The Newt and Demon - Book 6 Chapters 13,14,15 (Patreon)

Chapter 13

Deathbloom

The wind whipped by as Theo took the tram north. Several golems working in Gronro-Dir needed maintenance and it had been too long since he had seen the area for himself. While Fenian’s battle with the Worldbreaker had been bad for the continent, he avoided slicing the southlands up. While it was normally fun to see how the people up north were doing, the alchemist was accompanied by the masked elf, Twist. Their deal still stood, and it was his responsibility to get him back to the place where Qavell once was.

Grot was there on the platform to greet them, laughing as Theo attempted to tame his hair. Throk still hadn’t found a way to install windows without taking away the view. “Alright there, Theo?”

“Yeah.” Theo took a long moment to take in the sight. The sickly green hue that had floated in the air was gone along with the pungent scent of necromantic magic in the air. “How bad is the damage?”

Grot gestured for the duo to follow, walking up the slope that led to the town. “We’ve got some construction projects in our future. Already started, but we’re going to be a land of bridges soon enough.”

Since Broken Tusk had required so much stone to get their various projects done, Gronro had pitched in by cutting stone from the mountain. The result was a surplus that opened the gates to bridge building.

“Is there no direct path to Qavell?” Twist asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

“Not unless you can fly. Even then, there’s some nasty energy up north.” Grot led them to a karatan-drawn carriage, and the group set off.

Theo’s golems and wards had done an amazing job of clearing the immediate area of necromantic energies. The alchemist spotted rails before long, but was unaware that Throk had already started laying them. A half-hour into their ride, they found Gronro workers erecting the metalwork, adapting the straight railing for the hilly environment. The landscape leveled out after the initial rise, giving way to a straight cut through the mountains. Until an hour later, when the karatan reared to a stop before a clittering chasm.

“That is the problem,” Grot said, scooting close to the edge. “Still hot, somehow.”

Theo looked on in awe. Fenian had carved a hundred-foot swathe in the landscape. The sections near the bottom had already filled with water from the ocean, while those near the surface glowed with molten rock. He swallowed hard, considering the implications of the Herald’s power. Could he have actually taken him in a fight? Even with his nonsense dimensional powers, it would have been difficult. Fenian could be an asshole, but at least he was on the right side.

“Span like this is tricky. Ziz came to check it out, but he’s worried about stability.” Grot scratched at his beard.

Theo took a seat on a rock, picking a blade of grass from the ground to fidget with. The area was already coming back to life. Whatever alpine plants grew here before were bound to return. Especially when considering the magical density in the air. So long as some energy from Tero’gal or Drogramath’s realm came, they would come back. Ziz’s ability to build bridges was getting better, but the chasm was vast. Even with an Earth Sorcerer’s Core, he wasn’t sure how well he could fill it. He plucked more grass, trying to force his Wisdom to provide a solution.

“We could fly you over, but I don’t know,” Theo said, holding a finger in the air as though to check the weather. “The necromantic energy is gone, but whatever rushed to fill the void feels just as potent.”

Theo had expected to travel more that day, leaving him feeling aimless. Tresk had done some scouting of the area, but had failed to express how wide the chasms were. Between the point he stood and the place where Qavell once was, there were at least four breaks. She estimated as she went since the flight north would have taken too long.

“There’s nothing we can do,” Theo said, standing and gesturing to the cart. Both Grot and Twist shrugged as they made their way back.

Something caught the alchemist’s attention as he went. A small bush clung to the rocks near the road’s edge. It was a squat thing with tiny flowers dotting the surface. Each flower was a brighter shade of green than the leaves. He could feel the alchemical potential radiating and came close to inspect. After confirming they were viable for potions, he plucked several bushes clean, placing the flowers in his inventory. Then the group was off. Back to Gronro, then Broken Tusk.

“I hope you don’t feel as though you’ve left empty-handed,” Theo said, offering a grimace to Twist.

“These things take time.”

“We’ll work on it, but… I don’t know, Theo. Dangerous working conditions and all,” Grot said.

“Hmmm. I have an idea, however stupid it might be.”

“I like stupid ideas.”

On the tram ride back to Broken Tusk, Theo deconstructed a few samples of the new flower to reveal all four properties, including the hidden one. He inspected one flower sample.

[Deathbloom]

[Alchemy Ingredient]

Rare

Bushes filled with this flower are known to grow on the graves of great people.

Properties:

[Poison] [Spiritsense] [Obstruct] [Soulcleave]

There were a few things to take in with this flower. It was born from necromantic energy, that much was clear. While the first property, Poison, fell in line with what Theo expected from a necromancy reagent, the others were strange. Spirit sensing, obstructing, and the cleaving of souls were only moderately in line with what he expected. Experiments were required, but he had a good feeling about this one.

