Middle of next week, I'm going to be doing another book launch (Depthless Hunger 2). I find the release cycle exhausting so I often take a break from chapters when this happens, but with the publisher choosing a mid-week date, I'm going to just keep pushing forward.
Here are the links to the ebook and audiobook versions:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GSNJW3BL
https://www.audible.com/pd/Depthless-Hunger-2-Audiobook/B0GGD958RN
Audible really cares about preorders but I'm ambivalent about them for ebooks. Just do whatever is convenient for you. And if you haven't tried it yet, consider grabbing (ebook, audiobook) the first book in the series first!
The series is most likely complete at five books. This second release is probably the last chance for it to gain any traction, otherwise the fifth book concludes a whole host of subplots and character arcs. I negotiated with Audible specifically to make sure that all five would get audiobooks so readers get a reasonably complete experience.
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Chapter 36
After much analysis, Krikree has concluded that Fithans operate based on an extremely simple visual system. There are slightly different varieties, involving different shades of skin or fang types, but Krikree judges these to be largely unimportant. The large factions like the Ruling City ants or Asplundat beetles are so large that they contain many species variants, which leads to confusion even among Fithans. Therefore they use simple clothing and linguistic signals to identify friend and enemy.
At first, Krikree is extremely excited by this discovery. Plans! Deceptions! Schemes! But Navim-thinkrock taught her many principles, including that flaws should not be assumed so simply. If it was so easy to trick Fithan ants, they would already be tricked and the system would change.
So Krikree scouts further information and discovers that tactics involving changing such signals are already common and there are counter-mechanisms in place. Krikree is glad she did not express her ideas as a new discovery, because it is known to the hive. Yet Krikree is not ashamed. Thoroughly scouting a new world is also essential.
While in the middle of antennae maintenance, Krikree observes the Fithan territory. There is too much dust, but it is good for Fithan beetles. This is where she has been assigned by Theo-sister, so she will perform her duties to the best of her abilities.
Suddenly, gold ants! Danger! Krikree deploys various weapons and applies them vigorously until the gold ants are no longer a threat. This is good.
Most of the Authority-tier ants are not a threat to Krikree, because they are unprepared for her abilities. Once Krikree was fragile, but she has been soulcrafting with Theo-sister and Nauda-queen and Fiyu-queen and has improved her defensive capabilities. Now she evaluates herself as more efficacious than most at the same tier, particularly gold ants.
Unfortunately, Krikree is not effective at defeating Stronghold-tier threats. She has soulcrafted improvements to her base capacities, which are efficacious in many scenarios, but also common. At Stronghold, the gold enemies are truly more like queens or princes. Krikree can threaten them only temporarily and requires allies. This is a problem that Krikree spends a great deal of time scouting.
On Slest, many ants are ruled simply by Authority-tier royalty. If Krikree were to fight them... Not! Not! Not!
Krikree spends some time cleaning her antennae. In terms of strict combat ability, she believes that she could defeat an Authority-tier queen. Bad soldier, very bad soldier. But one thing that she has learned by observing Fithan conflicts is that all hives are connected to other hives. The local brainbug Fithans and other important individuals spend a great deal of time considering this balance.
A similar balance exists on Slest and has not been scouted. This is very interesting to Krikree.
Various remnants have been left behind after the battle, so Krikree scouts them thoroughly. Not food, not sublime. The bodies are technically food, but Krikree has discerned that consuming such meat will disconcert others who observe it. This is a question for Navim-thinkrock. It is not good food in any case, so Krikree ignores it and goes to report to the water beetles.
She knows that they will be interested in the gold ants, but Krikree is more interested in the deeper ramifications of a conflict such as this. Sometimes she speaks to Bluepetal-beetle, but he judges the society of Slest very differently. This is still confusing to Krikree.
For now, however, Krikree is happy to fight for the beetles. This war is very important to Theo-sister, and he requires more time in order to find solutions. Krikree will scout and fight until sufficient time has been acquired.
