Chapter 40

  Heartbeats, Breaths, And Moments

  “Kyraneth is on the edge of a great shift. Even if I know nothing else with absolute certainty, I know that this world is about to change forever. The kings in onyx split the tower into three connected pieces when they took it from the Architect Ascendant. It was broken, but only in a manner of speaking. They were all still parts of a whole… I could see the other kings coming. So, before they could arrive, I severed that connection. I broke my tower away from the rest, and there is no going back —”

  Visibly shaking, Lana interrupted Nik's recounting of events. Her mouth hung open between each broken word, the expression of horror plain for all to see.

  “You severed a piece of the tower from the whole? So what we're seeing in the sky are wounds of the tower? You have no idea what kind of damage that could do to this world, or any of the tower worlds for that matter.”

  Nik didn't cower, nor did he grow angry in his own defense; he stayed calm as he accepted her words. He couldn't let any of it get to him, and he didn't have time to doubt himself now.

  With his jaw set, he said, “No, I don't know what is going to happen now, but I can see a warning message. The tower is destabilizing. Whatever happens as a result of that, I want us to be as prepared as we can be. Terk, you have the basic information; now I need you to return to construction efforts. I want the outer walls to be our primary focus, then secondary defences next. Housing and communal structures can come after, with my own being the last priority.”

  “I will do as you command, but I'm still waitin’ to see if you're capable of doing more good than harm to our clan, my lord. We’ll start workin’ with more urgency and refocus our efforts to fit the new priorities, but don't let us down. The Stormclaws deserve to live without fearin’ what lies around the next sunfall,” the elder said with a bow before he left.

  A snort sounded from Kath to his right, who let out a harsh laugh. Her countenance however held no humor as she said, “Hah, like we didn't already live in fear? He speaks as though we hadn't been sent to the surface where our friends and clan members died to adventurers. We were headin’ for slavery or death before you came to aid us. Most of us know that, my lord.”

  “I appreciate that. I don't need him to trust me anymore, though. He might not ever get there, but he wants the same things we do. We will work together to protect the burrow. However, there's one last thing we need to talk about. Admin,” Nik said, turning his attention back to the architect's daughter.

  “What, am I a problem now that you've truly broken my father's legacy and potentially set all of the tower worlds on an unknown path?” she replied.

  Nik waved his hands in front of himself and said, “No. No, that's not what I mean. I'm trying to tell you that I don't know if he's even dead. I don't know what it means or how it's possible, but I think a part of me could always sense him.”

  Every bit of the panicked fury that had just been in Harper's eyes dimmed, revealing the open wound of loss hidden beneath. “What are you trying to say? That my father is still alive somehow? That the kings didn't kill him?”

  “I don't know what happened to him. All I know is that I would hear his voice in my head, thoughts that were not my own. Mysterious words of wisdom being spoken in my mind, but it was him. My whole life, it was him. He said that he is the architect no longer, but he's still there somewhere, connected to the black. And I can't sense him now; not since the severing. I think he's still hidden away within the Black Tower,” he explained.

  AdminHarper’s eyes were looking past him as she took a breath, to reset. The tone of her voice switched gears, turning analytical as she assessed the new information.

  “Okay, okay… This changes everything… Once we make it through the current situation and are able to gauge the extent of the damages, then we can figure out what steps to take next. You won't have much sway over the tower after what you did. So, you're going to have to build up resonance energy and further increase your bond to the tower. Do we have any type of timeline for the destabilization?” she asked.

  Nik pulled the text box back into view to see forty-eight percent displayed and said, “Tower have mercy; it went up three percent while we were talking. I need every able body working on getting defenses together.”

  “Come on, Wolf. I need to think, and there's a lot of work to do,” Lana called out over her shoulder as she took to the steps.

  Before following after the elf, Wolf looked down at Nik and said, “You really are full of surprises. I like your spirit well enough, but you're also a tough little lizard.”

  Halfway up the stairs he turned and added, “Oh, and it's good to see your tail growing back.”

  Nik nodded in response as the shifter continued after AdminHarper.

  When just Pearl and Kath remained, Nik allowed himself to relax, even if it was only for a moment. He ran a hand over his feathered head and sighed.

  “You know, the fact that we've all survived to this point is kind of a miracle. I don't know how many miracles we’re gonna get, but I'll take every single one we get,” he said.

