Amdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic

“The Energy Drain Power you gave Erwarth has allowed her to recover more of the lost. Have you listened to the thread it sets into the souls?” asked Roher.

Amdirlain shook her head.

“This is just a thought, so we’ll have to work out the details. What if we mark the damned with an identical marker rather than one adjusted for each target? Use that to target thousands at once and remove them from the Plane. I’d suggest leaving false Mana and planar traces, so it seems as if another Demon Lord is stealing them,” proposed Roher, gesturing absently as if flicking a concern away. “Though stopping them from shifting back between planes is also something we’ll need to manage.”

“There are the Treasury’s enchanted soul containers. They also use them to extract certain negative emotions and compress the souls. It even works on a Damned, though the Hag complained about its muddy quality.”

“The terms on the demons is that they must take souls that don’t belong in the Abyss to Judgement after extracting the emotions they find pleasurable. Neither they nor we have to do that to souls that have naturally ended up here,” commented Roher. “What do you want to do to the souls long term? Flawed souls taken to Judgement would likely end up back here.”

“Even if we don’t have the Titan’s forge, can we do a purification of the souls? Purge their memories and heal the worst of the flaws so we can give the souls a fresh start.”

“Phoenix girl,” chuffed Sarah, and she snorted with laughter.

“Laugh it up, sparkle butt,” grumped Amdirlain.

Sarah's howl of laughter stopped Roher's immediate objection, but he spoke up once she’d settled down. “We’ve not previously influenced any souls’ journey after their creation.”

“That’s not true, and you should know that,” countered Amdirlain.

Roher gave her a puzzled frown until realisation dawned. “The elves?”

“They got treated like children by both the Anar and Lómë. Five species of elves that we hopped with us whenever we moved to a new planet,” confirmed Amdirlain. “You think their involvement with us didn’t influence their souls?”

“That’s different,” protested Roher, exhaling in exasperation.

“Why? Because we created them when we initially had no option for children? Even when we did, it was only the limited numbers of the reborn. We clung to the species we created to fill that role of children, but eventually treated them as servants instead.”

“I… might not have enough older memories to give me a proper perspective of them,” admitted Roher. “I can’t remember when they weren’t part of our communities as servants. That they appreciated the ease of life being part of our communities provided was my biggest impression.”

“It’s a problem with the current life helping attune the memories,” allowed Amdirlain. “It avoids the personality being overwhelmed, but the full historical perspective is sometimes missing.”

Roher looked lost in thought for a time, but he eventually nodded.

“Alright, so we plan for purification, but that will take time and might need the souls in an uncompressed state,” pondered Roher, stroking his thumb along his jawline. “Do you have the melody for those containers?”

“I’ll write them out and test that I’ve got everything,” replied Amdirlain.

“If you can provide those, we’ll see if we can change the songs to cleanse their corruption and memories. Then the biggest challenge is the amount of space we’d need to effect a meaningful change. Creating a full plane isn’t something True Song allows for; trapped as we are, even something like The Exchange’s Demi-plane would be problematic.”

Amdirlain almost opened her mouth to protest the limitation, but cut herself off.

“You had a thought?” asked Roher.

“Just that the music of planes differs, so I thought-”

The indulgent smile Roher gave had Amdirlain expecting to be called on the lie. “The Songbird’s work, not that of the Anar or Lómë. Like with my purification burst, trying to sing the results of a song doesn’t always provide the music for its creation.”

What else did you leave out of the sharing between them, Orhêthurin?

“Where did you want to start first?” Amdirlain enquired, eager to move the conversation along.

“One of those containers and some damned souls so we can listen to the emotion removal and the Soul’s compression,” answered Roher. “If you would arrange those, I’ll talk to some of the more skilled composers about your net for rescuing mortals.”

“Thanks, Roher,” blurted Amdirlain.

The compassion in his eyes made it clear Roher caught her meaning. “Amdirlain, even if we have to make more of these than there are stars, we will find him.”

With that declaration, he let the Gate close.

