by Sarah Lin
Footsteps behind him. Theo would never have been able to identify them before, but during his journey he'd soulcrafted a room that improved his senses slightly. Nothing extraordinary, just enough to be sure that someone was following him.
People rarely walked alone on Tatian, so it had to be the Landguard. Theo began walking faster, but he knew that he couldn't possibly escape by speed alone.
Instead, he tugged off his Deuxan cloak and began rummaging in his pack. His tree branch blind was wrong for these trees, but he had a bright Tatian cloak that blended in. Theo wrapped it around himself, searched the forest below, then plunged over the edge.
On the way down, he grabbed a heavy tree branch. If his arm hadn't been reinforced by cantae, it likely would have been torn out of its socket, and stopping his fall sent a wrenching pain through his shoulder, but he managed to drop lightly to the ground. Without much sound, and most importantly without using any techniques that might get him noticed. When he looked up, he could see the steep side of the path overhead. He didn't notice any dislodged rocks or broken tree branches, not that there was any time to make adjustments.
Instead he plunged deeper into the forest, trying not to step on any sticks or brush against too many of the crimson leaves. Fortunately, Tatian forests were generally open and welcoming, even semi-wild ones such as this. He must be in one of the unfarmed areas he'd spotted from the top, though it wasn't far to another little community.
As soon as he found a denser cluster of trees, Theo dropped into a hollow and drew his cloak over himself, leaving just a narrow sliver to look out. That way, he might look like any Tatian taking a nap in the forest, not that the deception would hold if the Landguard came for him.
For a long time he simply waited, unable to see the path from his position by design and unable to hear anything amiss. He had to restrain his impulse to reach out with his senses several times. It was possible that the Landguard hadn't really been following him and this was all unnecessary, but considering that his enemy was some sort of shadowy organization, no precaution was too much.
Just when he started to think he was overly paranoid, trees rustled and a body rose from the hill. No longer shielding his power, the Landguard floated into the air on a river of cantae, eyes sweeping over the landscape. He'd risen from a point that Theo estimated was further along the path they'd been walking.
As an Authority-tier soulcrafter, the Landguard could have turned the entire farmscape into a wasteland. But this was Tatian. Several villagers atop another hill began waving cheerfully, and the Landguard waved back before flying onward.
Only then did Theo allow himself to breathe a sigh of relief. He couldn't let it make him lax, but he had a major advantage: the Landguards were looking for some sort of demonic visitor aiming to destroy their world, not a simple traveler. Some of them really did seem to believe that outsiders were a threat, and he wasn't sure how they'd gotten that idea, but most seemed to be Tatian at heart, just wanting to defend their people.
It was incredibly inconvenient for him, but hopefully it would be over soon. Since he'd finally put some distance between him and his pursuers, he should be able to take a fairly straight shot to the river. Presuming the villagers had directed him rightly, it wouldn't be far to Nlukoko from there.
Once he arrived, he would be able to meet up with Nauda and Fiyu again... presuming that all went well. He didn't doubt that both of them would try their best, and he hadn't considered leaving them, even if there had been any opportunities along the way. But if they had been found... Nauda might be able to blend in effortlessly, but Fiyu stuck out in basically every way.
If the Landguard had either or both of them, he'd have to make a very hard decision. Not only did he have nowhere near the power to challenge such an organization, doing so would draw exactly the wrong attention to himself. Vistgil was more powerful than the Landguard and outright malicious, so drawing his eye at this stage would be suicide. Yet if he had to make a choice... he would have to hope that it didn't come up.
This time, it seemed that he'd really shaken their pursuit for good. Though he remained cautious, Theo didn't see any sign of his pursuer or any other Landguard. As he approached the river and the city, the people became less effusive with their friendliness, but that was probably just the effect of Nlukoko.
The city itself soon came into sight as he walked along the river, and he found himself staring at it more than he should. What he thought was the river swelling turned out to be a lake that stretched into the distance, the city itself growing on top of it. Some of the buildings appeared to be on islands, but others floated on boats or strange platforms of reeds. He spotted enormous lotus flowers in between the buildings before he saw people walking across them and realized that they were part of the city as well. Water flowed in the air above the city as if within invisible tubes, but he saw nothing supporting the spiraling currents.
Unlike most Tatian cities, it actually had a serious barrier in the form of the water, which meant that he needed to use one of the bridges. With his improved soulhome, he had a shot at jumping or swimming it, but he had to assume that even on Tatian they would have defenses to guard against that. It looked like there was actually security at the bridges, so Nlukoko took itself more seriously than most.
Though they weren't likely to be collaborating with the Landguards, Theo decided to gather information first. He spotted a group of Tatians gawking at everything and shadowed them until the line got close to the bridge guards, then fell back into the next group and listened closely.
"Why do we need papers to show who we are?" one of the newcomers asked, honestly befuddled. "We'd be happy to tell you."
"The community of Nlukoko welcomes everyone, we just need to make sure that the community stays welcoming." The guard clasped the newcomer's arms warmly, like they might in any village, but something in his warmth was just slightly wrong. "But you are welcome to join us in Nlukoko, for a day or for a year. You need only pay the proper fees."
