Skyvenom: Chapter 52

I'm glad people generally enjoyed the climax last week. ^-^ This time we have the full conversation between Theo and Dave... while obviously it won't answer every single question, I didn't want it to be a "There's no time to explain why I don't have time to explain" thing. In terms of pacing, it's probably a bad idea to end a book with such a detailed conversation, but I hope people are invested enough at this point that they enjoy it.

This is the last normal chapter in Skyvenom, but the epilogue is coming next week!

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Chapter 52

"Wow. That's seriously how it ends?"

"Either it was all a dream or it's just a metaphor for the human condition, yeah." Theo glanced at Dave suspiciously. "Of all the things you could possibly ask me, you ask about television?"

"Hey, I miss Earth sometimes. But it sounds like there have been some real disappointments. I've spent years making up endings to that show and I prefer basically all of mine."

The great Emperor Dave lounged across a pile of rubble. For his part, Theo remained hovering a little off the ground, because he couldn't bring himself to disrespect this place. Despite the fact that he trusted Dave overall, he'd been concerned about what deal he might strike... so far, the conversation had been remarkably casual.

"So what's your side of the bargain?" Theo asked. "I don't suppose you're willing to support us with the entire might of your empire? Willing to throw all your sublime materials our way?"

"Join the Mercury Court and I might," Dave said with a shrug.

"Sorry, but we have obligations on Fithe."

"That's probably better, anyway. We did our best to take control in Deuxan and we still can't keep Vistgil from manipulating things - a world is just too large, there are too many pathways in." Dave sighed heavily. "But we should keep in touch. And you caught me up on TV, so I'll answer any other questions you have."

"Then for a start, I want to discuss soulcrafting. You still h-"

"Ugggh." Dave drew out the word and rubbed his forehead. "I thought I was a soulcrafting freak, but you're an absolute maniac. Haven't you seen enough?"

That had been one of Theo's first demands, at the beginning of their conversation. It didn't sound as though there were any transformational secrets being hidden at higher tiers, but he still wanted to give himself the best chance he could. Dave's soulhome was seven floors tall, with a Corporeal Floor and Immortality Conduit, so it was one of the most formidable he'd ever seen.

And yet... there were shortcomings he couldn't help but notice. Nothing atrocious, nothing he would bring up with someone so much more powerful than him, just the sort of mistakes someone made when first soulcrafting. Theo was again thankful that he'd been given a second chance.

"I wasn't going to ask that again," Theo said. "But you haven't even told me the names of the aeon-class tiers yet."

"Oh, right. The seventh tier is called Ophaon, some of the old powers are Cheraon, and the highest is supposed to be Seraphaon. Full disclosure, I don't actually know if any of the major powers have reached that rank. It gets pretty muddy at the top, with shielding walls and basements and the other Monuments."

Just like that, Theo had been given the answer he'd wanted for so long. No terrible secret to it, just three new words. It occurred to him that he could probably use this to taunt Senka, since she still couldn't say the titles. But that was a distraction, especially because the names were bothering him...

"Those names, they sound a lot like-"

"Yeah, I know." Dave shrugged awkwardly. "They're archaic words in the Nine Worlds, so maybe soul translation reaches for words that have the same weight for us. But the others weren't convinced, and that's one of the reasons they went back to Earth. As far as we can tell, there's no historical connection between Earth and the Nine, but..."

"Certainly no Arbaians running around."

"Heh, yeah. But just because it isn't overt doesn't mean there haven't been connections in the past. Given how worlds seem to work, it would be stranger if there hadn't been. So maybe there are deeper connections and we can learn something from those."

"You've mentioned them a few times," Theo said quietly. "Do you not want to tell me about your siblings? The Siblings, apparently."

"It's funny, we're not actually related." Dave stared over the ruins as if he could feel the same melancholy Theo did. "There's some... well, not bad blood, but I'm not sure they ever forgave me for some things. But no, I'm not avoiding the subject on purpose. They're gone, but I can talk about them if you really insist."

"Please do."