“You didn’t tell him about Gail’s project,” noted Sarah.

“Please, she’s barely three. I don’t think Gail needs someone watching over her shoulder in anticipation of their rescue,” rebuffed Amdirlain.

“Plus, you like keeping secrets,” teased Sarah. “You almost spilled the planar one.”

“I remembered the main framework being built. I didn’t know they hadn’t been involved in creating more,” protested Amdirlain. “Maybe it’s related to how the information in your Soul and thoughts remains out of audible range. I’ll have to be extremely careful in casual conversation with them.”

“Well, it used to be one mouth, two ears; use them in that ratio. But I think you need to tilt the ratio even further away from speaking,” suggested Sarah. “Got to watch it. They can’t hear your theme even if they’d listen, but they’ve got trained Perception to fall back on.”

“Another thing I’ve left stagnant. Precognition, and now Resonance, take up the heavy lifting from Perception.”

“Sounds like you need to go searching for wally,” laughed Sarah.

“You’re the wally,” grumbled Amdirlain.

“Meow,” taunted Sarah.

Giving an exaggerated sigh, Amdirlain planted her hands on her hips. “Geez, I let you in the house, and now I’ll never get rid of you.”

“Where’s my dinner, servant?” Sarah asked haughtily before she pretended to lick her forepaw.

Suppressing a snicker, Amdirlain rolled her eyes and got to work. A few minutes later, the glow stabilised into the form of the Treasury's small soul jar, its opening quickly sealed when the bile-green barrier snapped into place. With its creation stabilised, Sarah sidled closer to the table and started her examination.

“Though more seriously, use Resonance, and focus on an object. Don’t just stop at hearing its song or even picking up details about its structure. Dig into it and find out not only if the t’s are crossed, but are they straight or slanted, or are the I’s dotted directly in the middle or to one side. Learn its history and flaws, then, instead of being able to do a passable copy, you’ll learn far more.”

“Overheard a few lessons in your younger days?” enquired Amdirlain, noting how Sarah kept her attention fixed on the jar.

“She did a lot of teaching, though I modernised that one for you,” admitted Sarah.

Amdirlain wrinkled her nose. “She was certain most of her students disliked her.”

“In awe of her is more the point. By the end, she was the only Anar known not to have been reborn at least once, and some had been reborn more times than me,” countered Sarah, even while she continued to examine the container.

“I can see that to Orhêthurin the outcome was the same. Whatever their reason, it left her isolated and alone most of the time. Then, by the time Mori came along, she had to work hard to overcome her habit of having the walls in place.”

“Sorry, Amdirlain. From what I remember of their interactions, she never really took those walls down. Some secrets can be too isolating,” offered Sarah, and she returned the container to the table. “You mentioned that the bigger containers needed to be reinforced?”

Happy for the subject change, Amdirlain nodded. “Yeah, but no idea how they managed it.”

“I might need to experiment. It would be inefficient to sing billions of these into existence, even to act as temporary holdings.”

“True, it also means we’d only be able to draw in a few souls with each batch. How about I get a few dozen souls, see how many it can contain, and then figure out the adjustments we need?”

“Tagging enough souls to make this worthwhile is also going to take a while,” commented Sarah.

“I’ve already got an idea about that,” Amdirlain said, and her edged smile drew Sarah's attention.

“What are you up to?”

“We’re going to use demons,” stated Amdirlain, and she deliberately waited until Sarah started to ask for more details before teleporting away.

After she ignored the first message, another didn’t follow. A few hops later, once she’d broken up the trail and changed form, Amdirlain was scrambling amidst the mangrove canopy again. When she found her first target, it appeared like she was just another Demon tormenting one of the damned. With the small yet sharp claws of the Gilöglp’s form, she found pinpricks proved enough damage for Energy Drain to catch hold. She repeatedly jabbed a claw into it and, ignoring the corruption that oozed out, listened to the Power that linked the black thread of energy into its Soul.

