Author note: Long chapter
Also, I've read the comments on the previous chapter and I'll try and make it more clear what is going on with the Shadow Oculithar when I rewrite it. One thing though, for the people that believe all creatures should make sense have a look at the platypus ;)
Greldo moved through the shadows with an ease that still surprised him, even two weeks after the change. A change that had come while dragging the tail along for over a month, as his shadowpocket continued to slowly expand.
There’s another one, he thought, as he saw a smaller Shadow Oculithar latch on to a part of the tentacle.
It was an odd sight. The tentacle was dragging through the depths of the shadowrealm, and as he moved, it didn’t actually change its angle. Instead, it just moved, in a way he could best describe as horizontally, though that wasn’t exactly right either. What it did mean was that the smaller Oculithar that had managed to latch on had been lucky because of the depth it had been at, combined with its position as Greldo passed. If either had been off, it would have had to join the mass of tentacles that were trying to catch up.
Instead, it now joined the other lucky ones in constantly chewing away on the flesh of their giant sibling, while those chasing sometimes screamed in what Greldo thought was impotent rage as they tried to catch up to him.
Yeah, not happening, he thought, keeping his speed exactly right. Not too fast to break away, and not too slow for them to catch up. It was another strange thing he’d found. Although the Shadow Oculithar had different speeds at which they could move deeper into the shadowrealm, they all moved at roughly the same speed when it came to moving sideways.
Lateral? Bah. I’m going to have to see if Gloom knows what these movements are actually supposed to be called.
An hour later, he shot out of the small branch and back into the corridor network. If he’d been flying through it normally, the tentacle wouldn’t have fit, nor the host of monsters. Instead, they just flowed through the depths of the shadows, barely caring about the barriers that stopped regular beings.
Hmm? Yeah, I see it. The big serpent, Greldo said, answering Coal, who, together with Gloom, had taken up patrolling his shadow pocket. Every time a new type of shadow creature moved into his shadowpocket, the hound would warn him, just as he did when the shadow pocket grew. And grow it did.
If this continues, I’m going to need to find more land, Greldo thought as he sensed the edges of his shadow pocket expand further into the unbounded realm, another sliver of it connecting to him in a way that he found hard to explain.
It had actually taken a few days for him to realize that taking in the extra landmass, and perhaps the giant crab, hadn’t been a one-moment thing. Instead, as he passed through corridor after corridor, the edges of his shadow pocket had continued to grow at irregular bursts, while shadow creatures seemed to find him wherever he went. By now, his two connected landmasses looked like overgrown rocks that had dropped into a swamp filled with life. Well, if the two stones were the size of small islands.
With the branch behind him, and another still a day or so away, Greldo felt his mind wander to Dahlia. It had been months since she’d left, and her otherself had been mostly smithing. They hadn’t been able to talk much, as he’d been constantly moving, but the few times they had, he’d sensed her growing worry about the other part of her. Unlike Irwin and Daubutim, she couldn’t share her thoughts and memories as easily, so she had no idea what was happening.
Either the time dilation has slowed so far that a few years is a few weeks now, Greldo thought. Or something happened.
A few days later, he rushed into another branch, a small one even by Langost standards, with only the ruins of a harbor left. Hovering to the side was a small fleet of seven Chained ships, the first he’d encountered.
Well, let’s see what these things will do, he thought as he moved in a straight line towards the ships.
Barriers flared up before he was halfway there, and he could see Chained running around in a panic, showing they had at least some competent shadewalkers. Well, it wasn’t like he was making it hard for them. He’d found that most of the Shadow Oculithar were traveling around the shadowrealm near the surface, so he’d been traveling in the same shallow area, making it easy for even the weaker shadewalkers to sense them coming.
Almost at the ships, he sighed when he saw that they weren’t Accenti. Although he knew they didn’t have much of a choice, potentially slaughtering a host of a species that he knew were being held against their will didn’t sit well with him.
