by Sarah Lin
More importantly, she developed a real understanding for the hierarchy of Norro Yorthin. They had no nobles and few real leaders, but the city functioned well enough, and the people seemed happy. The villagers thought of some Houses as better and some worse, but many had real affection for a House that employed part of their family or that had once given them charity. Between their words, she heard an understanding that the Houses did such things to maintain control, but they didn't chafe against that order.
Given the strength, Nauda would have overturned many things, but she decided that the Fithan system here was harmless enough. If Theo pushed for them to join a House, as she was certain he would, she would have no qualms about joining one with a responsible reputation.
As the vast red sun dipped to the horizon, Nauda found herself descending into melancholy thoughts instead of focusing on their scouting. Compared to the other two, she lacked purpose: Fiyu desperately wanted to return home, while Theo was desperate not to and had a thousand plans. All she could do for the time being was gain enough strength to make a difference.
Recognizing that she wasn't going to accomplish anything else, Nauda took Fiyu back to the central square and set about locating an acceptable inn. She had many options to choose from, it was just difficult to find one that was reasonably priced without sacrificing safety.
Eventually she found a family that rented out small rooms above their shop and left Fiyu there with the window firmly latched. The room might be uncomfortably tight for the three of them, but at least she could be alone in the dark for a time. Meanwhile, Nauda headed back to the statues, only to find Theo waiting for her. Senka lay against his leg, snoring loudly.
"There you are." He stood up, not caring that his movement sent Senka sprawling and possibly doing it intentionally. "Nothing happened to Fiyu?"
"She was very disappointed that the gate didn't lead home, so I left her in a room. I found a good one... hopefully you didn't rent a room as well."
"No time for that. There's too much to do." He moved past her, speaking rapidly until he abruptly halted. "But I suppose there's no point talking without Fiyu. Let's get back quickly."
They returned to the shop, where the owner asked them if they needed anything to eat. Nauda was too filled with thoughts to be hungry, but Theo asked for some food and tore into it even as they climbed the stairs. He ate simultaneously like he didn't even taste the food and as if he hadn't eaten all day... which she estimated was a fairly likely possibility.
When they reached their room, Nauda was concerned that he might barge in and trample over Fiyu's mood, but he slowed down. At the door he gave a low whistle, then waited until he heard one in response. Within, Fiyu had pulled a blanket over herself as a shield from the nonexistent light, but gave a smile that looked almost authentic.
"Hello, Theo. Was your day successful?"
"I'm afraid I faced many disappointments. The gate to Arbai would take us so far from Navim that it would be faster to ascend to Authority and acquire weirkeys than to walk back to his school." He paced to the side of the small room, then leaned back against the wall opposite Fiyu. "I fear we have no choice but to change plans, but there might be a new way forward."
His blunt words had struck Nauda as insensitive until the moment when she saw Fiyu bobbing her head meekly. It was a tactic that would never have worked on Tatian, on either half, but his terse evaluation seemed to get through to her. Instead of compassion, he was offering her a chance to empathize and work on a way forward. Nauda couldn't decide if it was considerate or cynical.
"Nauda told me about your trip, so we-"
"I didn't." Nauda cut him off before he could barrel directly into his plan and set their direction. "I told you about the disappointment with the Ichili gate, and that was it. But I take it you have a plan for us?"
"Of course I hav-" Theo cut himself off this time, frowning in some internal calculation she couldn't read. He slowly ran a hand through his hair and eventually continued in a lower voice. "I think I have an unparalleled opportunity for us, but you're right. Given what we've learned, what do the two of you want to get out of the city?"
Knowing that she had the weakest goals, Nauda went first. "I want a true armament to replace my staff. Not just the Deuxan stick, the original as well. Soulcrafting a true armament room is the most significant progress I can make in the short term, but I'll need to find the right one."
"Fortunately, the Houses will have plenty of armaments to choose from. Fiyu? What about you?"
"I must return home, but I do not know where my relative is." Her voice was quiet, but Nauda much preferred that to the flatness from before. "I think my only choice is to leave him a message and stay here until he is able to come find me. It would require a long journey, but if we can enter Ichil, there is an Animallight Messageplace there."
Nauda blinked, trying to parse the strange compound words her soul heard. Whatever they meant, she clearly didn't have the right concepts for it, and could only guess at what Fiyu had originally said. Theo just nodded like her answer was obvious, though she wondered if he would have done that no matter what.
"Then we can all help each other," he said. "Have either of you heard of the Chasm of Lamentations?"
They glanced at one another, Fiyu almost as responsive as before, but had no choice but to shrug. Theo seemed to have expected that and continued on.
"It's an incredibly dangerous region in Noven that is only accessible on rare occasions. I'm not sure how, but this city has a path to it. What matters is that I've been there before, and I explored most of it. The dangers aren't demons or sublime beasts - the Chasm is lifeless because the environment itself is so lethal."
"What kinds of danger?" Nauda asked.