The compressed burst of sound took her hours to decipher and, after she caught it all, she slowly adjusted the composition. She released the damned back to the thrashing branches with each successful change, composed more adjustments, and sang again. It was nearly a day before she had what she needed, and teleporting to the hill outside the mangroves, she could feel the rope stretch between them.

A mental yank caused the damned to materialise beside her and then slide within her form. With it secured, a Teleport took her back among the branches. Hidden out of sight, she set the Power’s connection within a crystal and tied it to a melody to target the damned.

With the crystal clenched in her mouth, she used skip teleports to move among the trees until she could feel the strain from the number of damned tied to her. She pulled them to her in increasingly larger groups, paying attention to the energy beneath her skin. With the last of them tucked away, Amdirlain teleported again.

This time her arrival was quiet and concealed, positioned in a ditch outside a training township whose image Caltzan had once provided Torm. Resonance extended in a line to sweep across the demons, and Amdirlain gathered the information she sought. When she returned to Sarah, she was nearly a thousand souls and dozens of songs richer.

“At last, she returns,” Sarah teased, not taking her gaze from an outline of a massive drum nearly four times Amdirlain’s height. The ectoplasm rippled as drawn runes shifted places along its surface.

“Having fun playing with your toys?” asked Amdirlain, and she collected the Soul Jar from the table.

Sarah huffed. “Well, it’s slightly better than if I was playing with myself.”

“Yeah, go polish some scales,” retorted Amdirlain, and Sarah snickered.

Amdirlain started releasing Souls into the jar, but after ten, she had to stop, the bright light of the runes almost challenging Sarah’s glow.

“How many did you collect?”

“Nearly a thousand, but that’s only ten in there so far,” admitted Amdirlain.

“You’re slowing down if it took you that long to wander around tapping them on the nose,” commented Sarah.

“Isolating the Power’s song was one thing, but it formed a connection to a Soul so quickly, it was hard to catch the effect’s song. Then I had to change it, so it didn’t need physical contact,” explained Amdirlain.

“Then you kept going until you got it working in a crystal and tweaked that until you strengthened the ability to pull them in,” Sarah finished knowingly.

Amdirlain gave a wry smile. “I strengthened the effect first, smart-alec.”

“How about an experiment: you tag those fellows, I’ll release them on Ternòx, and give them a head start and see if they return,” suggested Sarah.

“Pretty sure they’ll come back, though the process might take a few days. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to try,” Amdirlain commented. “I’d suggest releasing them outside the Lómë’s purification field. It’s designed to incinerate demons, but I’m not sure what it would do to damned souls.”

“I sent Roher a message when you headed off, so he wouldn’t bother you,” Sarah explained. “A few hours ago, he asked if you’d contact him when you have time.”

“You taking on the job of my secretary?”

“Please, that puts me completely on the wrong side of the equation,” huffed Sarah. “I’m just handling organising your play dates.”

“Yes, mum,” Amdirlain chimed. “Though you're only a few months older than me.”

“I gained a few extra years on you when the Titan released me into Hell earlier,” reminded Sarah.

Amdirlain briefly wore a pained expression before pushing it aside. It didn’t take long to create another jar slightly larger than the last, but it glowed just as brightly when she’d released ten souls into it.

“See, it's not the size that matters,” snickered Sarah.

“Everyone who has said that knows it's a lie,” retorted Amdirlain.

“Guess you got some memories back then,” teased Sarah. “Did you review them for research?”

“Hush you,” Amdirlain said, glad she could prevent the blush.

Sarah’s tail twitched expressively, her attention remaining fixed on Amdirlain. “Are you going to explain your bit about getting demons to help?”

The smirk Sarah received earned a frustrated sigh before Amdirlain relented. “How does Hell hold the forces of the Abyss at bay?”

“Planning, scouting, discipline, and turning their forces against each other,” replied Sarah warily.

“You said you lost some levels in Mineral Control?” asked Amdirlain.

“Why?”

“Guess you should look at a large-scale manufacturing control to get your mojo back,” replied Amdirlain cryptically.