The tram arrived back home in the early afternoon. Theo spotted the flags of trading ships in the port after disembarking. He apologized to Twist, who didn’t seem to care, and headed to the makeshift market in the harbor. Work had resumed on the true marketplace, but all construction efforts had been on Qavell. Ziz didn’t even have time to think about his bridge to the lizard islands, although that was still at the forefront of Theo’s thoughts. He wanted a bridge that spanned from Broken Tusk to the Khahari Desert, but understood the impossibility of it. He bought a few Monster Cores from the market, but nothing more.

Theo dropped into Tero’gal before working on his potions, chatting with the gods and having some lovely tea. There was a new face among the regulars, but Ulvuqor was mostly silent during the conversations. The alchemist accepted more souls into the realm, bringing the total to 680. It was enough to raise the realm to Level 38, but not enough to give him a new upgrade. Another day, perhaps. Khahar was sour, but at least Drogramath was in good spirits.

When Theo returned to the mortal realm, there was enough time to do a few runs for the new reagent. Since he didn’t need to test the Poison property, he could focus on Spiritsense and Obstruct. Both were properties he had never seen in a reagent. But he didn’t have a great feeling about them. Not a negative feeling, but also not good.

Salire wasn’t working the stills on the third floor. Theo found her on the second floor, messing with an artifice. She was hunched over, cursing as the machine made horrible sputtering noises.

“What’s going on?” Theo asked. “Is that the printing machine?”

Salire turned slowly, revealing the frown on her ink-covered face. “Yes. I can’t get it working.”

It looked as though the half-ogre woman had gotten into a fight with several angry squids. And lost. “I’ll call Throk,” Theo said, turning away and offering no aid. He was confident the Cleansing Scrub could clean it away, but he loved his coat too much to risk it.

Throk didn’t come to the lab himself, but sent an apprentice. Theo left them to it, heading upstairs to do two experimental runs. The tiny stills were perfect for the job, allowing him to do quick batches with very few reagents. He started the first mini-still for the Spiritsense property, and the second for the Obstruct property. While it wouldn’t take long, he had enough time to consult his administration interface.

If he moved projects around, he could have Ziz and his people working on the bridge issue tomorrow. Broken Tusk had seen no new migrants in a while, which hamstrung any efforts to increase the workforce. People working at the lumbermill and the mine wouldn’t be happy if they were reassigned to stonemason duty. The specialists with those cores had already migrated to Ziz’s ventures and numbered fifty-something workers.

Theo considered the idea he had on the way back, but didn’t know how to make it work. He sent a command to a nearby metal golem, ordering it to wait outside the lab while he worked with the first property. The alchemist prepared a vial for the Spiritsense Essence when it was done, intent on making a second-tier potion. No need to go crazy. The alcohol binding process would take too much time for a simple curiosity. The reaction in the vial was minimal, producing a small plume of smoke. He held the potion to the light, finding familiarity in the silver solution within.

“Feels like the Holy element,” Theo muttered to himself, swirling the contents. He inspected the resulting potion.

[Sense Spirits Potion]

[Potion]

Rare

Created by: Theo Spencer

Grade: Perfect Quality

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Grants the imbiber the ability to see lingering spirits.

Effect:

For an hour, the imbiber of this potion may view any nearby spirits.

Theo stood there for some time, his mouth hanging open as he considered the implications. Looking at the potion from afar, one might assume it was innocuous. It allowed the drinker to see spirits, so what? Death wasn’t the end in this world, so that wasn’t the weird part. But everything he understood about the way a soul worked centered around the void. It was the primordial soup that everyone returned to when they died. No matter how devout they were, there was no fast pass to a realm. The one thing that he had as an absolute rule in his mind was the void. Spirits simply didn’t linger.

“I’ve learned my lesson from quaffing random potions,” Theo said, holding his hand against his heart. “Nah.”

Theo drank the potion.

The edges of Theo’s vision went murky, his sight looking as though someone had smeared it with silvery grease. He took a steady breath as the grease overtook his vision. Things within the lab glowed a similar color, until a singular figure resolved itself. It was a malformed spirit, like the ones that arrived in his realm. And it was glaring at him. There were no eyes to see, or features to make out on the spirit’s face, but it was glaring.

“Sorry, who are you?” Theo asked.

The spirit didn’t react. Based on height, it was one of the many taller races in this world. Dronon, half-ogre, or ogre. But it wasn’t wide enough to be an ogre, and it made little sense that a dronon would be here. Theo decided it was a long-dead spirit of an angry half-ogre. Perhaps one of many proto half-ogres that called this place home hundred of years ago. One of the many that were trampled under the feet of Qavell’s progress.