Not that we know if these are here because they want to be, he thought, looking at a dark, leathery-skinned humanoid with snake eyes that looked at him as he flashed by the ship. The fear was easy to recognize, even on a face with a nose that seemed more like two slits, and a jaw that was the only angular part of the otherwise round head.
Greldo didn’t need more than a second to recognize the species from the list Daubutim had made him and Irwin read. Slughir, a snake-like species that preferred swamps and bogs, was mainly used as scouts because they worked badly with other species. They were, however, not inherently bad, something Greldo had been noticing as a pattern. Very few of the species the Guidar had bound were actually bad, though some were inherently dangerous or repulsive. The Slughir were both, though he knew Gloom had been very interested in them as they were one of the few species they had been told about that were native shadewalkers, with nearly every one of them gaining a skill that allowed them either entrance into the shadowrealm or control over shadows.
Gloom must have realized the same, as Greldo saw him shoot away from him, towards one of the ships.
What are you up to now? he thought, only to see the Nyzir appear beside two of the Slughir, grab them, and drag their struggling forms with him back towards Greldo’s shadowpocket.
Does this count as saving or abducting? Greldo wondered as he passed the last of the ships.
Looking back, he grimaced as he saw the larger of the Shadow Oculithar already break off from chasing him and rise from the depths. They burst out into the small branch, way too large and almost filling it up, their bodies suddenly pressing against the shields of the ships.
Yeah… still not sure how I feel about this, Greldo thought as one of the Oculithar wrapped around a ship and crushed the barrier with ease.
A minute, that was all it took for the Oculithar to wipe out the small fleet. Greldo had slowed slightly to make sure they would return to chasing him, but he’d barely have bothered. The long tentacle hadn’t even fully passed that place yet when the Oculithar returned to chasing it.
They weren’t the only ones to struggle, however, as Greldo saw that Gloom was still trying hard to catch up as he dragged his no longer struggling prisoners with him.
Help him with one so they don’t file behind, Greldo said, getting an annoyed grunt from Coal.
The hound rushed back to Gloom, seemed to snatch one of the captives, before changing direction and heading back. With only one, Gloom easily kept up, and Greldo sensed both arrive in his shadowpocket, with the two captive Slughir being dropped on the ground.
Keep them from doing anything stupid, Greldo said, wishing he could do more than just listen in.
--
Gloom dropped the sleek being on the ground and stepped back, watching her get up in a single motion.
Too bad they are so ugly, he thought as two pale, almost translucent amber eyes locked onto his.
A hissing came from the thin-lipped mouth that sounded like a question. Gloom didn’t bother responding as he sensed the lord’s shadow summon move beside him. The second female was dropped beside the first, and three of the giant shadow clones appeared behind and to the side of them.
Is Lord Greldo afraid I can’t contain these weaklings? Gloom thought, glancing at the hounds before focusing on the two Slughir.
He wished they had come across Touhiri, another of the two species the Guidar had chained, that he was told were nearly all shadewalkers. Those had been described by the Accenti merchants as beautiful, with actual hair.
“Do you two speak Merchant Common?” he asked, using the name the Chained called the language that had somehow spread across most of the known Portal Gallery.
“Yesss,” one of the two hissed, causing Gloom to frown.
She had the same issue with the language as he had long ago, unable to keep the syllable from causing his tongue to continue against his will. He stared at the two beings, feeling a weary resolve settle in. If he wanted to have a chance to have at least part of his people return, he would need to procreate, even if it had to be with these hairless, boneless ones. At least they were egg-laying.
“What are you?” the Slughir asked. “Why did you save us?”
“He wants something,” the other, who had darker green eyes, hissed. “Look at him. He looks like a predator! Sister, we should fight even if we can’t win.”
Gloom shuddered and instantly changed his decision. There was no way he would try to revive his species by mixing himself with these horrible things. He had been barely able to distinguish the males and females, and just listening to them made him disgusted.
