"Is she telling you how your last statement is wrong?" Nova asked me with a small smile.
"What?" I asked, looking up. "I mean, yes, but why are you asking about that?"
"Vessa and I noticed," the Beacon answered as her smile broadened into a grin. "You stop and get this look sometimes, and it usually turns out that your new grandmother is correcting you on something you just said or did. Anyway," she added, looking at the other end of the chamber. "I'm counting one more opening on the other end of the room, and…" she turned to look back the way we had entered, "two doors next to our own entrance. And that's it. All of the doors are open, though, so it's likely anything in them would have reacted to the fight by now, unless it's trying to hide."
"Then we'll have to search them anyway," I said with a shrug. "If nothing's there, it should be quick. If they are occupied, then we'll be caught by surprise while we're trying to seal the door at the opposite end of the chamber." I looked down at my adorable, but increasingly savage bonded companion. "How are you feeling, little brother? Did you get hurt in that fight?"
I hadn't felt any distress from him through the mindlink, but I wanted to make sure. Nestor converted back to his normal form, and he shook his fluffy head in answer to my question.
"Then in that case, we'll need you to keep scouting for us. Nova will provide more light, and I will support you with my soulsense. Great job on disabling those giants, by the way," I offered.
Deserved-it, the little mouse grumbled, darting over to Nova and nuzzling her leg protectively. Help-you. Fight-creeps. Al-ways.
"Thank you," Nova told the little mouse with a smile. "Okay," she said, getting serious. "I'll wait by the door and guard you two while you search. Since anything nearby should have already heard or seen us, I'll shine a little bit of light at the opening to help. Why don't we start with the left door?" she asked, pointing with her baton.
It seemed like a perfectly good choice, so I nodded in agreement. As Nova stood guard over me, I projected my spiritual sense through the rooms next door.
Three things surprised me about the next chamber. The first was its size. It was comparable to the massive security chamber we had just battled in, which eventually struck me as odd, because I expected rooms where combat was expected to happen to be built in a way that would restrict the attacker. But then it occurred to me that a fair number of Vessa's original crew might not be humans my size, and there were probably defense terminals that activated during the fight. The size of this next room reinforced that idea in me, because it resembled the other dormitory we had recovered, just on a more massive scale. Unfortunately, we had no use for extra living space, but I began to wonder if it might be time to try and acquire more crew. Because even if Vessa was relatively self-sufficient for a giant vessel, she would still need more and more people to take care of her as she regained power in more of her ship-body and developed the accompanying needs. Nova and I couldn't constantly be running to and from planets just to pick up a few more vials of dirt.
The second thing I noticed was that there was another door beyond this room. It was beyond the current range of my soulsense, but since it was next to our other quarters, I figured it would be a food room or some other supply. Either way, it might have a resource that would help Vessa get whatever nutrients she wasn't getting from our food pouches and new supply of meat.
The final thing I noticed was that the room was unoccupied by any creature, living or otherwise, and yet I still felt a presence in here.
Loss.
Desperation.
And strongest of all…
Defiant loyalty.
Grandmother? I asked hesitantly. Did people die in this room?
Many did, the old spirit said sadly, looking out with senses of her own. You will sometimes feel emotional residue of an empty room, grandson, if the emotions are strong enough. What you sense now is the bitter taste of those desperate trying to draw death to themselves, so that it would not chase another.
Vessa, I said to her. They died for Vessa… she will grieve if she sees this room, I said, feeling conflicted and helpless.
Our survival literally depended on retaking every single room we could… but I had no desire to make the young ship-woman weep any more than she already had.
She will, Mara said firmly, and then she will heal. Understand this, young rider. Your role is not to keep her free of danger and harm. They would never let us do that. But, at this time and this place, she may let you stand by her side as she faces such pain. Be there every time you can, and she will be the better for it.
This manner of aid sounded almost like nothing to me, but I would do it all the same, for the multi-bodied woman who had fixed my own broken form while trying to save the rest of the universe.
We moved forward to confirm the next room was some kind of deactivated hydroponics system, and the room beyond that was a backup life support and medical bay. All of them were uninhabited, except for the lingering emotions of the distant dead.
Grandmother, I asked, as a thought occurred to me. I am aware this may be a silly question, but are there such things as ghosts?
To be clear, my grandmother began dryly, you are asking the incorporeal dragon resting inside your spiritual landscape whether or not disembodied spirits can exist?
Well, yes, I answered stupidly, but to clarify, I have already battled the walking dead, and found them to range widely in sentience. Do I need to be aware of formless enemies, beyond those capable of forming part-souls, who are much stronger than me anyway?
Part-soul spirits such as myself are very rare, the elderly dragon answered me, and spirits of any other kind are even rarer, save for small sprite-beings that occur naturally. There is no known format or explanation for their existence. But I would not expect the vessel-saint's crew to suffer beyond their end. At worst, they have whatever peace the living find after death. But if there is a heavenly being left with any sense of justice at all, then they all ascended at the moment of their sacrifice, and walk the higher planes draped in glory. When my grandchildren and I ascend and are reunited with the rest of my family, I will join them in ensuring justice for honored dead such as these.