But this was wrong. The spirit shouldn’t have been here. Its form shifted, as though a wisp blown by air, but maintained its general shape. Theo didn’t know why he felt some much hate coming from the thing. The potion only allowed him to see the spirit. If it had been there for a while, this was just what it did.

“You can move on, you know,” Theo said. He wanted to point in a direction, but that was meaningless. “You should have already moved on. Should I get a priest? An exorcist? I’ll need a young catholic priest and an old one.”

The spirit moved a bit at the joke, and Theo raised a brow. “So, you can hear me?”

“What’s going on?” Salire asked, climbing the stairs to the third floor. “You don’t normally talk to yourself while you work.”

She had cleared herself of the ink, looking as fresh as always. Theo brewed another Sense Spirit Potion from his stock of essence and handed it over. “Drink it.”

“Uh, no?”

“Come on.”

Salire hesitated a few more times, but downed the potion. A moment later, she fell back on her ass with a yelp. “Is this normal, Theo?”

“No. I don’t think so,” he said, leaning in to inspect the spirit’s features. “Come on, let’s see if there’s more outside.

Salire shot him a look as though he had offended her. “How about ‘no’?”

Theo shrugged, trudging outside. He paused at the entrance to the lab, swallowing hard. Broken Tusk was filled with angry spirits. They crowded the streets, standing outside of doorways or lurking between buildings. Salire screamed when she exited the building.

“I don’t like this potion, Theo. Why are they here? Why are they so mad?”

Sulvan or Zarali might now. Theo turned away and went back into the lab. He had enough essence to make another four potions, and brewed them as the angry spirit looked on. It took interest when he was brewing the potions, but nothing more than a sidelong glance.

“Hopefully the Obstruct property provides a less…” Theo paused, looking at the spirit and shivering. “Unnerving potion.”

Theo brewed the next potion, finding it to come out as a murky silver, rather than the brilliant color like the creepy spirit potion. The reaction was slightly more violent, spewing some black smoke into the air and rumbling on the table. The alchemist hoisted it for inspection. Salire leaned in to inspect it at the same time.

[Obstruct Potion]

[Potion]

Rare

Created by: Theo Spencer

Grade: Perfect Quality

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Reduces the effectiveness of all forms of restoration.

Effect:

For thirty minutes, the imbiber of this potion is unable to restore health, mana, stamina, etc.

“Hardly a useful potion, is it?” Salire asked. “Turning it into a bomb might help, but as is? I wouldn’t drink it.”

“Bomb makes the most sense. Or Aerosolize it and toss it into a crowd.”

Theo couldn’t keep his eyes off the spirit. As much as he had leaned on Zarali and Sulvan for help, he would need to do it again. If anyone knew about the way souls should work, it was those two.

Chapter 14

Soulcleave Potion

Salire, Zarali, Xol’sa, and Sulvan had joined the group for their nightly dinner in the manor. Everyone was busy during the day, forcing Theo to brew more of the Sense Spirit Potion and make it an event. He had enough for everyone gathered, including Sarisa and Rowan. Tonight’s dinner was a fluffy pastry-like dough filled with diced karatan meat and a thick brown gravy that was almost too rich for Theo. He cut it with the grits-like mashed zee, and enjoyed it greatly.

“When a person dies,” Sulvan started. Everyone wanted to get some food in them before they talked about spirits and the dead. “They aren’t given a choice. They are flung into the void for judgment.”

“They aren’t judged,” Zarali scoffed.

“It’s a part of the natural magical forces of the world,” Xol’sa said with a shrug. “Without a vessel to tether a soul to, it drifts into the void.”

Theo had already confirmed that the manor was chock-full of spirits. When he and Salire tested it earlier, they found a density of souls far higher than anywhere else in town. But this patch of ground was nothing before he built the manor on it.

“No one ever told me, but my observation has been that souls fall into the void. But that doesn’t matter,” Theo said. “When a person dies, their soul goes to the void. It doesn’t matter how. Now, I want everyone at this table to drink a potion.”

Sulvan gave Theo a flat look. “If this is an attempt to get rid of me, I’m going to be disappointed.”

“You can read the description on the potion, buddy. Don’t be grumpy,” Tresk said.

Theo gave everyone at the table a potion and waited for the screams. Rowan and Sarisa hesitated to drink theirs when the others yelled in surprise. The alchemist drank his own, finding that the souls had moved around. They now surrounded the table, peering down at the people and the food. If they had eyes, he was certain they would look hungry. Whether that was for mortal flesh or the food was beyond him.