“You are right,” he said, causing the two to lower themselves in a combat stance. “Do you know if the Guidar sent any Touhiri here?”
“Touhiri? Ah, you are one of those,” the amber-eyed Slughir hissed, her eyes narrowing. Her gaze flitted across him in a way that made Gloom disgusted, but he ignored it. “I guess they might find you agreeable.”
That is good to know, Gloom thought, as he kept her gaze.
“I don’t know,” the Slughir said, shaking her head. “Did you seriously save the two of us just to ask this? Where are we anyway? I have seen small chunks of land, but this much… is it yours?”
“No. It is Lord Greldo’s,” Gloom said before he could stop himself.
“Then where is this lord of yours?” the green-eyed woman asked him, before taking a step back as she looked around. “Wait… does he control those monsters? Why did he destroy our fleet?”
“I am the one asking the questions,” Gloom said, feeling some of the cold disgust he felt slipping into his voice. “I saved you because I have questions. If you answer them, I will bring you to someone who can unchain you.”
The two Slughir stared at him without blinking, and for a moment, Gloom thought about a small snake-like creature that had lived long ago, before the shadowrealm had shattered. He had yet to see them within Greldo’s sliver, but these two definitely reminded him of them.
“There are rumors…” the amber-eyed one hissed.
“About a cardssssmith who can unchain,” the other one said, eyes widening even more. “Why kill so many of us if you can unchain us?”
“Because there are too many of you and you are too spread out,” Gloom said, crossing his arms. “Now, enough questions. Where are the Touhiri?”
“None of their fleet was sent here,” the amber-eyed one said. “They only send those foolish Accenti and those disgusting Deargan. This Main Branch is barely worth the title. From what we heard, there are barely a few thousand worlds, and none above rank four. The only reason my people went here is that there is supposedly only a single Guidar here. That means the chains are looser and we can try to find a distant world to hide some eggs on.”
“Sister….?” the green-eyed hissed in alarm. “What-”
“I don’t know?! I feel… what are you doing to me? Why do I speak of things I would never?” the amber-eyed one snapped, glaring at Gloom.
Gloom frowned as he examined the two who had backed up a bit.
Could it be that they are being influenced by Greldo?
If that was true, it meant they were somehow influenced by the true shadowrealm…
“L- Greldo, can you appear for a moment so I can test something?” he asked.
There was no response, but an overbearing presence appeared beside them instantly. Gloom had to do his utmost best not to bow or kneel, feeling the increased pressure from Greldo’s soulforce press down on him.
A strangled gasp came from the two women, who both thudded onto their knees, eyes wide and panicky.
“Dammit, like one isn’t enough,” Greldo grunted before he vanished, taking the immense pressure with him.
Gloom straightened his back, trying to look like he had not almost knelt as the two Slughir had. Not that it mattered. Both women were still on their knees, their slitted pupils dilated wide enough to fill half their eyes.
“That was Greldo, and this is why you don’t speak with him,” Gloom said. “Now, I want you to tell me more about your people, and how you learn to move through the shadowrealm.”
The two women didn’t react, and Gloom sighed as he took a step back, knowing he would likely have to wait for a long time.
Still, if these react like this, this means Lord Greldo could potentially deal with far more of them… perhaps he can subjugate them?
--
Irwin clicked his tongue, shooting back up through the murky water, three growth cards, thousands of others, and some bad memories richer.
So many bones, he thought as he reappeared above the water of the Dismarintsia River a few hundred feet away from the Caldera, which was flying further towards the middle of the river.
He clicked his tongue, shooting forward before dropping back on the deck, dripping water on it.
“So, any luck?” Brecka asked, grinning at him. “Don’t tell me that glutton was right.”
“He was,” Irwin said as he sensed Ambraz examining the cards that he’d moved into his soulscape’s smithy. “It was a large merchant fleet, loaded with cards and food. Not that the latter was of any use anymore.”
“Any sails?” Blade asked as he came walking over, barefoot.