  Pearl settled on his shoulder as she said, “It could technically be a manifestation of your luck stat. We do not know how much it has shaped the events that surround you, even if it did not always feel like it was on your side. As you said, we have survived much more than might otherwise be considered our fair share of tribulations.”

  ‘It's true that we should have lost more, maybe even just lost altogether, but blamin’ it all on a stat seems like oversimplifyin’ the situation. It doesn't matter now anyway, we need to focus on what comes next, my lord,” Kath interjected.

  “Right, that's enough being distracted. So, the walls, we have our earth-shapers working on that. I've never done this before and I'd like some more ideas. You asked what comes next. Well, what other defensive measures do the two of you think might be good to work on after the walls?” he asked.

  “Lookouts of some kind would probably be a good start, and then maybe a chat with the neighbors,” the goblin warrior stated as she looked in the direction that the domovoi had appeared from.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “A central tree. It could be a haven for any fae who might wish to make their homes within the burrow,” the voice of the sprite on his shoulder said in what was almost a whisper.

  Hmm, I hadn't thought about specialized homes for different species, Nik thought.

  “All of these are good ideas. However, trying to make contact with the domovoi will have to come after we can keep our own people safe. I'm also not sure how growing a tree in the middle of the burrow is going to work, logistically. I would place that on the same level as other homes, but I would prioritize the people who are already here and in need of one. Let’s move forward with the lookouts.”

  “I have carried a seed for most of my life. Before you and I had ever even met, I searched for an appropriate place for it to take root. Leave the tree to me, I can work on that myself while you worry about everything else. This is important to me, and I really do not think that I would be very much help with any other construction projects anyway. Please, Nik,” Pearl begged.

  Nik turned his head to look at his friend and said, “There is no need for that. You've never really asked for anything in return, not for any of the help you've ever given me. If it means that much to you, then go for it. Do what you need to do. I've got your back, Teacher.”

  With a few tears escaping to tumble down her cheeks, Pearl embraced his snout.

  Pearl fluttered from his shoulder, off to find the right spot for her tree, and Nik turned to Kath.

  “Go notify Terk that lookouts are going to need to follow after the walls. Then help in any way you can. I've got some stuff I need to work on here.”

  She left with a bow and the obligatory, “yes, Burrow Lord.”

  Once he was alone, Nik pulled up the box that contained the vague warning.

  Warning:

  Tower Destabilization 50%

  We're just going to have to finish what we can before that reaches 100 percent. Until then, I need to learn what I can about resonance, he thought.

  Pulling the crown from the air, Nik held it in his hands. It shimmered brilliantly under the sunlit sky. He lowered himself to sit on the ground with his legs crossed. With his tail propping him up from behind, he focused on that seed of power. The link it held was still a potent thing.

  He followed that invisible rope all the way to his tower. Harper was right. He could sense the wounds now that he couldn’t before. He could also see the threads that lay between himself and the tower. His connection was less like the rope and more like a small fire that stretched through the space between himself and the emerald pillar.

  The flame at his core flickered and swayed, as if in response to some sort of phantom breeze. There was something to the bond that felt almost intuitive while he held the crown. The tower wasn't sentient exactly, but it was almost as though it had paths that it desired to follow, predetermined courses that it was determined to take. Like a river trying to force its way around a blockage.

  Nik realized that not only had he placed an obstacle in the river's path, but he'd cut that route off entirely. In its own way, the tower was raging against his command. Its wounds were tendrils reaching out for a new path.

  That was when he saw them, the arms stretching out in response, hoping to make contact. They were calling out to one another across the vastness of space. It wasn't the green and the black that he first suspected, but something else that he had to stop.

  He focused his mind on the bond, sending all of his will into holding back the tendrils of his tower. The flame of his resonance was too weak, he'd already given everything to break from the black. It would only be a matter of time until the branches made it to one another. Giving up on trying to stop the tower, he instead turned to strengthening his resonance.

  He thought, I can't stop the tower from following its own desires. That means that I need the strength to face what would come. If I can just put everything that I have into strengthening this spark, then I could rebuild it over time. I’ll just have to use what time we have left to do so, however little that might be.

  Nik distanced himself from the world around him. With every breath that he took, Kyraneth grew more quiet and more still. He withdrew further, until nothing remained.

