When Theo exited the library, he had a moment to consider whether or not he should just sit out the conflict. It seemed that the demons were only attacking as they emerged from cracks in reality, not massing in a group, so a city like Nlukoko would be capable of dealing with such an assault. Since he couldn't use any of his gravitational skills without attracting attention, it might be more logical to let them deal with it.

In the end, he headed out into the street anyway. He needed to leave to find the others, plus fighting with the handicap might be a worthwhile challenge. Since he wasn't a newborn soulcrafter anymore, base demons weren't a huge threat, and he wouldn't stand out among the random Tatian soulcrafters moving to help with the problem.

One of the first demons snarled at him as it loped across the deck, but he pulled his spear from his pack and met it face on. The creature was too slow to avoid spearing itself and he quickly pinned it down with a surge of cantae that destroyed it. That was good, but inelegant, since he wanted-

Jaws tore beside his face and he only just pulled himself away in time.

Stumbling a step back, Theo still had no idea what had attacked him, other than that it was much smaller than most demons and had flown directly at his head. He looked where it had gone and saw no demons between him and one of the flowing strands of the river... only to realize that he'd missed something.

The demon burst out of the water, its lean body shaped like a fish except for the enormous maw of teeth. This time he managed to strike it to the ground with the body of the impaled demon, but the fish demon only flopped once before it flung itself to the side, back into the water.

He hadn't run into fish demons before, but it shouldn't have surprised him, since they always seemed to adapt to the environment. Actually, it was stranger that so many of them were of the common four-clawed variety, given that Nlukoko sat on top of a lake. As far as he knew, demons appeared randomly and never fought strategically unless a higher stage demon led them.

On the third charge, the demon lunged at him... and a second burst from the water beside him, nearly tearing into his leg. Theo barely managed to twist away from the surprise attack and still impaled the other to the deck below him.

It had been a good maneuver, but he found himself dissatisfied: he wanted to avoid developing melee combat instincts. Unfortunately, though his gravitational fields could have ended the fight, he needed to avoid using them. That was why he wanted to develop a pinpoint use of gravity that could strike individual targets, which wouldn't stand out among many other skills.

As he kept the demons at bay, Theo's mind wandered back to that problem. He'd partially built that room, but it just didn't feel right yet. Gravity wasn't just random force and trying to use it that way would lead to a weaker skill. Once he had a greater array of materials, he might be able to think of a more effective application.

"Help! Help Senka!" Something came at him low, wailing, but it wasn't a demon. Theo had a split second glimpse of a short humanoid - not a Tatian child, so probably a Siatan - running toward him pursued by one of the demons.

He worried that the runner was going to get in his way, but they tripped and planted their face directly into the ground. That gave him a clean shot at the demon, so he thrust his spear directly into its mouth. It didn't take long to finish it off, but his second look at the person he'd saved left him puzzled.

She was no more than two feet tall, so about the size of a Siatan, but didn't look quite like anyone he'd ever met from Siata. The inhabitants of that world were all fairy-like creatures that exuded an otherworldly sexlessness, but something about the shape of the creature's face struck him as an adult woman. Her skin was also light blue, unlike bright Siatan colors, she wore what appeared to be a potato sack, and she had messy white hair.

"Thank you for saving Senka!" The being, whatever it was, grabbed onto his leg in blubbering gratitude. Theo gently shoved her to a more defended position, worried that she was going to cling to him, but when another demon charged at them, she dropped flat with her arms over her head.

Whatever she was, the demons weren't much of a threat to him or the other soulcrafters. A few inexperienced fighters nearly got themselves killed, and one who fell into the water might be dead, but generally base demons of any variety were no match for experienced soulcrafters... unless they managed to sacrifice themselves to summon one that was more powerful.

A dying fish demon flopped its way into the water and Theo realized that everyone had made the same mistake.

"They're sacrificing themselves in the water!" Theo called out to anyone who would listen, which turned out to be no one. With a bit of time free, he pivoted, examining the watery currents all around him. There were no more demons in the arcs of water, but underneath... he saw the turmoil beneath the surface too late.

He had expected the second stage demon to be some sort of giant fish, but a humanoid arm reached from out of the water. The body it pulled up onto the platform was roughly human in shape, but grotesquely muscled in a way that resembled no species in the Nine Worlds.

Theo stabbed it in the chest before it could get out of the water, but the demon only grunted, then lunged upward wildly. Even expecting it to attack, he barely threw himself backward in time. His blow to the chest hadn't gone deep and didn't slow down the demon at all.

Some idiot with a sword charged at the demon, only to be stabbed by its brutally spiked sword. Theo hesitated, but even trying to attack while it was distracted would be futile. A second stage demon was superior to any first tier soulcrafter in raw strength, so the only possible methods to defeat them required strategy.

With three gravitational fields combined, could he pin it down? As the demon advanced, Theo attempted to ward it off with a stabbing blow, but the spear was knocked from his hands, leaving his fingers numb. When he tried to retrieve it, the demon kicked the spear over the edge, sending it vanishing into the depths of the lake. Now he had no choice but to reveal his abilities... or use them in a cleverer way.