Afterward... Krikree begins to clean her antennae again.
~
It had been a long time since Homez had stood over a war table and really tried to understand the scope of their conflict against Tymetron. Seeing it all laid out, even as miniature icons, made him almost reel with the scope.
So many symbols, across the continent and into the oceans around it. And too many representing Tymetron for comfort. They didn't show this map to the average citizens of the Asplundat Movement, and perhaps for good reason. It was only after traveling to Outpost #127, which had been retrofitted as a secure base thanks to all the added security, that Homez was told the truth.
Up to this point, he had been feeling guilty for not getting back into the fight personally. His soulhome had been fully repaired and he had been feeling a little better, but he wasn't up for throwing himself into a battle after his ordeal. Now that he saw the truth of the war's scale, and how much of it occurred among higher tier soulcrafters, he doubted that one more Authority would make any difference.
There had been a time, when he was a much younger man, when Homez believed there were older and wiser citizens of the Asplundat Movement who had everything under control. Now he stood across the table from Citizen Dominion and saw that the man didn't look much more optimistic than he did.
"You can see the problem," Citizen Dominion told him flatly. "We have no choice but to scale up production of bloodcrete even further."
"With respect, I disagree." Homez reached down to tap the symbols of soulcrafters in their territory. "It seems to me like the Ruling Cities are upholding their agreement of mutual defense with us."
"But look how many of them are going over to this Darkblade Sect. In the end, their soulcrafters still worship power, and this outsider has power enough to upset the balance. We need to prepare for the Asplundat Movement to stand completely alone before we are abandoned. When alliances fail, purity of vision will be our defense."
"But we shouldn't withdraw prematurely, or take actions that would lead them to mistrust us."
"Bloodcrete production is completely approved by the other nations. Some in the Wavefront even asked for information about its production, though we haven't revealed such secrets."
It seemed that Citizen Dominion's mind was nearly made up, and Homez recognized that he wasn't going to change it. Indeed, he was only invited as a courtesy thanks to his previous actions for the Movement. Homez took a deep breath and reconsidered his strategy.
"Why is Tymetron sending more Dominions against us?" he asked.
"This is a state secret," Citizen Dominion told him, "but we were contacted by Giatrice of the Gold Wastes. It seems that Tymetron has signed a peace treaty with one of their rivals to the west, and thus pulled soulcrafters away from that front. That could be a prelude to full assault, but at minimum it means they can press their numbers against us."
"And how far are our preparations? Have we elevated someone to become the Sword of Asplundat yet?"
"Not yet, but soon. Fortunately, we traded our excess deadgold to depths factions and the House of Coin before the market for deadgold was flooded. So we have all the materials necessary... but the ascension is a difficult one, so we need to be cautious. Since we have the tournament and allied Dominions distracting the enemy, we still prepare."
"Then the House of Coin has been critical to the Movement." Homez smiled as he tapped their indicators on the map. "Without the Ruling Cities, would it have been possible?"
"I'm not saying that every House is irredeemable." Citizen Dominion folded his arms crossly. "The House of Coin has fulfilled their mercantile contracts, and we have no problem with House Blacksilver, even as they build into our territory. But others led our citizens astray, even before the Ruling Cities began circling the drain of this outsider."
Recognizing that he wasn't going to change any minds on this subject, Homez lowered his head. "What else, then? Why bring me here?"
"There has been... a new development. Using the deadgold we can no longer trade, we have been developing a customized version of bloodcrete. The working name is being argued as 'goldcrete' or 'Asplundatcrete' and I don't like either, but what matters is that it will be effective. We wanted to offer you a chance to be one of the first to use it."
Homez swallowed. "And this material is... still following the model of bloodcrete?"
"It would be damaging, without question. But for one like you, still in recovery, it would be an opportunity for you to serve the Movement again."
"I would not want to take such precious materials from the Movement." Homez shook his head slowly. "No, I believe that I can still serve the Movement under my own power. If I can ascend to Stronghold, the modifications to my soulhome will be solidified effectively."
