The Third Step: Chapter Forty-Four

I relaxed slightly. Perhaps it was paranoia, but a part of me had feared that a spirit of a cemetery buried deep within the earth would ask for something like human sacrifices or something of the sort. Expanding the domain of the genius loci would help them, but it would also help the island of Fitiavana. Having their resonance expanded over a larger part of the land would mean there was less potential land for slaughter spirits to form.

“I can do that,” I said, extending my hand and taking the marker stone. 

It felt strange to my senses, similar to the mobile gateway, but also radically different. It was much weaker, a less potent investment, but also… smoother. I wasn’t exactly sure that was the right term, but I wasn’t sure what the right term would actually be. The gate stone had been a major disruptor in space, and in other, more spiritual claims of things. Like when she claimed a space to form a regular gate, Dusk was forcibly shifting the world around her to become a part of her. That was sharp, harsh, like taking a knife to a loaf of bread. This was far more of an integration, a gentle caress that would only ever so slightly crackle the loaf without disrupting its shape or taste. 

Deepfall seemed to relax slightly as I took their stone, and then they nodded.

“Stay here, or go deeper if you wish. I will fetch you something that is… Well, I do not have the skill or power to create an artificial soul. But I can get you something that should help you build one.” 

They flickered, then dove deeper into the ground in a rush of shadows, leaving me standing there with a glowing magical rock and nothing to do. I sighed, shrugged, and took a seat, closing my eyes as I leaned against one of the outer walls of the cemetery. I didn’t know when I fell asleep, but with a quick pulse of Internal Pocketwatch, I knew that it had been close to five hours when I finally woke up again. I stretched and shuffled, then opened a portal to Dusk’s realm and went to go make something to eat. Another long hour passed by, and then a second, and a third, before Deepfall finally re-emerged, floating up from the floor. I had been practicing in the yard, surrounded by the crisp autumnal leaves, flowing through one of the forms that Ikki had taught me, when I heard her calling out through the open portal. 

I walked over and hopped back into Deepfall Cemetery, who was gazing into Dusk’s realm with a look of longing and sadness. I could practically hear them saying ‘oh, to have been born a worldspirit, free to drift around, rather than be trapped at the bottom of a hole’, or something along those lines. Their face shifted back to look at me a moment later, and they extended their hand, revealing a small, glowing, white, purple, and blue mass. 

I had expected the item that the genius loci thought best suited to creating an artificial soul to absolutely blaze with power. To be the sort of thing that could restructure a local landscape, turning a normal forest into a fungal grove. To emit waves of seventh gate death mana, or the power of a dominion, or an authority, or something else. After all, Orykson and Meadow had both agreed that someone would need to be seventh gate to even attempt to create an artificial soul. 

Instead, the object floating over the spirit’s palm was weak. It only radiated the tiniest touch of mana, and it wasn’t even death mana. If I’d passed by someone on the street with one in their bag, I might have thought it was a small solidified chunk of ungated mana, a tiny mana crystal, or an ungated battery nearly run out of charge. Given that I knew there had to be more to it, I looked deeper, pressing with all of my sensory spells. The one that I got the most feedback from was Soulgaze, the horned rabbit spell.

And what I got was a sense of potential. 

The spark didn’t have much power now, but it was like a seed. It was small and weak now, but fed the right components, and it could transform into something towering that would stand for centuries.Except that wasn’t quite the full picture. Seeds had structure, while this power had almost none at all. It could grow, but it wasn’t limited to just the form that it was, in the way an acorn would always grow into an oak. In that way, it was also like a blank page. It could be treated with charcoal or watercolor or a pen, and made into a near limitless number of expressions. It was both, and it was neither, and it was more. 

“From the nine hundred and thirty-ninth floor,” Deepfall said, sounding a touch proud. “That floor is… strange. It’s so old and so deep it isn’t really here anymore, though of course it is here.” 

“Thank you,” I said, taking the small, glowing spark into my hands. A part of me wanted to know what the formless potential was, and what it could be made into. Another part of me didn’t want to know. If I knew what the spark was, then using it for constructing the artificial soul would sting. I’d do it, of course. I was interested in advancement, but I wasn’t a monster. But it was better that I didn’t know what was being spent. 

“Plant the stone as near to the mouth of the geyser as you can,” the spirit said, nodding. “It’s the central nexus point of the island’s power, so getting as many of my markerstones infused there as possible is ideal. You might have to sneak past the heart-patrol in order to get there, since the area is cordoned off.” 