“As you can see,” Theo said, gesturing around the table. “I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

Sulvan stood, approaching one spirit and holding out a hand. “This shouldn’t be possible.”

“Is this just an afterimage? An imprint of the spirits left before they departed?” Xol’sa asked, summoning a magical array. “An imprint left behind?”

“That’s what I brought everyone here to find out.”

Sulvan’s hand flared with golden light. The spirit he had approached recoiled as though the light stung. It was the most movement Theo had seen from a spirit since he started watching them. “That was a banishment spell,” Sulvan said, casting Theo a concerned glance. “It works on the undead, but the spirit was unaffected.”

“So, you’ve found your town infested with ghosts,” Tresk said, leaning over the table to grab another plate of food. “Who ya gonna call?”

Theo stifled a laugh.

“They’re not hurting anything, are they?” Zarali asked.

“No. We’ve observed them for an hour earlier in the day,” Theo said. “I’m not concerned that they’re hostile, but this throws into question the nature of souls.”

“Theo brought us here for a scholarly debate?” Xol’sa asked. His expression brightened in an instant. “Perhaps we should check to see if he’s been replaced by a double.”

“Agreed!” Tresk shouted. “Pin him down, I’ll get tickling.”

Theo was glad that no one pinned him down or tickled him. But Sulvan had some observations.

“I don’t know why they’re reacting to holy magic,” he said, demonstrating another spell. This time he cast a healing spell near the spirits. They recoiled all the same.

“Yet I cannot get a sense of what they’re made of,” Xol’sa said. “My magical senses are powerful. And I cannot feel them.”

“What about this?” Theo asked, spreading his aura over the spirits. His eyes went wide and he withdrew it into his chest. Each spirit the aura touched moved toward him, like a moth to flame. They drifted above the ground, hovering toward him only to stop when he retracted his aura.

“Uh… that was weird,” Tresk said.

“Ah, shit,” Theo said, his mind racing. “Oopsie.”

“This goes further than ‘oopsie,’ I’m afraid,” Sulvan said, shaking his head at Theo. He stood, gesturing to the door. “Come. I have a theory.”

The group followed the Priest of Glantheir out of the building, tracing a path along the road. It almost looked as though the spirits were following the road. Until they got out of the western gate, looking up the northern road, no one knew exactly what he was talking about. When they spotted the procession of souls trickling in over that road, the answer was obvious.

“Theo trapped the souls of the undead on the mortal plane,” Sulvan said plainly.

“How devious,” Zarali said. “I didn’t know you were evil, Theo.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Theo said, gritting his teeth. “My potions and wards have an amount of my willpower in them. You said something about a vessel binding the souls to the mortal plane. Did they latch onto my willpower?”

“Your willpower is an extension of a realm, so… Yes,” Xol’sa said. “This is the only thing that makes sense to me.”

“I’m not going to sleep again,” Theo said, folding his arms.

“We don’t sleep as it is,” Tresk said.

“Yeah, but… you know.’

Those inclined to magical things had opinions on what was happening. The figures they saw weren’t ghosts, since Sulvan’s banishment spell worked on ghosts. The two classes of beings were different. Each plate on the table was cleared by the time a solid theory was accepted, and it was the first observation based on Theo’s aura. Something about an aura infused with the power of a realm made them stay, and they couldn’t leave. But they weren’t degrading like the spirits in foreign realms of the void.

But it couldn’t have been good. The debates rolled on, but it was time for bed. Tresk was annoyed that they hadn’t gone down yet, so Theo gave in. They fell into the Dreamwalk shortly after. The alchemist steered them to the scene north of Gronro, eager to show his companions the damage Fenian had done.

“I already watched your memories. I don’t need to see this.”

“Yeah, but maybe you could fight a dragon here. Imagine some fire. Maybe an army.”

“Oh, dang. Yeah, good idea,” Tresk said, dashing off with Alex.

Theo smiled after them as they went, considering the span his people needed to cross shortly after. The problem with the chasm was not only the distance across, but the depth below. Creating a support in the center would be tricky. A suspension bridge concept might work, if Ziz could get the magical physics of it working. The alchemist imagined a few scenarios, finding that the first few ideas collapsed and fell into the canyon. A concept with massive metal metal posts on both side of the span worked, although it required adjustments. Braided wire held the platform stable. A few more tests for weight capacity later, and he was done. The alchemist had enough information to give to his people back in the real world.

The Deathbloom flower had one more property to reveal. Theo walked to the other side of the span on his bridge, listening as it creaked under his weight. Ziz could work out the details of that. Maybe. He set up his alchemy equipment and got to work on the new property. Soulcleave didn’t sound like a pleasant property, but he never knew until he brewed the potion. When his Drogramath Alchemy Core leveled to 32, he decided to experiment with another plan while his essence distilled.