"Then I wish you luck," Citizen Dominion said starkly, "because even that may not be enough."
It was true and there was nothing that could be said to gainsay it. Homez continued to stare at the map for a time, his eyes slipping from piece to piece as the magnitude of the problem reinforced itself in his mind. Yes, even if he reached Stronghold, he would only be another piece, but the truth was that even the Sword of Asplundat would not be enough.
All they were doing, if he was honest with himself, was buying time for Theo and his allies to find a way out of this mess. Homez hoped that he could buy enough.
~
Technically, by allowing himself to be caught up in this war, Guchiro was making a serious strategic error. Some of his allies had reinforced that argument: facing enemies at this tier before they were ready was exactly what they had been hoping to avoid. Regardless of that logic, he needed to do his part in protecting Ward Fiyu.
Whether or not Ward Fiyu was making a mistake in becoming involved... that was a question that Guchiro spent more time considering. She was certainly taking a risk, but only homesteaders minimized risk, and in doing so they avoided the journeys that made life worth living. Growing invested in this part of Fithe was strange to him, but not fundamentally irrational.
By contrast, he remained agnostic about this relationship that so consumed his ward's mind of late.
Before he departed to again fight in the Fithan war, Guchiro had ventured to observe his ward under stealth, to remind himself of who he fought to defend. In this case, Ward Fiyu was spending time with Associate Nauda, the two of them sparking off one another as they struggled to resolve entirely divergent natures.
In the beginning, Guchiro had been certain that the Tatian would ruin the relationship, pressing his ward in ways that would turn her away. He had to admit that he had been wrong: Associate Nauda had been more patient and understanding than he had expected a non-Ichili to be.
But was she truly a good potential lifemate for his ward? It seemed that they were struggling with that question of compatibility, still young and idealistic enough that they didn't believe in irresolvable differences. Whether or not they were actually irresolvable remained undetermined, in his opinion. What he had never expected, however, was that the breaking point might actually come from his ward.
Two Ichili could circle around one another in a courtship of years, bonding their psyches together in a relationship that eventually became unbreakable. Such was not possible here. Ward Fiyu was under increasing tension, and eventually that tension would snap in one direction or another when a sufficiently traumatic event pushed her over the edge into a new position of equilibrium.
Perhaps he could have offered some wisdom, but Guchiro thought that his own negative thoughts might harm his ward in this case. The most he could do was shield his ward and her companions a little longer, allow them to work out their youthful issues on their own.
Because, the more he encountered aeon-class forces, the more Guchiro was certain he that he could not attain that state in the near future. It might have been wiser to retreat, to shut himself off from the world and attempt unprecedented soulcrafting. Instead, he ventured out to fight a war he could not win.
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Chapter 37
The city of Quiet Garden wasn't what Theo had expected, but he didn't have time to absorb the local color and culture. As the war in Fithe grew more intense, he became more convinced than ever that an attack on the tournament was probable. Therefore the best decision was to try to resolve things now, while the risk was lowest.
He had brought with him the flower token from Dave, as well as their last piece of deadgold from Fiyu. The Caretaker had already rejected it once, though in a qualified fashion. She had also mentioned wanting to trade the deadgold for a sublime material called a wakestone, but she was being self-sacrificing at the moment due to her relationship struggles.
Theo didn't have time for the current drama between Nauda and Fiyu, even though it tugged at the edges of his mind. If they decided they couldn't make it work...
No, he needed to focus. The issue was figuring out the fundamentals of how the Caretaker thought, determining what might convince him to join the war. Theo trusted that Fiyu had already done a good job of gathering information, so he remained at a distance from the center garden, observing the Caretaker through his gravitational sense.