"For a start, there's Violet. I'd say she's exactly like you in some ways... she absolutely loves the Nine Worlds, every single thing about them. Except I think you'd hate her, because she's one of the most optimistic people I've ever known, and you... uh, no offense."

Theo chuckled. "None taken."

"Jason was our leader, and I'm not sure how well I really knew him. He hated Earth and seemed to want to escape it, but he had ideas about revolutionizing soulcrafting with modern construction. The sort who talks a lot, but never about himself. Anyway, he was convinced that they had to go back to Earth to reach their full potential."

"How specifically does that-"

"Later, later." Dave seemed to be living entirely in the past now. "Aisha used to be my best friend here, but we were drifting apart when she left. She could be as cynical as you, but somehow, I feel like the two of you wouldn't get along at all. I'm looking forward to talking to her again after she gets back, after so long."

"Do you suppose there's any point giving me their full names, in case I heard of them on Earth?" Theo asked.

"No, I think there's no chance they drew attention. I haven't heard from them, so I suppose... but due to how the time runs between worlds, it's impossible to say. We can't count on them, anyway, so we need to figure out everything for ourselves."

"Then answer my previous question: how are you getting back to Earth? Can you shift at will?"

"Not exactly. With a strong enough weirkey, you can find a gate that will get back to Earth. The problem is, as near as we can tell, cantae and soulcrafting don't exist over there. If you go back recklessly, you can destroy your entire soulhome. It's like there's a much larger barrier than between the Nine Worlds, and it causes all sorts of distortions. You can end up partially existing on both sides."

"And how exactly does that work?"

"Wish I knew. What I was getting to is that getting back from Earth is much harder. Vistgil has an easier way, but like you discovered, it's a pain. We think it takes some sort of major disruption, like a fight between the most powerful forces in the Nine. So the others are all betting that they can find a way back, and if they do they'll have a lot more answers, but there are no guarantees."

"Alright." Theo rubbed his eyes as he tried to winnow all the possible questions to the most relevant ones. "How does the overall war actually look, to you? It can't all be running around in the shadows, there have to be some discernible sides. For that matter, just how many big inter-world organizations are there?"

"That's tricky to answer, because across nine whole planets there are countless significant forces. Powerful organizations, great demons, ancient beings we can't identify, and more." Dave shrugged as if to encompass nine entire worlds. "Cheraon tier and above are truly rare, but just hitting aeon-class like me... it might be one in a billion, but there are a lot of billions across the Nine Worlds."

"I have all day. Start somewhere."

"Alright... for example, there's an ancient Siatan they call the Caretaker who I think is Cheraon-tier. Capable of raising an entire forest overnight, or creating sublime plants I can't even dream of. But is it strong enough to fight Vistgil? What does it actually want? I don't have a clue. Some of the strongest soulcrafters around have obvious motives, but if they want to stay quiet, who's going to stop them?"

"We should talk about the obvious ones, at least."

"Another weird one is the House of the Lost - have you met them? Some sort of eldritch nightmare. They have branches on some worlds, and I'm pretty sure they're against Vistgil, but what are they actually doing? I've tried to contact them and never gotten very far. It seems like they're willing to communicate, they just don't think the way we do."

Theo didn't say what he knew, less out of secretiveness than the desire to learn more. "What about the known inter-world organizations?"

"I'm getting there, geez. The oldest public group is called the Eternal Spectrum, which is an organization of high tier soulcrafters who move between worlds - think old, old, old money. I don't think they're out for anyone but themselves, but that means Vistgil tries to manipulate them. They probably don't care about us either way, but I'd stay away from them regardless."

"Who else?" Theo asked.

"There's the Orphic Cabal. Group of scholars, started in Arbai but just kept expanding. They're technically devoted solely to the pursuit of knowledge, but putting together the oldest mysteries of the world pits them against Vistgil. They'd probably be really helpful, if they trusted me. You have a better shot of making an alliance with them, actually."

That had been the organization that Krimmile said he was formerly a member of. Theo wondered if they had any answers about Elghiera or other ancient questions, but it sounded like he would need to find them himself instead of relying on anyone else.

