Book One: Soulhome

Theo’s first journey in the Nine Worlds ended in tragedy. The mentor who first taught him how to survive in the Nine demanded that he return to Earth, and when he refused, killed him and his allies. Theo survived only due to a quirk of fate, his soul returning to a hospital bed on Earth.

After struggling to find a way back for forty years, Theo finally returns to the Nine Worlds, this time emerging in the peaceful world of Tatian. Reborn as a young man, he finds that he retains none of his former soulhome’s power and must start again from scratch, starting with rediscovering the ability to wield cantae.

As travellers from other worlds emerge from the cracks in reality, he meets a shy Ichili woman named Fiyu and Navim, a Mundhin stoneshaper from the world of Arbai. Together, they set off to help the local Farmguards to guide the refugees back to their home worlds. Along the way, he also meets a hostile young man named Magnafor who he quickly recognizes as a fellow visitor from Earth.

Before long, Theo is pressed into action alongside Fiyu, Navim, and the Farmguards to defend the other travelers against a demonic invasion. The last few demons sacrifice themselves to summon a powerful second-tier demon, and in desperation he activates the cantae inscriptions on his spear to destroy it. The power almost kills Theo, but in the process, it awakens his soulcrafting abilities and grants him access to his soul’s empty foundation.

Having proved themselves in combat, Theo and some of the other refugees are invited to the Landguard village in the city of Myufuru to be trained as soulcrafters. Soon afterwards, the students are split into teams to compete amongst each other, and a young Tatian woman named Nauda selects him at the urging of her first pick, Fiyu.

Soon, Theo has to put his nascent soulhome to the test when demons attack a nearby village and the students are sent to help deal with the attack. Nauda proves to be a strong fighter, with an unusual binding technique allowing her to freeze the demons in place while others attack them, and Fiyu’s lightstorm bolts prove essential for dealing with the flying insect-like demons.

Afterwards, Theo attempts to ignite the solar core which will serve as the heart of his soulhome, but to his horror it explodes catastrophically and permanently scars the walls of his central chamber, leaving his plans in tatters. Forced to change blueprints, he remodels his bright sunlit soulhome concept to instead revolve around a dark singularity.

As the student teams begin to compete against each other, Theo creates his new blueprint’s first technique chamber: an ability to cast gravitational fields over his opponents. The unusual skill proves effective in combat, but some Deuxan foul play forces Nauda, Fiyu and Theo to fight alone after the rest of their team is poisoned. Against the odds, they win the match, and are rewarded with a private feast where they are served potent sublime foods.

Theo decides to inform the head trainer, Nanjuma, of his suspicions that Magnafor is planning to break into the Landguard village’s vault of high-tier sublime materials, but stops short of making a direct accusation. He is more forthcoming with his teammates, revealing a little of his history, and to his surprise they agree to help him.

When the next match starts, one of Theo’s teammates uses a powerful Archcrafter armament to fight Navim, but loses control and a blast from the staff shatters the Mundhin’s rocky body. None of the local healers can help, and Magnafor suggests that they rush to Navim’s homeworld, Arbai. As they arrive in Arbai, however, Magnafor betrays them and returns to Tatian, sealing the gate behind him.

Stranded in the Arbaian desert, Theo and his allies rush to bring Navim to his school, where he can be healed. Theo strikes a deal with the school’s master, a fourth-tier Authority with the ability to use weirkeys, to return them to Myufuru so they can pursue Magnafor. They arrive to find the training village overrun by demons. They pursue Magnafor through the battle, but are delayed by his allies long enough to watch him reach the giant tree housing the vault… just in time to watch the entire tree to twist in on itself and snap out of existence entirely.

In the aftermath, Nanjuma is questioned by Landguards about visitors from other worlds, but to Theo’s relief he only mentions Magnafor. Nauda and Fiyu are just as keen to leave as Theo, and they agree to venture into the north of Tatian, back towards Nauda’s home.

Book Two: Rainhorn

Theo, Nauda, and Fiyu split up to avoid attracting attention and agree to meet at the city of Nlukoko. On the way, Theo narrowly avoids being caught by a Landguard searching for interlopers from other worlds. Soon after evading him, he is joined by Nauda on the outskirts of the city, and discovers that Fiyu has already arrived, cloaked in her new stealth ability. Together, they find their way past the guards and into Nlukoko.

As they explore the city, Nauda explains her plan: to earn enough money to afford a vehicle and supplies to venture into the wilderness to the north of Nlukoko, to find a gate to the world of Fithe. The large city on the other side is a hub with gates to several worlds, including Fiyu’s home, Ichil, so Theo and Fiyu quickly agree.

While Nauda and Fiyu look for transportation, Theo visits the city’s expansive library to research Elghiera, a mythical soulcrafter who traveled widely across the Nine Worlds and left behind powerful artifacts. In his first life, Theo had been given a protective ring which Vistgil called an Artifact of Elghiera, but Theo is unable to find any concrete information about them before his reading is interrupted by the sounds of a demon attack.