Theo didn’t feel as though he was leveraging one of his biggest advantages as much as he could have. The more his willpower expanded, the more golems he could summon. Labor was an issue in Broken Tusk, so why not try specializing golems to do things like creating crude structures from stone. There were several ways to customize a golem. The first way was the materials a golem was constructed out of. Plant-based golems were better at caring for plants, while metal ones served better in combat. Aside from changing the base material, the only thing that changed them was the monster core used to breathe life into the creation.

With some quick experimentation, Theo figured out that golems made of stone would be the best for the job. They had an affinity for the Earth element, and had less trouble hoisting heavy rocks. The alchemist couldn’t generate a Monster Core within the dream that was better at moving stuff than the others. There might have been a solution by messing with the ‘Additional Modification’ section of the golems, but he couldn’t figure it out. He had only placed a Fire Construct in that slot, which helped the metal golems keep their form.

These discoveries weren’t enough to push his herbalist core over the edge, so he worked with some plants to squeeze out that level. But his failure to change the golems didn’t negate his advantage. He could have a lot of golems. Hundreds at this point, and more if he continued his exploit for his willpower. What he lacked in skilled laborers, he would make up for in an endless crowd of brutish golems who never got tired. The alchemist already had experience with this with the Qavell problem, and could expand it.

How long would it take an army of golems to make a bridge over the sea? They didn’t need to breathe, so perhaps that would be an easy task for them. Theo shook the thought away as he saw his level-up notification flash in his vision. He dumped his free point into Wisdom, which was his only plan for the near future. With his level secured, he brewed a potion with the Soulcleave property. The resulting potion had a mild reaction, although the Dreamwalk buckled as though it didn’t want to give up the potion’s secrets. The resulting liquid was a pale purple color. He inspected it.

[Soulcleave Potion]

[Potion]

Rare

Created by: Theo Spencer

Grade: Perfect Quality

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Imbues your attacks with the Soulcleave effect.

Effect:

For fifteen minutes, your attacks gain the Soulcleave effect.

Attacks made against enemies with a soul will shear off a small part of that soul.

“Why would I ever use that?” Theo asked. When he took a moment to think, he realized a niche chance to use the potion would arise in the future, and filed it away.

Theo spent the rest of his time in the dreamwalk using his willpower exploit to ensnare more and more undead. He tried not to think about the random souls in his town, but there might be a solution for that. The gods would be tight-lipped about it. There was no reason asking them. Not with the way Khahar hovered.

Although he knew he was the future holder of the Throne of the Dreamwalker, Theo also knew it wouldn’t help with these small problems. When Fenian had used the power of that core, it only activated when someone was breaking the rules. So the core would only be useful if something went against the Dreamwalker’s design, which was more of a bug tester than a fixer. That responsibility fell on Khahar himself, the Arbiter.

Tresk flew down on Alex, cutting a path through the endless undead. “Think you have enough undead to work on?”

Theo looked over the tide, shrugging. “Just pushing beyond a thousand. No big deal.”

“As long as no one has stopped you, I don’t see a problem. Dawn approaches, brave demon! Are you prepared to face the day! I think it’s a Monday!”

“We don’t have structured weeks. But, yeah. I’m ready.”

The Dreamwalk faded around them as Tresk pulled them out. Theo woke in his bed, looking at the ceiling of his manor room and gazing at the rafters. The marshling had already jumped from her bed, dashing down the stairs to attack whatever food Rowan and Sarisa had put out. Theo ate his breakfast, reviewing his administration screen as the other discussed whatever. He inserted his plans for the bridge in text form, but knew not to overstep his bounds with Ziz. The half-ogre would figure it out with the right amount of nudging.

Theo made his way to the Newt and Demon after breakfast. Salire wasn’t covered in ink this time, but her print wasn’t working. A human man was working on it with her. He headed to the top floor, brewing the Soulcleave Potion and setting it aside. Having at least five to ten of everything was a good idea, even if it cluttered the lab. With the potion out of the way, he pilfered his mushroom cave’s supplies. As he kicked the stills to life, intending to make Mana Essence to fuel his golem army, he considered his two approaches to alchemy.

This was why it was important for him to have an industrial capacity to produce potions. Large projects like his stone golem army required absurd amounts of essence. Throk couldn’t produce the mana collectors fast enough to supply him, so this batch would be oldschool. The first run would be a test. It would take Ziz and his boys long enough to get working on the bridge, so why not start the causeway to the lizard islands?