"I don't know what happened there, but the world seems broken. The water becomes lethal at certain times of day, some caverns create whistling sounds that make your ears bleed, gravity randomly goes haywire... the key thing is that those threats could harm even an Authority, but they're avoidable if you have the right knowledge."
Theo finally couldn't resist smiling at the two of them and continued. "If you can survive, there are significant rewards, sublime materials beyond even those in the Landguard vault. Some of the natural materials had unusual qualities, like being usable to even early soulcrafters despite being unusually potent. There are fragments of a broken civilization there too, with more elaborate treasures."
It sounded too good to be true, so Nauda simply rolled her shoulders. "I assume there's a catch?"
"Yeah, there is. The opportunity has enough risk and value that only a small number of soulcrafters are allowed in, so we need to acquire something called Chasm Invitations. But we could earn those by ascending and proving ourselves valuable to a House, so it isn't an obstacle if we work hard."
"Do you believe it's a trap?" Fiyu asked. That was the first thing to truly make Theo stop short, and he was silent for a long time before he answered.
"I don't know. What I know for sure is that it's the same place and that Fithans have been going there for several decades - even the common knowledge about the Chasm was able to confirm that. We'd need to be cautious, but I think if we go in with a House, we should be safe. The only deaths in previous years have been from internal fighting and the Chasm itself."
"So your new plan is to get us there." Nauda nodded to herself, accepting the terms - if she was willing to believe Theo's story about his two lives and his strange world, she could believe him in this. "I imagine that it starts with much more practical steps, like picking a House to join?"
"Exactly. Working for a House is one of the only ways we can earn money and sublime materials without taking time away from soulcrafting, plus it will get us closer to all our goals. Houses have many armaments, and they regularly grant access to enter Ichil to harvest materials. So even if the Chasm proves a trap, we won't regret the steps taken toward it."
"I don't know about Fiyu, but I'm too tired to argue with you when you're
this determined." Nauda gave the other woman a smile that was returned, though Fiyu looked just a little puzzled. "For now, I just want to sleep, because this has been a long day. Tomorrow we can find our place in Norro Yorthin."
That decided, they shifted to much more mundane manners, such as getting ready for the night and deciding how they were going to sleep in the cramped room. Fiyu insisted that she wanted to sleep on the floor, and as she set up a makeshift tent, Nauda believed her. Perhaps it was similar to sleeping on the hard Ichili ground.
The bed wasn't large, but there was enough room for Nauda and Theo. Normally, she would have been conscious of a potential sexual implication, but Theo seemed oblivious to it. There was too much focused determination in his head to even think about such things. For her part, she had long been comfortable sleeping alongside others for simple companionship, so it wasn't going to bother her.
As she drifted to sleep, she did wonder where his ambition was going to take them. But in the end, she thought she could accept it.
Chapter 7
In the morning, Theo woke before the others to buy some early bread and gain a little more information. He was pleased by how much they'd accomplished in one day and had every intention of keeping up the momentum. With one year until the deadline, there would be time to relax later, but for now they needed to get the ball rolling.
When he returned, he found that Fiyu had departed to clean up, while Nauda brushed her hair in bed. As soon as she saw him drop the bread beside her, she gave an odd smile. "Somehow, I think that your infinite wisdom has decided on the path we're going to take today."
"It doesn't take any great wisdom," Theo said, "plus we caught a lucky break: House Crimson is conducting a trial today to induct new members."
"House Crimson? From what I've heard, they're powerful and influential, but their reputation is... cold and indifferent at best. And disturbingly unstable in recent times, according to rumors."
"We don't need them to be our friends, we need them to benefit us."
Nauda shook her head and chewed on a piece of bread for a while before swallowing and answering. "They apparently have the promising soulcrafters they want, so would we even stand out? We can't earn anything from them if they don't think we have enough to offer."
Theo waved the objection aside. "There's no reason not to start with the most powerful House. We can work our way down if absolutely necessary."
They continued to argue over it, Nauda bringing up other Houses that had made a better impression on her, until Fiyu joined them in the room. She was fitting her mask to her face, both of which appeared to have been freshly washed. When she smiled at them, he thought it was authentic. He'd suspected that she would recover quickly, since she had known she would be separated from her relative for a long time.
Unfortunately, Fiyu seemed to have no opinions whatsoever about which House they should join, so they remained stalemated. In the end, the fact that House Crimson was offering them an opportunity that day won out, so the group headed out to make their attempt.
House Crimson crowned a hill in the northeast, actually within the innermost circle of the city, which clearly proved to be the oldest and wealthiest region. The grand outer wall to the House complex was the same red of the city buildings, a fact that the House had exploited in propaganda to imply that they best represented the city. To make it clear that this was private territory, in case the reinforced gates and soulcrafter guards weren't clear enough, there were bright red banners hung every few paces along the walls.
Normally they would never have been allowed inside, but today the House was conducting a trial to select new members. The three of them joined a large group of hopefuls, some of whom seemed like mere workers, and Theo counted soulcrafters in the crowds. He saw some rough soulhomes, but there were Archcrafters among them and even two Rulers, which suggested fiercer competition than he'd expected.