I hoped her words were true. But I had long given up myself in hoping there would be any authority that favored the righteous, be it beneath the night sky or beyond it.
We checked the series of rooms beyond the next door, and once again, found no presence but the hopes and dreams of the long-distant dead. Their desperate desires disturbed me, but my grandmother ensured me that encountering such things was actually beneficial for me, as it would help prepare for any future spiritual attacks.
Fortunately the contents of this next network of rooms proved to be something we could use immediately. Nova recognized a navigation room, an additional emergency drive room, and finally, a room that granted partial control over Vessa's weapon systems. I remembered her saying that she had sacrificed the last of her ship-body's weapons in order to help us kill the bloodbeast, but perhaps recovering this room would grant her access to more.
For now, though, we knew it was safe to seal the doorway on the other side of the security room, which would hopefully let us bring all of these rooms safely under control.
Nova halted as we approached the massive opening, and I didn't blame her. On one hand, they were surprisingly not that badly damaged. They had been bent open, but they were still attached to the frame. Now that they were depowered, we should be able to push them back in place and create a few new welds. Then Nova could inject some of Vessa's source energy into them, and it would hopefully hold for long enough for Vessa to regain total control.
The problem was that they were over twenty feet tall, and massive enough to fit two of the sott-jotun in easily enough for them to stand side by side.
Clever, Grandmother Mara said to me. With a build like that, it probably cost her attackers dearly to enter this room.
What do you mean, Senior? I asked, not understanding.
&
nbsp; It's Grandmother, dear, she corrected gently. Don't backslide. These doors were designed in such a way that they would push open upon failure, and only to a level corresponding to the current intruders' frame. Even as massive as these things are, they would only be able to enter one at a time, unless they spent more energy trying to open it further. Either way, their first few groups would shed blood, flesh, and Source energy before they even set foot into the room, and with no opportunity to strike back.
That was impressive. And Nova's next words revealed that she shared the sentiment, even if she was more confused.
"I hadn't known such construction was even possible," she muttered absently as she walked closer. "But why did it fail?"
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Doors are just partial barriers no matter how you build them. You can open them as long as you use the right amount of force even if they are large as this one."
"It's not that," Nova said with a shake of her gold-maned head. "It's the fact that they had enough bodies to throw in order to even make it down here, through this door, then even through the rooms beyond it, fighting every step with Vessa's crew that was also conducting a fighting withdrawal. And if she didn't get her larger wards up in time, creatures as weak as the eaterlings, or even the Longman and sott-jotun shouldn't have been down here at all, because the greater creatures would have eaten most of them, like we saw down and in the last room. If they weren't unified back then, it should have been impossible, and if they were unified, why and when did they stop working together like they do now? Vessa could have been killed as late as a few weeks ago, if that first eaterling you battled had been willing to bring one friend. It just doesn't add up. The defenses should have held."
Maybe they should have, I thought. But then I remembered the open secret door on my way in, and how only a crewmember or Vessa herself had the ability to access it.
I had no idea who the traitor had been working with, how they even had a way to communicate with the invaders, or what their goals had been. But I was beginning to suspect that someone had wanted to build an empire, and knew that the best way to do so was to help all the current powers fall from within.
"Either way," I finally said, pausing my speculation, "we'll keep learning as we retake more and more portions of this place. Maybe we'll even get answers that will help us prevent another massive invasion like this from ever happening again. But for now, we need to seal this opening as best and quickly as we can, before something else wanders down here."
CHAPTER FOUR
I had not been expecting to move it at all. The massive barrier was well over a foot thick and had to weigh thousands of pounds, and it had been forced wide open. Nova and I both strained as soon as we began to push against it. When it immediately began to budge, I nearly let go in surprise.
What surprised me even further was the fact that I seemed to be moving my part of the door even more easily than Nova was moving hers.
It wasn't that I still felt weak, after a decade of malnourishment, far from it. I felt like a superhuman now, had felt that way ever since Lunei had refined my body in the qi pool back on her planet. But I knew that Nova's Advancement was still beyond mine. She was further along in the qi pool stage than I was, and outclassed my mana Advancement by two whole stages.
That doesn't matter, dear, Grandmother Mara said from my soul, noticing my amazement, and still resting in a protective circle around her two other grandchildren. It takes three full stages of mana, and two stages of qi, to match the physical benefits of one stage of essence, and the opposite is true for the short-term power of mana. Usually, she hedged, without elaborating on what the exceptions were.
That still gives her at least two-thirds of a stage beyond myself, I said as I kept pushing against the door, marveling as over a ton of solid metal moved a few more inches in response.