  He allowed himself to exist in that nothing. A void where only his flame and the tower lingered. Until he slowly began to realize that emptiness had been filled. Beyond the silence, there was a song. Beyond the stillness, there was motion. The song was a pounding rhythm, and the movement was the dance. It was life and growth, and it was the embodiment of connection. It was the tower, his tower, and it was singing its name to him.

  “Yggdrasil,” he whispered.

  The tower opened up to him, and he was no longer floating. No. He’d suddenly found himself within a very physical space. If his people went to the construction site where his home and office would soon be, they wouldn’t find him there. He’d already gone from there.

  Nik looked at the brickwork walls that surrounded him. If he took two steps in any direction he could touch it. Above him, it extended beyond where his eyes could see, and behind him, carved from the emerald bricks, stood a door.

  “That… was not what I expected to accomplish... I’m inside of the tower, for Kyraneth’s sake!” he exclaimed in wonder.

  He almost used the system to try to analyze his surroundings when the information came to him. At the desire to know more about his surroundings, the words, ‘extra-dimensional tower space’ came to the fore of his mind.

  “What’s weird, though, is that I think it's way smaller on the inside. Maybe that's because it's a smaller portion of what it was a part of before?” he asked himself.

  Realizing that he was still holding his crown, Nik made to place it in his inventory. Before he let go, however, something pressed against his power, touched the core of his resonance. The power of the space he was in had nudged him.

  This space is mine. I can't believe it, but here I am standing in the middle of it all. I could use this place to think, train, or maybe heal if I need it. This could be anything and everything I need. Well maybe not anything. It’s still pretty small, and it's not like there's a food or water source here. I could store things here to keep them safe, though, like the crown. If I were to fall, it couldn't just be looted from me, he thought.

  As he lowered the crown, a small stand rose from the floor to hold it aloft.

  Then as he originally had intended, Nik sat and focused on that small light. It wasn’t very different from the first time he'd trained with Pearl, watching the leaves fall. This task required concentration and patience, as well as the ability to keep oneself alert.

  Heartbeats, breaths, and moments passed into hours, with no visible change to the manifestation of his resonance. Nik pushed any ideas of frustration aside. He was on the edge of something; he could feel it, even if he had yet to see it. He trudged on. Need and resolve held him steady on his course.

  The soft light flared and receded, to an almost imperceptibly denser glow. Hours of effort for the slightest of changes. He pulled up the warning only to see it as nearly unchanged as the flame of his resonance. In the hours he’d been in this place, it had only gone up by a single percentage. That left him with a new mystery.

  Did my efforts somehow slow the process? Is it me simply being here that did it, or is it that time itself is moving slower here? he wondered.

  Any of those three options would mean that he needed to continue with what he was doing, even if that meant he would have to spend a highly unpleasant amount of time training here. It would be worth that cost. It had to be.

  Hours. The flame glowed brighter. One percent. That was the process he repeated.

  Hours. Brighter. One percent.

  Nik went through this cycle, falling into the rhythm like falling into a trance. At some point he’d entered a state of such pure focus that nothing had existed to him, but that flickering mote. The bricks were gone; even his arms, legs, and tail were no more. There was nothing else that mattered in these moments. As time crawled on, he watched his resonance grow until it matched the size and brilliance of a mana-torch. Only then did he realize his mistake.

  He'd lost himself in his focus. He quickly pulled up the warning message. There was no way of knowing how long had passed since the last time he'd pulled up the notification, but it felt like days.

  Warning:

  Tower Destabilization 90%

  Nik was suddenly aware of how sore his limbs felt as he pushed himself to his feet and raced for the door. It opened at the first press of his hands and he fell through, stumbling into the hole he'd been in before he'd traveled into his tower.

  “There you are! What is happening?”

  “What do we do?”

  “Burrow Lord! Protect us!”

  “Nik, what can we do to help?”

  It was a collision of shouts all battling to be heard at once. He tried to distinguish which shouts belonged to which individual as the people crowded around him and the visible emerald door at his back. The world was shaking, almost like the ground would shake during the rumble, but even the air itself was vibrating. Then he saw the faces of the people around him, all tilted upward.

  The iridescent cracks had grown into mile-wide crevices above the clouds, and they were no longer the only things that filled the sky.

  Warning:

  Tower Destabilization 95%