A sharp sound echoed in the chamber from the sudden tap of an extended claw. “Continuing to add puzzles will get you in trouble, missy.”

Waving her off, Amdirlain burst out laughing. “What do demons carry with them everywhere?”

“Weapons, if they can afford them,” replied Sarah.

“I take it you remember what demonic weapons feel like from when you were picking over their dead?”

Sarah regarded Amdirlain with wary curiosity. “What do you need me to make?”

“I stopped outside a training town and listened to their armoury,” replied Amdirlain. One after another, she created examples of the weaponry she’d heard within the building.

“You provide enough of the abyssal steel and corpse wood used in their crafting, and I’ll make you as many as you want,” declared Sarah.

“Not so fast,” cautioned Amdirlain. “Here is where it gets tricky, and why I don’t just sing a bunch into existence. I need the weapon to keep its balance after we insert a crystal into its handle.”

“How big a crystal are you talking about?”

“I had thought about the sword’s pommel stone or a long needle. Let me know what sizes would work best for the various weapons.”

“Demons don’t have fancy weapons when they’re in the rank and file, so a fully enclosed crystal would avoid attention,” suggested Sarah.

Amdirlain gave a satisfied nod. “Might be for the best; I could set songs to shatter the crystal if anything broke the weapon.”

“That just leaves you creating enough crystals,” observed Sarah.

“Guess I better contact Roher,” replied Amdirlain. “I’ll need to devise other ways to reach as far across Culerzic as possible without having to go everywhere myself.”

“We’ll need to develop them,” corrected Sarah. “You’re not on your own.”

When Amdirlain contacted Roher, she received a quick response that provided a time to expect him.

“He’ll be a couple of hours,” announced Amdirlain. “I’ll get started on the supplies for your work.”

“How about carving out a storehouse for materials and the results before I get started?” suggested Sarah.

When Amdirlain created a vaulted chamber the length of a squash court, Sarah snorted derisively. “Go bigger.”

“Thought you said size doesn’t matter,” teased Amdirlain.

“If I’m going to stretch Mineral Control, I will need to make thousands of weapons,” advised Sarah.

“A chamber on each side of the main shaft?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a kilometre reach on the power, so don’t skimp,” advised Sarah.

After adjusting the first, Amdirlain ended up with two vaulted chambers the length of a football field. They connected to the main chamber by passages four metres on opposing sides of the shaft to make it easier to avoid them intersecting. The first stack of abyssal steel ingots was nearing the ceiling when she heard the Gate in the main chamber open.

The opening was larger than she’d expected; with Roher were ten Lómë that Amdirlain hadn’t met yet. Despite the similarity of their features, elements among the group varied their appearance wildly. Vibrant hair colours ran a gauntlet between individuals from dark blue to bright red and onwards to pale green.

“Amdirlain, I wanted to introduce you to some singers who have already volunteered to take time to help with the crystals,” said Roher, his sapphire blue gaze burning with excitement.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do together,” replied Amdirlain and, recognising their accumulated experience, she inclined her head respectfully to those gathered.

Roher gestured towards a male Lómë on the end, whose hair was an indigo hue that almost shone despite the depth of its colour. The deep colour contrasted dramatically with his pale, spearmint green irises and the usual Lómë bronze-gold skin tone. “First is Laergul. He’d also like to work with you to evolve your True Song once it is in the Senior Master rank.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Laergul. We should likely talk afterwards,” replied Amdirlain. “It's Senior Master level 48 at present.”

Laergul paused in mid-reply, lips slightly parted in thought before he continued. “It’s an honour, Amdirlain. I know your rapid progress shouldn’t surprise me. Still, I find your growth a shock, be it a delightful one, and I look forward to seeing what you can accomplish.”

With that, Laergul let Roher complete the introductions of those waiting, each offering to assist her in progressing with varying powers and skills.

“Amdirlain, this is my conspiracy chorus, as my wife has taken to calling them. They assisted with the first project Isa helped us undertake,” Roher said after he’d completed the introductions. “We don’t have to start yet, but I wanted you to meet them.”