While Theo worked on the constructs for the golems, he put in a work order at the blacksmith. Rush orders were expensive, but he didn’t have 100 containment cores on hand. By mid-afternoon, all the parts were assembled aside from the raw stone. The alchemist made his way to the beach area south of Qavell, trailed by his two guards, and pulled stone from the rocky hills. With the help of Mana Potions, he made 100 distinct piles. At least Sarisa and Rowan could help him jam Monster Cores into the metal cages, making the work lighter than he expected.

“I’m gonna get drunk off mana potions,” Theo said, breathing life into swathes of golems.

“Can that happen?”

“Maybe.”

With every golem Theo brought to life, he expected it to tug on his willpower. As the 100th golem rose, awaiting orders, he felt nothing. He spread his senses over the crowd, finding that each was ready to receive orders. The other golems were doing as they were instructed. The network of golems was now over two-hundred, and it was far from the upper-limit. But the issue was one of supplies. Without the power generator, the golems would need to refuel themselves as they worked.

Theo designated a group of ten golems as Mana Construct carriers. They would go back-and-forth between the work site, and Broken Tusk. The other ninety golems would walk the ocean floor, dragging stones from the mountains south of Broken Tusk to build a causeway. The alchemist sent his standing orders to each golem, watching as they turned and marched directly into the sea. The outlet into the ocean was southeast, so they would need to hook around to reach their first waypoint. After that, time would tell if this was an effective strategy.

This was a lot of effort for a test. But the side-effect was that every golem that operated under his command gave the smallest amount of experience for both his alchemy and herbalist core.

“Are you planning to take over the world?” Sarisa asked. “I’m getting kinda worried that you’re planning to take over the world with a golem army.”

Theo waved the thought away. “I’d need far more golems for that.”

“Yeah, but… like… how many more?” Rowan asked.

Chapter 15

Unpossible

Theo trudged back to the Newt and Demon. While the golems didn’t drain his willpower, his stamina had been reduced to a sliver after the long day. Of course, there was always a wrinkle to help set the day right. Twist waited for him by the gate, joining with the procession as he entered the town once again.

“Do you have a moment?” Twist asked.

“What’s up?” Theo asked, not breaking his stride. “I thought we settled the thing about Qavell. The place where Qavell used to be, anyway.”

“I told you I have news about the underground,” Twist said.

Theo stopped, letting his ever-increasing Wisdom shoot him some thoughts. Bug army, deep elf army, bug-elf hybrid army… Something was coming from the underground, and the alchemist certainly wasn’t happy to hear about it. “How big is the army, and are they immune to fire?”

“Big, but—How did you know?”

“It’s always an army or some evil someone.”

Twist cleared his throat. He put his hand to where his mouth should be, but the mask covered his face. “I’m not the most studied elf on rock-people politics, but there has been a development. They said something about a planned migration and then they were gone. When I wanted to tell you the first time, there were only rumblings about leaving. Now, they’re gone.”

Theo’s brows knit. His Wisdom of the Soul spat out reasons, but it was floundering. “Let’s go.”

The alchemist flicked through his administration interface. An ability of the Governance Core allowed him to access the military side of things. Aarok had organized the screen to be easy to use, assigning buttons and shortcuts for rally points. It was a neat feature that would be even neater if Theo’s heart wasn’t trying to jump out of his chest. A heartbeat after he signaled the call to arms, a clatter of bells rang through the town. Sarisa and Rowan didn’t need instruction. They had already taken the lead on the approach to the mines.

“Everything okay, Theo?” Gridgen asked.

“Clear the mine,” Theo said, already prepared to forestall problems related to workers being paid. “Broken Tusk will pay wages to anyone who needs it. Just clear the mine.”

Gridgen was a guy who had survived a lot. He didn’t need to be told twice to do something in such a serious tone twice. He dashed into the mine, ringing a bell, which caused someone deeper to ring a bell. A minute later, miners were fleeing from the mine.

“When did you discover the rock people were gone?” Theo asked, turning to Twist.

“Moments before I found you,” the pale elf said. “But I’m afraid it will get worse for you.”

“Of course it will. It always does,” Theo said, redirecting as many golems as he could spare for the effort. But the adventuring army in Broken Tusk would arrive first. Aarok and Luras were the first to show up. A horse sized-goose alighted the ground, and Tresk dove into the cave. She needed less instructions than the others, and Alex couldn’t fit. “Clear it level-by-level.”

Aarok looked confused at first, but saw the serious look on the alchemist’s face. He barked orders at the adventurers, and they went in. Theo downed a Potion of Limited Foresight and spread his aura wide. Twist joined him as each level was cleared. By the time they reached the bottom floor, where the entrance to the underground was, twenty metal golems had shown up. He ordered them down first, which they did without question.