Joining the battle, Theo rescues a small, unusual being called Senka before helping to defeat a powerful second-stage demon. As he leaves to find Fiyu and Nauda, Senka attaches herself to his leg and refuses to leave him alone, complaining that a “big mean fumpet” is looking for her. Soon enough, a Landguard arrives to meet with the Lord of Nlukoko, so Nauda suggests that they make a break for the city’s gate to Deuxan and lay low until the Landguards move on. They succeed in slipping through the gate, but not in evading Senka, who follows them through and attaches herself to their group.

After finding their bearings, the group head towards the nearby city of Anguedan. On the way, they are introduced to the harsh side of Deuxan’s stratified society when they encounter a minor noble commandeering a wagon from some villagers. Nauda confronts him and Theo narrowly guides her away from being pulled into a duel, explaining that even minor insults are often answered by combat challenges in Deuxan. They decide to take some minor revenge by stealing from the noble's private forest, and Senka unexpectedly helps them by sniffing out some buried sublime materials.

Theo visits a local establishment to gather information and is shocked to discover that a century has elapsed since his last visit to the Nine. He returns to find that Fiyu has unwittingly insulted a young member of the local ruling family, who promptly challenges her to a duel. She misunderstands the rules and nearly kills her opponent before Theo intervenes. Unsatisfied, the group’s leader, Esaire ai Armaeu, forces another duel which Nauda wins, despite having her arm broken, and earning a bloodprice from Delarde, one of Esaire’s Archcrafter companions.

Back at their inn, Nauda reports that they will need to earn a lot more money to be able to afford a sleigh which would allow them to return to Tatian and travel to the gate to Fithe. They agree to remain in Anguedan until the upcoming rainhorn hunt, to take advantage of the high prices paid for the slain sublime beasts. Nauda decides to skip paying for a healer by instead ascending to Archcrafter, reinforcing her body and unlocking space for another floor in her soulhome.

While they wait for the hunt, the group earns money through guard jobs, demon extermination, and a bit of gambling on the side. Theo also visits the court library of Anguedan, hoping to learn about the family of his old ally Brigana ai Teraeves, but discovers he is being followed by Esaire. Finding no information about the Teraeves family, Theo manages to extract himself before attracting any more unwanted attention.

When the Rainhorn Hunt begins, Theo, Nauda and Fiyu find they can hunt the beasts effectively by combining Nauda’s strength, Theo’s gravity powers, and Fiyu’s stealth. However, they are unable to avoid being ambushed by Esaire’s allies, and Theo finds himself forced into a wager against the noble scion. They decide to purchase their sleigh early so they can leave immediately after the hunt, but on the last day, they are drawn into another fight and are forced to flee to Tatian by stealing one of the Armeau family’s sleighs.

After stopping briefly in Nlukoko to gather supplies and make another visit to the library, Theo is aghast to find that Senka has followed them… and that she did so by hitching a ride with some angry Deuxans. They immediately flee the city, but the Armeau family gives chase. They maintain their distance for a time, but are forced to hide when an enormous sublime beast called an eryo ambushes them. When the Deuxans catch up, Theo and his allies barely escape and take refuge in a cave as Esaire is wounded fighting off the eryo.

Before the group can move on, Delarde finds them in the cave and they are forced to fight him to the death. Theo extinguishes the lights to help Fiyu remain in stealth, and Nauda uses a blast from her nullstone to open Delarde’s defences long enough to administer a killing blow. Before long, all of the Deuxans are defeated, but one of them creates a cantae explosion with the last of his energy, summoning the still-hungry eryo to the mouth of the cave.

Exhausted, Theo wracks his brains for a solution while his allies recover. Soon, he realizes that their only chance is to use the beast’s size against it via his gravity techniques, but that he will need the cantae of an Archcrafter against such a powerful beast. He uses some sublime fairysilk to fashion a makeshift trampoline and pushes through the barrier above his soulhome, flooding him with newly-powerful cantae. Together with Nauda and Fiyu, he manages to slay the eryo by bombarding it with rocks accelerated by his multiplied gravity fields.

After harvesting the eryo’s carcass for its powerful sublime materials, the group sets off for the gate to Fithe. When they arrive, Nauda shows them something unexpected: an enormous cliff running around the entire planet, separating the lush verdant half of Tatian from a blackened wasteland on the other side. As they depart for Fithe, Theo realizes that he knows much less about the Nine Worlds than he had previously thought.

Back in Deuxan, Esaire is chastised by his grandfather Arceon for allowing the vendetta to get out of hand. Struggling to explain himself, he mentions that Theo had been searching not just for money or sublime materials, but also information. Arceon unexpectedly reacts with shock when Esaire mentions the Teraeves family name, and Esaire is no less confused when the family head abruptly decides that they need to arrange a trip to Fithe...