“If you’ve all spare time now, I’d like to get started,” replied Amdirlain, and they all nodded.

“How would you like to begin?” asked Roher, when the last member signalled their readiness.

“I’m going to need lots of small True Song Crystals,” stated Amdirlain, and she glanced over at Sarah. “What’s a good general size?”

“Go for the thickness of a heavy darning needle,” suggested Sarah, and a glob of ectoplasm reformed, hovering in the air to serve as a guide.

“We’ll start slowly adding a chorus member at a time,” explained Roher. “Working on forming a crystal with each of us will require 22 songs. Rather than just going straight to that, we’ll start with me alone and add another singer once we’re five cycles through each formation. I'll signal the next person to wait if I notice any issues with you stabilising the existing songs.”

“That sounds good,” confirmed Amdirlain, and her smile of anticipation brought a chuckle from the group.

“We’ve each a slightly different timbre to our vocals. Hopefully, that aids you in separating the duets,” offered Laergul.

“Erwarth mentioned you’re very focused once you get working, but initially, we’ll break every 2 hours to check the results of the crystals,” advised Roher. “Since crystals that size should only take a few minutes each, we'll finish the current songs once we hit the 2 hours. The most we’ll go is one crystal per singer for this first run.”

At Amdirlain’s nod, Roher began, and as he reached the intro’s ends, she blended two songs with his own. After the first five singers, the difficulty of blending songs started to climb, their complexity making each addition a noticeable stretch.

When the last singer started, Amdirlain could feel the strain on her concentration. The energy’s intensity pressed hard against her, all the moving parts grinding and shoving against her concentration and will. With the strain of the musical batons being exchanged, Amdirlain was glad Roher had kept the restriction to one crystal each. When they finally wound down, it had become a cyclone of sound reverberating through her bones.

[Crafting Summary (Category: Basic utility item [minor]) - experience by item grade:

Journeyman: 380 x 5 = 30 (base) + 350 (exotic) (x50%)

Masterwork: 400 x 235 = 50 (base) + 350 (exotic) (x50%)

Total Experience gained: 47,950

Ostimë +23,975

Ontãlin +23,975

Multi-voice [M] (43->45)

Duet [Ad] (27->36)]

“How long does master grade crystal normally last?” asked Amdirlain.

“It depends on the strain we’re putting on them. Everything in the Abyss is always under pressure,” explained Roher. “Indeed, many of the older relics we arrived with have shattered over the aeons, even without being used.”

“I noted a few wobbles when the last singers joined, but you stabilised quickly,” observed Laergul. “They’ll account for the crystals that have the most dissonance. Since you don’t need an insight stone, how did your progress go?”

“Duet and Multi-voice both progressed well from that,” said Amdirlain. “Insight crystal? Is that the Lómë version of an Imprint stone?”

“Something close to that, though it will also highlight abilities you’re close to evolving,” explained Roher. “I noticed the improvements in your singing and admit I hadn’t expected it to be obvious in a single session.”

“It’s the force of your Intelligence and Willpower,” remarked Laergul. “We can’t hear your song, but we can hear the intensity of your singing and how you're continually adjusting to avoid previous errors. There is no give in you except where the music expects it.”

“Shall we begin again?”

“Will you push the shards through?” requested Roher. “We’ll have someone prepare the songs for them when the composer’s review is done.”

The crystals floated towards Sarah as she transformed into a willowy brunette Human. Hunting leathers suddenly enfolded her, and Sarah gave Amdirlain a smile befitting a vixen. “I’ll take the Soul Jar through as well, and we can see how long they take to return.”

“You’ve secured some of the damned already?” asked Roher.

“Yeah, she’s casually standing there with nearly a thousand of them,” snickered Sarah. “I assume they’re wrapped up in Ki since they’re not screaming.”

“They are,” Amdirlain admitted, and at Roher’s surprised expression, she gave a little shrug. “By the way, how’s Laleither? It seemed like she’d want to be here to keep you in check. Is she letting you run wild now?”