“Yes, though I’m not sure how useful they will be,” Irwin said. “I moved them into your warehouse. Do you want to-”
“No! I’ll look at them when we have to,” Blade said, raising his hands. “I really don’t want to sound ungrateful, but as big as your soulscape is, it feels a bit cramped compared to the Portal Gallery.”
Irwin grinned as he saw Rindiri walk forward, eyes narrow.
“It’s fine,” he said, noticing Scintilla, Tiscian, and Flagrian walking towards him. Scintilla looked at him and shrugged helplessly while Flagrian’s eyes were stormy.
Right, Irwin thought, having a good idea why she was here.
“So, now that you aren’t moving us around for months, does this mean I can finally see the embers?!” she exclaimed as she stopped before him, hands on her hips. “I’ve been really patient, and-”
“Sure,” Irwin said, deciding it didn’t matter that much, and she was right. Besides, as he looked around the enormous sea, he guessed his children would love to see this area, while he would be able to spot anything dangerous from miles away.
As Flagrian stared at him, blinking stupidly, his otherself was already walking around his house on Eluathar.
“Just like that?” Flagrian asked, staring at him. “I have been asking for months, and now…”
Scintilla moved beside Irwin and snorted.
“We told you, after we had to leave Igniz-”
In a rush again, Irwin thought, wondering if that was going to be a thing from now on.
“-it wasn’t safe to bring them out. Those narrow corridors and the smaller branches have way too many fleets.”
“So?! We were in his soulscape!” Flagrian asked. “If I didn’t have so many interesting people to train, including you, I’d have-”
Irwin sensed the distant resonance like a soft hum, and he was moving before he realized, sprinting to the railing and ignoring the startled shout from Flagrian. Rindiri appeared beside him, eyes narrow.
“What is wrong?”
Irwin didn’t respond, trying to spread his soulforce senses further.
A fleet?
He wasn’t sure, as the resonance was at the absolute edge of what he could sense, meaning it was hours, perhaps even a day away from them.
“There’s something over there,” he said, pointing in the direction of Dismarintisa.
“A fleet or Oculithar?” Scintilla asked, moving beside him.
“I think a fleet,” Irwin said, as he pulled his soulforce senses back a bit. “From what I can sense, they are heading away from us.”
“Are you going to chase after them?” Scintilla asked.
Irwin hesitated as he stared at the distant, never-ending water, then at the ship he was on. If he went after them, it meant moving them back into his soulscape and a detour of a few hours. If he didn’t, he would let a fleet roam further.
“Yes,” he said, hearing a groan from Blade. “Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be more than a day.”
“A day he says,” Flagrian muttered from the side, only for Tiscian to turn to Irwin, ignoring her ancestry. “Just move us back in. We will be fine.”
Irwin nodded, hugged Scintilla, and pulled the Caldera back into his soulscape. A moment later, he was shooting into the distance across the soundwaves.
What he’d sensed proved further away than he initially thought, and it took over an hour to reach the massive fleet of sixty-plus ships sailing across the river. Irwin instantly recognized the familiar sight of the purple-haired Accenti, and he ignored the suddenly bright shields that appeared as he did. Swapping his body with his giant one, he grew to his maximum size just as he passed over the shields. His fists cracked apart a moment before their soulforce resonances could overlap. His aura swirled across it, and he pulled two ships in before landing on the barriers and staring down.
“Drop the barriers and your ships will be left in one piece,” he shouted, his voice causing ripples in the barriers. “I’m just here to unchain you.”
He didn’t expect a positive reaction because the chains would prevent the Accenti from going against the will of the Guidar, but he’d started doing the same thing every time he found a fleet. It caused a lot less panic and stress after he’d unchained them, he had found.
Like with the smaller fleet, there was no response except from the shields flaring up as more soulforce was put into them.
Right, and the hard way it is, Irwin thought, sensing the power behind the overlapping shields and knowing it would take hours to break through.