"Fees? I don't understand... we aren't bringing any goods, we only wanted to visit. Why do you need money for that?"
"But you see, the guard requires money in order to continue working, so we ask everyone to make a small contribution to our community."
"But... if you just didn't have the guard, then the problem would be solved!"
The conversation continued, the guards patient as if they had explained this often throughout the day, and Theo backed away. He might be able to learn slightly more, but this was enough to know that something was wrong. Though he hadn't spent very much time on Tatian, he'd only heard of a few cities that required paperwork, and absolutely none that demanded fees for entry. Normally the local Farmguards were maintained by their own families purely out of generosity and goodwill.
Obviously things didn't work that way here, which meant that he was stuck outside the city. There was no way of knowing where Fiyu or Nauda were, or if the Landguards were still looking. After so long traveling, he'd hoped his journey was finally over.
Chapter 2
No choice but to regroup and reconsider. Theo moved among the others milling around in line, no proper queue except Tatian politeness. That made it easy to shift back without making it obvious, then eventually depart and get away from the road approaching the bridge.
Since the other bridges would no doubt be similar, he decided to simply shift to their backup plan, at least to start. When they had last spoken before splitting up, Nauda had suggested a number of other places to meet up, in descending order. She would understand that none of the options within the city were viable, so the next one... some sort of landmark outside the city.
She had described a blackened tree that stood on a hill, so he went looking for it. Nearly everything on Tatian was always blooming, in different ways in different seasons, so a dead tree would stick out quite a bit. What had happened to it, he couldn't be sure, and he was surprised that the Tatians didn't get rid of it, but she said that he would kn
ow when he saw it.
Sure enough, there was no question as soon as his eyes fell on the dark tree. From a distance he mostly noted the bare, partially broken branches, but what struck him as he drew close was that the bark itself appeared dark and glossy, almost as if the whole tree had calcified.
After examining the area and confirming that no one was present - no surprise, since the grim tree wasn't very pleasant for Tatians - he went back to examine the tree further. Trying to chip off a piece, even using as much cantae as he dared, wasn't effective. The material itself required some examination: it was a subtle sublime material, not generating much cantae, but potentially useful for reinforcing walls within a soulhome.
In any case, he couldn't break it down enough to draw into his soul, and if it had been easy, soulcrafters within the city would no doubt have taken it already. Theo set the tree out of mind as a curiosity, since it didn't feel particularly valuable, and instead sat down to begin soulcrafting while he waited. Since he had no idea about the others, he might have some time.
As he floated into the core of his soul, Theo reflected that he needed that time, because he had a great deal of work to do. The first floor of his soulhome looked impressive, solarstone shining brightly in the middle of his soul's field, but the interior was still a work in progress.
A soulhome was never truly finished, but he'd finished less than half of his plans for his first floor. Of the nine rooms, only the central chamber needed no more work, the dark singularity he'd never planned spinning within. His original blueprint would have made the four corner rooms pillars of strength, with the four connecting rooms providing supportive techniques. That plan had now been reversed, which wasn't all bad: corner rooms faced two different directions and thus could provide more flexibility.
The corner chamber that embodied his technique of producing gravitational fields was coming along nicely, filled with elaborate carvings that allowed him to create three simultaneous fields in the real world. He'd also begun work on the next corner, attempting to create a torsion effect: it was nowhere near working in practice, but he'd put in the groundwork.
He had ideas for the remaining two corners, but most of his time on the run had been spent on middle rooms. The chamber leading in from his entrance had been upgraded into a reinforced storage room, which increased his body's durability while also providing a space to safely keep sublime materials. His feast chamber, which enhanced his strength and senses, actually made a real difference now. Rooms that weren't tied to specific techniques or armaments tended to be a bit more abstract, so he was holding off on the remaining two until he'd figured out who he truly wanted to be, in this second life.
So one finished chamber, two well-developed, three in progress, and three empty. It was a much better design than he'd had before, yet he wished that he was further along. As Theo began to walk inside, he reflected that he had more than just the rooms he'd counted.
For one, he had his vestibule, which allowed him to use cantae more efficiently than any normal first tier soulcrafter. His carefully crafted door let him stay alert in the real world while soulcrafting. And he'd essentially finished the roof, merging hearthtree trunks with the last of his solarstone to forge a solid ceiling. It did him little good now, but it would be essential when he finished all nine rooms and sought to ascend to Archcrafter.
There was no sense dreaming about that yet, so Theo instead walked into his feast chamber and got back to work. Because many sublime materials took the form of food, chambers built around it were one of the most common ways to improve oneself. His was simple at the moment, just a sturdy table piled with all the sublime food he'd eaten so far. He'd only eaten a few rare delicacies, so he'd filled most of it with reliable flamefruit and duskfruit.