A flicker of hesitation crossed Roher’s features, and Amdirlain caught a mixture of concern and delight. “Well, her situation is delicate at present.”

“Delicate is a term some will use for being pregnant among humans,” noted Amdirlain.

Roher gave a slight smile, but worry showed in his gaze. “Then I’m glad it translates properly.”

Any of the Lómë being pregnant with a child set Amdirlain aback. “I thought the Lómë weren’t risking having children?”

“It was unexpected,” admitted Roher. “We hadn’t needed precautions like Isa says humans use. The Titan had released no souls for rebirth since our arrival here, and those that stayed to sing don’t have his permission to reincarnate. We don’t know if any of those that died in the last battle even made it to the Titan’s forge; they could have ended up in the Abyss with us,” admitted Roher.

“Gail said she recalls the shelf was empty when she arrived, but others had come later,” breathed Amdirlain.

“Unless the Titan had them somewhere else and placed them with her,” suggested Roher. “Where was this shelf?”

“Right near his personal forge from what Gail could tell,” answered Amdirlain.

“I’ve two memories of being in the forge room between lives. Both times I was standing on a shelf near a forge that only he used. I remember watching him. He was constantly working when he wasn’t moving among the greater and lesser concepts, helping them with their work,” admitted Roher. “Doesn’t mean there weren’t other shelves with occupants.”

“Maybe, maybe not. If you stop having a baby boom, get Erwarth to take more souls on to judgement,” Amdirlain suggested. “I took a bunch there some years ago.”

“Then why hasn’t there been a pregnancy earlier?”

“I spoke to the Titan before I left the Maze, and during our conversation, I asked him to figure out a way to let the Anar return. Maybe it’s that, or maybe it's just because there is an Anar Queen now,” Amdirlain pointed out. “You’re recovering, and your situation has stabilised, so he isn’t dooming the children to a brief life.”

“Do you believe Gail will get us out?” asked Roher, his voice soft with a father’s concern.

Amdirlain almost groaned at her slip but didn’t backflip. “Gideon told her about a harp that would provide a link to the royal family, so have a bit of hope. It will likely take some time to make progress.”

Though he gasped sharply, Roher surprised Amdirlain when he squared his shoulders and nodded. “Sarah, if you’d come through, we’ll get back to our practice.”

“The Harp is still on Vehtë,” announced Sarah.

“How do you know?” asked Amdirlain.

Sarah smiled smugly. “I was there for its presentation, silly. I'll give Gail the details if you don’t remember its name in a few years to check for yourself. ”

Amdirlain snickered at her tone. “Bitch.”

“Yes. And?” laughed Sarah.

“Please don’t put any pressure on Gail, Roher,” Amdirlain said.

“A tree grows in its own time, and we’ve waited this long. A few more millennia is nothing,” declared Roher before he motioned between Amdirlain and Sarah. “If she’s anything like the two that came with her, I doubt it will be that long. Those heading westward took many relics with them; I hadn’t expected the Oírë Coivië Nandë to be among them.”

The conviction in Roher’s voice caught Amdirlain’s attention. “How do you know it's that harp?”

“For a connection to the royal family, it makes no sense for it to be any other. It was the first harp of the royal family, and every newly crowned monarch played it while they performed their first song upon taking the throne,” explained Roher.

[Name: Oírë Coivië Nandë

The combined efforts of 26 choirs created the harp of eternal life as a coronation gift for the first Lómë royal couple. It was bound to the royal couple's lineage by Orhêthurin upon their coronation, and their heirs renewed the life bond each coronation.

Isil refugees lost it beneath the waves when a pursuing Great Wyrm drove parts of the evacuation fleet ashore, leaving others battered and floundering off the southeast coast of their future haven. Hearing the fleet's plea, Laodice slew the Wyrm before the four ventured into the Abyss, pursuing Leviathan.

The battered remnants took aboard the survivors and limped northwards, their hulls packed with survivors. They had no space for additional salvage.]

“Spoilsport,” grumbled Sarah.