Eventually the entire group assembled in a courtyard, buildings on all sides looming over them. Theo noted that the building ahead of them was the first true palace he'd seen on Fithe: the outer walls might be formidable, but the huge curtained windows and balconies couldn't be defended. Of course, if they really had a Stronghold-tier soulcrafter among them, that was defense enough. He could just see someone watching them on one of the balconies, though it wasn't likely to be their true leader, not for something like this.
"All of you are here today because you want to join the House Crimson." A Ruler rose over them on a platform of wind, staring down at the group somberly. "But our House has more hopefuls throwing themselves at us than we can possibly accept. For that reason, we have devised tests that will determine your worth in many different ways.
"Listen closely, because these rules will be explained only once. Over the course of today, there will be seventeen different trials, some of them announced and some hidden. Your performance on each will be graded, and your scores tallied. A sufficiently high score in one category could earn you entrance, or-"
"Nah." The lazy voice cut through the Ruler's speech, magnified by cantae. Theo wasn't sure where it came from, but the Ruler turned toward a balcony and immediately bowed.
"Lord Tythes!" Though thrown off his speech, he quickly managed a smile and gave a sweeping gesture. "Everyone, today you are honored by the presence of Tythes of House Crimson. He is one of our most talented Authorities, destined to become our second Stronghold."
The destined future of House Crimson slouched over the edge of the balcony, wearing disheveled robes that failed to cover his chest, though whether by design or by accident was anyone's guess. Wine stains covered one side of them, and the offending bottle of wine swung up to his lips for a long drink. Dropping the bottle, Tythes looked out over the group as if he found them particularly boring.
He didn't feel like an Authority, but Theo presumed that he had a shielding wall in place. The one curious detail about his appearance was that his skin was an odd purple and he had a single horn poking from his hair on the left side - he couldn't have looked more like a half-breed if he'd tried. Getting mixed signals, Theo reserved judgment until he had more observations.
"Lord Tythes," the Ruler eventually continued in a lower voice, "I was just beginning the test of our newest potential recruits, so if-"
"I said nah." Tythes raised his hand to his face, glanced down as if deeply offended that the wine bottle was no longer there, then refocused. "Seventeen tests sounds like way too many. There's going to be one test, and it's going to start now."
Stepping forward, Tythes pitched over the side of the balcony, but instead of falling, he floated upward, flipping a few times before turning upright. As he did so, Theo felt his soulhome and seriously considered retreating: Tythes might be acting like a fool, but he wasn't just an Authority, his soulhome was a dangerous one. Only the possibility that it might be a test of nerves kept Theo motionless in his position.
"My lord, I think-" The Ruler cut off the instant that Tythes waved at him, then the Authority focused down on the group below.
"What's going to happen is that I'm going to slam a bunch of cantae down on all of you. If you can keep standing, you win! If not, you can get out. Sound fair?"
Everyone stared at him in silence and he chuckled.
"Good answer, because it doesn't matter what you say. Okay, I'll count to eight so you can leave if you want. One... two... three... never mind, it starts now."
With no more warning than that, cantae pressure crushed the courtyard and nearly everyone crumpled. Most of the first tier soulcrafters never had a chance, smashed down to the flagstones immediately. Fiyu and a few others managed to drop down to one knee instead of collapsing, bowing in the face of such overwhelming force.
Theo considered resisting for a moment but decided to do the same before the cantae flattened him. He wasn't sure if using a reversed gravitational field would have been wise, since his gravity couldn't possibly affect the cantae. It was essentially like a solid wall descending on th
em, so sending himself upward might just smash him against it, which could be deadly if Tythes was as reckless as he looked.
Only three people were left standing... one of them Nauda. She had her staff braced against the ground and grimaced to stay in place, but she was resisting the cantae flooding down over her. The difference between an Archcrafter and an Authority was too vast to possibly overcome, but she might have endured.
Unfortunately, Theo doubted that this was really a trial at all.
"Oh, some of you are standing. That's nice." Tythes floated lower, looking over them. "The thing is, you have to keep standing. Good luck."
He could have brought them down just by keeping up pressure, but Tythes didn't wait more than a few seconds before he suddenly made a downward swatting motion. A column of light slammed down on one of the soulcrafters still standing, not just pressure but an established technique. It hammered them into the flagstones, eyes and mouth bleeding.
"That's one..." Tythes started to turn, but the next man in line wisely dropped down immediately. With a wry grin, Tythes floated on, shifting toward Nauda... who remained standing. "Hmm, are you not very bright or just stubborn? Are you really going to stand up to me?"
"It's obvious that no one else will." Nauda grated out the words, sweat now covering her body as she struggled to remain upright. Theo glanced at her in surprise, since she obviously understood what was happening by that point. What would drive her to take a stand against impossible odds for nothing?
"Oh, that's fun." Tythes clapped his hands together, then raised one, cantae gathering in it. When Nauda didn't flinch, he gave another lazy grin. "I'm not sure where you're from, but is it one of those weird places with strange views about striking women? I will absolutely flatten you."