Halfway through, as the shields had weakened and the overlap worsened, a chain reaction set off, and the remaining shields all popped like bubbles. Irwin let out a sigh of relief, shrugging off the few halfhearted attacks flung his way, and began pulling them into his soulscape en masse. Daubutim was already busy talking with a group of captains, more joining every few minutes.
When the last one finally vanished, Irwin stared at the river and hesitated. He could bring the Caldera out now and then sail back, but that would likely take ten times as long. Even if the new sails worked as well as Blade and Rindiri said, it would still cost them a day or longer. Letting out another sigh, he swapped his body, clicked his tongue, and shot back in the direction away from Dismarintsia Harbor.
--
“There are two in a world not too far from where we were yesterday,” Flagrian said as she leaned against the wall, staring at the group of ten Crathan Guards, clashing with each other and using the two new moves she’d taught them. Even from this distance, she could see the many mistakes, both large and small.
“On the other side of the river or further away?”
“Further,” Flagrian said, glancing at the translucent Aura clone. “I take it you are going to move us further that way before we can come back out?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll bring you out in an hour or two,” Irwin replied.
Flagrian nodded, sensing Tiscian and Scintilla walking towards them. She still hadn’t fully gotten used to her new card, but she couldn’t imagine having to do without it anymore.
“And I get to see the Embers then?” she asked.
“Yes, they are all ready and waiting.”
Flagrian nodded, looking up to ask something else, but the Aura Clone had already vanished, and she sighed.
What kind of things did the others tell them about me that they seem afraid to let me see the embers? she thought. She might be a hard teacher, but she was always fair. Besides, she really wanted to meet the Embers. It had been ages since she’d last seen a male Ignitzian.
“Was that Irwin?” Scintilla asked as she leaned against the wall beside her.
“Yes, he wanted to know if there are any of my descendants nearby,” Flagrian said. “Also, we are finally going outside again soon, hopefully for longer than a few minutes.”
“I’ll go and warn Brecka and the others,” Scintilla said, springing away.
Flagrian watched her run off before turning to Tiscian.
“It almost feels like they don’t want me to meet the Embers,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
Tiscian didn’t bother to react, and Flagrian held back a grin. She’d always liked the current leader of the Smokeblades. She trained hard, had a talent, and didn’t let Flagrian’s act bother her. Not like many of the others. They all found her too harsh and too rule-bound.
She kept quiet as the two watched the guards train for another hour before the group was replaced with a smaller group of rangers.
“They all lack grace,” Tiscian said softly.
Flagrian watched two of the human guards, Giardians they called themselves, after the world they had lost, move through two patterns.
“Not true. You have too little knowledge of training non-Ignitzians,” she said. “You equate speed and fluidity of motion to grace and skill. It doesn’t work like that.”
Tiscian let out a soft sigh, but Flagrian ignored her.
“They are bigger than we are, and have far more momentum. This means they need to use their explosiveness and momentum, where you would use your ability to redirect a strike mid-motion. Here, let me show you.”
She walked forward, staring at Rewahr, one of the guards who had been showing the biggest improvement over the last few months, and the one who had also drawn her eye most in other aspects.
“Hold! Rest and watch,” she called out, causing the guards to stop immediately and step back.
I love their sense of discipline, she thought, pointing at Rewahr.
“Rewahr, come here please. We are going to demonstrate something.”
The guard nodded as he walked forward, moving with a heavy grace that she very much appreciated. His short hair stood straight up, flames licking the tips, while his eyes were dark pools of fiery sparks. Along with his Copperion skin, which was darker than most others, she felt a grin slip onto her face.
Rewahr stopped before her.
“Blademother?”
Flagrian reached out for his blade, and he handed it to her without hesitation.
Ahhh, so young, she thought, wondering what he’d say if he knew she could block him from resummoning the blade if she wanted to.
“You have been doing very well on the triple slash I showed you, but it’s time to turn it into something you can actually use in combat,” she said, stepping back.