Ducking underneath the sword when it went for his neck, Theo pretended to uppercut the demon. Such a blow would have been idiotic, but instead he struck the demon with three reversed gravitational fields. It instantly fell into the sky, which only bought him a little time, since it would get out of his range and fall back down. Maybe the landing would kill it, but he didn't think that was a good bet.

"It's a second stage demon!" He looked around and saw more attention on him this time, including a few who looked like they knew what they were doing. "You, are you an Archcrafter? You need to hit that thing the moment it comes down."

The muscled man, who wielded what appeared to be a smith's hammer, nodded grimly. He didn't look like a fool, but Theo wasn't sure if he was actually a warrior. Hopefully the demon would be disoriented, because otherwise the conflict could turn bloody quickly.

As the demon plummeted back down, a woman stepped from the crowd and hurled a needle of light. He hadn't noticed her before, but in the moment she struck, she unveiled an Archcrafter's soulhome. The needle speared through the demon's chest, not enough to kill it or send it flying, but the demon landed with a heavy crash and the smith brought his hammer down on the demon's head the next second.

It did what hammers usually do to heads. Theo breathed a sigh of relief.

Without the cooperation of Archcrafters, that could have gone very poorly. In no other world would Archcrafters listen to someone like him, but for once he was glad for Tatian culture. Unfortunately, he was now attracting a lot of attention, and even if he looked like some kind of spear-wielding martial artist, he didn't want that.

"Got a good head on your shoulders, lad," the smith said. Theo stepped up to him and touched one muscled arm in the Tatian fashion.

"Thank you, but I need to find my friends. Take care of everything here."

With that, he moved away, doing his best to slip into the crowds and disappear. Some looked after him, but since there were still a few demons in the city, they were distracted. Soon he jumped over a narrow gap between platforms and slipped into an alleyway, finally getting way from the crowds.

"Good job!" Someone landed on his shoulders and he barely recognized the strange being in time not to strike her. "You're smart! You gotta real blooky head!"

He hesitated, wondering first how she'd gotten there and second what she had just said. With all the languages he'd learned, fully or partially, he'd expected to be able to understand everyone in the Nine Worlds, yet the adjective she'd used sounded like utter nonsense to him. Unless he'd encountered more languages than he expected, he couldn't come up with an explanation.

"You're safe now, so you don't need to stay with me." Theo decided that he didn't care and just pulled her off his shoulders, setting her down. "I need to go."

"No!" She grabbed his leg and held on, even when he started to walk dragging her along the ground. "There's a big mean fumpet looking for Senka! You've gotta help Senka!"

Realizing that she would just draw more attention, Theo gave up on abandoning her easily and stared down at the inexplicable creature. "So... your name is Senka?"

"How did you know Senka's name?" She gasped with both hands flying to her mouth. "Wow, you must be real sporping smart!"

"I need you to be quiet. Can you do that?"

Senka immediately put a finger to her lips and made a shshing noise that was almost louder than they had been talking. She did shut up after that, though, and simply followed him like an eager puppy as he move further away from the heart of the conflict, toward the markets.

It seemed that the demon outbreak had been fairly light and thus contained, so he found himself glancing back at his new follower. For an irrational moment he thought she might be some kind of demon, then realized that wasn't possible. Demons had complete voids in the place of soulhomes, whereas Senka... actually, he wasn't sure what to make of it. There was something there, dense and lacking in soulcrafting, more similar to a beast's soul than a person's.

As far as he knew, there were no sublime beasts capable of speaking, even at her limited level... if they could speak, they would be considered people instead of sublime beasts. It annoyed him, and he intended to look into it further, but there were higher priorities. Fortunately, it wasn't long before he spotted Fiyu and Nauda hurrying toward him.

"You are safe." Fiyu's relief spread nakedly across her face, and if there was any doubt... "I am glad."

"Who's this?" Nauda asked, pointing the end of her staff at Senka, who grabbed the end with both hands cheerfully.

"I'm Senka!" she declared, then promptly tried to chew on the staff. Nauda's eyes narrowed and she tugged her weapon back. Not wanting to cause another scene, Theo decided to step in.

"I saved her during the fight and she won't go away. Forget that - do we need to worry about the local guard being everywhere?"

"The Nlukoko guard actually doesn't help much with demon attacks, they're more about controlling the community." Nauda's gaze scanned the city around them, hunting for something in particular. "I'm more worried about the Lord... he might want to make an appearance."

"Does this change our plan?" Fiyu asked. She looked like she might say more, but Theo was more paranoid about Senka. Since she hadn't responded to reason before, he instead created a gravitational field and pinned her to the ground, making her eyes go wide.

"Sporp! What are you doing to Senka? This is a blooky feeling..."

"We need you to stay here where it's safe." Theo managed to keep his tone friendly, but only just. "Go find... whoever you're in the city to find. We can't help you anymore, and it might be more dangerous to stay with us."

