "Thank you for indulging my curiosity."

"It is no trouble. We must-" Associate Hitemo suddenly froze, head cocked, tongue twisting.

She wasn't precisely certain of his senses, but it seemed to be a long range capacity suited for a scout. Fiyu realized that he was searching southwest and cast her own senses out as well. The path behind them seemed largely empty, cleared of threats along their way, yet something was unmistakably amiss...

"Mercenary Fiyu." The other Authority's eyes had begun to widen. "I cannot sense the details, yet I fear there is something behind us."

"I do not sense any concrete threats, only flowing ice." Yet even as Fiyu spoke, she realized that she was mistaken. She instinctively searched for denser bodies, but here the threats were soft. What she had believed was partially-melted ice was in fact moving in a distinctly unnatural pattern.

They flew from the caravan to investigate and Fiyu's stomach sank as she became more certain. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, she gathered herself and unleashed a lightstorm over the horizon, intending to devastate the enemy before it could attack.

Too late. With surprising speed, the soft tissue rose from the ground, avoiding the area she struck with her attack. As it arched into the sky, the shape became unmistakable: a monstrous ghostworm consolidated itself, inner light illuminating the heavens. A mouth larger than her entire body gaped, its teeth gleaming with hostile light.

"Impossible." Associate Hitemo appeared to have frozen up, staring toward the pale column. "They can't grow that large..."

Oh dear. Fiyu desperately wished that she had her companions for this battle, but all she could do was gather herself and fight alone.