So far, the Siatan had been surprisingly inactive. His cantae was clearly aeon-class, on the rare occasions when he used it, but Theo hadn't learned much more. After close observation, however, he felt that the Caretaker had a slow and steady personality, growing sublime plants with unnatural focus. His work wasn't overwhelmingly powerful, but it was subtle, with currents deep enough that Theo wasn't entirely sure he understood their goals.
Which meant he might not be making any progress. At any time he could present Dave's flower, but if he didn't make an impression, that might be his last chance. Theo turned the deadgold sphere over in his hands as he considered the message again.
"I say we just barge in there and demand help," Senka said from behind him. "I'm sure that will work."
"Uh-huh." Theo barely responded to her recent complaints, just spoke without looking away from the center. "Do you have much experience with Siatans? Were they a major part of your old organization?"
"We didn't have much to do with them, largely because we didn't get along. My old organization was, to be brutally honest, greedy and violent. And Siatans... most of them just don't work that way. They have more abstract goals in life, which can sometimes be very good and other times very bad."
"Does that tell us anything about the Caretaker in particular?"
"Well, I can tell you that he's unnaturally old." Senka folded her arms and floated down beside him to join the staring. "Siatans are generally reborn after a certain period of time, a decade or two at most. This is a natural part of their life cycle, until they grow... senescent, you might say. Then they undergo a different sort of rebirth, their identity dissolving into several new Siatans."
This might not be helpful, but a flicker of curiosity drew Theo away from his obsession. "How does that work with soulcrafting?" he asked. "I know their tier can be limited until a rebirth, but does that give them an advantage in reaching the higher tiers?"
"No, just like anyone else, they ultimately reach a limit. Maybe they can recover from certain blueprint issues via a rebirth, but it isn't enough to make them clearly superior. But what I meant to say is that the Caretaker feels like he hasn't been reborn for centuries, maybe longer. Siatans can become... weird when they get that old. Like their natural tendencies become increasingly extreme."
So that was what they were dealing with... except without a clear idea of what exactly motivated the Caretaker, what traits of his had become extreme, it couldn't really guide their actions.
The deadgold in his hands was getting heavier, and Theo subconsciously squeezed it as if to take it into his soulhome. He wanted to soulcraft to distract himself, but there was no point: he'd done enough work on the twisted flesh and he was still stuck on the question of which material would be most optimal to use as his second singularity. His only accomplishment recently had been enhancing Victon's bowl via the skyvenom, which still had uncertain results.
"I've developed a perfect plan," Theo said abruptly. "We dress you up as a Siatan, then you go in there and tell the Caretaker you're his long-lost sister."
Senka snorted. "Sporp you too. Does that mean you're really coming up with nothing?"
"We may not be able to reason our way through this, because we just don't have enough data. The Caretaker implied that the deadgold alone was useless to him, which makes sense because my best estimate is that he's Cheraon tier. But he implied it could be notable... what does he want, an offering? Some sort of spiritual truth?"
"If so, we've got a problem, because we're bad at that blook. Maybe think about it the other way: what are the most valuable things we have? Not in the monetary sense, what's the most worthwhile thing we could offer someone far more powerful than us?"
"Senka, that's brilliant." Theo nearly grabbed her in a hug before deciding that would be strange. "You're right: power is useless here. But knowledge might not be. We have to go talk to Navim."
"Uh, thanks?" Senka looked strangely at him and he was already gone, weirkeying back to Fithe.
Theo plummeted into Norro Yorthin, panicking a few guards who didn't have time to identify him as on their side. Ignoring all of that, Theo closed in on Navim's workshop, where his old friend was currently running an experiment on several varieties of sublime gold. The Mundhin looked up at him, mildly polite until he saw the light in Theo's eyes.
"Hello, Navim," Theo said. "Would you like to give an academic lecture with the highest possible stakes?"
~
Three hours later, the two of them stood in the center of Quiet Garden, presenting their knowledge. It frustrated Theo that it took that long, but he didn't want to rush Navim, and he'd taken a hand in massaging their presentation himself. Once they'd decided, it didn't take them long to return and offer their token to the guardians.