They left Senka behind, despite her mutters of nonsense words - at least she didn't start yelling at them and attracting attention. As soon as they reached a safe distance, Nauda spoke to both of them in a low voice.

"I don't know how Nlukoko's agreement with the Landguards relates to demons, but there's a chance they might come to investigate. We need to get beyond their range until things just calm down."

"Does that mean using a gate?" Theo asked. "Unless you found a vehicle..."

"No, they're too expensive, and we wouldn't be prepared for the journey anyway." Nauda bit her lower lip for a moment, then came to a swift decision. "There are only two passages to other worlds in Nlukoko. Supposedly there's a door to Noven, but it's tightly controlled. So our only option is to get through the gate to Deuxan before they reorganize from the demon attack."

"That's a good plan. I have a few ideas for..." Theo trailed off as he felt an immensely powerful presence ahead of them, and a moment later they all saw the Lord of Nlukoko descend to one of the largest platforms.

His identity was obvious, given that he was broadcasting an Authority's power. With a flick of a finger, he rained fire down on several sections of the city, apparently destroying remaining demons. The golden fire didn't set the city ablaze, thankfully, simply dissolving back into cantae.

Four golden wings arched behind his back, marking him as an inhabitant of Noven. Theo wondered what Eratius would have thought of him, which quickly sent his thoughts slipping toward the memory of his rival's body being killed by a demon. He racked his brain for anything Eratius had said about golden wings, but even filtering through the other man's scorn, he thought that golden wings were just another ethnicity in Noven, nothing remarkable.

When he finally landed atop a building, the Lord of Nlukoko boomed out to the surrounding region. "People of Nlukoko! There has been a minor intrusion from demons, but none of them can stand up to my might. Anywhere they still lurk, merely raise your voices and I will erase them from this world."

Pure grandstanding, since he had only shown up after the main conflict was over. It was true that he could easily have destroyed all the demons, though, and his nonchalance seemed more laziness than confidence. Though he tried to put off a grand appearance, Theo could just see what looked like a wine stain across part of his robe, and one of his shoes wasn't fully buckled.

"That's him." Nauda stared upward, her fingers tight on her staff. "Ariano of the Golden Wings. Do you recognize anything about him, Theo?"

"Looks like he's from Noven, but don't let the title fool you. Their wings come in all colors naturally, it's not anything he earned. He's just showing off in a foreign world where he can get away with it."

They began to move again, keeping an eye on Ariano while making their way toward the gate. As they went, Fiyu regarded him thoughtfully. "He is a fourth tier soulcrafter, but you spoke harshly. Do you not respect him, Theo?"

"I wouldn't pick a fight with him, but no, not really." Though Theo kept his voice down, just in case Ariano had extremely enhanced hearing, he didn't think it likely. "Most likely he washed out in Noven, unable to compete once he ascended beyond Ruler. Given the choice between being a servant in a higher court or an invincible god somewhere else, which do you think he'd pick?"

Nauda nodded slowly. "That would match his behavior. As far as I could tell, he only seems interested in securing his rule over the city and enriching himself."

"Authority-tier soulcrafters might not be common, but I've met more than a few like him. For those who can't compete with elites, the temptation to go somewhere else and live like a king is just too high. That's why you'll often find Authorities as the rulers of their own little fiefdoms, more often than other tiers."

"If I could unseat him, I would, but right now that feels nearly impossible..."

Nauda cut off as Fiyu's hands gripped their clothes tightly. Instead of speaking, she pointed upward, and Theo noticed what she had immediately: there was another figure flying over the city. Judging from the Tatian robes, it was a Landguard. He feared a conflict at first, but the Landguard instead floated to speak to Ariano.

Whatever they were negotiating, he didn't want to see it. Nauda took the lead as they ran as fast as they dared, closing in on the gate to Deuxan. The silver arch was contained by a guard post serving as an inter-world checkpoint, surrounded by a market filled with Deuxan goods. Normally getting through would have been a tense affair, but it seemed the demon attack had struck there worse than the rest of the city, and many were staring at the Authorities, so they had a chance.

While everyone was distracted, they vaulted one of the stalls and crept in. He expected to hear a shout at any second, but no one noticed them and then they plunged into the silvery wall.

Once he'd found it repetitive, but Theo thrilled as he felt himself shift between worlds: the vastness of other dimensions spreading before him, the feeling of being a mote that barely existed, and a new world whirling into being around him. He'd spent so long in Tatian, transitioning between worlds again was a source of pure joy.

On the other end, they found the Deuxan side of the gate mostly abandoned in the center of a pale wasteland. Other than a trail that must bring Deuxan goods to Tatian, there was little sign of civilization, just grasslands that shimmered bronze in all directions. He took a deep breath, enjoying every little difference in this world. Especially the sun... he'd forgotten how good that hot white disc could feel.

"I do not think that anyone saw us," Fiyu said.

"Yay!"

Everyone turned to look, even though Theo knew what he was going to see. Senka stood behind them, staring at Deuxan and leeching away all his wonder. Of course.