“So, how does it get worse?” Theo asked.

“The dragon is gone.”

Theo closed his eyes. His tactical screen was still in the top-left of his vision. He watched troops disembarking from the tram, arriving from Rivers and Daub. When had Aarok created such a well-oiled machine, and when had the local system interfaced with the national one? With Pogo gone, the underground was undefended. Broken Tuskers didn’t go down there. There was almost no point, since the Russian rock-folk didn’t care for them. But the dragon claimed it had an oath to protect the cavern.

“How does an entire dragon disappear?” Theo asked, making his way down into the underground.

“I can’t say. But without the dragon, you’re open to the elves in the deep.”

Which was Theo’s fear from the start. The troops fanned out, searching the immediate area before moving into the abandoned town. Sure enough, the dragon was gone. Aarok was cursing as loud as he could, sending his voice echoing through the area. The alchemist’s mind was desperate to find a silver lining to this problem.

“Where the hell does a giant dragon go?” he asked. “Seriously, I’m not even mad about being abandoned.”

Aarok stomped over to Theo, glaring at anything that moved. “This place isn’t defensible, Theo. Maybe if there was a giant gods damned dragon in the middle, but look. Tunnels shooting off in every direction. A man almost fell down through a hole he didn’t see a second ago. This place is screwed.”

Theo sighed before shrugging. “Give me five minutes.”

“Got it,” Aarok nodded. “We’ll do a count of the tunnels and come up with something. Maybe.”

“Tresk,” Theo said, nodding to a particularly menacing bit of gloom behind a rock. “Wanna come?”

“Sure thing,” Tresk said, breaking out of the shadows and jumping on his back. “Let’s go!”

Theo and Tresk fell through reality. He covered them in Zaul’s shadows as they fell, passing over the bridge and approaching the ribbon of realms. He isolated the one belonging to Glantheir and approached the Realm of Healing. They landed in an expansive elven estate, where the stately lord of the realm waited.

“Where did my dragon go?” Theo asked.

“Nice to see you, Theo,” Glantheir said. He tried to sound annoyed, but it didn’t work for him. “Oh, I’d love a cup of tea. Thanks for asking.”

Theo signed. “Come on. It was either you or Ulvuqor. And I like you more.”

“Ah, that’s better,” Glantheir chuckled. “Come. Have a seat.”

Theo shook Tresk from his back. She hissed, but scampered over to find an uncomfortable wooden chair. The alchemist found his own seat, looking out over Glantheir’s world. It was a world almost like the one he had created. Of all the gods, Glantheir had created a world that was almost Earth-like. He added nothing weird to it, but it still felt constructed. It was almost the real thing, but not quite.

“My dragon?” Theo asked.

“That’s your first mistake. Perhaps that was Khahar’s mistake,” Glantheir laughed. “The first rule of dragons is to never trust a dragon.”

“This is information I could have used before my dragon ran away.”

“Second rule. No one owns them. They’ll enter pacts and break them, like you just saw.”

Theo pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a sigh as he thought. Broken Tusk wouldn’t be right without a crisis, though. It had been a week and a bit since a city came crashing down, so an army of pissed off elves approaching through the underground section of the town only made sense.

“How many bad guys are we talking about, Glanthy?” Tresk asked.

“Thousands. Oh, Theo… they have magic that can drill through rock. Just so you know,” Glantheir said with a wink. “Ah, look! Khahar can’t see through Zaul’s magic, can he?”

“No one can.”

“You’ll need to find the shards soon,” Glantheir said. “But I’m afraid you won’t enjoy the Deep Void.”

“Why not?” Theo asked. “I’ve lingered in the void for a while. Doesn’t seem that bad.”

“If you thought time was weird in the heavens, the Deep Void is far worse. The Bara’thier have been isolated for untold time. Their worlds are strange, and you’ll need to seize every advantage you have if you want to get the shards back. We never figured out why, but there are five primal aspects of this world.”

“I thought there were four,” Theo said.

“Oh, had you figured that out? Khahar and I discovered it before the First Ascension War. The fifth aspect is the void aspect, which was the hardest to understand.”

Theo had linked primal aspects of the world to the four thrones a while ago. He segmented them in his mind. The Arbiter was the aspect of law, or justice. The Herald represented the aspect of continuity. As the Dreamer, Tresk was a bridge for the Herald, and the Dreamwalker was the bridge for the Arbiter. He hadn’t decided what those two thrones represented.