"Then there are the Demonstalkers." Dave made a strange noise in his throat. "They're dedicated to eliminating high stage demons, the ones even Dominions couldn't take on. Most likely they could be a huge help to us, but the problem is that they dislike people from Earth. Say that we shake things up and lead to more demons."

"I've run into that attitude before," Theo said, thinking of the Order of the Deepest Blue. "In that case, it was probably being controlled by Vistgil. Are the Demonstalkers...?"

"No, they're fiercely independent. Since Vistgil seems to work with demons, they absolutely hate him, but even their combined power can't pin him down and kill him. They've been doing this for centuries longer than we've been around, so if anyone knows more about the war, it's them."

Another potential answer, far out of reach. "Anyone else?"

"Those are the only aeon-class forces with business cards, if you follow me. But oh, there are others." Dave shook his head slowly. "There's something nasty in the polar region of Ichil - it's strong enough to fight anyone, but instead it's like some sort of... information hazard, corrupting data. On Fithe, something woke up in the ocean that's so old we can't even tell if it's a demon or animal. The oldest soulcrafter on Aathal is a tree that's millennia old, but if you really want to worry yourself, it lives in a place called the Slumbering Wood. All the trees around it are allegedly former Aathali, but are they dead? About to wake up again? We don't know, and we have no idea what any of them want."

"Fine, I get the picture." Theo wished he could get a complete encyclopedia of aeon-class forces from Dave, but it was obvious that he wasn't going to. "What about other known quantities I should keep in mind?"

"Well... the biggest concentration of aeon-class forces I know of is a place called the City of Disaster - funnily enough, it's on Arbai, but not really Arbaian. Me and the others decided that it just wasn't safe to go there, not with our current strength. Either the City doesn't get involved with politics, or it's involved in political games we don't understand. I think the Eternal Spectrum and the Orphic Cabal have dealings there."

"I'll steer clear for now, then. A lot of these seem isolationist... any that would be an active threat? Surely any one of these could conquer any region without an aeon-class power of its own."

"They could, but why? They usually have what they want." Dave started to shrug, then paused. "Oh, wait. On Slest there's an aeon-class... thing... that calls itself the Heart of the Wild. It's absolutely as nasty as everything else on Slest and considers an entire continent its domain. You ever get there by weirkey, get out as fast as you can."

Theo nodded as he committed everything to memory, but a more relevant conclusion was emerging. "I haven't heard anything about Vistgil actually controlling regions. There might not be unified opposition to him, but he doesn't seem to have any real forces either?"

"Either he doesn't want to build an army or he can't for some reason. The biggest problem these days is the Salebrante, but you never know what they're doing. He's more likely to work on a world-by-world basis, and that can be trouble enough, let me tell you."

"Does Vistgil have any assets on Fithe?"

"Uh... Fithe usually has too many wars to stay stable, but there's an old demon-material user called Plutalgion who's an absolute nightmare. Different continent than your place, though, so you probably don't need to worry. Just... why are you looking at me like that?"

The name made his entire body tense up and Theo failed to control his expression. Plutalgion was the near-mythical leader from Tymetron who had apparently gotten angry at the Ruling Cities. He had been threatening war for so long that Theo was starting to think of him as just a lot of hot air, but now his hesitation seemed far more sinister.

When Theo explained what he knew, Dave hopped off his position and began pacing back and forth. He pulled out an armament that looked like a crude approximation of a smartphone and jabbed at it for a while before shoving it back into his robes with a curse. After gripping his hair, Dave took a deep breath and went back to a nonchalant stance.

"See, this is the sort of thing I miss, because I have to worry about the Mercury Court." He took another deep breath and gave a lopsided smile. "Okay, I'll look into this, but it sounds like Vistgil wants to start a war. Not a little one... the continent-destroying type. Are there any Earthlings in the area?"

"I've met one a few times," Theo said. "Goes by the name of Raythe Darkblade."

"Wow. Yeah, that sounds like Vistgil is definitely taking action."

"Those two things are related? Do you think Raythe is serving as Vistgil's agent?"