Now the Caretaker knelt ahead of them, looking up from his flowers without expression, listening while Navim spoke.
"Without a sample directly from Plutalgion," Navim said, "we cannot confirm all our theories. However, it seems likely that this slavegold, though it seems to be a fundamental element, is actually a soulcrafted material. It has some similarities to how demonic bodies can operate as sublime materials, and if Plutalgion has mastered a similar ability to create sublime elements, it may explain why his empire uses demonic materials so extensively."
"The gold itself isn't demonic as far as we can tell," Theo added, "though that's an abstract distinction. What's relevant is that the various modifications are really just alloys of the same metal, less creating something new than soulcrafting a material."
"Deadgold is created by destroying the fundamental property that grants the living gold a powerful current, harming cantae generation but granting qualities that nullify some abilities from Tymetron. If you will observe this table, I believe we have uncovered the details of some properties that are not known even in long-time enemies of Tymetron such as the Gold Wastes."
Navim revealed a slate of densely packed numbers, then hesitated to place it on the ground. Obviously they shouldn't crush the flowers, but even placing it on the grass might cause offense. Theo neutralized a region of gravity and simply hovered the slate over to the Caretaker, who didn't so much as glance at it.
"Why have you offered me this?" The Caretaker spoke for the first time since the beginning of their presentation. One pair of glowing green eyes shifted left to Theo and the other pair looked to Navim.
"We need help against Tymetron," Theo said without pretense. "No power or material we can offer you would make a difference, but we hope that we can share a little wisdom. Plutalgion has been a threat in the Nine Worlds for centuries and yet much about him remains a mystery."
"I see." The Caretaker looked down, back to the flower that was slowly growing in front of him. As the silence stretched, Theo worried they would be dismissed, but then the Siatan spoke again. "It is charming to be offered a token of knowledge, but I fear that knowledge alone will not defeat Plutalgion. The facts of brute power are rarely subverted by wisdom."
"Is there nothing we can do to convince you?" Navim asked.
"You have offered wisdom, and I offer the same in return. Each of you may ask me one question, on any subject, and I will answer."
The offer made Theo's brain kick into overdrive, and it was a harder problem than he thought at first. This wasn't some magical wish, so "How do we defeat Plutalgion?" would be a useless approach. Even though the Caretaker seemed somewhat reasonable, he might operate in a literalistic fashion and give answers that were accurate but impractical.
Navim didn't share his hesitation and asked, "What is the most important philosophical question that is not being asked that has practical consequences for wars across the Nine Worlds?"
Theo blinked in surprise at the question, though perhaps he should have expected an Arbaian to take such an approach. The Caretaker couldn't blink, but he did shift his head and observe Navim with all four eyes for a long moment.
"Difficult to answer," the Caretaker said at last. "There are few questions that have never been asked, and both wars and practicality vary considerably. But to my judgment, the essential question... why do demons behave differently within the Cleansed Lands?"
"I see," Navim said carefully. "Thank you."
"I have never been asked that question before. A charming desire for wisdom. Please take this."
Though the Caretaker made no gesture, there was a surge of subtle cantae through the garden. A flower that looked like a blue rose pierced through the ground in front of Navim and blossomed, revealing a glittering sapphire at its heart. The material was powerful... closer to Dominion than Stronghold, really.
Did the Caretaker not care about Navim's current tier? It seemed equally possible that this was a gift for the future or that the Caretaker simply didn't consider the difference to be worthy of notice. In any case, Navim offered thanks again as he picked up the sapphire, and Theo realized that the game had changed.
The answer was only part of the benefit of asking a question, but receiving a gift wasn't guaranteed. Theo was tempted to ask something similar before judging that the Caretaker was too intelligent to be impressed by the same approach twice. Unfortunately, too many of Theo's ideas seemed over-clever, trying to impress with elaborate questions that would ring hollow in the end. It needed to be something where the answer truly mattered to him, that would have some deeper value.