I felt a slight grin spread over my face and I nodded. 

“Well, while I can’t say I’m the best person on the entire island to break a cordon or anything like that, I am a spatial mage with some illusion skills. Hiring someone like me to pull it off has to be in the top fifty.”

That brought a thought to me, and I bit my lip, tapping my chin.

“Say, do you have any scruples about hiring a thief? An honorable thief, as such things go. Mostly. Don’t let him know if there’s a collection of movie recording crystals down here. But he did manage to steal a spatial ring right off the son of the president of suntorch, then donated a massive amount of the money to orphans. He was already slippery when I met him, and if he’s kept up, he’s probably even more slippery now. If you want me to send him a letter, he can probably get this deep semi-regularly.” 

Deepfall just stared at me as if I had started rattling off nonsense and speaking backwards. I stared at her. 

“What?” I asked. 

“I have no idea what you’re on about,” she finally said. 

“Travis Enigma,” I said, then launched into an explanation of meeting him in the Idyll-Flume, how he’d stolen tons of stuff, evaded an entire building full of second, third, and even a few fourth gate mages, and made out filthy rich, only to turn around and pump the money into Delitone. 

“I suppose it could be worth a shot, but I doubt that he’ll be able to get clearance. Too much risk of him simply ransacking the place, especially if he knows he can’t get down that far.” 

I considered arguing, but accepted it after a moment. I didn’t think that Travis would do that, but nor did I think for sure that there was no chance he would either. I said my goodbyes to the genius loci, then glanced upward and began the long, slow climb up once again. 

It had taken me the better part of two days to get as deep as I had before, and then spent a good bit more time asleep while waiting for Deepfall, but ascending was easier than descending – mostly. I could definitely feel the physical toll of walking up all those steps, even with my enhanced body, but other than that, it was much simpler. I’d already tied up the threats that I could, and made mental note of those that I couldn’t, letting me simply Foxstep past them in my perpetual quest upward. 

Even though it was easier, it still took time. I felt the alarm in my spirit go off as I needed to meet Meadow and the rest of the crew back on the boat, and felt Dusk and Dawn reach out through our mental connection to check on me. It was imperfect over such a large distance, but I reassured them that I was alright, and that I’d collected what I needed, and that I’d be with them soon. The boat wasn’t about to wait for me, after all, but I could at least get there by cheating and moving through Dusk. 

Though I didn’t get the sense any of them liked leaving without me, they accepted it, and I made my way up, stopping for a short time to rest every once in a while. I was forced to fight Noor Paulo again for the right to ascend, and once again lost – she hadn't become the best non-magical fighter in the world for ten years in a row for no reason. 

And then, finally, I stepped over the border and into the floors open to the public. There was a young woman there, who looked to be freshly awakened, wearing the robes of the gravetenders. She smiled and handed me a silvery bottle, which I took. 

“Truth potion,” she explained. I swept it with my senses, then knocked it back and felt the familiar spike of ice cold rush through my body. I went through a couple of questions about what I’d collected, and that I’d honored the spirit and letter of the agreement, before I was free to go. I walked up the five flights, and out onto the main floor, then let out a massive sigh of relief. I’d only seen sunlight while I was in Dusk’s realm, and I wasn’t sure the silver light of her sun was a true replacement for the golden light of the normal sun. 

I spent a short time luxuriating in the light before I turned and looked up the mountain. If I wanted to deliver the marker stone to the geyser, it would be suspicious of me to hire a gourd to bring me right to the cordon. Which meant, even though I’d just spent days walking, it was time to walk some more. At least up here I was able to Foxstep around freely, no longer bound by either thick death energy or the bounds of propriety. 

I made my way through the thick forests of the island, dodging any of the paths that had many people, until I was near the cordon, at which point I picked a less used, but still occupied trail. I waited until I was alone, then withdrew the stone from my pocket, cast a Material Echo where I was standing, used Mold Aura to give the frozen echo the full might of my presence, and began to extend my senses out around me. 

As soon as I felt the geyser’s opening, I teleported into the air above it and locked myself in place. An alarm started to blare as I threw the stone down into the hole, and I saw people starting to move in the guardhouse. Before they could come out, I teleported back and dissolved my echo.

It didn’t take long for them to find me, and I answered their questions with a sense of general confusion. They weren’t trying too hard, as the cordon was enforced more for the safety of the people on the island than anything, and they eventually chalked it up as a poorly aimed teleport and let me go. 

With that, I made my way back toward the docks, then began to open a portal to Dusk’s realm.