"Don't call him that, his real name is probably Eustace Pimpleton or something." Dave ran his hands through his hair again, not quite as relaxed as he wanted to look. "No, he's probably not a knowing agent, because most people from Earth are dupes. It's just a good sign that Vistgil is working in an area - another reason I was paranoid about contacting you."

Theo returned to the ground and folded his arms. "You've been panicking a lot, but I'm the one who has an army bearing down on him. What do you actually know?"

"Panicking? Who's panicking? Okay, I am, just a bit. Let me see... Plutalgion is old, and he's tough, and we're not sure quite what he is. Despite the fact that he lives on Fithe, he doesn't seem to be Fithan. Some of the extremely old powers defy classification: maybe they're from a world outside the Nine, maybe the remnants of some extinct race, maybe something else."

"But he's working for Vistgil?"

"That's the strange part: they seem to dislike each other, yet they've never fought. Back when we were trying to escape Vistgil, Plutalgion was one of the only forces he seemed to consider notable, like there was some degree of respect there. If they've finally worked out their differences, then Vistgil has just the sword he needs to cause trouble. On Fithe first, but there's no telling how far it could spread."

So that's who was apparently coming for Norro Yorthin and all the Ruling Cities. Theo knew he was just a step away from Stronghold, but suddenly that didn't feel like anything close to enough. Even the strongest Dominions on the continent couldn't stand up to someone who, by all accounts, seemed to be an aeon-class power.

"I don't suppose you'd bring the Mercury Court to help?" Theo asked, so dryly it was barely even a question.

"Even if I was confident we could take Plutalgion and his empire, that'd be a mistake. See, right now that's a Fithan problem without much outside interference. We're over here in our court looking out for the Salebrante. So long as Vistgil is fighting one world at a time, he's splitting his attentions... that's strength and weakness, right? Vistgil doesn't ever build up an army, he's working everywhere. Like... he doesn't control the Landguard, but he's twisted them enough that it's hard for us to get any traction on Tatian. You've had more luck there. But I'm getting off track: point is, so long as this is a Fithan problem, it's safer to stay in our lane."

As nice as it would have been to find out that the Mercury Court could shield him and provide resources, Theo was coming to accept that it wouldn't be that easy. The power he'd been able to build up might not be a lot, by the highest standards, but they needed everything they could get.

"Then we have to talk about soulcrafting again," Theo said. "First, the skyvenom: why'd you have your underlings give me that rag?"

"Oh, that's one of the only things you have going for you." Dave brightened abruptly. "The Demon Court likes to use that stuff, but it tends to destroy either itself or the soulcrafter. Someone with that material and enough discipline could actually absorb it, which you did, right?"

"I think so."

"If you've soaked up all the skyvenom, you can shape it into something else. Not a poison again, I don't think, because it's been altered by your soulhome. But that's a higher tier material than you'd think... if you can figure out a way to use something so toxic. Anything that can alter ascension is important, though, so that could be critical."

Abruptly Theo's mind jerked back to the old challenge. "Earlier you had your minion promise me a whole lot of things. Were any of those real subl-"

Dave laughed. "I'm afraid those were all lies: I just wanted to see if you would jump at a cheap solution if you were offered one. No, the coalrag was the only real path to absorbing the skyvenom."

"Then you're already helping my soulcrafting. You said you didn't have much in the way of tips."

"I told you, there are no shortcuts worth taking."

They fell silent for a while, Dave pondering his own wars and Theo examining the ruins. There was nothing funny about any of this, but he still chuckled. Back on Earth, he thought he'd had everything figured out, only to have it all collapse on him.

"I just don't want to make more mistakes like I did at first," Theo said quietly. "I had this glorious blueprint and it literally blew up in my face."

"Actually... about that." Dave stopped pacing and turned to him. "I didn't say anything when you explained it before, but if you really want to talk soulcrafting... that story doesn't make sense to me."

"Doesn't make sense?"

"What you said about your foundation and personality changing is probably accurate, sure, good job redesigning. But no personal change should have caused such a catastrophic reaction. The center was some sort of complex soulcrafting insignia you got from your old friend, right? Those can be risky, if they don't match a soulhome perfectly."