Glantheir cleared his throat, summoning a magical array. It was the most simple one Theo had ever seen. Four circles on the edge with symbols and one in the middle. “The center is Void. Notice the lines between the aspects. At their core, they are Heaven, Earth, Mortality, and Dimensionality. Arbiter, Herald, Dreamer, Dreamwalker.”

Theo felt himself drawn in by the diagram. While it was simple, it made sense. Like a fundamental law of the world.

“Yet they represent something else. The system is Heaven while the Shards are Earth. Mortality and Dimensionality, though? I couldn’t figure that out before I ascended. But I think Khahar has.”

“Why is this so important?” Theo asked. “What does it have to do with Pogo?”

“If it is connected to Khahar, I would guess it is connected with this concept. I also suspected that Emperor Kuzan knows more than he’s letting on. He was there during the First Ascension war.”

“What?!” Tresk blurted out. “That’s unpossible!”

So, Kuzan had been around since the start. Theo knew he was old, but never assumed that the Emperor of Tarantham would have been an original from Earth. That meant he found a way to stop himself from going nuts. The only reason Khahar needed to ascend was so he could keep his sanity.

“You’re wrong,” Glantheir said, smiling at Theo. “He wasn’t from Earth. And he wasn’t born here.”

“Again. Unpossible,” Tresk said, inclining her head to the god.

“Back in the early days, we tried to get back to Earth,” Glantheir said. “Earth is gone, by the way. Forever. But we figured out how the system puts outworlder souls on the planet. That’s how Khahar figured out you were coming.”

“Stalker behavior,” Tresk said.

“When Kuzan came, he didn’t have the same signature as an Earthling. It was similar, but we never figured it out. He showed up with a realm and knew how to use it. Back then, I was the Emperor of Tarantham, and I didn’t trust him. But the years went on, and he proved capable. We didn’t care about his origins and he had some good ideas. Too brutal for my taste, but it worked.”

“He had a realm?” Theo asked, pinching his eyes closed. He had rewritten what he thought was possible a few times today. What was a few more times?

“Droth Ker Teral Set,” Glantheir said. “Aligned with aspects of Death and Eternity. He was ready-made to live forever on the mortal plane.”

Everything linked back to the decisions these people made sixty-thousand-years ago. “But Khahar only held a proto-realm, right?”

“Yet Kuzan holds a realized one. Not unlike your own.” Glantheir took a moment to smile to himself. “The fates say you’re going to fight with Khahar one day. But that fate has been twisted so much already. The Burning Eye was meant to have you first before Khahar rescued you. I didn’t know about the Tara’hek plan.”

“I’m not thinking about that right now,” Theo said. “Any advice for handling the underground elves.”

“Kill them all,” Glantheir said.

Theo’s mouth fell open. “What? God of peace and love? Did you just say that?”

“They won’t stop,” Glantheir said with a shrug. “They’ll attack Broken Tusk, if only to loot it. Try to reason with them if you want this experiment to end.”

Visits to the heavens that ended in this many questions were always annoying. Since Theo could shield himself from the Arbiter’s gaze, he could get more information out of the gods who would share stuff. But if there wasn’t a solution to the underground elf problem, and war was the only option, then war it would be.

“You’ve given me a lot to think about,” Theo said.

“I bet I have,” Glantheir said, smiling that gentle smile. “Are you headed to your realm for tea?”

“We’re heading back to the mortal realm,” Theo said. “Preparing our defenses.”

“Good idea. Every minute counts when they’re coming down on you!” Glantheir said, winking. “Good luck.”

Theo and Tresk fell back through the void. Some tea would be nice right about now, but he couldn’t get his mind off the problem waiting for him in Broken Tusk. Aarok was still moving off when they arrived, going to issue the first commands to his people. The alchemist equipped his Earth Sorcerer’s Core and got to work. Glantheir said the elves could drill through rock, but causing a few strategic cave-ins would give them time. He worked with the adventurers to collapse caverns while the others established battlements in the most logical location.

Since the rock people rudely departed, taking their dragon with them, the town was demolished. Theo ordered his golems to destroy it, even recalling half his new work force to defend the area. Night fell outside and a camp kitchen was established, feeding all those workers and adventurers that were stuck down below. During a meal break, the alchemist assembled enough components to bolster his little golem army. Fifty more metal golems joined their ranks.

Midnight was fast approaching before they heard the first sound of raiding parties on the other side of the collapsed tunnels. The metal golems formed the first line of defense with the stone golems behind. Any underground elf that wanted to assault the defenders would need to go through a wall of angry metal and stone before touching mortal flesh. The alchemist would have a chance to test his theory about trapping souls on the mortal plane. Perhaps he could enact his plan to add more spirits to his realm. No matter how angry they were about being removed from their vessels.