Thinking about it that way, perhaps the right path was through earnest passion instead of over-intellectualizing. Theo gathered his thoughts and then spoke.
"The basics of soulcrafting are simple, but its lessons grow increasingly subtle. The more I learn, the more I feel that I do not know. What, in your judgment, is the lesson that the powerful most often miss? I soulcraft for optimization and efficiency... what does this lead me to overlook?"
"Hm." The Caretaker looked away from his flower again, which was hopefully a good sign. "An expeditious blueprint is not inappropriate for an expeditious soul. But too many soulhomes are mired in the present, considered only a portrait of their essence at the current time. This is a moving target, and such a soulhome can never be a true representation of an individual. A better design is built not merely upward, but into both past and future. Foolish soulcrafters might build without thought for the future, but those who consider themselves wise build without thought for the past."
That was a bit abstract, and in another context Theo might have dismissed it as nonsense, yet the words resonated with his intuitions. There was wisdom there, he just needed to unravel the substance of the words.
"I would like to bestow something upon such a sincere questioner," the Caretaker continued. "But most of my work is with living materials that would be unsuitable for you. Do you have any sublime plants that you would like to place in my care?"
Immediately Theo's mind shot through his limited options, from the grizzleroot to even the grass of his foundation. But the grizzleroot had been faithfully growing along with his soulhome and didn't need enhancement, while asking about his foundation might be too abstract for even the Caretaker. Once he thought about it, obviously what he should choose wasn't from his soulhome.
"Two of my companions and I created this." Theo withdrew the crestflower that Nauda had given him, glowing with three sources of cantae. "It may be modest compared to your work, but I would be honored if you would look at it."
"A curiously braided strand." The Caretaker raised a hand and the flower floated over to him. "I decline the offer to critique your work: it is a material that is appropriate for you at this stage in your growth. But if you are willing to leave it with me, I believe I can grow this into a step forward for the three of you."
"Obviously we'd be grateful for-"
"I do not use the words 'leave it with me' lightly. It may be a year or more, as you measure time, until such a project would flower. That is little enough time for me, but if you are truly placing yourself against Plutalgion, it may seem a great deal of time indeed."
So they'd be gifted a sublime material by one of the most powerful soulcrafters in the Nine Worlds... if they could survive long enough to collect it. Theo could wish for some magic solution that made them instantly more powerful, but if this was another case of a cost now for a greater benefit later, there was only one answer. "We can wait."
"Then go in peace." The Caretaker waved a hand, then the black and white flower Dave had given them rose into the air and faded into motes of life.
Even as it vanished, space distorted and Theo stood outside the garden alongside Navim. They were silent for some time, and even the guardians left them alone.
"Thanks for doing this," Theo said eventually. "I don't think I could have convinced him without you, and if you hadn't been studying so long, I'd have had nothing."
"On the contrary," Navim said, "it was interesting to present my research to such an... unusual audience. But what now?"
"Can you wait long enough for me to visit one of the local merchants? I want to exchange this deadgold for the wakestone that Fiyu wanted."
For a time Navim didn't respond, and Theo wondered if the Mundhin was eager to return to his research, then he was surprised when Navim extended a limb and handed him the sapphire.
"This was your gift," Theo said slowly, not touching it. "You shouldn't give it to me."
"Not so long ago, you granted me many sapphires, and I could not have ascended without you. That action, taken without thought for reward, in the end benefited you. I believe that investing this in you will ultimately benefit me more than hoarding it until the day I might be able to use it. But surely our friendship has advanced beyond such considerations of profit and loss?"
"Thank you, Navim." Theo smiled and took the sapphire, which burned with ethereal power.
They'd gained some valuable materials, but at the cost of their last major lead, and Theo was suddenly aware that he was about to trade away their last piece of deadgold. Yes, all of these had earned them advantages, but he was acutely conscious of the fact that he had no more sources of hope. For better or worse, there would be no more gifts, no new allies to save them.
War was coming and this was all they had to face it.