"You're saying I made a mistake?" Theo shifted closer, suspecting it wasn't that.

"More likely your friend did it wrong."

Theo's hands tightened at his sides. "Brigana was an excellent soulcrafter."

"Was she? Or did she just seem excellent to you because you were young and dumb?" Dave saw his expression and backed off, raising his hands. "No need to glare daggers. It could be that she gave you a perfect design and you lost a detail while you were on Earth. Human memory is fragile, you know, it's easy for things to change."

Theo refused to believe it, not when he had traced that diagram over and over, including in his dreams. Yet the rest... he couldn't deny that he'd been young and foolish. Theo shook his head sharply and put childish thoughts aside.

"Never mind that. We need to talk about other things."

"No, we need to get ready for war. The Salebrante hasn't shown up yet, so it's probably just a matter of time." Dave was shifting his weight uncomfortably now, eyes darting to the horizons. "But you're the first real insight I've had on Vistgil in years, so I'll stick around for you. Ask quickly."

"What do you know about the Field of Abrogation?" Theo asked.

"Last Transcendent Monument, we never mastered it. It's supposed to produce a strong effect, and some ancient manuscripts say you can only achieve it by forsaking cantae. The others thought they could only soulcraft it by going back to Earth, so ask them if they come back."

"Fine. What about the 'five rivers' passing through the Nine?"

"Fragments of other worlds, but we think they've been here as long as the Nine themselves." Dave shrugged. "That stuff is all vague to me, you'd be better off asking the Orphic Cabal. But it seems like the rivers stitch together the Nine in some ways, so they were used for lots of special constructions back when there were more inter-world organizations."

"Anything about cursing people?"

"Probably, but I didn't read it. There were a lot of nasty old civilizations before us."

Theo hesitated, wondering if he should push further on the question of Senka before deciding against it. He trusted Dave enough to be open with him, but not all the way. "What about the Cleansed Lands?"

"Oh, that's another one of the old pieces, just a bigger one. Like a hidden world among the Nine." Dave's anxious pacing finally settled into focus. "You really shouldn't go back. You know how usually there's a natural balance to everything, and demons mostly appear to fight soulcrafters of similar strength? That doesn't exist over there. Very easy to get killed. Even we couldn't get far, and we were all Dominions."

"But what's actually there? Vistgil seems to think it's important."

"Well, first there's the empty plane. Go far enough and you run into a massive wall... didn't you say you had a Noveni with you? He should have been able to see it."

Theo shrugged, though it occurred to him that Eratius might have been lying when he said he saw nothing. "What's on the other side?"

"I called it a wall, but it's really more of a giant terrace. It leads up to a second layer that's even more dangerous, and after that... well, we only got as far as the third. One thing I can tell you: the whole place isn't natural. I think all of that is protecting something."

"But you don't know what."

"What can I say? The Nine Worlds are full of unknowable mysteries." Dave shrugged helplessly. "Going to the Cleansed Lands is one of the few things that seems to reliably tick off Vistgil, though, so stay away. Maybe if you ascend a few more times and the others come back, we'll have a big enough army to go back and find out what he's hiding."

So Theo had managed to stumble upon a secret that actually mattered, back when his first life had ended. Had it been nothing but dumb luck, or had it been related to the Artifacts of Elghiera and whatever Vistgil was trying to do? It seemed that, even though he'd taken so many steps toward answers, they remained beyond his reach.

"Listen, you've already helped a lot." Dave began rolling a weirkey over his fingers nervously. "We'll watch these vaults and see if we can't provoke Vistgil and the Salebrante into making a mistake. Keep your eyes open when Plutalgion attacks, because Vistgil might let something slip there. Stay alive and maybe we'll be able to put our heads together again and actually stop him."

Then he was gone, and Theo was standing alone in the Teraeves ruins. He needed to leave, to meet up with the others and plan for so many things, but instead he lowered himself down to the glassy ground and ran his fingers over the surface.

So many of his early conflicts were caused by stumbling in the dark toward the truth. Now he might still be far from his destination, but for the first time, he could actually see.