Yes, she agreed, and you are also gaining from being bonded by pact to another Sourcebeast in the wailing stage, and two more natal beasts that are bound to your Advancement by birth, she said with a smile as she looked down at the infants below her. The black-and-white creatures noticed her gaze and looked up with bleary eyes, mewing curiously at her attention. Furthermore, your body is benefiting from its total refinement back in my Sourcepalace. You have gained benefits that your enemies will continue to have trouble detecting. And if your vessel-saint master and I have our way, your growth is only beginning.
Down in these dark chambers of monsters and growths, such news encouraged me. Nova and I continued pushing, carefully activating our special abilities so that we could increase our physical strength in a coordinated fashion. The door began to move even faster, and I realized that it was as much by the barrier's design as it was by our efforts. It was supposed to be far easier to close than it was to open from the other side.
I felt my internal mana surge slightly at the realization. It whispered that I should study this design, apply it to my own substages of physics and engineering. But I had neither the time nor ability to do so, and concentrated on sliding the door the last few feet needed to put it into place. Then, as we began to hear strange echoing noises far off in the darkness beyond the broken opening, we hurried to close the second door, burning more of our different Source energies to ensure we closed the door in time.
We finished closing it just as the echoing noises began to grow louder. I stepped away and drew my spear as Nova reached for her connection with Vessa and began to further seal the door with Source energy. Hopefully that would be enough.
I tried not to remind myself that it had not been enough before, and the doorway was last breached back when this room was under full power. But after Nova finished sealing the door we both waited for a few moments, and the noises began to die off.
"We should hurry back," Nova said as we lowered our weapons and sighed in relief. "Because there's no telling what will happen in the time we go back to fetch Vessa. In fact…" She suddenly reactivated her Soulscape, spreading out her beautiful white wings. "You and Nestor should just go ahead and hop on. I can fly there much more quickly than we can walk."
"Hop on?" I asked apprehensively. Nova had carried me through the air once, but that had been an awkward and dangerous experience, and that was counting the fact that we were outside at the time and not in a dark spaceship with a ceiling and hallways. "What do you mean?"
Like-this, Nestor said, as the little mouse scrambled up the Beacon's leg and nestled onto her shoulder, before leaning against Nova's neck and nuzzling her with his fluffy head. See? he added as Nova smiled. She-likes.
"I really do," Nova said as she nuzzled back at the fluffy little creature. "That's good advice, Nestor," she said, but then her eyes widened as she looked at me. "Except… um, I'll just carry you again, Jas. Don't worry. I'll be careful."
Grandmother Mara chuckled in a way that irritated me for some reason. Then she chuckled harder when she sensed my irritation.
What's the matter, grandson? she asked in a teasing tone. Didn't you promise yourself that you could marvel her as much as you dared after the last battle?
I dare not marvel her all that much, I said as I sent my spear back into my Soulscape, turned around, and raised my arms so that the beautiful, blood-stained woman could carry me back to Vessa's sanctuary. I wasn't sure if it was the most convenient way for us to fly together, but at least this way it would be her fault and not mine if we accidentally touched in certain places.
"Hold on tight," Nova said as she gripped me from behind and began beating her glowing wings. "I mean… ugh. Nevermind. Just tuck your head down and don't complain about me going too fast."
"Noted," I said neutrally. Then Nova's wings beat again, and we were suddenly halfway across the room.
I reminded myself that she was fast enough to fly circles around multiple giant monsters and still have time to strike at them, and that flying in a straight line was much easier than flying circles inside of a murder-themed obstacle course. The next beat brought us to the door in a sudden
rush of air, and I tried not to think of anything at all. Except that if I had my own wings, I would have more control over where I was going and how likely I was to crash on the way there.
I felt Nova slow down a few moments later, and realized we had already reached a turn in the hallway. She was mostly jumping now, using her wings to assist her legs instead of diving down. I saw their tips pass against the walls without scraping, and I reminded myself that they were her Soulscape, which made them more a part of her spirit than of her physical body.
And it will continue to change with her as she Advances, Grandmother Mara said from my soul, as Nova pivoted slightly around the turn to make another mighty leap. For now, it has grown to increase her speed and help create light. I suspect it will mirror her desire to be a leader, savior, and messenger. Your Soulscape will continue to change as well, young rider, in accordance with your own goals.
But I have not given it any goals, grandmother, I protested as we hurtled through the dark hallways, Nova lighting the way by projecting a thin cone of light from the golden-winged circlet on her forehead, adding to the shroud of light already produced from her wings.
But Mara only snorted at me. I tried to reflect how my Soulscape had changed, instead of the next giant and terrifying leap my friend took down the narrow hallway. The only thing I could notice, since Advancing to the second stage of my Sources, was that I could absorb much larger objects into it. Technically that began once I first entered my new grandmother's Sourcepalace, so perhaps it had undergone another change I hadn't noticed yet.
But such discoveries could wait until I was no longer hurtling through the air at high speed. Soon we reached the door leading back to the emergency drive room. To my horror, Nova closed her eyes while leaping to activate it, instead of coming to a complete stop. Then she tucked her wings tighter behind herself and dove through the entire chamber, bringing us into the emergency drive room, whose door had been left open.
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