Instead of worrying about any of that, Theo picked up his spirit chisel and set to work, carving patterns down another one of the table's legs. This part was more art than science, and not just because of the designs. The sublime foods in the chamber generated some cantae for him, but it was the construction of the overall chamber that determined how well his body made use of it.
An empty chamber could store cantae, which could briefly make him stronger or more durable. Adding the table made the current more efficient, making his body just a little more durable against opposing cantae. Carving the table was a minor improvement, the sort of thing many young soulcrafters would ignore, but he needed every advantage he could get, if he couldn't have the invincible body he'd once planned.
As he fell deeper into the work, he kept one eye on the world around him while he considered different plans for the future. Technique rooms were relatively simple, but he hadn't thought of a plan for his other four rooms that felt right. Even if he didn't really live in his soulhome, he needed to craft rooms that connected with him on some level, or they'd be little better than big boxes of cantae.
How long he worked, he couldn't be sure, but the sun had crept toward the horizon by the time he felt someone get close enough to distract him. Instantly he ceased his soulcrafting, his paranoia honed by months evading the Landguard... only to smile and set down his work as he realized who it was.
Theo emerged back into the real world as Nauda bounded up the side of the hill toward him. Glad as he was to see her, his mind automatically checked for deception and evaluated her condition. It didn't appear that she'd found a replacement for her forked armament, but she did have a long walking stick slung across her back. She'd changed her clothes and continued soulcrafting as well, though he couldn't determine any details from the outside.
Then she arrived and pulled him directly into a warm Tatian hug. "Theo! I worried when I saw how many Landguards were searching, but you made it here faster than I expected."
"Do you have a way into the city?" he asked as soon they pulled apart. She kept her hand on his arm, likely starved for human touch after so long.
"Yes, there are alternate ways. I had enough time to acquire papers for you and Fiyu, so we can all enter without attracting the guard. I assume you saw them and retreated here, because this was the first place I saw you."
"What exactly is going on with the Farmguards here? Or are they Farmguards at all?"
"In the sense of being soulcrafters, yes, but..." Nauda's gaze wandered to the city, her warmth finally fading to embers. "Nlukoko is not a normal Tatian city. I had a little time to check, and it still has the great library and most of what we'll need. But it's not a place to walk carelessly."
"I think I'd like to hear the whole story."
"I understand that. And I do want to tell you more, but perhaps we should wait until Fiyu arrives bef-"
"I am here." The new voice made both of them jump, and Theo turned just in time to see Fiyu emerge from nothing.
He'd given that corner of the hill a good look when he arrived and he'd been sure that there was no one there, but before his eyes, the shadows rippled and Fiyu's body congealed into being, sitting atop a rock. Theo was willing to bet that she'd been there for some time, which explained how she had remained hidden in Tatian. She hadn't changed her clothes, still clad in the thick layered robes of Ichil, but she'd clearly soulcrafted a new chamber for that stealth technique.
Though she drew back slightly when they stared at her, Fiyu soon rose to her feet and smiled at them. Even with her eyes hidden by the dark translucent mask, the emotion was clear, and that smile was the Ichili equivalent of throwing herself into an embrace. Nauda took a step toward her, clearly wanting to give her the same treatment, but she held herself back.
"Just how long have you been there?" Theo asked to break the tension. Fiyu turned to him and bobbed her head agreeably.
"I saw you arrive. I have enjoyed my time alone, but I have been preparing myself, and I am ready to travel together again."
"That's good." Nauda approached her and restrained herself to brushing one of Fiyu's trailing sleeves. "Can you extend that technique to us as well?"
"I may be able to, but it will require more
testing. Would you like me to begin now?"
"Maybe not quite yet." Nauda turned from both of them and stared toward Nlukoko, the city practically burning in the sunset. "We have a lot to talk about. We should get started right away."
Chapter 3
The papers that Nauda had acquired got them over the bridge without any trouble, though Theo spent some time looking over them afterward. They gave some basic information about his identity, and had an elaborate seal, but otherwise they seemed like a formality. Based on the false identities, they had been acquired illegally... at least, it would be illegal on any other world. Here on Tatian, he wasn't sure if that word really applied.
But for the most part, he set that thought out of mind and focused on the other two. On their way into the city they shared notes about Landguards, confirming that they'd apparently spread out from Myufuru indiscriminately, instead of tracking them specifically. The time apart seemed to have been hard on Nauda and good for Fiyu, as he'd predicted.
Nlukoko was the first Tatian city he'd ever seen where the people pressed together roughly, and he saw a harsher edge in some eyes. He spotted more than a few Deuxans, and they didn't look so out of place here, many selling materials from their home world in street-side markets. It was all clearly overwhelming for Fiyu, who insisted on remaining in between them. Since Nauda was the one who knew where they were going, he had no choice but to follow, watch the crowds closely, and try not to flatten Fiyu between them when they needed to stop quickly.
"You're obviously tired," Nauda said once they had finished catching up, "and we can't accomplish many of our objectives this late. I have a place for us to rest, but before then, I'd like to show you our destinations tomorrow."
"A personal connection?" Theo asked. "Or do they have inns here?"