The sword was far heavier than she would like, but it mattered little compared to the current skill of everyone watching.
“What you did now was this-” she said, as she placed her left foot forward, right back and to the side, lowered her weight in the middle while slashing the blade in a short slice from up to down and the side. The weight pulled her left, and she let it pull her back, then moved sideways while she pulled the blade in and lower before pushing it horizontally forward. The move was one she’d used many times during one of the wars, and it had caught many a fasher opponent, of course. Those who did manage to dash back, however, were nearly all caught unaware as she slung the blade with the point backward, then around and down.
The entire process took two seconds, mostly because she moved slowly.
“However, this has two issues. One with the foot, which they can strike at, and which will also cause you to be out of balance. Secondly, because the moment the point is behind and up is a window, a quick opponent can strike you if they have a dash move. Now, if you have the proper movement skills, there are no issues, but like I told you, there are many powerful fighters who can block the use of soulforce skills. So, instead of this, you will now practice the following.”
She returned to the starting stance, raised the blade, and did the same initial slice. However, instead of striking down and to the side, she let the blade hit the ground before pushing it forward, allowing her to keep her balance. She stepped forward at the same moment, pulling the massive blade horizontally as she had before and copying the push move; however, she angled the blade, slammed the point back into the ground, which caused it to stop, and allowed her to swirl around it and using that momentum plus what was left over from the blade itself, to cut it across her right shoulder in a rapid blur.
“Did you get that?”
A deadly quiet followed her question, and she looked up to see everyone, Tiscian included, staring at her, some with their mouths open.
Heatdeath, did I move too fast without noticing?
“I think I got it,” Rewahr said, frowning.
Flagrian felt both relief and joy as she grinned at the Crathan.
“Try it,” she said, handing him his blade without the berating she had wanted to give before. She would just tell him later, in private.
“No need to move as fast as me,” she said quickly, getting a nod.
Rewahr did the first move mostly right, then almost fumbled the second. Still, as he continued in the third, she almost felt like clapping as she saw the others begin to mutter in disbelief.
Hundreds of mistakes, but way better than I had expected, she thought.
“Very good,” she said, noticing the guard was in extreme focus, moving through parts of the move again.
Good, good.
“Find me later today because I need to explain a few details to you,” she said, ignoring the snort from Tiscian.
“Yes, Blademother Flagrian,” the guard said, sounding slightly distracted as he tried the move again.
“Keep trying,” Flagrian said as she moved back to the wall where Tiscian was staring at her.
“You do know he is probably only forty years old?” Tiscian whispered.
“So? He’s already had two children, and is a widow and lonely,” Flagrian said, leaning against the wall with a grin. “But don’t get distracted. Did you understand what I was showing you?”
“Yes… But it will be years until any of them can move like that,” Tiscian said.
“Perhaps, but they will eventually, and I think Rewahr is definitely able to learn it. His potential is about the same as yours.”
“He- what?!”
Flagrian grinned as she hummed happily, realizing she was copying a song that Irwin had sung a few weeks ago.
As if thinking about him summoned him, the Aura Clone of the cardsmith appeared before her, grinning widely.
“The ship is back in the portal gallery, and the kids are already playing. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Flagrian said as she felt her excitement grow.
She felt herself being ripped away and placed back on the deck a moment later, hearing the excited shouting of young voices.
Looking around, she saw six young Ignizians walking around, three of whom were male.
“Three?” she exclaimed, looking at Tiscian, who was grinning widely. “What-”
“Glow has a sad history, which you will learn soon,” her descendant said. “For now, he is very much Irwin’s son by how he saved him, and Scintilla’s by choice.”
Flagrian nodded slowly, watching the children climb across the sail and the edge, laughing happily.
Great, well, that just means he could potentially become the heatbond of one of my other great-great-granddaughters, she decided, hiding her grin.
“It’s fine. Let me watch them play for a bit,” she said, crossing her arms as she began analyzing their movements as they played.